my Momma gave me a roasting pan for Christmas. roasted chicken was first on my list! and since I was trying something new anyway, I also attempted giblet gravy...fabulous! a tad time consuming, but EASY AS PIE. unfortunately, I have issues with thickening sauces, so my gravy was a little thin. learn patience (I have NONE) and yours will probably turn out beautifully thick.
and a big shout out of THANKS, Mom! for recommending I cover my chicken instead of following classical roasting methods...it was the most moist bird I've ever eaten.
this was the most fun I've had cooking in a long time. a co-worker gave me this recipe. and by gave, I mean she gave me a list of ingrediants and I had to figure out measurements. LOL my end result didn't taste quite as good as hers, but still...I'm proud of how it turned out. so here's what I came what with, adjust if you wish.
you want simple and tasty? oh, I gots simple and tasty. in fact, it is soo tasty that while Doug was eating it, he was muttering under his breath every other bite: "goddamn this is good."
so, take it from Doug ....TASTY!! and oh, yeah? did I mention simple? no notes on this one, tis perfect just the way it is. now, pardon me. I have leftover creamy wonderfulness to go scarf.
last night I got to try something new! butterflying chicken breasts. and I totally did it wrong, I found out later thanks to google. but whatever, it worked.
this recipe smelled wonderful and tasted even better. make sure you make the sauce, because it really brings it home. also, a tip? I cut each slice of cheese into four pieces and rolled the ham around them to make a tube...helped hold the cheese IN the chicken a tad. enjoy!
Pee. Ess. the broccoli? fresh from my friends' garden and FABULOUS.
lookey!! another chinese recipe! and also? another chicken recipe. :) I didn't change a damn thing on this, because it didn't need it. twas fabulous just the way it was.
I was really surprised at how good this turned out...not that I don't adore chicken and broccoli and anything that puts them together...I wasn't too sure about the "crust". but bread crumbs and butter? they make a FABULOUS crust. next time? try cream of chicken soup (dispite my love of broccoli, I don't really like cream of broccoli soup...it tastes OLD) and MORE BREAD CRUMB CRUST. much, much more.
oh, and also? I seasoned the chicken with season salt while cooking it. (in a skillet, with butter, sauteed...or whatever you like to do to your chicken)
making dinner last night was an adventure, to say the least. I had a terrible case of the dropsies. went to swirl the pan to coat the oil one last time before adding my steaks...and promptly spilled half of the HOT OIL right onto my kitchen floor. and also? I dropped the pan of potatoes and lost a third. methinks I need to mop my poor floor tonight when I get home.
but dispite my mishaps, this turned out delicious. I've always been intimidated by pan gravy, but I done did a good job this time. the only thing I screwed up is I didn't have the oil hot enough when I added my steaks (to sear them...see the point about spillage above) so they came out a tad greasy...but the gravy was HEAVEN.
this is another recipe I snagged from Southern Plate. check out the original for halarious commentary and a much more thorough explanation.
anyone who doesn't love chicken and dumplings is completely un-American, in my very humble opinion. the original recipe is courtesy of Southern Plate, which is an awesome recipe site if you haven't discovered it already.
the only deviation I made to her recipe was adding onion. next time I think I will try doubling the sauce (surprise surprise) and adding onion, carrots, and celery to the liquids before heating them. YUM!!!
pee.ess. normally I try taking a photo of the food both in the pot and plated...this time? I was too busy ENJOYING this wonderful recipe, so I totally forgot the whole photo-ing thing. so you only get the pot.
I LOVE me some chicken. I also love me some red sauce and pasta. so Chicken Parmigiana has to be one of best things going, as far as I'm concerned.
I used chicken cutlets instead of whole breasts, and I didn't have any mozarella so I subbed monterey jack, and it still turned out awesome. 
actually, I first tried this recipe with chicken breasts, and it fast became my favorite way to make breaded chicken. and OMG. the pork version is EVEN BETTER. who knew? I might have stuffed myself with more than one chop...might.have. but I challenge you to make this recipe and then keep yourself from turning into a pig. I don't think you can do it.
(wanna try it with chicken breasts? same ingrediants, same cook temperature, just check breasts a little sooner to make sure they don't dry out! AWESOMENESS!)
this is one of Doug 's favorite dishes to get when we go to an Italian restaurant, so of course I had to try making it at home. it was rediculously easy, and the results were quite fabulous. I didn't add the mushrooms (hey, I'm "allergic") and next time I think I will try adding grilled chicken and maybe making more of the sauce. you can NEVER have too much sauce, in my opinion.
I was beyond excited to try this recipe, and it didn't disappoint. it is fanfuckingtabulous! I (kinda) doubled it and cooked it in a large stock pan. and by kinda doubled it, I mean I forgot to get 2lbs of chicken and an extra can of broth...so I used 1 can of broth, made up a batch of broth from boullion cubes, and said "screw it" on the extra chicken. (I doubled it because I didn't want to be hassled with splitting a box of noodles in half...have we mentioned my laziness?)
who doesn't LOVE anything remotely close to Chinese food? not I, I can tell you that. and this recipe has the added bonus of being shhh! *looks around nervously* healthy! I mean, it has broccoli!! and carrots!!
by Americanized, I mean that authentic Sheppard's Pie calls for sausage or mutton or some such. hell, I don't know. I'm not from England. 
I know this looks like a mish mash of ingrediants...because it is. I was a tad leary myself trying it (I despise tomato soup) but I tried it anyway because it seemed like a good, hearty meal. and it was.
the only deviation I made to the recipe was using a tub of mashed potatoes instead of the "4 potatoes"....let's face it, I can be pretty damn lazy. who wants to peel, boil, and mash potatoes if they don't have to? but it worked, and it was good.
this is by far the best thing I have ever cooked, and I am quite proud of the results. not only did it taste like the real thing, but it was super easy. when I first mixed the liquids and tasted them, I wasn't sure I was going to like the outcome. but once I added them to the beef and broccoli, the liquids picked up their flavor and tasted fabulous!
my only complaint was that it coulda used more broccoli. and next time I will try adding carrots and onions as well.
this is my first attempt at making chinese. LOL it isn't "authentic", but its damn good. pretty easy but a little time consuming...plan on at least 45 minutes. YUM!!