Sweet Onion Roast Chicken

Hopefully this is the first of many recipe posts that I will be writing.  My goal isn't to be like some of the phenomenal food bloggers out there who stage their photos; just to share some simple pictures to make your mouth water and the recipe to go along with it.

Most people who I've cooked for love what I make and anyone who knows me will tell you that it's pretty rare for me to have a recipe.  I like to use what I have on hand and taste as I go.  That's how I teach Alyssa too.  However, I am finding that more and more people ask me for recipes and I thought this would be a great experiment for me - creating recipes and sharing them for anyone who may want to try them.  As I go along you are likely to hear a lot about my favorite Pampered Chef products too.  For more information about them, feel free to contact me!!  I hope you enjoy!!

Start with bone-in split Chicken Breasts.  Season liberally with Coarse Kosher Sale, McCormick Garlic and Herb Grill Mates Seasoning and Pampered Chef Fennel and Herb Seasoning.

Heat an oven-safe pan with a lid (I am using The Pampered Chef Covered Roaster) and add Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Once the oil is hot, place the chicken skin side down in the oil and sear for 5-6 minutes until the skin is caramelized and crispy.  Then turn the pieces over.

Add sliced onions to the pan (no need to add any more oil at this point.  The chicken skin should have rendered out some of the fat leaving enough behind to saute the onion.)  Saute the onions for 2 minutes, just to soften slightly.  Most of the cooking will happen in the oven.  Deglaze (definition - using a liquid, generally wine, to pick up the little meat sediments from the bottom of a pan in order to make a sauce or gravy)  the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine.  I chose a sweet chardonnay.  Remember that the flavor of wine concentrates while it cooks down so be sure to choose a wine that you like.  Also, do NOT use a "cooking wine" as it is loaded with sodium.  If you don't keep wine in your house (even for cooking purposes, which I highly recommend - it does not have to be expensive) you could do this with chicken stock instead.   

Add Cracked Garlic Cloves (use your chef's knife's flat side and smack the peeled clove and it will crack.  This will help impart a better flavor.  Plus keeping them essentially whole will make them easy to pick out for people who don't want to eat it.)  Add 1 cup of water.   Put the lid on and place in a 375° oven.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes before removing lid and baking for another 15 minutes.  Pull when the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast is 165° or the juices run clear when pricked.

Notice how the juices in the pan have darkened and the onions have shrunk down to nearly nothing.  I have never made this before and was making it up as I went along.  I only used half of a medium sweet onion, next time I will use (and the recipe below reflects it) at least a whole large sweet onion.  Brian and I don't generally eat onions, but these were crazy sweet.  I went back to the pan to just pick them out and eat them.  So good!!!

                                    

 

Paired beautifully with some simple steamed green beans (in the Pampered Chef Microsteamer) and Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic Herb Seasoning (on the Pampered Chef Bar Pan).

Sweet Onion Roast Chicken

2 Split Skin On Chicken Breasts

1 Tbsp McCormick Garlic and Herb Grill Seasoning

1 Tbsp The Pampered Chef Fennel and Herb Seasoning

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp of Olive Oil (if you are NOT using a non-stick pan, you may need more)

1/4 C White Wine

1 Large Vidalia Onion, sliced Thin

8 Cloves Garlic, cracked

1 C water 

1.  Season skin side of chicken.

2.  Heat oil and add chicken skin side down.  Cook for 5-6 minutes to caramelize.

3.  Flip chicken over and add sliced onions and cook for 2 minutes, just to soften slightly

4.  Deglaze pan with wine and let cook down for 2 minutes.  Add cracked Garlic Cloves and water.  Cover.

5.  Place in 375° oven for ~30 minutes.  Remove lid and bake another 15 minutes or until the temp reaches 165°

Spoon au jus (the pan drippings) over the chicken when serving.  (Also fantastic on the green beans.  In fact, next time I would toss the green beans in the au jus).

Like Mother like Daughter?

