Rosemary Balsamic Apricot Glazed Chicken Thighs

June 21, 2015June 21, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ 2 Comments

Happy Father’s Day!

Want to really impress your dad/husband? Make these delicious chicken thighs and make your father’s day extra special! What makes these thighs special is the mouthwatering combination of fragrant rosemary, tangy balsamic, and sweet apricot preserves.

These babies are a definite crowd pleaser and super easy to make!

Rosemary Balsamic Apricot Glazed Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

1 Cup Apricot Preserves
2 Tablespoons Thick Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons Rosemary (Chopped)
1 Teaspoon Crushed Red Peppers
Kosher Salt
Pepper
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
4-6 Chicken Thighs (Boneless and Skinless)*

Step 1:

Remove the chicken from the package, rinse with warm water and pat dry with paper towels.

Step 2:

Season the chicken liberally with kosher salt and pepper and set aside

Step 3:

In a small bowl, mix together the apricot preserves, balsamic, rosemary, and red peppers together. Spoon about half the mixture over the chicken thighs. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and set in fridge for at least half an hour.

(The longer in sits, the more flavor it will soak up!)

Step 4:

When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the chicken out of the fridge while the oven heats up. Place chicken in oven safe dish or pan. Cook for 45-50 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F.

*If you want to use chicken thighs with the bone in, cook for 50-60 minutes.

Step 5:

While the chicken is cooking, take the remaining marinade and place in a sauce pan. Combine with the half a cup of chicken broth and bring to a boil.

When the mixture is hot, pour a little of the hot liquid out into a small bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir until cornstarch dissolves. Pour back into marinade and chicken broth mixture. Lower the heat, and let simmer.

Step 6:

When the chicken is cooked, remove the oven and and cover with the sauce. Serve and enjoy!

#TwoYoungLadies Get Herbal (Gardening That Is)

June 21, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

After years of talking about it, we finally decided to plant an herb garden! We know if Ina cared, she would be so proud. We went to Lowes and bought, tons of rosemary, sweet basil, purple basil (WHAAAT), flat leaf parsley, onion chives, and a Roma tomato plant! We actually want to go back and get more! Who knew gardening was so fun!

We’ll see how it turns out, and hopefully we have green thumbs and not killer thumbs. We already named our plants Baahsil the Basil Plant, Rosemarie the Rosemary, Annyong the Onion Chives, Fehttuchini the Flat Leaf Parsley, and Tony the Tomato.

Here’s our car filled with our wonderful smelling herbs!

Our flat leaf parsley!

Basil! Who does’t love the smell of basil?! And basil means fresh pesto!

Even better than basil? Rosemary! Anytime we see rosemary we always end up touching it and smelling it….that sounds weird. But lets be real, we all do that. Our tiny little chives! How adorable!

Bonus picture: Tyrion the Turtle. We spotted this little fella on our jog around Lake Hollywood. We’re not sure what he was doing, but he was using his back legs to dig, or break dance. Who knows, we’ll see if he’s there tomorrow.

Homemade Pickles

June 19, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday! Today’s recipe is a fun one, homemade pickles! After going to Joan’s on Third and falling in love with their pickles we were determined to figure out a way to make them at home.

What’s great about homemade pickles, is that you can basically season them the way you like. Don’t like mustard seeds? Add juniper berries! Not a fan of garlic? Well, now, that’s just crazy! Who doesn’t like garlic? Only crazy people that’s who, unless you’re allergic, then that’s okay.

Anyways, this recipe is pretty awesome (if we don’t say so ourselves) and we think they’re actually better than Joan’s on Third! Sorry, Joan.

Happy Pickling!

TYL’s DIY Pickles

Ingredients

2 lb’s Pickling Cucumbers*
1 White Onions (Sliced)
2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
2 Cups White Vinegar
4 Cups Water
1 1/2 White Sugar
3 Tablespoons Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Celery Seeds
1 to 2 Tablespoons Garlic (Chopped)
1/4 Cup Fresh Dill (Chopped)
1 1/2 Tablespoons Mustard Seed (Yellow)

*You can also use Persian Cucumbers or English Cucumbers

Step 1:

Either using a mandolin or a knife, slice the cucumbers to your thickness liking. Mix the kosher salt. Place the pickles in a colander and let the liquid drain out for about thirty minutes.

