Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken & Roasted Tomatoes

On Sunday I decided to make my boyfriend dinner, which is rare considering he's Italian and loves to do most of the cooking.  Since my work schedule has been more lax, however I've been trying to cook for him more.  Chicken is by far one of his absolute favorite things to eat and I've been trying to eat more tomatoes (they are extremely good for women since they are rich in lycopene, reducing breast cancer risk, lowering blood pressure & bad cholesterol levels AND they produce more lycopene when cooked which is great for me since I strongly dislike raw tomatoes), so I thought this would be an excellent recipe to try.

The recipe is from What to Cook & How to Cook It by Jane Hornby, which I received for Christmas two years ago.  I've tweaked it a little here only because I love rosemary & garlic but it's a fairly easy dish to make and I hope you enjoy it as much as he did!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken & Roasted Tomatoes Recipe

Ingredients:
3 - sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped finely
4 - chicken breasts, skinless & boneless
4 oz - soft goat cheese (I used Ile de France Chevre)
8 - strips of bacon
2 tbsp - vegetable oil
8 - medium ripe tomatoes, sliced in half
2 - cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp - extra-virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

the chicken & tomatoes prior to baking

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut a slit along the thickest part of each chicken breast.  Spoon 1/4 of your goat cheese into each pocket created by the cut slit, using your fingers to smush the cheese inside and seal the pocket of chicken shut.
3. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and some of your rosemary.  Next, wrap 2 strips of bacon tightly around each piece of chicken, tucking in loose ends.
4. Place a skillet over medium-high heat and add your vegetable oil.  After 30 seconds, add the chicken to the skillet and cook each side for 2-5 minutes or until each side of your bacon is mostly crispy.
5. Using tongs, place the 4 chicken breasts into a shallow casserole dish along with your slices of tomatoes.  Season your tomatoes with salt, pepper, sliced garlic, the remaining rosemary and then drizzle the EVOO on each.
6. Place the casserole dish in the oven, uncovered, for about 25 minutes or until cooked through.
7. When done baking, let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.
8. Enjoy!

Recipe serves 4
Takes about 20 minutes to prepare and total cooking time is approximately 40 minutes.

the finished product with the amazing juices we drizzled right back over the chicken

Weekend Recap

new plants.

 sunday dinner: roast with rosemary potatoes & glazed carrots.

chocolate mustaches.

Recipe: Apricot & Pear Tart

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 pears (such as Bosc or Bartlett)—peeled, quartered, and cored
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, halved
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup apricot preserves

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch removable-bottom fluted tart pan.
2. In a food processor, process the almonds and ½ cup of the sugar until finely ground. Add the butter, egg, and almond extract and process until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse a few times just to combine (the dough will be soft).
3. Spread the dough in the bottom of the prepared pan.
4. In a small bowl, toss the pears and apricots with the lemon juice and the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Arrange the pears in the dough. Scatter the apricots over the dough, pressing them in gently.
5. Bake until the pears are tender and the center is firm, 50 to 55 minutes (cover the edges with foil if they brown too quickly).
6. In a small bowl, combine the preserves and 1 tablespoon water. Brush over the warm tart. Let cool in the pan before unmolding.

Serves 8



{photo & recipe courtesy of Real Simple}

Cake

How adorable is this cake?! It's perfect for a wedding or birthday party.

{Photo found here}

Cake

What a wonderfully easy way to decorate a cake!  So cute.



{Photo courtesy of Lisa Hubbard}

Recipe: Caramelized Onion & Herb Stuffing

Caramelized Onion and Herb Stuffing

 ****

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish and foil
• 1 large loaf Italian bread (about 1 pound), cut into 3⁄4-inch pieces (about 16 cups)
• 6 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375° F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Divide the bread between 2 rimmed baking sheets and bake until dry and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown, about 1 hour. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, 2 to 4 minutes; transfer to a large bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
3. Add the bread, broth, eggs, chives, thyme, and ½ teaspoon salt to the onions and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until browned, 20 to 30 minutes more. 

