Week 5 and Rachael Ray .. Again

I skipped week 4. Oops. This week I was serious! haha I planned out meals, and then I made them! I made another lasagna as TM requested it, and he asks for next to nothing. I also made Paprika Chicken which was the recipe featured on the episode of Rachael Ray that I went to! It was SO yummy!



Paprika Chicken

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 pound egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 pounds mixed boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
• Ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 2 tablespoons ground sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped cornichons or pickles

Yields: 4 servings

Preparation

Place a large pot of water over high heat to cook the pasta. When the water boils, salt it well and drop the pasta in. Cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and reserve.While the pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and sear until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and reserve.

Add the onion, bell peppers and garlic to the pan, and cook until the veggies have softened, 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and return the chicken to the pan. Add the paprika, allspice and stock to the pan and bring up to a bubble. Simmer until the chicken has cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Reserve.Toss the cooked noodles with the butter, dill, chives and parsley.Serve the chicken over the noodles and garnish with the chopped cornichons

my notes: I omitted the peppers, we are not a pepper house. I also added about 1 tablespoon brown sugar it smelled "spicy" but I think that was in my head. I also omitted the fresh herbs I just forgot to buy them. I also skipped the pickles , just no thanks!



This turned out SO well , I would make it again and again!!. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I forgot to take them I was so hungry!!

Amano Chocolate - A Review

A while back Blake Makes had a give-a-way for Amano Chocolate- Jembrana. I was lucky enough to recieve one! I was going to wait and bake with it , but I read some other bloggers who just snacked on it. I decided now was the time ( while watching the Oscar pre-show) . This chocolate is amazing, I am a big dark chocolate fan.This chocolate is intense , it doesnt have a waxy taste ( like some darks i've had) It melts so nicely , and is so tastey! I did end up only having a few bites because I really think this will be super yummy in some baked goods....

I found the product notes right from Amano's website.

Product Details:

Jembrana is the world's first chocolate made 100% from beans from Bali, Indonesia. Bali's cocoa has traditionally been shipped to Java and blended with Javanese beans before export to chocolate makers worldwide. This chocolate is wholly unique. It is beautifully rich and yet gentle. In the blistery cold of winter as the branches break of ice and the wind howls trying to get in; there are few things as comforting as being inside by the fire curled up in your favorite blanket. This chocolate captures this moment perfectly. Jembrana's rich chocolate flavor is as gentle as a loved one's whisper and is something that you will treasure.

The Chocolate Maker's Notes:

When I found these cocoa beans from Bali, I was blown away. The beans were beautifully fermented; their flavor rich and gentle. This was of course, not the first time I had tried beans from Bali. It was the culmination of a long hunt for cocoa from this region that meets our exacting standards. In fact, I almost turned down samples of these beans when I was kindly offered them. After all, I had already sampled so many and none had been of sufficient quality to pursue. These, I immediately recognized, were different.

There are not many places in the world where cocoa grows in proximity to rice patties. Bali is one of them. Vanilla can be found creeping up the trunks of the cocoa trees providing the farmers with multiple crops for their livelihood. These beans from Bali are truly as beautiful as the exotic island from which they originate. The chocolate that we make from them is beautifully smooth, rich, and comforting. I invite you to try it and you will immediately see why I fell in love with the cocoa from Bali and the chocolate we make from it.

Photo Tag Thingy....

-Go to your 6th photo folder

-Pick the 6th photo and post.

My Dad aka Grandpa , and his first grand daughter Hanna , taking a nap. she is so damn cute!


p.s I'm working on dinner/lunches for the week! look for the recipe later!
p.p.s Happy Sunday!

Way Off Topic.....

photos from boston.com


My loves are at it again.... and its one day closer to opening day.....

90 Already?

my grandpa and grandma

My grandmother turns 90 Tuesday. So in honor of her birthday my parents had alot of us over for dinner. She made some really great roasted butternut squash , and baked potatoes and ribeyes on the grill ( cause it wasn't 15 degrees out for once) I made a blue cheese butter for the steaks that turned out really yummy , but my actual contribution to the meal was dessert I made Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with a Vanilla Bean Frosting. The turned out amazing. I had a slight reading comprehesion problem and failed to let everything that needed to come to room temperate , I'm not so sure how it would have turned out if I did to that.


I would make these everyday , I love the flavor , and I especially love the little flecks of vanilla in the frosting. It was my first time working with an actual vanilla bean, I can't believe I waited this long to work with them. It is so worth it! I really love piping the frosting on. I don't think I will ue the offset spatula again. They look so pretty!

So , It was a pretty busy weekend so sadly I will not be contributing to Tuesday's with Dorie this week. I am most definitely going to be making that cover cake , it just wont be in time for tomorrow. I am very excited to see everyone else creations!!

Obama, Lincoln and Cupcakes

So I've been home sick with bronchitis since Wednesday. Friday it got interesting... I was looking though my google reader and it updated with a new post from Cake Wrecks. It was talking about Zilly Rosen of Zillycakes. She was at the Smithsonian and would be creating Obama and Lincoln in cupcakes( 5,900 of them!) live! So I tuned in to ustream.tv and watched the whole thing .I took some screen grabs of the process , enjoy its amazing!

blank canvas

they started just after 2pm est

you can make out their eyes!

is that a flag in the backround?

uh oh! fixing Obama's head

Finished product

the cupcake team!

Question...

My husband sprung on me today that he is into me getting an iphone. I don't know anyone who has one that I can check out .... SO anyone out there in blog land have one? Do you like it ? Love it? Was it worth the purchase? I'm torn , some of the apps look awesome , and I think I'd use them alot , but at the same time I have a Palm right now that im pretty happy with. Any feedback would be very helpful!

Thanks!