Step 2:

After thirty minutes, rise and dry the cucumbers. Mix with onions and set aside in a bowl (or if you have them, two glass mason jars)

Step 3:

In a large sauce pan, mix together: vinegar, water, sugar, salt, celery seeds, garlic, dill, and mustard seed. Bring to a boil, add more salt or sugar if needed.

Step 4:

Transfer mixture to a heat proof container and let cool to room temperature. When cool, pour the liquid over the cucumbers. Cover the jars, and place in the fridge and let cool completely.

Beef Wellington Day

June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ 3 Comments

According to the King of the kitchen, Gordon Ramsay, it’s National Beef Wellington Day! Who knew! If we had known, we would have prepared more but alas we didn’t, so we have a picture from our glorious trip to Vegas from a few years back.

After spending hours watching Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef, and any other Gordon show, we realized we needed to try his Beef Wellington. Well not his, cause we knew he wouldn’t be cooking for us personally, but you get the idea.

We booked our table at Gordon Ramsay Steak, at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and from the moment we got there, we knew it was love at first sight. We were seated on the balcony looking at an abstract art light installation of Gordon Ramsay’s hands while he makes his signature Wellington.

Fun right? Here’s our menus!

And that i-Pad in the background? Our drink menu. That Gordon is so progressive, saving trees by using i-Pads!

A traditional and delicious Pimm’s Cup, we could have sucked those bad boys back, but alas we are ladies, and not big drinkers so one drink was enough. But a delicious drink. After we ordered our drinks, the meat cart came to our table.

Terrible photo, but that right there is a tray full of meat. These are all the different cuts of meat they offer. Pretty, but that wasn’t what we came for, we came for that sexy Beef Wellington.

So we ordered two Beef Wellingtons and two of Gordon’s classic Caesar Salads.

Small, yet totally satisfying. And we both tried the Scotch Eggs, not bad either. Not long after finishing the salad, our beautiful, mouth watering Beef Wellington was brought out to us.

Can you hear that? That’s the sounds of angels singing, the heavens opening and the light shining down upon this beautiful plate. We have never tasted something so beautiful. Just thinking and looking at it has our mouths watering. The puff pastry was flaky, buttery, and gold brown, and the inside was so tender and moist. The steak was the most beautiful color of red, it was perfect.

Unfortunately, we wanted to save room for sticky toffee pudding, so we took our leftovers to go. And what’s even sadder, is we left them in the hotel room the day we left!

Since we tried Beef Wellington, we have been itching to make it, and we plan to, SOON, so stay tuned!

Traditional Pork Carnitas

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ 1 Comment

Happy Pre Taco Thursday! Today’s recipe is not only easy, but super delicious and a definite crowd pleaser.

We made these for a family dinner and everyone loved them! Did you know that carnitas translates to “little meats” and is typically made by braising the pork in oil or traditionally lard. Obviously our recipe doesn’t involve cooking the pork in lard or oil, but cooking it in the next best thing: BEER!

Remember when you get your pork shoulder/butt don’t trim the fat! The fat helps keep it juicy and gives it SO MUCH FLAVOR.

Traditional Pork Carnitas

Ingredients

6 pounds of pork shoulder/or butt
Kosher Salt
3 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
2 Bottles of Modelo or Your Favorite Beer
2 Cinnamon Sticks
2 Bay Leaves
2 Teaspoons Chipotle Chili Powder
2 Teaspoons Chili Powder
1/4 Teaspoons Cumin
4 to 5 Tablespoons Garlic (Minced)

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Step 2:

Depending on the size of your meat, you may want to cut the meat into manageable size chunks. Season both sides of the pork liberally with kosher salt.

Step 3:

In a cast iron pot/dutch oven/or pot, heat your vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, brown all sides of the pork. Remove from the pan and and blot them dry with paper towels.

Step 4:

Pour in two cups of beer to deglaze the bottom of the pan of all the delicious brown bits. Next add the cinnamon sticks, the bay leaves, chili powders, cumin and garlic. Stir until everything is mixed together.

Step 5:

Next, add the pork back to the pot. If needed add a little bit more beer (or water if you’re out) to cover the pork about two/thirds of the way. Place in the oven uncovered for about 3.5 hours.

