"Brittany, what's going to happen when you get married?" she would ask me.
"Well, Mom, that's what takeout's for and if he wants something cooked, he can cook it for himself," I would always reply.
Fast forward to 2013 and three weeks into my married life. I am (strangely) loving spending time in the kitchen. I've made chicken enchiladas, roast chicken with gravy and roasted potatoes and sautéed zucchini, bacon and chicken macaroni and cheese and chocolate shortcake with fresh strawberries and blueberries. Recipes def not paleo or low carb (and I'm starting to pay for it!), but all delicious!
Yes, many of you reading this are probably like, "Ooooh, big deal."
But, for me, it's a HUGE deal! Especially because I'm enjoying it. Today, I wanted to bake and use my KitchenAid mixer I received at my wedding for the first time. I am still working on building up the supplies in my kitchen (knowing what I need, should always have on hand, etc.).
I went to Supercook and entered the ingredients that I had on hand, which included flour, butter, eggs, milk, strawberries, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and baking powder. The site brought up more than 500 matches, but I chose to make this one. I had never made shortcake before. I was going to make plain shortcake, but I don't have vanilla or lemon zest, so I added cocoa.
The result was a crumbly, yet pleasant slightly sweet cake that Chase described as "chocolate cornbread." It wasn't until I started writing this blog that I realized I forgot the milk. Read the instructions; they leave it out! Haha Anyways, it turned out pretty good, especially when paired with the fresh fruit. Chase enjoyed his with a glass of milk.
As far as the mac and cheese, I received a very pretty casserole dish at my wedding shower and told Chase that I would make a macaroni and cheese topped with bread crumbs, simply because I thought it would look neat in the dish. Somehow, the recipe evolved into including chicken and bacon and Pinterest was kind enough to find this recipe for me.
I couldn't find straight monterey jack cheese and my hot Betty Crocker mom told me it was usually mixed with cheddar. So, for this recipe, instead of a half pound of cheddar and a pound of monterey jack, I used a half pound of cheddar and a pound of monterey jack/ cheddar mix. For my chicken, I boiled it in chicken broth (I prefer how that tastes over boiling it in water).
This recipe calls for a pound of bacon and, I made the mistake of not following the instructions and frying the first half in strips. It was much easier to cook so much when I cut it up before frying it in the pan. The recipe makes a lot, but Chase has had no problem with the leftovers and I've loved it, because my husband has a home cooked meal that I didn't have to cook!
I'm thinking I'm going to start doing some bulk cooking and freezing on the weekends so we have good food to eat during the week since we're both so busy. It's great to be able to go into the kitchen and pull out something homemade. Of course, our health can't handle us eating chicken and bacon mac and cheese all of the time, but life is short and it was delicious and definitely going into my "indulgent recipes" list.
I love chicken (free range, organic only! After tasting this stuff, the conventional stuff just doesn't taste good) and am always looking for different ways to cook it. I suppose it's also a comfort zone food for me because I know how to cook it. Anyways, while perusing Google for recipes, I came across this recipe for baked chicken. I followed the instructions, but just used two chicken breasts, still with the skin and bones in. (correct term? haha)
It was good, but I may had flour to the gravy next time to thicken it up, per the hubby's request. I also roasted some potatoes in the oven that were coated in olive oil and rosemary and sautéed zucchini and mushrooms. It was a great, simple (Paleo!) recipe that will definitely be in our dinner rotation.
The enchiladas were also Chase's request. My mom pinned the recipe on Facebook and I followed it exactly. I served them with Mexican rice and chips and salsa.
White Chicken Enchiladas
10 soft taco shells
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a Mexican mix...really, any cheese mix that has monterey jack will work!)
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan
2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese. Roll up in tortillas and place
in pan.
3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.
Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
4. Stir in sour cream and chilies. Do not bring to boil, you
don't want curdled sour cream.
5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the
cheese.
So yeah! That's what I've been cooking. We've also been doing our fair share of eating at restaurants, but we're loving exploring Tulsa!
We went to the farmer's market this morning and purchased farm fresh eggs, heirloom tomatoes, okra, and cucumbers. The tomatoes are to die for! I'm loving living in a city with so many options and places to shop.
Farmer's market haul!
And, I am soooo terrible with taking pics! My blog looks super boring because it's all text! I apologize — I will be working on that!
Do you cook? What have you been making?
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