Serves 8





{Recipe courtesy of Real Simple}

Recipe: Baked Spinach & Gruyere

Absolutely love a cheese & spinach dish!  This particular recipe is listed as a side dish on Real Simple, but if you're like my boyfriend's family, make this first and serve it as an appetizer with bagel chips.  We usually make a version of this every Sunday the family gets together and always end up fighting over it.  Super delicious.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the dish
• 6 shallots, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 4 10-ounce boxes frozen leaf spinach, thawed
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups grated Gruyere
• 1 cup dry white wine

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Coat a shallow 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish with oil; set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until evaporated, 4 to 6 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper.
4. Squeeze the spinach to remove excess liquid. Stir the spinach, shallots, Gruyère, and Parmesan into the egg mixture. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake until bubbling and the top is golden brown, 45 to 55 minutes.

Serves 8

{Recipe by Kate Merker via Real Simple}

Frighteningly Delicious Halloween Recipes

Since it's Halloween, food can be fun this time of year.  We can add olives to dishes as eyeballs, or serve spaghetti noodles as brains.  It's definitely a chance to be creative with food and mix different flavor profiles to find out what works best together.  Add a couple of spooky labels to the food with descriptions like "Frankenstein's Last Victim's Intestines" and "Spicy Maggots", and you've got yourself a Halloween buffet table worth sharing with your fellow ghouls & goblins.  Here are a few delicious recipes easy to impress your blood-sucking friends.

Halloween-Themed Blue Cheese Crackers

 Blood-Red Hot Chocolate & Sweet Bones

 Ooey-Gooey Eyeballs

 Cute Jack-o-lantern Quesadillas

 Orange & Black Salmon Rolls

Squash Soup served in Mini Pumpkins

Vampire Blood Tomato Soup & 

Muenster Sammies

To prepare for your Halloween party, here is a checklist from Real Simple to ensure you have a spectacularly spooky night.

Halloween Desserts

Halloween is exactly one week away, so it's crunch time here - need candy for the trick-or-treaters, finishing touches for my costume, materials for desserts, and need to rent those classic scary movies for one frightfully fun night.  How are things progressing at your home?  If you're like me, you scour the web looking at pictures for inspiration.

To make your week easier, I will be doing at least one post a day dedicated to all things Halloween.  As a result, today's first post is dedicated to those yummy desserts we so crave.  Hopefully these pictures inspire you to create your own delicious treats.

Orange & Black Layered Cake

Wickedly Cool Orange, Blue & White Cookies

A Mean Monster Mash Cupcake

Nevermore, Nevermore Raven Cookies

 Pumpkin Tarts

Skulls of Plenty Madeleines 

Black Webbed Cupcakes

Creepy Crawly Cakes

Not-So-Scary Witch's Hat

 Delightful Pumpkins

A Spider Spins His Tale

One, Two, Three Chocolate Headstones

The last three are quick desserts I came up with for a Halloween Party at work.  They are very easy to make if you get in a time crunch.  For the Pumpkin Cupcake Toppers, I bought orange candy melts from Michael's (or was it Hobby Lobby?) and a chocolate mold.  You simply follow the directions on the package and let them harden overnight before placing on top.  Then using green buttercream icing, you can pipe a few leaves or even use a grass tip for the topping. 

The Spiderweb Cupcake Toppers were also made using candy melts, except I piped a spiderweb on a parchment paper and then let it dry overnight.  The next day, simply place them on top of your cupcake with a spider.

The Headstone Cake Toppers in the last picture were done the exact same way as the Pumpkin Toppers, just using regular melting chocolate and a chocolate mold I found at my local craft store.  Then place some spiders around the headstones in various sizes and you have a Halloween themed cake!  All three were incredibly easy to make.  So if you get in a bind, don't stress.  Just head to your local craft store and make a couple of toppers.  No one has to know how much work you did or didn't do. ;)

Happy Weekend

I am so excited for today, because of the Gypsy Picnic!  Austin being the  rad & young city that it is, is having a food truck festival downtown with a cook-off, live music, beer tastings, and even a dog fortune teller.  So, I am actually headed there soon, but wanted to stop by and wish everyone a wonderful weekend.  Hope it's fantastic and filled with laughs.  In the meantime, here are a few posts from around the web...

absolutely love Eat, Drink, Chic's Mixed Bags.

25 unique Halloween costumes by New Yorkers.

"Best of Austin 2011" by the Austin Chronicle, just in case you want to visit.

a really sweet & sad story my boyfriend emailed me.  love is powerful.

the unfortunate loss of such an amazing photographer.  a few of his pics are posted here.

"Flick Chicks", an article in the New Yorker by Mindy Kaling of the The Office = hilariousness.

sincerely adore J.Crew's looks.

the perfect Fall coat.