Step 6:

When the meat is ready, remove the meat to a platter and let cool. Strain the cooking liquid and return to the pot. Skim as much fat off the top as you can. Turn on the heat and bring the liquid to a boil and then lower the temperature.

Step 7:

While the liquid is reducing, allow the meat to cool until you can handle it. Shred the meat. Return the meat to the pot with the reduce liquid and serve.

Rosemary Butter

June 13, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ 3 Comments

Like our Rosemary Salt, rosemary butter is the absolute best. It can be used with almost anything. And if rosemary’s not your thing, you can use your favorite herb, parsley, dill, tarragon, thyme, you get the picture.

We used ours with mashed potatoes, beef burgundy (can’t spell the original name, and I’m too lazy to spell check/check google, Christie is currently yelling at me for being so lazy) boeuf bourguignon, minestrone soup, basically everything we’ve made recently, this butter was used.

Rosemary Butter

Ingredients

1 Stick Salted Butter (Room Temperature)
Fresh Rosemary (Finely Chopped)

Step 1:

Make sure your butter is a room temperature. Put the butter in a bowl and slightly break it down.

Step 2:

Next, add the chopped rosemary. Mix until combined. Place in the fridge until set, or use immediately.

Nutella Oatmeal Risotto

June 12, 2015June 12, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

Old Fashioned Oatmeal never seemed so sexy! This dish is a guilty pleasure; it’s so creamy like a risotto, the trick is to keep stirring it on medium low heat.

The texture comes out almost soufflé -like. The flavor is basically a Nutella churro, if you don’t like that, you might have burned off your taste buds. Again, you’re welcome.

Nutella Oatmeal Risotto

Ingredients

1-2 Tbs of Nutella (don’t hesitate to use more)
1/2 cup of old fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of water
cinnamon
vanilla extract

Step 1:

Heat up milk and water in a saucepan.

Step 2:

While it’s heating, add the Nutella, cinnamon, and vanilla. Whisk it all together.

Step 3:

When liquid is boiling, add the oatmeal. Stir constantly for 5 minutes, or until it’s thickened.

Step 4:

Plate it and dust some powdered sugar on top. It’s addictive!

Rosemary Salt

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ Leave a comment

So you bought a bushel of rosemary to make a delicious meal, but what do you do with all that extra rosemary? Make rosemary salt of course! DUH!

You can feel extra fancy and use this rosemary salt for so many savory things, make a soup with it or use it as a garnish salt, either way you will love it. Don’t love rosemary, try this recipe with thyme, basil, dill or whatever floats your boat!

Rosemary Salt

Ingredients

1 Cup Kosher Salt
3 to 4 Large Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary (use more if you want)

Step 1:

Chop the rosemary finely.

Step 2:

Place one cup of Kosher Salt and the chopped rosemary to a mini food processor. Pulse until combined.

Step 3:

Use on basically everything.

Bacon-Apple Jalapeño Poppers

June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 ~ Marlee And Christie ~ 2 Comments

Today’s recipe actually comes from one of our favorite Food Network Stars, Aarti Sequoia. These Bacon-Apple Jalapeño Poppers are the absolute best.

Anything wrapped in bacon is awesome, but the combination of spicy jalapeño filled with green apples, green onions and cream cheese all wrapped up in salty bacon is just a slam dunk!

Bacon-Apple Jalapeño Poppers

Ingredients

1 8oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
6 green onions (roots sliced off, fine dice)
1 large Granny Smith apple (finely diced)
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
20 large jalapeños
20 strips thick cut bacon (cut into halves)

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a sheet pan with foil, parchment or a slip mat.

Step 2:

In a large bowl, stir the cream cheese until begins to break down. Add the apples and the green onions. At this time, stir in some fresh cracked pepper and a pinch of kosher salt.

Step 3:

Wearing a pair of gloves (THIS IS IMPORTANT), slice the jalapeños lengthwise. Next, deseed them by either cutting out the membrane or scoop it out using a small spoon.

Step 4:

Using a pastry bag (or our handy ziplock/pastry bag tip), pipe the filling into the hollowed out jalapeños. Then, wrap the jalapeños with the bacon pieces. Secure the bacon to the jalapeños using a toothpick.