Lemon and Sage Chicken

It was a perfect evening to grill and eat in the garden tonight. The Miss Kim Lilac in the background of the second photo has the whole backyard filled with fragrance.
The menu included a new chicken recipe from Cooking Light magazine for Lemon and Sage Chicken...
served with grilled sweet potatoes and fresh fruit it was a perfect dinner.
The view wasn't bad either!

Lemon and Sage Chicken
from the June issue of Cooking light magazine and also their website.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 breast pieces or 1 leg and 1 thigh)
Ingredients

* 1 (4-pound) roasting chicken
* 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
* 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1/3 cup Sauternes or other dessert white wine
* 1/4 cup minced fresh sage leaves
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 large garlic cloves, grated
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Cut the chicken into drumsticks, thighs, and breasts; cut each breast in half crosswise to form 4 breast pieces total. Reserve wings and back for another use.

2. Combine rind and next 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl, and stir with a whisk. Place juice mixture in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt.

3. Prepare grill to medium-high heat. After preheating, turn the left burner off (leave the right burner on), or arrange charcoal on one side of grill for indirect heat.

4. Place chicken on grill rack covering right burner; grill over direct heat 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. Move chicken to grill rack covering left burner; grill over indirect heat 10 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°. Discard chicken skin.

My Notes: I used chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken because that was what I in the freezer. I can't wait to try it again with chicken breasts, the meat was so tender and wonderful tasting. Jeff worked late so it marinated for 2 1/2 hours rather than one.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

Baked French Toast...

This recipe came from my sister, Renae. She emailed it as a "thumbs up" recipe so I knew it was one we had to try.

Baked French Toast

1 loaf French bread (13-16 oz size)
8 large eggs
2 cups half and half
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of salt

Slice French bread into 1 inch slices
Arrange slices in a buttered 9x13 baking dish
In a large bowl combine eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and beat with a whisk or beater
Pour mixture over bread, Put extra mix in between slices
Cover with foil and refrigerate over night

Praline topping
2 tbsp butter
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoon of corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in med bowl and blend well.
Preheat oven 350. Spread topping over the bread and bake for 40-50 min until puffed and lightly golden and serve with maple syrup or fruit sauce.

Renae was right - this one received a thumbs up from 6 friends from church as well as Jeff & myself.

The raspberry/white chocolate scones pictured, I have blogged before. They are our personal favorite and you can find the recipe here from Ann of Thibeault's Table.

jam & toast...

My favorite breakfast is homemade bread toasted with homemade jam. Last week's bag of rhubarb was used in the previously posted muffins, rhubarb bread and rhubarb-raspberry jam. I know bread machines are not used by many bakers these days with the popularity of 5-minute breads but I still use and love mine. When I saw the Rhubarb Bread for the bread machine recipe on Beth's Favorite Recipes I knew I had to give it a try. The freezer jam is one I have made for years both in the raspberry and strawberry versions.

Rhubarb Bread for the Bread Machine
from the blog, Beth's Favorite Recipes

Rhubarb Bread for Bread Machine
1 1/2 lb loaf

1 C. chopped rhubarb
1 C. water
1/2 t. finely shredded orange peel
2 T. butter or margarine
2 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. bread flour
3 T. brown sugar
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. active dry yeast

Procedure:
In medium saucepan combine rhubarb and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 min. or till rhubarb is tender. Measure rhubarb-water mixture and add water if necessary to equal 1 1/3.C Cool slightly. Add ingredients to machine according to manufacturer's direction.

My Notes: this bread tastes wonderful especially toasted but I made it as posted and it didn't raise as tall as I would have liked. I have this happen with all the wheat flour recipes in my machine unless I add gluten which I didn't have on hand. Beth's notes say she used all white flour so I definitely will make this again using all white flour. If you have the same problem with your machine adjust accordingly.

Rhubarb Raspberry (or Strawberry) Jam
(written on a scrap of paper in my recipe collection - I have been making this for 30 years so I don't remember where it came from)

6 cups diced rhubarb
3 cups sugar
1 package raspberry or strawberry jello
1 bag frozen raspberries or strawberries (the individual flash frozen kind)

Mix the sugar & rhubarb together in a medium sized kettle and let sit for 1-2 hours so some of the juices from the rhubarb mix with the sugar. Heat to boiling and let simmer until rhubarb is cooked and breaking apart about 10-12 minutes. If using strawberries add them about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time and if using raspberries add them add them at the very end and reheat to boiling (you want the strawberries to break down a little and you want the raspberries to not turn to mush). Add the package of jello, stir until completely combined and then take off heat. The jam will thicken as it cools. Put into containers and store in refrigerator or freezer.

My notes: as all those old handwritten recipes go this one is vague on package sizes. I used the small package of jello this time and the jam is not as thick as usual. I do think I used a larger package of berries than usual so I should have used the larger package of jello. This is so good I would eat it with a spoon if I had to - but it is still spreadable consistency :)

Now I need to get another bag of rhubarb to try those bars on Beth's site and I still have to make my favorite rhubarb-pineapple sauce & Jeff's favorite rhubarb crisp! I did add a plant to my own garden this year but have to wait another year for it to get established for my first harvest.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

tea for one...

I got a bag of rhubarb today from a friend because I wanted to make my favorite rhubarb jam. Since I had extra I decided to try out a few new recipes including this one for Sticky Rhubarb Muffins from the Rhubarb Info.com website. It was the perfect opportunity to use one of my vintage fruit plates that I found in an antique store in Texas. The stamp on the back reads Bordallo Pinheiro LDA Caldas Da Rainha, Made in Portugal.


