Garlic Chicken Thighs

One day while scrolling through Facebook, I had seen this video that one of my friends had shared. It led me to the recipe website where I was excited to learn I had almost all of the ingredients. Another dinner where I already had all the ingredients! Well, almost all of the ingredients. I did have to go out and buy the chicken thighs. But Chris was going to be so proud! Shocked that we had all the ingredients to make this dinner, he confirmed that we actually did have all the ingredients, and then he was proud.

You do need an oven-proof skillet to make this though. Luckily, Chris has an obsession with cast iron and I used his skillet.

Ingredients:
4 bone-in chicken thighs
salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
———————-
zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
1. Trim excess fat and skin around the chicken thighs. Rinse them, and pat dry.
2. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper on all sides.
3. Heat your oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and melt.
4. Add the chicken thighs, with the skin side down. Cook for about 3 minutes, until the skin is brown and crisp.
5. Flip the chicken thighs over and cook for about 2 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and remove the chicken thighs from the pan.
7. Add the garlic and Worcestershire sauce to the pan, and mix around.
8. Return the chicken thighs to the pan, with the skin side up.
9. Place the pan in the oven, and bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes. Make sure the chicken thighs are thoroughly cooked.
10. Remove from the oven, and remove the chicken thighs from the pan.
11. Over medium-high heat, add the lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, salt, and cream. Combine all ingredients together, and simmer for 2 minutes.
12. Return the chicken thighs to the pan, and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
13. Serve the chicken over a bed of rice and spoon additional sauce on top, if desired.

My Notes:
-I started the rice when the chicken went into the oven and it was done about right on time
-If you don’t want rice, pasta or noodles would be great options as well
-When making the lemon sauce, adding the juice and the cream make the sauce look separated/curdled. Just keep stirring and the sauce will come together.

Chicken Quesadillas

I’ve been trying to get better about using ingredients that we already have in the house instead of always buying new things for whatever I’m making. I was super excited that I had all of these ingredients. There were some tortillas from when we made burritos a while ago, there’s always cheese and sour cream, and there’s usually some chicken in the freezer. But if I didn’t, it’s a super cheap trip to the grocery store anyway.

Ingredients:
flour tortillas
2 chicken breasts
shredded cheese (your choice, I used cheddar)
sour cream, if desired

Directions:
1. Season and cook the chicken as desired. I used some adobo seasoning and chipotle chili powder.
2. Slice the chicken into strips.
3. Fill half the tortilla with the chicken strips and cheese, and fold the other half of the tortilla over the top.
4. Heat in the skillet until the cheese is melted.
5. Cut into quarters and serve with a side of sour cream.

My Notes:
– I only had cheddar cheese in the house, but usually I use a mixture of cheddar and monterey jack
-I used about half a breast per quesadilla, so this recipe would make 4 quesadillas
-When building your quesadilla, putting cheese down on the bottom and on top of the chicken will help the two sides of the tortilla stick together
-You can also bake the quesadillas instead of using a skillet. Preheat the oven to 375 and place the quesadillas on a baking sheet. They should be done in 5-10 minutes.

French Dip Sandwiches

I had to start a cookie order the same day I was making dinner this week, so I needed something quick and easy so I had time to bake the cookies I needed. These sandwiches are great for when you’re short on time. They don’t require a lot of effort and they’re ready in about 15 minutes! Plus, I’m a sucker for roast beef. It’s probably one of my favorite deli meats. I apologize for the lack of picture, my phone fell in the toilet and I lost everything. So you’re just gonna have to trust me that they look good. The oven also decided it wasn’t going to heat up so I had to make these in the toaster oven. Cheers to an overly bad day.

Ingredients:
-French style sandwich rolls
-1 lb. roast beef
-1/4 lb. Provolone cheese
-1 can beef broth

Directions:
1. Slice your sandwich rolls in half and place the bottoms on a tray.
2. Load them up with the roast beef.
3. Place the rolls in the oven under the broiler for 5-7 minutes.
4. Heat up the can of beef broth in a small pot on the stove.
5. Pull the rolls out and add the slices of cheese on top. Place the tops of the rolls, soft side up, on your tray as well.
6. Put them back under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until your cheese is melted and the rolls are slightly toasted.
7. Place the tops on the sandwiches, and pour the beef broth into small cups for dipping.

