Sunday, August 23, 2009

Brick Chicken




This week I stepped out on All Recipes and tried two new dishes from the recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine. The first was Chicken al Mattone, which is a whole chicken roasted under a foil wrapped brick. The trick is that you have to remove the backbone so it lays flat. I have never cut up a raw chicken before. It was gross! I didn't have a brick, so I used a cast iron pan filled with foil wrapped rocks for added weight.

We ran out of propane sometime during the roasting process- which I didn't realize until the cooking time was up! We hooked up a new tank and I had to guess at the rest of the cooking time, with the help of a meat thermometer. It was the best roasted chicken I have ever had!

The second recipe from the magazine was Schnitzel-wiches, which was really easy- a pork schnitzel on a bun with lettuce and tomato- plus it's really fun to say a bunch of times!

Other meals this week were Mexican Ravioli and Edamame Won Tons with mexican-asian stir fried vegetables on the side. (Thanks to all of the suggestions on the recipe exchange!!) I also made French Onion soup, Borscht, and finished with pizza night. T has been begging me to make a coconut cream pie, so we had that for dessert last night. I couldn't believe that it cost almmost $10 to make it home made! The grocery had frozen ones for about $8, but I think making it fresh was worth it! I spent a total of $72 this week, so $33 into vacation fund!!

I don't have meal phots this week, so I'm sharing the view again from the villa we are house sitting. This week Hurricane Bill passed about 400 miles from us, so we got some storm bands coming through.

Have a great week everyone!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Off the Boat and House Sitting


What a relaxing week I have had! Husband T took over the menu challenge this week ($15/day, breakfast and dinner, food and drink), and planned, shopped , and cooked every day. We had some great meals- Sunday was pot roast and vegetables in the slow cooker, Monday spinach salad, Tuesday veggie lasagne (with an extra pan for the freezer!), Wednesday bbq beef sandwiches from the leftover roast with carmelized carrots, and Thursday was samosas made from the leftover slow cooker veggies- apples, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, and peas. He bought crescent rolls on sale and stuffed them with the veggies, adding cumin and curry. He deep fried the first couple...SO GOOD. The dough was literally melting in our mouths. It was too decadent. He baked the remainder in the oven...so good, but being a grease freak I preferred the deep fried! He served the dueling samosas with a sauce made of sour cream, avocado, hummus,and hot peppers, along with seamed broccoli and jasmine rice.

Wow! T can take over the menu anytime! At this point he is about $20 under budget. We are having dinner out tonight, and he's bought some pork chops for dinner Saturday. He also bought some random items on sale that will set me up nicely for my menu next week...evn if I can beat his $$, nothing beats hubby in the kitchen for a week!

Assembling the veggie lasagne


Deep Fried Samosas (center) versus baked...I vote for fried!