Sticky Rhubarb Muffins
from rhubarbinfo.com
Ingredients:

4 T Butter
6 T Dark brown sugar
1 c Rhubarb; cut in small dice

Dough:

4 T Butter, softened
1/4 c Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 c All-purpose flour
1 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/4 ts Salt
1/2 ts Nutmeg
1/2 c Milk
Grated rind of 1 orange

Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, mix the butter into the brown sugar roughly. Stir in the rhubarb. Distrubute this mixture evenly into 12 muffin cups.

Cream the softened butter and the sugar together, then beat in the egg. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together thoroughly, then add the butter-sugar mixture alternately with the milk. Do not overmix. Stir in the orange rind. Pour equal amounts of the batter into the muffin cups. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 25 minutes. Let cool in the pans 5 minutes, then invert the muffin tins and ease the muffins out so that the sticky glaze remains intact. Serve warm, with glaze topside.

Marsha - Thumbs halfway UP (the sticky tops were not as "sticky" as I imagined them to be - most of the brown sugar mixture bubbled up an over the edges of the muffin pan and I'm not sure they were worth having to clean out the oven).
Jeff - not home at tea time, he will try them later.

Looks like I wasn't the only one having tea for one today :)

Breakfast for one...

Recently, the Pioneer Woman posted about making cinnamon toast the right way and I knew I wanted to try it. Then yesterday, Beth (Beth's Favorite Recipes) posted it and said it was the BEST so this morning I just had to try it.
Let me just say...they are right! Without knowing it I have totally been making cinnamon toast the wrong way for many years. According to PW I have been using approach #3 which is the worst cinnamon toast on earth :) This tastes so good and had such a good crunch on top - just plain delicious.
I didn't have any mexican vanilla as PW suggests but used some "real" vanilla as well as the best cinnamon out there. I received some Penzey's spices as a gift from my friend, Jayne, we use a lot of cinnamon in our house and there is no comparsion to the store brands.

Cinnamon Toast - The Right Way
by Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 8
Ingredients

* 16 slices Bread (whole Wheat Is Great!)
* 2 sticks Salted Butter, Softened
* 1 cup Sugar (more To Taste)
* 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (more To Taste)
* ⅛ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Smush softened butter with a fork. Dump in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Stir to completely combine.

Spread on slices of bread, completely covering the surface all the way to the edges.

Place toast on a cookie sheet. Place cookies sheet into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling. Watch so it won’t burn!

Remove from oven and cut slices into halves diagonally.

Click HERE to see PW's post with step by step photos.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - poor guy wasn't home and missed it but I will be making it many more times in the future.

Sticky Road Chocolate Bars...

Has it really been 6 weeks since I posted anything from Marsha's Kitchen? Yes, I have been cooking but it always seems like we eat before I remember to take a picture. I'll try not to be so slack since I have 2 more new cookbooks added to my collection since the last post so there will be lots of new recipes to try.
Today was a rainy day so I cleaned up the house and did some baking. I tried a new recipe I saw on tv last winter, Sunny Anderson's Sticky Road Chocolate Bars.
By the time they were done the sun came out so I took some out to the garden to snack on - it's tulip time so I knew just what plate to use :)


Sticky Road Chocolate Bars
as printed on the FoodNetwork site - recipe by Sunny Anderson, 2008

Ingredients
For the chocolate bar:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* Pinch salt
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus extra for the pan
* 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
* 1/4 cup chopped pecans

For the glaze:

* 3/4 cup butter
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Directions

Special Equipment: off-set spatula, parchment paper, 12 by 8 1/2-inch sheet pan

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. In a large bowl using a handheld mixer on medium high speed, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and mix until well combined. Add flour mixture in batches and blend until combined and crumbly. Fold in melted chocolate and the pecans. Butter a quarter sheet pan. Line the pan with a piece of parchment paper and butter the parchment. Press dough evenly into the sheet pan and prick surface evenly with a fork. Bake until firm in the center, about 20 minutes. Let cool and prepare the glaze.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, then add sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk. Cook until all ingredients are dissolved and a golden color is reached, about 10 to 12 minutes. Fold in the pecans and coconut. Pour the hot glaze over the cooled chocolate bars and quickly chill in the freezer to let glaze set. Cut into bars and serve.

My notes: after reading the online comments about the crust being bitter I used Baker's semi sweet squares. I also don't like to waste things so I used the whole can of sweetened condensed milk because what was I going to do with the little that was left :) The topping still turned out great.

Marsha - Thumbs Up though they will probably not be made again - too much butter in this recipe and there are other bars I like better.

Jeff - Thumbs Up

wearing of the green...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish heritage friends especially Barb and Kathleen! Today, I am joining Kathleen on her 2nd annual St. Patty's blog crawl - head on over to her blog HERE to see all the other amazing participants.

I didn't have a lot of time to prepare a party worthy dish and I don't own any shamrock themed dishes but I did manage to find some paper shamrock doilies as well as some shamrock cupcake liners. That's about as Irish as I get these days :)
Last week the bag of powdered sugar got damaged in the cupboard (what a mess) so while I was cleaning out the cupboard I found a lemon poppyseed muffin mix that I purchased a while ago for overnight guests and it didn't get used. That is a flavor that isn't as popular with J or I so since I was cleaning up powdered sugar I used what remained in the bag as my inspiration to sweeten them up a little. I prepared the muffins according to the mix directions and then made a thin mixture of fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar. As soon as the muffins came out of the oven - I poked them all over with a fork and poured the lemon sugar mixture over them so that it soaked into the muffins.
After soaking all the muffins I used more powdered sugar to thicken the lemon mixture into icing and used some zest as a flavorful topping.
What we ended up with was more of a rich pound cake flavor and very delicious.