Spicy Chicken "Under a Brick"

My husband and I love spicy food and I am always trying to come up with new ways to add heat to our meals. This chicken is not super spicy, but has just the right amount of heat and lots of great flavor. I've based this on Rachel Ray's Hot Pepper Chicken Under a Brick. Click here for her original recipe. To see my version, adapted for our personal taste, please read below.

I use a whole chicken and cut it myself, but feel free to buy pre-cut pieces at the market. I find it cheaper at my store to buy the whole chicken, plus I get to save the extra bones and giblets for sauces and stock.

Spicy Chicken "Under a Brick" - adapted from a Rachel Ray recipe.

Ingredients:

• One whole chicken, cut into individual pieces.
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 - 6 Tbs finely chopped pepperoncini peppers (approximately 5 or 6 whole peppers chopped)
• 2 - 3 Tbs juice from the jar of pepperoncinis
• Handful of fresh finely chopped parsley.

Directions:

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. In a small bowl, add the crushed red pepper, mustard and the oil. Stir or whisk to combine well.
3. Massage mixture over the skin of the chicken and let sit for several minutes while your pan heats on medium heat. (If I have any of the mixture left over, I will sometimes try to put some of it under the skin as well.)
4. Place chicken skin side down in a large nonstick skillet and cover loosely with foil then place a smaller pan or heat resistant plate on top of the foil and weigh it down with a few heavy cans.
5. After approximately 18 - 20 minutes flip the chicken over and reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 2 - 5 minutes, until cooked through.
6. Remove cans and sprinkle with chopped peppers and pepper juice.
7. Top with parsley and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread

My husband and I go through sandwich bread like no body's business. We go through a minimum of one loaf per week; using it for toast, sandwiches, and the occasional snack. I am sure many other people do the same.

When I began my quest to try to make as many things from scratch as possible (not only as a cost savings, but also for the health of my family), I decided to try to make sandwich bread

Unlike with the Italian Bread, I didn't have to try multiple recipes in order to find one that I liked. The first recipe I tried was perfect for our family. Even my mother who doesn't usually like bread said that this was the best wheat bread she had ever had.

We still go through about a loaf a week, but instead of processed, store bought bread, we now have fresh and healthy homemade whole wheat bread.

Whole Wheat Bread - adapted from Janem123's 100% Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Machine) on Food.com

Ingredients (Yeilds one two-pound loaf):

1 1/2 cups water
2 Tbs nonfat powdered milk
2 Tbs butter
4 Tbs honey
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast


Directions:

1. Add the ingredients into your bread machine in the order specified by your machine's instructions.
2. Turn bread machine on and set to the dough setting. 
3. Once the dough cycle is complete, remove dough from the bread machine and form into a loaf shape and place in a lightly oiled bread pan and cover with a towel until doubled in size (approximately 45 - 60 minutes). Note: I find that turning your oven on to preheat at this stage helps with the rising process.
4. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
5. Once dough has doubled in size, remove towel and place bread pan in oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

Note: You can make this bread completely in the bread machine like Janem123 does in her recipe (see link above), but I personally prefer to mix the dough in the bread machine, but do an additional rise on the counter and bake in the oven. I do this with all of my bread recipes.

Dipping Oil for Bread

If you have ever been to an Italian Restaurant, you have probably noticed that many serve their bread with a dipping oil instead of butter. Some do something as simple as olive oil and cracked pepper, others add many spices and herbs or even cheese.

I decided to try to make my own dipping oil and after a few tries, I came up with something that my family loves. The hubby even told me he likes it better than any he has had in a restaurant!

It is so easy to make. All you need are a few really good quality ingredients. I urge you to try to make your own too! It's not something I would recommend eating on a daily basis, but every once in a while it is a nice treat.

Dipping Oil

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1 - 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (you can add more or less to your taste)
• 2 - 3 Tbs freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl to combine.
2. Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes in order to let all of the flavors meld together.
3. Enjoy with your favorite bread or even drizzle over meats or pasta dishes for a punch of flavor.

Italian Bread

I started learning to bake bread about eight months ago as a cost savings when the hubby and I decided that I would be staying home with our little princess instead of returning to work. What started off as a way to save money has turned into an all out love for baking...something I never thought would happen with me.

