It's easy, AND good for you

This recipe is one of new favorites. It's all over the internet, so I certainly can't take credit for it. I have tweaked it a little to make it mine, of course.

I've been researching lots of recipes the past few weeks since I've been doing the Whole30 meal plan. Basically, Whole30 means no dairy, no grains, no sugar, no legumes, no alcohol, for 30 days. You can have butter, if it's clarified. But no cheating with gluten-free anything. The idea, for me especially, has been to make myself less dependent on bread, pasta, sugar and high-fat foods. I think I've been doing pretty well. I'll write more about my whole journey on a future blog. And check out the Whole30 site for more info on the plan.

So this recipe has a few of my various tweaks -- just use the flavors you like best, or to keep it an easy dish even suitable for a busy weeknight meal, just use whatever you have on hand. On a side note, Jeff would like me to point out that he is awesome. He is, so there you go.

Ingredients

• 8-10 pieces of bone in chicken thighs 
• 1 lb . baby red potatoes (or whole small potatoes, or cut yellow or russet potatoes)
• 1/2 in onion - cut large pieces (I skip this sometimes)
• carrots -- either baby carrots or whole carrots cut in pieces similar in size to your potatoes
• 2 lemons and 2 limes (this is my biggest switch from the other recipes, which only use lemons. We really love the combo of both fruits)
• 1/3 cup olive oil (I don't actually measure, just drizzle over everyone in the pool)
• 2 cloves garlic minced (I skip this sometimes too)
• 1 tablespoon fresh Rosemary plus sprigs for garnish (or thyme, or dried if you don't have fresh)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I definitely skip this - can't eat red pepper flakes at all)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt (again, why measure???)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (see salt note above - just use how much you think looks good)
• sprinkle paprika or other seasoning if not using sprigs of rosemary or thyme

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Spray a glass 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange chicken pieces (skin side up), potatoes, sliced onion and lemon slices evenly in pan. Or, use foil-lined cookie sheets (with a raised side). Make sure the thighs are sitting on the sliced limes and lemons.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Pour mixture all over chicken and potatoes. Sprinkle all over generously with additional salt and pepper.
4. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour, or until chicken and potatoes are fully cooked.

Use your pretty things

This morning I was putzing around the kitchen, putting some things away, getting a few things started for Easter dinner. I opened the doors of the tiny cabinet above the microwave to remind myself what was in it. I had to use a spatula to open the doors, of course, because I can't actually reach the doors themselves. Which is why I store the china up there.

I actually have two sets of china, both of which my Mom gave to me. One is the set I remember from my childhood. It has a pretty rose pattern on just a side of the plate, in a soft silver. I would share a picture of it, but as I mentioned, I can't actually reach it, so...

The other set I have also brings back special memories. Every year at Christmas, my Dad loved shopping for everyone. And every year, he had to make that one last trip to a store to get just one more thing, usually for Mom. One year, it was a new set of china. It is also pretty, in a more modern way than the traditional flower pattern. This set is decorated by a simple silver border. What I remember most about it is not the many holiday meals we used it, but the pure joy my father displayed in buying and giving to Mom.

As I was looking at the cabinet from (far) below, my son asked why we never use the china. (The flowered set is in the cabinet and the other set is in storage in the house). I pointed out that we do, on special occasions. We then decided that our Easter dinner counted as one, even if it was just going to be the three of us tonight. We're having a pork loin with a balsamic reduction glaze, a pineapple casserole and roasted carrots with rosemary, by the way.

I also got this set of Pioneer Woman bowls for Christmas from my mother-in-law (who knows me well). It's not quite the pattern I would usually gravitate toward, but I had previously assured her that I truly loved the patterns and colors in this line. I often joke about being close to losing my 'girl card,' but sometimes I do like to use pretty things. And why not? Why do we have pretty things if not to enjoy them? Dig out the china, use the special glasses, mix lemon bar filling in the pretty bowl likely meant for display only. Enjoy your life and the things in it, and share them and the the things you make with the ones you love. They're worth the effort. And so are you.

