Easy Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

Posted by CK in carrot, chicken, easy, potato, recipe

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As a New Year's resolution, A and I decided to work on our diet. He's been wanting to include healthier foods and essential nutrients in his diet, but when cooking isn't your favorite thing to do, that goal can be hard to achieve. That's why we decided that once a week - preferably on Sundays, we'd cook at least 4 full meals for the week - as we both like to indulge in a little take out once in a while or are often invited to family suppers.

In any case, last Friday was our first cooking day during which we prepared a lasagna, spinach pies, an amazing quinoa, sweet potato and broccoli soup recipe (our first guest blogger will be posting up this recipe very soon!), a pad thaï for that night's supper, as well as today's special: roasted chicken drumsticks with potatoes and carrots. To create this delectable meal for 6-8 portions, get:

• A large box of 15 chicken drumsticks
• 5 large Russett potatoes
• 4 large carrots
• 3/4 cup of olive oil

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 3-4 tbsp italian spices
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Put your drumsticks in a bowl and rince. Spread about 1/2 tbsp of salt on them and mix well.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Peel and cut your potatoes into cubes (or however you fancy your potatoes, cutting them in cubes makes for more portions).
4. Peel and cut your carrots into large slices.
5. Place your carrots and potatoes in a large roasting pan. Place the drumsticks over them.
6. Add a dash of pepper and your italian spices.
7. Cover the roaster and cook for approximately 2 hours, or until your chicken is cooked.

That's it. Easy peasy! The long part is mostly the cooking itself. It's a great meal to prepare in advance and freeze up. If you do pick that option, make sure your meal is cool before putting it in the freezer. Once you just can't wait to eat it anymore, take it out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge that morning. Before you eat it, put it back in the oven for about 20-30 minutes - or heat it up in the microwave.

Enjoy! :)

-CK

A Surprisingly Delicious Vermouth Cocktail

Posted by amanda in cocktail, easy, leftover

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Well the holidays have passed us by at last, and I hope yours were super. Mine sure were. The holidays do have a way of tapping out my liquor cabinet (okay...the "desk" that is covered with a "bar" instead of my "work"...whatever) though, leaving my household with strange remnants to mix together in time for our Californication marathons (when you REALLY need a stiff drink). Here's a fun little cocktail I concocted on one such evening with minimal ingredients (read: liquor leftovers...this is probably the first installment in a series of cocktail versions of what to do with the weird food left in your fridge), just in time for Duchovny!

•  Fill a Tom Collins (or in my case, wine) glass (cause I'm a class act) with ice. (Admittedly, my ice to liquor ratio is a little indulgent in the photograph...it's pretty potent flavorwise  though - especially if you have any hesitation about consuming vermouth as a base liquor...I sure don't ;) - so I think you'll appreciate the  extra ice)
• Add one part sweet vermouth to 1.5 parts Triple Sec 
• Fill the glass with Club Soda and a good squirt of lemon juice

Believe it or not, this tastes kind of like Coke, but warms the belly like nobody's business. 

Exciting Post-Holiday Broccoli Salad Update!!

Posted by amanda in brocolli, budget, dressing, easy, mayonaise, salad, vegetable, vegetarian

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So a few months back I posted a slapdash version (not that there's anything wrong with slapdash...amirite?) of my very own personal momma's broccoli salad - one that's been a holiday favorite chez our house since she made it for the first time a few years ago. So, this Christmas she asked me to make it to save her some chopping time, and sent me the recipe (no slapdashery at Reddick family Christmas). Much to my dismay I realized how very different her salad actually was from the one I'd put together here. BUT this can be good! Cause that one's yummy...and so is this one!


This salad takes a little chopping time, but the ingredients keep nicely once chopped. After this Christmas no less than SEVERAL boys asked me for this recipe. BOYS asked for SALAD. So, you know it's good :)

This is the body of the salad, but the original also calls for bacon. Probably a shit ton of bacon.