Bread

I just received my new cookbook in the mail, Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery, and I am so excited to start reading it.  Yes, I am a P&B nerd.  Our chef instructor (who totally rocks and makes class so much fun) loves bread more than anything and said this was her favorite book.  She stayed up all night reading it cover to cover when she got her copy.  So, I am absolutely thrilled to read this and look forward to sharing it with all of you. 

The biggest reason to buy this book according to Chef is that it explains absolutely everything about bread.  The book addresses how to modify the recipe if you're baking at home versus a professional kitchen and she's tested every recipe, not just included them because she needed to fill the pages.  She called flour milling companies and used her own baking experience to provide a book that teaches the ins & outs of bread making (how & why things work or don't work), versus a book filled with recipes and pretty pictures.

I'm so excited, I'm off to read it....!

Baguettes & White Bread made in Class

Salads!

 I absolutely love salads, but I definitely don't eat them enough.  However, because of all the bread we've been eating in pastry school, I've decided dinner will only be a salad for at least the next 4 weeks.  I have to implement this rule.  It is vital.  If the elastic on my uniform stretches any more, I may be forced to buy a segway to wheel myself around the kitchen.  Plus, the part of my body I like to call my muffin top would turn into a three tier cake.  And that would definitely be no bueno.

Tonight's salad was absolutely delicious - cucumbers, carrots (high in beta carotene!), one boiled egg, sunflower seeds and croutons on a field of greens (see Exhibit A).  All coaxed down my throat with some delicious ranch dressing (light, of course).

What are your favorite salads to eat?

Happy Weekend!

I'm so glad it's the weekend already - what a busy week.  Thursday felt like Friday.  Oh well, time to get out your Halloween costumes and polish those vampire fangs.  I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend planned, but mostly, I hope no one goes into a sugar comma!  I shall leave you, and the month of October, with a few pictures of my own place decorated for Halloween a few years ago.  We won first place in the door decorating contest for our apartment which meant lots of dinero off of the next month's rent - yippee!

Happy Weekend!

Halloween Cupcake with White Chocolate Spiderweb

Scarily Yummy Desserts for Halloween

There is no shortage of sweets around during the holidays, especially Halloween, when we walk down dark neighborhood streets knocking on doors for a trick or treat.  We fill up our pumpkins with loads of candy and then take them back home to devour after Mom's most assuredly checked for any funny business in the wrappings.  Usually, we end up with a year's supply of candy, and just barely manage to make it stretch to Thanksgiving when our tummies begin growling for pumpkin pie.

Oh candy, how we love thee.  

Times have changed though.  I remember as a little girl stopping at different houses within our small community, knocking on the door, and being surprised with homemade popcorn balls, candied apples, and miniature pecan pies.  They would hand out the most amazing homemade treats along with pockets-full of candy.  It was such a sweet gesture too and I often think of those caramel popcorn balls around Halloween wondering if anyone still makes them.  I suppose most parents would be reluctant these days to let their kids eat homemade goodies from people they didn't know quite well, but that's not the only thing that's changed. 

It seems as if more kids are trick-or-treating earlier too, between the hours of 4 & 7 instead of barely beginning one's candy hunt at dusk.  More homes are opting out of giving away candy and leave their door lights off to send the message that their home is closed to the wandering witch or Superman, and others skip trick-or-treating all together and attend Fall Festivals instead at their local churches.  

I suppose it's only natural that things change, but will trick-or-treating soon become a thing of the past, a memory of yesteryear?  Only time will tell.  For now though, here are a few Halloween desserts worth serving to your little monsters & princesses.  Happy Treating!

  Cobweb & Bat Cookies via Martha Stewart

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies found here

 Haunted House Cake via Martha Stewart

Mini Halloween Cupcakes via Bon Apetit

 

Spiderweb Cheesecake available here

Welcome to Fall

Fall is my favorite season - I love the colors, the fashion, the landscape, the weather - absolutely everything about Fall makes me feel warm & fuzzy inside. 

In case you're still thinking of summer days, here are a few pictures to make you fall in love with Fall.

Happy Hump Day!

Photo courtesy of Anthropologie

 Photo courtesy of Jennifer Skog

 Bon Appetit's Apple Fritters with Bourbon Ice Cream

a button wreath to welcome visitors

Photo courtesy of Anthropologie

Photo courtesy of Wood & Wool Stool

Photo courtesy of Spanki Mills Photography