Man vs. Grill

The beginning of the end of summer. A good end of summer.
My Bimmer Man attracts bugs. We need the citronella. Anyone else have any ideas of debugging the backyard???
The Bimmer Man reads directions. I think I've taught him well by buying so much Ikea furniture.
Oh, the concentration of screws...
It's so hard putting the handle on the top.

Or maybe he just doesn't like his picture taken.
Ok. I snapped one of my feet. They're not pretty, but it sure made Bimmer feel better.
I didn't know that you needed an actual drill to build a grill. I guess you do. Or maybe it's just a manly power tool thing. Whatev...
I like his new haircut.
He really knows how to fiddle with that lid, huh?

Aha... so that's what the drill is for!
Finally. Very close to being done.
The lid fits! The drill worked!
And even the spiders were clapping... Ok, well, not really because Bimmer Man fumigated the outside of the house for spiders last week.
The lovely ending.

Now, where's my chicken? I hope it's been defrosted...

PSH

I Know, I Know

This isn't food related. But I'm not sorry.

http://jennyliang.com/quikea/step1.html

You need to see this. It's fabulous, because in about 6 weeks when I have money, it's EXACTLY what I'll be doing. But I'll probably have some meatballs anyway.

I do have to say that I also enjoy the Food Part of the Apartment Therapy website. Lately, Bimmer Man has been taking up MUCH of my time with trying to get me to go to the bar. I have not resisted.

Tomorrow, I will resist to drink booze at a bar and continue with food posts. Why? Because I miss my kitchen island. It's fab for chopping... I'll leave you with a pic of the new house...

Enjoy!

PSH

Me Thinks Me Needs A Vacay...

I have one of these. It's actually for Kemi, Finland. Why? Well, because I'm Finnish, that's why. Nuppa means belly button. That's the extent of my knowledge along with a swear word or two. I would also like to go on a honeymoon with Bimmer Man before our pictures start to turn this color. Although, I do like it photoshopped like this, oddly enough. Last year, when we got married he left for an 8 week internship right away. Next year he starts working as a lawyer.

I've decided to grovel for a honeymoon. I don't know if it worked yet. But I tried.

So I took the day off tomorrow before the last year of Law School starts next week. It's a mini-moon.

And I'm SUPER EXCITED. We can go to the beach, read, walk, go running, whatever. I get Bimmer Man all to myself for 24 hours. Ha! Law School, take that!

PSH

Artichoke Stuffed Chicken with Goat Cheese

Measure out the dry ingredients first - you might or might not thank me later.
Here's all the ingredients. Chicken, goat cheese, lemon, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, artichoke hearts, and olive oil (not shown, oops). Disregard the women's daily vitamins and the Execedrin. Moving is a pain. Literally.
Then ponder the thought of why you're not strong enough to put together your kitchen island. And remember that Bimmer Man will be home in a few days. Not to worry, only live in chaos for a few days (but, this post has been created after Bimmer Man got home, so really I'm remembering back to the day that I made this). Mmmm... goat cheese. It's so dang good. Spread it over crackers and I'm in Heaven.
But then I'm hungry. So get the chips instead. This is going to be my dinner instead.

And reach into the bag... Dang, there's almost no chips left...
Mmmm... It's a good thing Target brand is Archer Farms. They make the best potato chips. I should probably go running.
And then toss them to the side. There's goat cheese and chicken 'awaitin' for me.
Roughly chop the artichoke hearts, just enough to be bite size and flattened so you can roll chicken around 'em.
But whatever you do, do not come over to my house and just stick your hand in a drawer. Do you see the knife? Um, yeah, I'm still waitin' for that island.

Toss most of the ingredients into a bowl (except the chicken).
You're supposed to use some zest. Well, who the heck knows where my zester is? So I used lemon juice instead. Still tastes pretty fabulous. No worries...
Mix all together. I bet if you added a block of cream cheese and a bit of cream, mixed it all up and stuck it in the oven, it'd be a fabulous artichoke dip. Next time, next time.
I don't have much counter space, so I actually stick kitchen utensils (except for knives) in my apron. My apron used to be used for my pottery days, but since I don't have a wheel, well, let's just say that it's been repurposed. AND that's why it has pockets!!!
I've kinda got a gut. I need to go running more. I hope my neighbors weren't watching through the window. Oh, where's my beer?

Yea, no beer. But there's chicken! Beat it to a pulp! It should be about 1/4 inch thick.
Then, since I don't want chicken guts on my camera, I'll skip a step for photographing. Put about 2 tablespoons of filling on the flat chicken, roll it up, secure with a toothpick and throw (well, gently set) the rolled up chicken in a VERY HOT PAN. For 4 minutes on each side.
Mmm... filling...
Turn and then after 4 minutes on each side, shove into the oven for 15 - 17 minutes.
And voila!

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Artichokes

Ingredients
2 1/2 tablespoons Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 (6-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 (3-ounce) package herbed goat cheese, softened

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine first 6 ingredients; stir well.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Top each breast half with 2 tablespoons cheese mixture; roll up jelly-roll fashion. Tuck in sides; secure each roll with wooden picks.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Wrap the handle of pan with foil, and bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until chicken is done.

