Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - Baltimore, MD. - May 2013

Okay, y'all know I'm all about quick and easy dinner recipes.   Yesterday I found an amazing chicken recipe from 101 Cooking for Two that I had to share. Please forgive me I lifted all of these photos from their website. If I'd known how awesome it was going to be, I'd have taken my own photos.  Next time!!!

Chicken is a protein packed staple at our house, but so often we grow tired of it very quickly because it tends to be bland and when baked, it can be a little dry. However, this Parmesan Baked Chicken Brest is AMAZING! It's extremely moist! In fact, I think that's what surprised me most. It tastes great! It's a little crunchy and it is super SIMPLE!

You'll need:

3 or 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts trimmed

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated (fresh preferred)

1 1/2 t seasoning salt (I used Season All. They used Lawry's)

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t pepper

1/3 cup Italian Bread Crumbs

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TIP: Chicken stays more moist if you thaw it by putting it in the refrigerator about 24 hours before you plan to use it rather than putting it on the counter or in warm water the day of use.

1) Preheat oven to 375. Trim, rinse and pat dry 3-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts.

2) Mix in a medium bowl 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh shredded preferred) , 1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt (I used Lawry's), 1 t garlic powder and 1/2 t pepper.

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3) Prepare a cooking sheet with aluminum foil (to help clean up) and a rack. The rack will help crispiness all around. You can do without the rack but the bottom will not be crispy. Give the rack (or baking pan) a good spray of PAM.

4) Dip the chicken breasts in the mayonnaise Parmesan mixture. Be sure to get all surface coated. Finger use allowed but be sure to wash well after.

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5) Lightly sprinkle with some Italian bread crumbs on both sides. I used about 1/2 cup on 5 medium breasts. You are not coating them. Just adding some crispy and flavor.

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6) Bake until internal temp of 165. This will vary by oven but mostly by size of the chicken breast. About 40 minutes for medium to large. 45 minute for huge. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

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TIP: I actually checked my chicken at 25 min with a meet thermometer and they were done, so keep an eye on it because THE TIME DEFINITELY MAY VERY!!! 

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Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time start to finish: 50 mins.

Yield: 4 servings

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We had it with an orzo pasta and roasted veggie dish that's on my list of things to blog about.  SOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!

Also, this recipe is really easy to double if you are feeding a crowd.  Hope you enjoy! We sure did!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Layers of Thanks - Baltimore, MD. - November 2012

On a day where we can so often get lost in the preparation...

The perfect table - Su Casa Baltimore

The perfect runner - Pottery Barn

The perfect place mats - Su Casa Baltimore

The perfect dishes - Sams Club

The perfect flatware - Bliss Knoxville, TN.

The perfect finishing touches 

The perfect food;

Twice baked sweet potatoes, salad, and...

The PERFECT deer tenderloin in a cranberry-port reduction sauce (courtesy of the HUB and his mad hunting skills)

We can't forget what and who we are truly thankful for;

A beautiful day!

This little ladies first time eating meat provided by the hands and feet of her daddy.

And her RAVING review!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

What's For Dinner? - Baltimore, MD - Dec 2011

So these days I'm completely motivated by food. With Little Sticks squashing my stomach in to my UPPER rib cage, somewhere around my shoulder, I get to eat a few extra meals each day! That's never a bad thing! =)

So with a looming grocery store run hanging over me yesterday I thought to myself "What's for dinner?" and THANKFULLY I had an answer! (so often I'm like... "I don't know... Whatever!?" But yesterday I got and answer! Woo hoo!!! Eggplant Parmesan!!! With this dish being one of my all time favorites I thought I'd do a little "blogumenting", is that a word?

My little sister made it for us for the first time when she came shortly after El was born and we loved it! SInce then, it's my "go to" meal when "we're having friends over for dinner", " a good friend has been in the hospital or has a new baby", or "The Hub wants to eat something that's not a casserole". It's ALWAYS met with RAVE reviews!  It also freezes well and makes for awesome leftovers!