Fall vegetables?

Tomatoes and bell peppers are a summer thing, right? Not at our house.

We had some really nice herb plants this year -- Rosemary, chives, thyme and parsley (no, no sage). And we had some container tomatoes and bell peppers. I wasn't sure how they would do in containers, but the plants really flourished. At least the pepper plants did. The tomato plants did great until the squirrels discovered them. They took one whole plant from the pot. And then they took all the tomatoes. And finally, they denuded it so all that was left was a sad looking stem. Sigh. 

The peppers were still in the game though. And the herbs too. Then we went to Asheville and were gone for 5 days in the hottest, driest part of summer. The peppers we had on the stems - dead. The herbs? Completely dried up and dead. But the pepper plants still looked good. And the tomato stem, well, it was still green-ish. So I kept watering them. And now this happened. There are flowers on the tomato plant. I mean, look at that stem! It was sheared in half, and still this thing is growing. And we might get tomatoes after all. We might need to invest in some fine mesh screening to surround it and protect it from the squirrels. There are also nine bell peppers growing. Nine! I have always thought that our yard has some kind of weird growing vibe and that plants flourish despite my care for them, and now I think I have proof. Let's just hope they give us some veggies before our fall trip. 

One of my favorite cookbooks

We moved to North Carolina in 1993. We were so young, only out of college a few months. We hadn't even learned yet not to put everything we wanted on credit cards. We've come a long way since then, but this is one impulse purchase I am so glad we made.

This cookbook, called Southern Elegance, is a collection of recipes from the Junior League of Gaston County. I have no idea where we got it, because we live nowhere near Gaston County. Jeffrey thinks we bought it at a street fair, or maybe the Cotton Exchange in Wilmington.

One of the recipes is for Louisiana Barbequed Shrimp. This is not your typical barbecue. It's not even thick red sauce. Think lemons, Lots of lemons, And butter. Lots of butter. There's garlic, of course, and Worcestershire (Lea & Perrins) sauce and Tabasco, rosemary, salt and pepper. The sauce gets cooked briefly, and then gets poured over the shrimp still in their shells. The dish goes in the oven and very soon, there is delicious shrimp for everyone. This is one of our go to meals. We even entertain with this one. We put plenty of paper towels on the table along with bowls for shrimp shells. And we serve it with some crusty bread for sopping up the sauce. It makes a terrific mess but it is delicious!

You can tell we really like this recipe. Just look at the page.

This book is literally falling apart, but I will find some way to keep it. For some reason, this is also my go to book for a quiche recipe. Actually, I just look up the egg to milk proportion and make up the rest, but it's still where I look. I have a couple cookbooks like this one -- used and abused and messy.

Just like my kitchen.

Time to end the blog hiatus and 'thyme' to make some soup

I have been neglecting my blog. I sort of have a halfway real excuse, but not really. I hurt one of my knees in March, and the other in  August. I've been doing lots of physical therapy and then I had surgery and now I'm doing physical therapy again. I am making huge progress but I still have a ways to go.

I've just been so tired.

And I've been struggling with the idea of not actually being invincible.

And did I mention I've been tired? This healing business is tough work. My energy is sapped some days. Not exactly ideal conditions for the creative juices to be flowing, but I think I am over feeling sorry for myself. It's time to reset and regroup. Sometimes things happen that knock you off your course for a bit, and it can be tough to get it back on track. I guess what I am trying to say in a really long roundabout way is that I may have been off my game but I am ready to get off the bench.