Enjoy!

PSH

Barefoot Bloggers: Panzanella

My lovely island. Yes, yes, that is a granite slab on my island. I'm in love with kneading dough on it. Don't tell Bimmer Man that though, he might not like it...
Drink a cold beer while cook. Or have a glass of wine, whatever to get you in the mood of chopping. No, I didn't not take pics of all the chopping, why you ask? Well, because there's more chopping of veggies here than anywhere!

Cut your bread into one inch pieces. Mine are larger. Ha.
Chop your veggies into one inch pieces. I LOVE Peppers, so this was a fabulous recipe!
And tomatoes... Mmm.... This is really a great summer meal by itself. Take it to a picnic, but don't add the bread until the last minute - I'm not a squishy bread person, so that's the only downside of this.
Then make the viniagrette. I couldn't find Champagne vinegar, so I used white wine vinegar. Tasted great - so don't just go out and buy it if you don't have the money.
Brown the bread in a HUGE pan on your stove over medium heat. It took me exactly 12 minutes to get all the bread toasty.

Toss everything.
Add the bread at the very last minute. No sogginess for me!
And the mess.
Don't forget to look at the Barefoot Blogger's blog. There's more recipes along with a whole list of who's who.

Ina's Panzanella

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced

20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons capers, drained

For the vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

Enjoy!

PSH

Random Eats & Catching Up

It's time to play catch up with McTatty. Mostly because I've been gone for so long moving & packing and not having the internet I just can't wait to blog! Strangely enough, I've been missing my googlereader and the usual blogs that I read. Actually, I've been missing seeing updates on my own, weird, right? Um, that was a little too truthful.
I've been making a lot of homemade pizza lately. Not sure why - I think mostly because I enjoy the honey in my dough along with adding whatever I want - like pepperoni & green peppers. Mmm.... And if you don't like rolling out the dough - just toss it in your cast iron pan and push it out to the sides, punch down the middle and you're all set with a deep dish pizza.
And bruschetta. I now make bruschetta pizza (ok, so I just make the bruschetta and then toss it on top of the pizza...). And no, I did not have any french bread. Sorry. I had to use my Brownberry whole wheat... Actually, it wasn't too bad with mozzarella...
Favorite summer flavors so far - tomato, basil and garlic. I also love fresh salads, oh wait, you can have all these flavors in a salad! Ha!
And me in the morning. I like having breakfast. If I don't have breakfast I end up eating a Snicker's Bar around 10:30 and uh, that's not so healthy, right?
My lunches. Or breakfast. Or whatever. Eggs in a basket. Or Toads in a Hole. Whatever. Let's just say I NEED one of these every day. They're so good... fried toast & eggs in butter with salt & pepper. It's not healthy at all, but it is a great source of protein, right? And fiber if you use whole wheat bread? Well, let's just say that it's Heaven in a bite, especially with a runny yoke! Um, yeah, this is definitely healthy in my dreams!

PSH

BBQ Chicken Wraps

The NEW MCTATTY KITCHEN. Oh, and I bought a kitchen island. More pics of my digs to follow...
Roughly chop a tomato. I haven't gotten used to my new kitchen yet, pardon my pics while I test out my ISO...
Then bang the hell out of a chicken thigh or breast with your rolling pin. Definitely a stress reliever. Two if you're cooking for four. Just one tomato though - not everyone likes tomatoes.
Marinate your chicken for 15 minutes with Italian dressing. Not too long.
Lightly oil your grill OR grill pan, like me.

Grill approximately 7 - 9 minutes on each side or 6 - 8 minutes depending on your grill. I happen to have a stove that doesn't get as hot as my other one. It took me almost 10 minutes on each side. Oops, maybe I should've preheated my grill pan a bit longer...
Once grilled, slice the chicken thinly, spread BBQ sauce on the bottom of your tortilla, top with the chicken, tomatoes and cheese. Roll up like a burrito. But don't be like me and buy smaller tortillas - buy the big burrito tortillas.
Put on your already hot grill for 8 minutes on one side, then 5 minutes on the other side.
Oops, part of my tortillas broke. It helps if you warm them through first. But I was hungry. I didn't have time for microwaving them for 20 seconds.
Mmmm... let the cheese melt with the sauce and the chicken... and then enjoy! My new favorite meal! You can really make these with just about anything - just veggies, corn, browned ground beef if you have that, etc... I guess I do have to admit that I also eat pretty much anything when I'm hungry. If you put it in a tortilla, I'll eat it!

PSH

McTatty on Hiatus

Yep. Stupid AT&T. Don't ever call for customer service if you don't have to. I think that's all I have to say about that, which is why I've been on hiatus for the past week or so.

And I still can't figure out the stupid router that apparently is also able to get us wireless (um, duh, because that's what I asked for when I ordered the stupid internet, right?). So that's my next job to tackle along with getting a kitchen island home to McTatty's house. Rachael, I may be asking for your help with that. Actually, I'll even buy you booze - but not wine. Unless you want it.

Ok, back to the recipes...

PSH