You will need:

1 large eggplant

2 cups of bread crumbs

2-3 eggs

canola or vegetable oil or olive doesn't really matter

Approximately 48 ozs of homemade pasta sauce (made in advance) or 2 jars of whatever flavor of marinara sauce you like (I like Classico Tomato & Basil)

fresh spinach

fresh basil

42-3 cups of mozzarella

1 cup fresh Parmesan cheese (not canned)

STEP 1 - Preheat canola oil in a cast iron skillet (once oil is hot keep heat on medium to medium low, depending on your stove and pan, to prevent oil from smoking).  At the same time, preheat oven to 350

NOTE TO READER: I use a cast iron skillet because it maintains a pretty consistent temperature and canola oil because it has a higher smoke point, both of which make it so that we are less likely to set off the fire alarm. =)

STEP 2 - Peal the skin off the eggplant and first slice the eggplant into quarter inch slices, then cut those slices in half,

Bread the eggplant slices. Have one shallow bowl for an egg wash (break eggs into bowl and mix whites and yolks together) and one shallow bowl for bread crumbs and a clean dry cutting board or cookie sheet for breaded eggplant slices. Once pealed, cut, and breaded they should look like this.

Note to Pregnant Readers: If your oven/stove top controls are on the front of your appliance beware, your baby belly likes to adjust the size of the flame. Oops! =)

(Holy Crap where the heck are my feet!)

(Oh thank goodness... There they are!)

 STEP 3 - Once all eggplant slices have been breaded place into hot oil and brown on each side.  According to the below picture, I can usually fit 8 or 9 half slices in the pan at a time.

 STEP 4 - After all the eggplant slices have been browned, it's time to assemble.  This goes together in layers, sort of like a lasagna.  Coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with a ladle full of marinara sauce 

NOTE TO READER: If your going to freeze half for later or take half to a friend, use two 8x8 baking dishes.  Also when I'm freezing or taking to a friend I get the disposable aluminum 8x8 DEEP baking pans from the grocery store.  Makes clean up super easy and they don't have to worry with cleaning and  returning a dish.

Layers go like this on top of the thin coat of marinara sauce, layer browned eggplant, then cover with spinach, then mozzarella cheese, then a few torn basil leaves, and then another ladle of marinara sauce.  Should sort of look like this.

(It takes about 3 layers to use all the eggplant.)

STEP 5 - Once all the eggplant has been layered, top with a nice layer of marinara, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  Should look like this just before you stick it in the oven. 

Step 6 - Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Then it's yum yum eat it up!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Swiming This Morning... - Delray, WV - May 2011

In the early hours of Thursday morning morning...

this 14" rainbow trout was swimming in the cool waters of West Virginia. Thursday night he was broiled and on our dinner plates glazed with a thin layer of clarified butter, sitting along side a colorful vegetable melody and some tasty garlic bread.

However, there's one thing that must be pointed out. This was not an ordinary fish dinner. In true hunter gatherer fashion, Thursday morning the Hub set out to procure dinner for his family, and in particular his daughter, and as a result, the 14" rainbow trout he caught just after 10:00 in the morning became our little girl's first taste of meat.

How cool is it that one day we'll be able to tell her that the first meat that she ever ate was something that her dad went out and caught and prepared for her.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Feeling Domestic - Baltimore, MD - November 2009

So I was off work on Thursday and felt the need to be domestic. so aside from cleaning house and paying bills, I broke out the heavy kitchen artillery and created my first ever pumpkin Cheesecake! Not the "No Bake" kind, but a real one that you actually bake.

I must give props to Rachel Masters, author of my favorite cook book to date Suppers on the Table, Come Home. This cookbook has totally changed my world when it comes to my confidence in the kitchen. Yay!Her recipe is actually for a Blueberry Cheesecake, but seeing as how it's 2 weeks after holoween and 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, pumpkin cheesecake just sounded perfect!

So I turned all of this...

Into THIS!!!
Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Till Next time,
Bon Voyage!

I Made This!!! - May 2009

So there's been a box of Funfetti cake mix in the pantry for a couple of weeks now and today, with a few hours on my hands I decided I'd bake.

Note to Reader: This baking in my spare time is NOT normal.

So a little back ground is that I got a pampered Sheff Icing gun a few months back along with a couple of round baking pans. The Hub and I have sort of been splitting the duties of cake creation.


This one is one of our first, and all I remember about it was that there were about 4 different icings on it because:

A.) We couldn't agree on one,

and

B.) We ran out and the store nearest our house didn't have the kind that we started with.

But as the Hub napped on the couch and absorbed the Bolton vs. Wigan game via osmosis and I listened to the announcers going wild, I baked a whole entire Funfetti cake all by myself!

Additional Note to Reader: There's more about what I really think about European soccer announcers coming soon in a future post.

I even searched You Tube for an instructional video on icing and learned this "basket weave technique. The icing got a little melted, so it isn't perfect. but it's not bad for a first try.The Hub said that it's almost too pretty to eat!


Till next time,
Bon Voyage!