1 large head broccoli (or, two small heads) (cut into small pieces)
2 cups red grapes (cut in half)
1 cup celery (large dice)
1/2 cup onion (minced as thin as you can)
2/3 cup slivered almonds (lightly toasted)

I doubled that for our family dinner of 13 guests. Notably, this salad keeps fairly well, and makes a great lunch, (probably even greater with aforementioned bacon) so it's nice to make up a double batch and keep it in the fridge.

Try not to think about the dressing too much: it's a combination of mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. The amounts are sort of up to personal taste, though it's mostly mayonnaise.


To dress the doubled ingredients, you're looking at roughly:

1 cup of mayonnaise
1/3 cup of sugar (though I always use a little less of this than even I call for here)
2 tablespoons of vinegar


Add it to your mix of veggies in spoonfuls only until it's as coated as you like it - I find that these amounts are the easiest to get the right tangy to sweet proportion of, but make a bit too much dressing to actually use. Another suggestion then, is to just keep these proportions in mind, and sort of wing it with the dressing, tasting as you go. It always turns out delicious, so don't sweat it :) I'll post a picture of mine the next time I make it (M ate all the leftovers, which is a very very good sign).




Add in the toasted almonds last.

 Happy (late) new year from Stute Kitchen! Stay tasty ;)

Tasty Bruschetta

Posted by CK in bruschetta, finger food, recipe, tomato, vegetarian

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As you may have noticed while reading our blog, our group of friends is very big on potlucks. With recipes such as our Light Veggie Dip and our Spinach, Pair and Parmesan salad, our get togethers are always quite tasteful.

But when you need to bring a plate of food to a whole bunch of hungry men for Hockey Night in Canada, you need to make sure that the food you bring is finger licking good. As such, I prepared a nice bowl of bruschetta for the event, served with a toasted baguette. This recipe is sure to please your bunch of hungry men! ;)


Ingredients (yields around 24 portions):

• 6-7 tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2.5 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tsp dry basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 french baguette
• margarine/butter

How to:

1. Boil the tomatoes for 1 minute in boiling water just removed from the burner, then drain the water and remvoe the skins off the tomatoes. (that's probably the most tedious part. Don't worry if you didn't remove ALL the skin. Just remove as much as you can)
2. Cut your peeled tomatoes in halves then in quarters and remove the seeds and juice from the center. (I won't lie, that's also tedious...)
3. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
4. Chop your tomatoes finely.
5. Put the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt and paper, and basil in a bowl and mix well. Adjust your dressing portions depending on your taste.
6. Cut your baguette into slices and coat one side with margarine/butter. Place on a cookie sheet, margarine/butter side down and toast for 5-6 minutes.

I will admit that the tomato cutting part takes longer than expected. I'd safely put aside around 1 hour to prepare this recipe. Once it's ready though, serve and enjoy your friends' faces while they eat up your cooking skills! :)

- CK

Olive Oil tips from Metro Ontario

Posted by amanda in healthy, olive oil, tips

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 Via the good people at Metro Ontario this morning!

Olive oil is a healthier alternative to butter and hydrogenated oils because it’s high in monounsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients? Keep these tips in mind to get the most out of your olive oil:

1. Choose a "virgin" or "extra virgin" olive oil, not "refined"
2. Store in a dark, room-temperature cupboard, or in the refrigerator to preserve nutrients
3. Try to use within six months or at most a year of opening the bottle, as it can degrade over time
4. Olive oil loses much of its flavor when used in high-temperature cooking.

At home, M and I tend to use olive oil in just about everything, because we have limited cupboard space and it's usually what I pick up at the store (coincidentally, at our local Metro). Keep in mind though, that olive oil does have a distinct flavor, and so if you're going to use it in non-savory foods (i.e. breakfast pancakes, chez nous), try to pick up a variation that indicates it has a light flavor rather than an full-flavored olive oil. Olive oil is vunderbar, but it tends to clash with maple syrup ;)