When life gives you lemons … make lemon chicken

I was going to title this one “Lemony Chick’net”.

Well, the hunt for a good lemon recipe went beyond desserts, I also began looking for something I could lemon-ize for dinner as well. There are a ton of lemon chicken recipes out there, and most call for a pan-fry, which I was trying to avoid. While I had a recipe onhand that I printed from food.com, I chose instead to follow the husband’s basic chicken instructions instead. The instructions are, more or less, the following.

  1. Season chicken.
  2. Sear chicken over medium high heat using canola oil.
  3. Place chicken in baking dish. Add olive oil. Add whatever other accoutrements you would – or as they would say in the web world – “Personalize this dish!”  (in this case, fresh lemon juice and rosemary with a little oregano)
  4. Cover with foil and bake at 350 deg for 20 minutes

Voila.

It turned out very well, I’m pleased to say. It is hard to go wrong with chicken, but I had one bad incident with not cooking it for long enough and that turned me off from trying new poultry recipes. And now, years later, I still find myself a little skittish for some silly reason, to cook chicken, and grill my husband (pun intended) for instructions each time. I think I’ve got it down, now. Plus this time I took notes which are conveniently stored on my phone.

lemony chik'net via chattycha on flickr

Steamed broccoli and mushrooms sauteed in the seared chicken remnants, along with some brown rice finish the dish. The b.r. was a little mushy. Rice is another dinner staple that surprises me when done well, because there have been many times when I haven’t done it well (this, I believe, is because I grew up as all Chinese families do, using a rice cooker. I don’t know how to cook rice on the stove. It’s an enigma to me).

Monday Night Dinner

I took the day off work because the husband had a few doc appointments to attend to. Since we weren’t sure when he would make it home I did dinner again, too. This recipe, Turkey Meatballs, closely resembles the chili I just made, only with Italian seasonings instead of chili powders. Sneaky! The babe ate  it up, which is all I could hope for.

turkey meatball stew with squash and tomato via chattycha on flickr

We had steamed broccoli and a salad on the side.

Crush

Dinner at Crush. This was a few months ago. Thanks to Pooja K. for bringing her camera. This was a decadent dinner that I shared with work folks. We may not agree on movies or music but you can bet we agree that there is some seriously good food around town.

Cave Aged Gruyere Cheese Gougeres

Cave Aged Gruyere Cheese Gougeres

Seared Sea Scallops, Black Currants, Cauliflower & Vaudauvan Broth

Seared Sea Scallops, Black Currants, Cauliflower & Vaudauvan Broth

Anderson Valley Lamb Saddle, Herbed Potato Gnocchi, Artichokes, Olive, Mint & Syrah Sauce

Anderson Valley Lamb Saddle, Herbed Potato Gnocchi, Artichokes, Olive, Mint & Syrah Sauce

Pistachio Sable

Pistachio Sable

Of course the photos don’t do the dinner justice. The flash makes everything a little less impressive, but still one of the amazing meals of the year for me.

A belated birthday post

Found some pics from a little bit ago that I never posted. The husband’s birthday was a few weeks ago. I’ve mentioned several times the birthday pie tradition. So, it’s no surprise that we had banana cream pie in the fridge for a couple of days. Embarrassingly enough it was gone in record time, but not because of me. I had to quickly sneak a slice or two before the husband finished it off (and rightly so … it was his birthday, after all).

As the husband takes care of the babe during the work week, he’s gently requested that he have dinners off on the weekends. Fair enough. He already had plans for lamb chops on his birthday, though, so I was assigned to fix up some sides. A little random, but I cooked some wild rice, made a caprese salad and then cleaned out the fridge by making orange-glazed baby carrots. Not super-exciting, but a reasonably healthy meal, which was necessary considering the aforementioned BCP.

Lamb chop with wild rice and orange-glazed carrots

Lamb chop with wild rice and orange-glazed carrots

Caprese salad

Caprese Salad. You just can't beat fresh, handmade mozzarella. The basil is from the U District Farmer's Market.

Sorry, no pic of the pie available. You can always review last year’s.

Christmas … 2 days later

So, we didn’t make it to Christmas dinner on Christmas day. Lousy weather, bad road conditions, and a trip up to the Sammamish Plateau was quite unappealing. Ditto for Christmas Eve. So yesterday we combined the two events into one and headed to Claire’s for presents and dinner.