My Notes:
-In case your oven also decides to stop working, you can make these in a toaster oven. When you place the rolls in with the cheese, put them on the bottom shelf and place the tops of the rolls on the top shelf.
-I made french fries to go along with the sandwiches.

Vodka Sauce

Another pasta dish, I know, I’m sorry. I just really love pasta, and carbs. Vodka sauce is actually one of my favorite things, and growing up I thought I was a badass cause it was made with vodka. At the time, I didn’t know how it was made or that you cooked all the alcohol off, …whatever. So here we have another Chris taught sauce recipe.

Ingredients:
4 oz pancetta
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 oz vodka
1 jar pasta sauce
1-2 oz light cream
3-4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
Pasta

Directions:
1. In a large pan, brown the pancetta. Once browned, scoop out the pancetta and set aside in a small bowl.
2. Add the onion to the pan, and cook until it is almost translucent. Then add the garlic.
3. Start cooking your pasta on another burner. You’re going to dlightly undercook the pasta.
4. Add the vodka to your pan, and light on fire! But if you’re not cool with the whole flambe thing, you can just wait until it all cooks off.
5. Add the pancetta back into the pan.
6. Cook until the garlic is smushable with your spatula with little effort.
7. Add your pasta sauce to the pan, and bring to a boil.
8. At this point, extra oil will be collecting on the top of the sauce. You can spoon some of this out of the pan if desired.
9. Taste your sauce and season if needed.
10. Add your cream until the sauce is colored correctly.
11. Add the Parmesan cheese, and mix in.
12. Let your sauce simmer for a couple minutes.
13. Drain your pasta, and reserve some water with it.
14. Add the deisred amount of sauce to the pasta. Mix together and heat until the pasta is fully cooked.
15. Enjoy!

My Notes:
-Depending on the amount of pasta you make, you will have leftover sauce. This will last in the fridge for about a week.
-Letting the vodka cook off without flambeing will take longer so you would want to start your sauce a little bit earlier.
-When cutting your onion, if you breathe through your mouth, your eyes don’t water! (I was super excited to learn about this because I have waterfalls coming out of my eyes every time)
-If you wanted a protein with the pasta, sliced chicken would look super nice placed on top of a bed of pasta.

Alfredo Sauce

Growing up, we would have pasta every Wednesday night. But it was always the same. Some variety of pasta with tomato sauce. Sometimes we had meatballs. It got boring, but it ingrained in me a love for pasta. Freshman year of college, one of the dining halls was basically all pasta and pizza. Whenever I went there, I would always get their Chicken Alfredo. It’s pretty much my favorite thing. I’m a huge fan of Alfredo sauce. Instead of using a recipe for this one, Chris taught me how to make it. There’s a lot of guesstimating on this one because Chris doesn’t measure anything out. Feel free to adjust your sauce as you feel it is needed.

Ingredients:
-light cream (or heavy cream)
-Parmesan cheese
-garlic
-butter
-pepper
-pasta

Directions:
1. In a medium pot, boil the water for your pasta and cook until al dente.
2. In a medium skillet, heat about a tablespoon of butter and a pinch of garlic.
3. Then slowly pour in about 1 cup of cream and whisk together.
4. Add in a handful of cheese while whisking together and continue to stir until the cheese has melted in. Continue this process until the sauce has thickened.
5. Pour about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of the pasta water into the sauce. Stir together until it has combined. Add pepper to your liking.
6. Drain your pasta, and add it to the sauce. Mix the pasta into the sauce and cook until the pasta is done.
7. Enjoy!

My notes:
-I added chicken to mine. I heated up shredded chicken pieces and added them into the sauce right before I added in the pasta.
-Grated Parmesan cheese will melt faster, and is the easiest to use for this recipe.
-Once you pour in the cream, you’re basically always stirring your sauce, so set up your area to have everything you need within arms reach.
-While stirring, make sure to also get the edges where it tends to build up and cook.
-Using light or heavy cream is completely your preference. It doesn’t really matter which one you use.