Monday, July 15, 2013

good stuff

You guys, I have three exciting things to tell you about today and only two of them are related.  The other one is ridiculously unrelated, but I had to tell you about it before we go on vacation later this week because otherwise I'll probably forget.  So here goes...

Guess what I did all weekend???  Looked at pictures of the three sweetest newborns around!  My sister-in-law had her triplets on Friday morning!  These three babies and their mama are truly an amazing miracle.  It was a roller coaster journey from the beginning, but in the end, Krista walked into the delivery room at almost 37 weeks and delivered three healthy, beautiful babies.  I'm so amazed by what she and her husband have been through and how they handled it all, and I'm beside myself excited to see them and spend lots of time with my buddy Grayson in a few weeks.  Welcome to the world Isla, Sydney, and Charlie!  We are SO glad you're here!  (P.s. I would so love to post a photo, but since I haven't asked permission yet, I'm not going to.  Maybe soon!  But believe me...they're super cute.)

In related news, I finished knitting my second triplet blanket yesterday!  With about three rows to go on the next-to-last triangle, I ran out of yarn a couple weeks ago, and then my yarn shop was closed for a week over the fourth of July.  So while I was waiting to get more yarn, I started the third one which is about halfway done. 

 Here's the first one which I now know is Charlie's.

 And here's the second one which will go to Sydney.


Which means that I'm knitting away in every spare moment on little Isla's blanket.  You can see my progress above.

I won't have any trouble getting this one done before we visit them in a few weeks, and I can't wait to give them to my sweet nieces and nephew.  Now I just have to pick a blanket pattern to make for their big brother since I wasn't knitting yet when he was born a couple years ago.  Time for him to have one, too! 


So now we go from new babies and finished knitting projects for said babies to...chicken.  Yes, chicken.  Told you it was ridiculously unrelated!  But I made some really good roast chicken on Saturday night, and I think you need to know about it before I forget.  Here's the recipe:

Skillet Rosemary Chicken
from Great Easy Meals by Food Network Magazine

3/4 lb red potatoes, halved or quartered
salt
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove, smashed
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 lemons
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
4 chicken breasts - skin-on, bone-in
10 ounces of cremini mushrooms, halved

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put potatoes in a pot and cover them with cold salted water.  Bring them to a boil and cook until tender (about 8 minutes) and drain.  Set aside.

Mince the rosemary leaves and garlic, then add the red pepper flakes and 2 tsp of salt.  Mash and mince into a paste, and then put the paste into a bowl.  Stir in the juice of one lemon and the extra-virgin olive oil.  Brush over the chicken.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and add the chicken, skin-side down.  Cook until the skin browns, then turn it over and add the potatoes and mushrooms to the skillet.  Squeeze the remaining lemon over the chicken.  Transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Enjoy!

Notes:  I had picked up a package of skin-on, bone-in chicken with two breasts and four legs so that's what I used.  Since I had run out of fresh garlic, instead of making the paste, I seasoned the skin-side of the chicken with the following:  salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, and fresh rosemary.  My cast-iron skillet isn't big enough to hold all the chicken that I had, so I worked in batches, browning the breasts first, then the legs in olive oil on all sides, and transferring them to a cookie sheet.  I put the chicken at one end and the unboiled (I just cut the potatoes and mushrooms up pretty small so they would roast in the same amount of time as the chicken) potatoes and mushrooms at the other end.  I squeezed lemon juice down over everything, poured some olive oil and a ton of chopped rosemary over the potatoes and mushrooms. Then I put the squeezed lemons onto the cookie sheet, too, and threw the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes.  The chicken was juicy, the skin was crisp, the legs were perfect.  I will definitely be making this again!


The chicken was perfect over field greens with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. 


Oh!  I just remembered something else I wanted to tell you.  The sunflowers are back!  The other night after the kids were in bed, I went out and picked up a couple of vanilla cokes for me and Will.  On the way back I pulled in, put my dollar in the mailbox, and wandered through the flowers. 




It was, indeed, heaven.

Hope you have a great start to your week!  I'll be back on Thursday to tell you all about our upcoming vacation!  

P.s.  Happy happy birthday to my best friend, Molly!  Love you girl :)

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