I don't know about anyone else out there, but many days watching Alyssa play with her babies is like looking in a mirror.  It is so telling to listen to her little voice as she feeds, dresses and loves on her babies...and reprimands them.  No better way to find out how it is that she hears me!!  Most days it is so sweet to see her changing the baby of the day's diaper and cuddling her to sleep.  It's those OTHER moments...the ones where I overhear those angry voices and impatience with the baby...uh oh!  That's ME!?!!?  That's what I say??  Worse, that's how I SOUND???  Reality check...note to self - find a better way to communicate when angry...starting with a deep breath and a prayer.

Monday last week started out with a trip to BJs.  I had my list and a plan to stick with it - no junk food, no movies, nothing unnecessary.  Can anyone guess how well that went??

First thing NOT on my list was clothing.  However, the sundresses caught my eye and they were a great price...and I NEVER buy clothes at BJs - never even remember that they have them.  So we stopped at the huge rack of kids clothing and started going through them.  What should catch Alyssa's eye but the outfits that have a MATCHING outfit for dolls.  Too cute, how could I say no?  So, impulse purchase number one.

We managed to get through the rest of the trip without extra purchases...right until the end of the trip.  Then what is that?? Skyfall on DVD?  Brian would love that and he has been working so hard to take care of us.  What a treat for him and a little gift to show him I love him - but it's not on the list.  Oh wait!! It's half price!!  I'll take it!!  Uh-oh, $5 Strawberry Shortcake movies right next to it?  I guess we'll get that too.

Check-out - FINALLY!!  We went home, unpacked the groceries and I went over my list.  No junk food, check.  No movies, oops.  Nothing unnecessary - hmmm...Dollie and Me outfit?  Well, she DOES need clothes...sort oops??

Oh well.  Alyssa put that outfit on herself and the matching one on baby Emily and it is just too cute for words.  She didn't leave Emily's side for 3 straight days.  Seeing her joy made that "unnecessary" purchase totally worth every penny.  Love her to bits.

Pin Patrol

Let me start by apologizing for the fuzziness of these pictures.  I can only guess that there were smudges on the phone's camera lens from little fingers (I wonder whose?)

Now, how did Alyssa end up at the sewing machine??  It all started with the words "this blanket isn't working for the princess...I need a bigger piece of paper."  Huh??  Blanket? Paper?  What are you talking about??  

So, I came out to the living room to see what she was up to.  She took it upon herself to combine her princess play with her love of using scissors and cut blankets out of scrap paper.  While she was thoroughly enjoying herself, I felt kind of bad that she was trying to drape these little 3"x4" pieces of paper over the 4" plastic princesses sleeping on the tiny bed in the dollhouse.  So, I pulled out an old purple gingham handkerchief and cut it into blanket sized pieces.  Next thing I knew she had cut the thing into about 25 pieces and pulled out a glue stick.  Oh boy.  Now she is gluing pieces to the outside of the castle because they are having a party.  Oh well, it's just a glue stick.  Easy enough to wash off.

Thirty minutes go by and I hear "Mommy, will the sewing machine work on this??".  I turn to see her with a handful of purple gingham fabric that she tried to glue together.  "Well, what would you like the sewing machine to do?", I ask.  "Make a pillow."  Hmmm...a pillow out of 15 itty-bitty glued together pieces??  "I think that we could find some other fabric to make a pillow, how does that sound??"

Once we got into the fabric drawer and she found some left-over Abby Cadabby  fabric she decided that she wanted a pillow for her bed - a giant heart shaped one.  Great!!  It's hard to draw a heart...let's try the good old-fashion, fold the fabric in half and draw half the heart so that it turns into a whole heart.  Open up and wahoo!!  Heart shaped it is.

If you have ever had a child sit on your lap while trying to sew, you will know how the next 20 minutes went.  "Mom, I'm falling"..."No you aren't"..."Alyssa, you need to be on the other leg so I can control the pedal"..."But MOM, I'm falling!!!"  Oh boy.

Alyssa had a very important job, though.  Whenever the pin got close to the foot she yelled "PIN PATROL" so that I knew it was time to stop so she could pull the pin out before it went under the foot.  Of course, she was also in charge of stuffing the pillow.  "Why's it called stuffing??".  I don't know, because you stuff it inside the pillow!?!?  A great morning project giving her a new cuddly pillow to sleep with tonight.  