So today we are making chicken and rice soup. I feel a cold coming on and it is frigid outside and rainy. Soup is just the thing today. My trusty sous chef John jumped right in to help, and he chopped the celery and carrots. I chopped the onion and chicken. I cooked the chicken a little in a skillet first, because I really wanted it to have good flavor. I used a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Just before I took it off the heat, I added dried rosemary, mostly because we were out of thyme. But rosemary goes great with poultry too. We sweated the veggies in some butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. We added low-sodium chicken stock (you won't miss the salt, trust me) and it is happily bubbling away on low heat. We're going to let it cook for a little while before we check for seasoning. We're not going to eat until I get home from cantata practice and Jeff is home from the theatre, so we're going to cook the rice but add it to the soup later. We also got some Pillsbury crescent rolls just because they're good.

We don't have a recipe for this one, but here's what we used: one bag of baby carrots (cut into halves or thirds) one bunch of celery diced to match the carrots in size, half a large onion (diced), three chicken breasts and three boxes of stock. I won't know until later if this turns out ok, but I can say that it smells amazing in out kitchen right now.

I'm glad I am writing again and I hope you are too.

Farmer Lisa....sort of

When John was in elementary school, his class planted a vegetable garden one year. He came home all excited about growing carrots and other vegetables, so we decided it would be fun to plant our own. Over the years, we have grown bell peppers, jalapenos, carrots, green beans, okra and tomatoes. My Italian heritage mandates that I grow peppers and tomatoes at least. We also grow our own herbs and we even had a small corn field in the front yard one year.

We are so ready to get this year's garden growing. This winter has been grey and gloomy and we are ready for Spring. We did our part to encourage it along by buying our seeds a week or so ago. Yesterday it was in the 40's and we had a cold rain all day, so I guess that didn't work out so well.

We'll have all the basics -- chives,

oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley (some parsley actually survived the winter in one of our beds). Fresh herbs add so much to home-cooked meals and they are really easy to grow. We have a bunch of pots on the back porch and we started a raised bed last year too. Having them so accessible helps us use them more often. In the garden, we will also have red bell peppers, Roma tomatoes (we don't have luck with larger tomatoes), carrots and green onions. We're also going to try fennel, which I just started cooking with about a year ago. It has a strong licorice flavor that really mellows out nicely when it's roasted.

I don't really eat a lot of jalapenos, but that is the plant we always have the most success with. I am still fascinated by seeing things we can eat flourishing in our yard, so we always have jalapeno plants. And this year we will try planting on a staggered schedule so that we'll have vegetables and herbs maturing more often. That's the theory anyway.

Hopefully it will be time for sowing seeds soon -- what will you be planting?

Fries cooked in duck fat? Yes please.

When we travel, we're much more likely to check out a local favorite than eat at a chain restaurant. Boy did we hit a home run when we discovered Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham, NC.

They use local, fresh ingredients. They make everything in house, even grinding their own beef from local cows for the amazing burgers they serve. They also save the grain leftover from the brewing operation for local farmers, who use it for animal feed. The atmosphere at Bull City Burger and Brewery is relaxed and inviting and you can see the brewing operation while you're waiting in line to order.


Now on to the really important stuff -- the food. They serve french fries cooked in duck fat and served with rosemary and Fleur de Sel (a sea salt).

Go ahead and let that sink in for a minute. This is the kind of dish that has you wetting the tip of your finger to grab the tiny bits of salt, rosemary and potato crumbs after all the fries are gone. 

We found Bull City Burger and Brewery when we went to see "Mary Poppins" last year. We ate there this weekend when we went to the Durham Performing Arts Center to see "The Book of Mormon" (great show, by the way). This time, we discovered something just as good as the Duck Fries. Bacon Marmalade.

I have already searched for some recipes because we will be working to perfect our own version very soon. It's sweet and salty and is a perfect burger topping. It makes bacon spreadable, taking the concept of bacon as a condiment to a whole new level.

And of course they brew terrific beers. This time, I had the Pale Ale and Jeffrey had the Olden Horny Barley Wine. The barley wine makes your mouth tingle. 

If you find yourself in Durham, check out this place. We're already trying to figure out another reason to go ourselves, just so John can try the Duck Fries.