Springs Awakening

 

Yesterday was the last day of winter and Drew and I decided to make a dinner to welcome springtime. The best parts of spring are the flavors that come with the season.  For Sunday dinner Drew and I decided to harnessed these fresh flavors in a delicious salad.

Ingredients:

– Lettuce of your choice

– Chicken (we seasoned with a garlic and herb rub)

– Shaved, toasted almonds

– One ear of corn, grilled

– Goat cheese (you could also use Feta cheese, but I prefer goat, because it has a light creamy quality)

– Avocado

– White Balsamic Vinaigrette (If you have a little extra time I would suggest a bacon vinaigrette to top off the salad, yummy!)

The salad was amazing and far superior to the SmashBurger we had yesterday; Drew and I have been regretting that decision for two days now… I am sure you can imagine.  I am so excited to see what veggies and flavors make their way into our springtime cooking this season.

Enjoy.

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie as Drew likes to refer to it every time we eat it!  Two weeks ago the meal of choice was chicken pot pie, however, we put our own spin on the recipe.  Instead of going for the pie crust, pie pan, fancy crust edges, we decided to go with biscuits.

I’ll be honest this wasn’t the most successful recipe to date, but it was a great recipe to learn and know what to do for the future.  We decided to pick out a few veggies: celery, corn, green beans, carrots, and broccoli.  You can pick anything you like, this is the benefit of making your own.  I don’t like peas, so peas were a no go where normally they are always in chicken pot pie.  This is also where we first went wrong – we decided to blanch some of the veggies where we should of instead sauteed or boiled a few to make them softer before cooking the pot pie.  Some of the veggies came out a bit crunchy.

The sauce that we mixed chicken and veggies in with was quite simple – 1 cup chicken broth and 1 can of cream of chicken broth.  Real easy and all you needed to add was a little pepper, the amount can be decided depending on how much of a kick you would like.

After mixing all the veggies and sauce we layered biscuits on top, however, we decided next time it would be best to cook the biscuits separately.  By layering the biscuits on top it was cause for the underside of the biscuits to not cook fully.

The dish over all was great, even with a few flaws, but it also provided a challenge for us to learn for future dishes.  Its chances like this where simple things can make a big differences.  Once perfecting the small things we can move on to bigger dishes.

Chicken pot pie was a great little dish from home as well as a learning lesson.

Bon appétit!

First Adventure

Day number one of my New Years resolution turned out wonderfully…. nothing caught on fire and nothing was burnt.

Bright and early Drew and I got up and went to Williams-Sonoma for our first cooking class.  It was time to learn how to grill.  Third in line got us right in front of the stove.  I loved it!  I was there with my man learning how to make delicious meals.  They made steak and chicken with some great grilled veggie.  Did you know its best to butterfly your chicken breasts when grilling them so they cook evenly?  I didnt’, but later that night when we made chicken, butterflying that chicken breast made me fell like a real chef!

Another tip, when you grill you should use a grilling oil as it has a lower smoke point.

After the class we of course had to spend $50 on new toys.  We will see if we get out next week with a few dollars still left in our pockets.

There is our delicious Panko and pecan breaded chicken with baked garlic Alfredo pasta!  Looking at this just reminds me how much I love to eat!

I love cooking for Drew, but there is something about cooking with him that makes me feel so close to him.  Without even having to say anything we both just found our spot and started cooking – it was great.  I started on the chicken and he started on the breading.  There is just something about cooking with my man that just makes me smile.  It’s good to know we worked well in the kitchen together, but it probably helped that we weren’t at my house in my tiny little one.

From cooking class in the morning, to picking out a recipe, and then putting fork to mouth, the day and the experience was perfect.  I can’t wait for next Sunday.

Hmm, what are we going to make then…?