Lemon Garlic Chicken

Yet another recipe from Rachel Ray. And yet another recipe I totally had to edit. Again, whenever I cook I TASTE AS I GO, this is important. If I didn't I would have had chicken that tasted like olive oil and THAT WAS ALL. Her recipe had no flavor, and not enough honey. There were a few reasons I picked this recipe. The main one? Chicken legs are cheap and pretty fucking big. One leg feeds Rob and if I cut one in half the drummy is perfect for Brandon. I got SIX legs for $4.48 this weekend and that will make two meals plus two lunches. Hell yeah. Plus anything that stuffs garlic under chicken skin is good with me. Also I only used 3 legs. I don't know how she thinks her recipe made enough marinade for 4 but whatever.

I will put my edits in italics

• 3 Chicken legs
  
• 4 tablespoons honey
• Grated peel and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp terriyaki marinade
  
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• 4 chicken legs, patted dry
• Salt and pepper
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, lemon juice, terriyaki sauce and olive oil. In another bowl, stir together the garlic and lemon peel. Add butter and microwave for 25 seconds. With a fork mash butter, garlic and lemon juice together. Place the chicken in a greased 9-by- 13-inch baking dish. Using your fingers, spread the garlic mixture underneath the chicken skin. Rub the chicken all over with the honey mixture, season with salt and pepper and arrange in a single layer. Cover the pan with foil and roast for 15 minutes, then turn the chicken, cover the pan and roast for 10 minutes more. Uncover and roast until golden, 8 minutes. Turn broiler to low and place chicken skin side up under broiler. Baste chicken with pan drippings and sauce every couple minutes (if you are anal like me you will set the timer for every 2 minutes) until skin begins to bubble and brown. Serve and enjoy.

You will notice in the early pictures my chicken was nowhere near as brown as Rachels. I think she is full of shit. First, it wouldn't have browned cooking her way with simply flipping it and no basting. Second mine even had the dark terriyaki sauce on it and it still didn't brown like hers until I basted it.

Ice cream sandwiches the cheater cheater pumpkin eater way

I am all for baking my own cookies. In fact I love baking cookies. However, on nights when I know I'm making a meal that will involve every dish in the house, I sometimes cheat and buy pre-made dough. My husband thanks me for not having an extra bowl, beaters or mixers in the sink and flour all over the ENTIRE kitchen.

Last night I baked some cookies with little bunnies on them. I realized that I had Neapolitan ice cream and the colors matched (shut up) so I figured hey why not. You let it soften for about 15 minutes. You don't want it runny you want it just soft enough for the spoon to poke right down into it.

Since these are small cookies you only need about 1.5 tsp of ice cream. Put it right in the center, put the other cookie on top and "smoosh" down. Put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes (or eat right then and there). When it's dinner time take the cookies out and give them a bit of time to soften and then ENJOY!

Steak tacos with avocado tomato salad

First I want to apologize for the quality of the above photo. I was using my husbands point and shoot and it WAS NOT cooperating.

I got this recipe from Rachel Ray. As with most of her recipes after tasting the ingredients as I went along (you better always taste while you cook) I realized it needed some major editing. The results were pretty fucking amazing. Last night we ate it as shown, as tacos, but today my husband just took the salad part and tossed the remaining meat on and called it a steak salad for lunch. Good shit. I will italic my edits.

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp steak seasoning (I used McCormicks Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning, a must in our house)
  
• 1/2 tbsp Adobo seasoning (if you don't have you can omit this just add extra salt, then go buy some)
  
• (2) 1 pound skirt steaks, halved crosswise
• Salt and pepper
• 2 jalapeño chiles, finely chopped (I used red fresno, sweeter with better spice)
  
• Grated peel and juice of 2 limes
• 1 head butter lettuce, shredded (my head was massive I only used half)
  
• 2 avocados—halved, pitted and cut into small cubes
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
  
• 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
• 12 taco shells

Directions:

1. Preheat a grill pan (I grilled outside) over medium-high heat. Whisk together 1 tablespoon olive oil and the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, adobo seasoning, and steak seasoning, then rub all over the steak; season with salt and pepper. Marinate for one hour (if you are pressed for time don't worry it will still be good) Add to the grill and cook, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 5 minutes for medium-rare (they lie, four minutes was almost too much). Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before thinly slicing across the grain. If your meat gets cold while resting place it on a metal baking dish (think cookie sheet and throw it back on the grill. It will heat it with out making it cook through more then necessary).
   

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the jalapeños, lime peel, lime juice, tomatoes, sugar, and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil; season with salt (1 tsp) and pepper. Add the lettuce, avocados and onion and toss; season with salt and pepper.

3. Divide half of the avocado salad among the taco shells, then top with the meat and the remaining avocado salad.
   

I also added a little sour cream. We ate it with corn on the cob but later I realized the corn would have been excellent in it.