I've always loved cooking. I grew up watching my grandmother cook, but baking was never something I enjoyed. With cooking I didn't have to measure, and I could throw pretty much anything in there that I wanted. But baking...baking is a science and requires precise measurements and specific ingredients.

My first attempt at making bread was not so successful. It was a loaf of Italian Bread to go with some spaghetti and meatballs while my in-laws were in town. I didn't have a bread machine, so I had to do all of the work myself. To this day, I'm still not sure what happened, but it didn't rise properly and was very dense and chewy and got very little color in the oven. You've got to love my family though, they ate every bite of it and praised me for my hard work.

Fast forward eight month and I now have a bread machine (Thanks Mom!), and after having tried many, many recipes, I finally found one that I love. Thanks to Biffy 62 on Food.com, I now have an Italian Bread recipe that my whole family loves!

You can add herbs and other seasonings to this if you would like, but I prefer the plain and simple recipe as it is. I've listed the recipe below with a few MINOR tweaks that I've done to our taste.

Italian Bread, from Biffy 62 on Food.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water, warmed
• 2 Tbs olive oi, plus more for prepping your baking sheet
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 Tbs cornmeal

Directions:

1. Add the first six ingredients into your bread machine in the order specified by your machine's instructions.
2. Turn bread machine on and set to the dough setting.
3. Prepare a baking sheet by lightly oiling with a little olive oil and sprinkle on the cornmeal.
4. Once the dough cycle is complete, remove dough from the bread machine and form into a loaf shape and set on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a towel until doubled in size (approximately 45 - 60 minutes). Note: I find that turning your oven on to preheat at this stage helps with the rising process.
5. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
6. Once dough has doubled in size, remove towel and place baking sheet in oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

Note: After many experiments to form a nice crust on the bread, I have personally found that placing a pan of water in the bottom of the oven during the baking process works best.

Fudgy Brownies

I've made a few brownies in my day. In fact, when I was pregnant with my little one, I made them quite a few times. My husband just brought it to my attention though that he doesn't like cakey texture of the brownies I have always made in the past. (I should have known, he's not the biggest fan of chocolate cake either.)

Luckily for me, Food Network Magazine was all about chocolate in this month's issue (March 2012) and guess what they had as their special little insert...a whole section dedicated to all different kinds of brownies. To surprise my husband, I made a batch of their Fudgy Brownies and boy did they come out great. My husband was thoroughly happy and has said multiple times that they are "very GOOD!".

Way to go Food Network Magazine for allowing me to make make brownies that my husband loves!

Fudgy Brownies, Courtesy Food Network Magazine, March 2012, Chocolate Issue

Ingredients:

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Coat 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. For easy removal, line the pan with foil, leaving and overhang, then coat with more cooking spray.
3. Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring.
4. Off the heat, whisk in both sugars then cool slightly.
5. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.
6. Stir in the flour and salt.
7. Spread in the pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean.
8. Cool on a rack, then cut into squares.

Kale Chips

Over the past few months, I have been reading about kale chips and have seen them everywhere. I must say I've been intrigued, but was a little afraid to try them. I love kale (and most other greens). I use it in salads, saute it, and have used it in soups, but for some reason, the idea of baking it into chips was scary to me.

I'm now on a health kick though, and it is hard to find satisfying yet healthy chips, so I decided to give them a try. Let me tell you, they are AMAZING! Light, crispy and very flavorful! I've served them as a side dish with dinner, but I can see myself snacking on these at any time of the day.

Even if you don't like kale, I urge you to try making it into chips. Baking the kale really alters the texture and gets rid of that bitter aftertaste that some people don't like.

Now I wonder if this would work with any other greens! I feel some experiments coming on!

Kale Chips - Adapted from many recipes that I've seen.

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch kale
• 1 - 1 1/2 Tbs. good quality olive oil
• Sea salt or kosher salt to taste
• Any seasonings you like such as smoked paprika, garlic powder, etc. (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Rinse and thoroughly dry the kale and remove the stem. Cut or tear the leaves into large chunks and place in a large bowl.
3. Add olive oil, seasonings and salt; toss to coat.
4. Place kale on baking sheet in a single layer.
5. Bake until crisp (approximately 15 minutes).
6. Cool and enjoy!

A word to the wise: a little salt goes a long way. My first time making these I inadvertently over-salted and the entire batch tasted like a salt lick.