But first, our Christmas, on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day with Max

Christmas Day with Max

He’s quite good at opening gifts. In fact, he was snooping around this gift (he sniffed it out) a few days early so I had to hide it until Christmas morning. Max. He is so tricky.

Dinner at Claire’s was excellent: Prime rib, potatoes, creamy pearl onions, creamed spinach, and a family tradition of Yorkshire Pudding. I had never had Yorkshire Pudding until I met the husband and his family. Yorkshire pudding, especially, the family recipe, is such a treat. Granted, there were a LOT of things I’d never heard of or tried before I met the husband and his family. It’s just what happens with families meld, isn’t it? I am fairly certain the husband had never heard of or seen a thousand-year-old egg before he met me. So, it goes back and forth.

Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner

The chef of the evening revealed that the recipes from the evening’s dinner came straight from Tyler Florence of all places. For dessert, Claire made a french treat, called something I can’t remember. Cafluti? Sweetened cherries surrounded by an egg custard. Very tasty, but no pic, sorry. I brought along lemon bars to share. And, as I’ve done quite a bit of baking this past week (what else are you going to do when you’re stuck at home), I made a point to leave them there. Before packing them up I taste-tested one of them. Pretty good. I should do these more often.

Lemon bars

Lemon bars

Of course, we didn’t go home empty-handed. In addition to the generous gifts we received from the in-laws, the mother-in-law also sent us home with a tiered-plate of Christmas cookies (tea cakes, shortbreads, bourbon balls, jam thumbprints, sugar cookies, oh my); plus what she calls “nuts and bolts” but what I’ve always known as Chex Mix. Tasty.

And I’m sure my doctor will wonder how it is possible for one person to gain 20 pounds in one week. I should just refer her to chattycha.com.

Gobble, gobbled

Another Thanksgiving come and gone! I asked the husband if he wanted to watch any Christmas movies today. He says we need to allow Thanksgiving to have its time in the limelight. I said it did … yesterday. He insists it needs the full weekend. So, no Rudolph or Frosty just yet. But, I bet before I return to work on Monday we will have our awesome fake Christmas tree out of storage. Happy Egg Nog.

Thanksgiving was at the in-laws last night. The lighting wasn’t very good in the dining room, so I apologize that the pics are sorta dismal. The highlights: a brined turkey. Incredibly juicy! The husband carved and was amazed at how pieces of turkey just fell out. Green bean casserole! What a great tradition. Stuffing! With water chestnuts and chicken liver. Yum. Oh so good.

thanksgiving plate

thanksgiving plate

juiciest. turkey. ever

juiciest. turkey. ever.

green bean casserole

green bean casserole

stuffing

stuffing

Did I mention, the mother-in-law surprised us with a delicious chocolate pecan pie? Yum. The husband really loved it. I was glad we got to take some home.

chocolate pecan pie via chattycha on flickr

MILs Chocolate Pecan Pie

And, I brought along the Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake (the 2008 version)

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake (the 2008 version)

I used a mix of reduced fat cream cheese and whole cream cheese, and for the topping I also combined low-fat sour cream with regular sour cream. If I can remember, for next year, I may do like the MIL, and try a new recipe. I’m not really a cheesecake eater, and this tends to be the only time of the year I will eat (let along bake) cheesecake. So, I’ll have to decide if I’m willing to give that up!

BTW, the cheesecake recipe is courtesy of Gourmet Magazine, on Epicurious.com

BBQ in the ‘Quah

Last week we ventured out of our comfort zone and went over to the Eastside to visit Joanne & Pete. The live in the Issaquah Highlands, what I like to call The ‘Quah. As we’re driving up the hills to get to their house we pass by tons of cookie cutter homes, townhomes, condos and small shops that make up this development and I’m thinking to myself, yeah, maybe when we have kids and tire of the city and decide to move to the ‘burbs, maybe this could be a place I could live in. At the same time the husband blurts out, “Man, I could NEVER live here.”

Anyway, we had a fun afternoon of doggie play date plus BBQ. I won’t get into the details of the crazy antics Max performed (note to self … do NOT leave dogs out near the barbie, but more importantly do not leave food out in the open near the grill, with the dogs locked outside. Bad idea!).