Surprise Dessert

I love to cook.  There's something inspiring about being in the kitchen surrounded by simple ingredients and knowing that with a little time and creativity a delectable dish can be made to help sustain our very existence.  It's a passion that was instilled in me by my mother.  In the years between getting my first Easy Bake Oven as a kid and my KitchenAid mixer when I got married, there were many lessons and hours in the kitchen learning the art (yes, art) of cooking.  From simple Grilled Cheese sandwiches to the perfect Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs to my husband's favorite Crab Cakes, I have learned everything I need to know about how to cook for friends and family in the kitchen of my mother.  And grateful doesn't seem like a big enough word for how I feel about that.

Mixin' and Measurin'

Since cooking is a necessity in life and it meant so much for me to learn at the feet of my mom, I have made it a point to bring MY daughter into the kitchen.  And she LOVES it too.

Too many parents are afraid to have their kids in the kitchen - the excess time, the mess and the patience are all too much for some people.  And there are times where I feel exactly that way.  However, the joy I feel over her excitement of being able to help in the kitchen makes it all worthwhile.

Using the Hand Mixer All By Herself

The only thing better than cooking for my family is cooking for company.  And that is just what we are doing tonight.  After helping season the meatloaf mix, pick the green bean ends for Asian Sesame Green Beans and trim the cauliflower for Boursin Smashed Cauliflower, Alyssa helped make our surprise dessert.  Actually, she made most of it alone.  This mommy is extra proud!!

Cream Cheese, Nutella, Vanilla and "COLD WHIP", as she kept calling it.

Once we had a nice creamy mousse, we put it in a gallon sized plastic bag and cut a hole for a "tip".  (I wasn't feeling like having to wash a REAL piping bag.)  Besides, with a ziploc bag I didn't have to worry about the cream coming out the wrong end while she squeezed it!!  A few broken (store-bought) cookies in the bottom of the glass, the Nutella Cheesecake mix, some whipped cream (from a can) and a final cookie to top it off!!  It was a hit and she was so proud because she did almost all of it herself!!  

And then there is me...totally in love with how much she loves to be in the kitchen!  And one day (in the VERY distant future) she will pass the same love on to her kids.

Don't Forget the Finishing Touches

Always lick the Spatula

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake Cups

March "Snowstorm"

So, all we've heard about for the last 2 days is this big March Snowstorm!!  I suppose that I should have known better than to be excited at the prospect for 5-8 inches of snow, but the Vermont girl in me just couldn't help it.  One more chance for sledding and snowman making!!

Surprise, surprise...I could still see the grass when the snow stopped and the "wintry mix" began.  I felt defeated until I heard "Mommy,  if I take it really, really easy can we PLEASE go outside and make snow angels and play in the snow???  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE???"

Hmmm...I thought about how long it was going to take to get her ready to go out in the snow, how disappointed she was going to be when she realized that there wasn't enough snow for angels and how the cold weather was going to affect her already yucky nose.  I was eady to use my voice of reason and say "not now honey, let's see if we get more snow" when I remembered my resolve to have more fun, spontaneous moments with her.  So after 30 minutes of getting ready, we were on our way out the front door.

What a fabulous decision!!  It was "slushing" as I like to call the weather we get around here.  There really wasn't enough snow to make angels and she didn't care in the least.  Perk to wet, slushy snow??  Perfect for snowmen.  All winter she has wanted to make one and we haven't had snow for it.  Even in Vermont at New Year's in a foot plus of snow we couldn't do it because the snow was too powdery.

So, we scooped the snow from all over the yard (yes, now it is leaves and grass) and managed a mini snowman.  She found berries on the Holly tree and twigs from the Magnolia tree and a torn leaf from the Holly tree to finish our little man off.  What fun.

We spent the next 10 minutes with me running from the backyard to the front yard pulling her in the sled with her hollering "weeee!!!" the whole time and finished our time with an impromptu snowball fight.

40 minutes outside in really wet snow and she was wet all the way thru to her skin.  So, in we went to strip her down and put her in the tub.  A 30 minute bubble bath with her princess bath friends and a marshmallow topped hot chocolate and the morning has been a blast.

So glad that I took the time today to help her make these memories...we will both have them forever!!