The kids, Bode and Max, tired from playing, and wanting to come inside for eating, drinking and more playing.

The kids, Bode and Max, tired from playing, and wanting to come inside for eating, drinking and more playing.

The husband and I brought over his famous Asian Noodle Shrimp Salad (cold noodles, mixed with peanut oil, tomatoes, snow peas and other natural flavors). Small tangent here … I love this dish, a perfect summer dish. It is a recipe his mom handed down to him years and years (and years) ago. This time I made it. Now. I’ve been Asian all my live (oh really, you ask)… Yes. And not once do I recall my Chinese family every making a dish like this. Seriously. Is my memory just that bad? I remember chow mein type dishes in general, and maybe a peanut noodle dish and lots and lots of soy sauce. It is really very yummy and so easy to make, though. But, I digress.

Asian Sesame Shrimp Salad

Asian Noodle Shrimp Salad

Joanne outdid herself with very tasty turkey burgers (couldn’t even tell it was turkey, we all said, which, really, for a turkey burger, is the best compliment). Side salads and chips. For dessert Joanne whipped out these cool “dessert pizza pies”: Sugar cookies with a lime-cream cheese frosting, topped with fresh kiwi, strawberries and blueberries. Yum.

Dessert pizza pies

Dessert pizza pies

It’s now our time to host J&P for dinner back in the city. We’ve gotta get ourselves a grill first.

Spider rolls and camera phones

It’s hard to sit in front of the computer when I could be out sitting on the deck! But, here I am because the blog is like a shark. You gotta keep moving or you’ll die.

With that … a sushi shot. For the past two Fridays I’ve got out for sushi. Last Friday I went to Sam’s Sushi with the girls. We then went down a block to see Mamma Mia! at the Majestic Bay. I ordered the Spider Roll and a California Maki roll. Last night the husband and I ventured out to Sushi Tokyo on Roosevelt, where I enjoyed a Spider Roll and Futo Maki. Stuffed to the gills both times. And, yes, the Spider Roll is my favorite, as a matter of fact.

The photo below, though, is one I found on my phone from the last time the husband and I went to Sam’s, possibly in May or so. Can’t really remember. It turned out much better than the pic I took of the Futo Maki roll from last night, so I thought I’d show it here.

Seattle roll (I think) from Sams Sushi.

Seattle roll (I think) from Sam's Sushi.

For a camera phone, the pic isn’t all that bad. It looks a bit crummier on the phone, even. Who woulda thunk it. Here is another fun pic I took with the phone. My niece and her dad, my bro-in-law, hamming it up at Ivar’s.

What did we ever do before we had cameras in our phones?

Pike Place Market, last week

A flashback to a couple of Saturdays ago. Some friends in town from Olympia, and since little Wyatt had never been to Pike Place Market, we decided to head down there to watch them throw the fish. I forgot to bring my camera, so I had to take some pics on Amanda’s camera, which she just sent along to me. We had a late lunch / early dinner at Sound View Cafe. A nice location, pretty busy, but I don’t think I’ll be returning. We had a chicken sandwich come to us, uncooked. Unappetizing, unfortunately. I had the tuna fish. Cooked.

tuna fish sandwich via chattycha on flickr

french fries via chattycha on flickr

The pics are nice. A bit dramatic, as Amanda’s camera had some feature turned on that turned all of the photos sort of soft, until we figured out how to get “back to normal”.

I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back …

baby back ribs dinner via chattycha on flickr

MM a few weeks back had a coupon, buy one package of baby back ribs, get one free. We bought ’em, then stuck ’em in the freezer for another time. That other time was today, when we decided to pull out the BBRs for visiting family. The BBRs were not that taxing … just heat and serve. And they tasted great! Meat-falling-off-the-bone type of experience. The niece decided that they were too “saucy” and we needed moist paper towels to eat them, but very enjoyable despite the fact that high fructose corn syrup was the third ingredient listed (after pork and water); and that HFCS was listed TWICE in the ingredients. Hey, it was still a great bargain considering we got one package free!

baby back ribs dinner via chattycha on flickr

On the side I steamed some green beans with carrot slices and a little garlic; the husband whipped up a big salad, and I also made some mac ‘n’ cheese that unfortunately turned out a bit too milky. A slotted spoon does wonders for milky mac ‘n’cheese.

I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back.

I want my ….