Just like the Purple People Eater. Only with potatoes.

So the other night I was brain storming what flavors would go well together. I wanted to try something different for my chicken. It was feeling a little bland. Time for a makeover, right?

So, somewhere along my path to chefdom, I heard that orange and dill went well together. This made sense to me. The sweetness of the orange, the dill-i-ness of the dill... yes. Perfect sense.

So I decided that the way to go was to marinate the chicken. So, squeezed in a few oranges.

Chopped up a boatload of garlic. With a way too small knife. I mean, wayyyyy too small. It was annoying.

Then the dill. I love the smell of fresh chopped dill. It's almost magical cause it tastes the same way it smells. 

Hooray marinade!

Because I wanted the marinade to penetrate all through the chicken, I attacked it with a fork. This was great in a therapy type of way.

Then, soak it. Imagine that. Soaking the meat in a marinade. Who knew!?

So anyways, I baked it all up in a very hot oven in its own marinade. Just a note, this made my apartment smell amazing!

So naturally, since JP and I are trying to diet in the face of bathing suit season, I not only halved the chicken, I served it with some wholesome sides.

Now, about the chicken. This marinade was awesome. This marinade on chicken, not so much. The chicken flavor sort of overpowers the incredibly delicious, yet very subtle flavors of the orange and dill. I think that perhaps fish would be better in this situation. Maybe a nice cut of salmon, or some whitefish would work a little better.

So, what ended up being the star of the show? The potatoes. That I didn't take any pictures of until they were on the plate. 

Wanna know why?

It's cause they're purple. 

Yeup. 

Purple potatoes. Love it!!

xoxo

Craig

Keep reading to the marinade recipe

Taco flavored kisses.

I love Mexican food. So does JP. One of the downsides of living in Sydney is the proximity to good Mexican. It is much easier to find in North Carolina than it is here. I know this is a shocker, cause Sydney is kind of a huge city and all, but believe me. It's true.

So recently, JP and I, in our hunt for delicious Mexican, stumbled upon a place that surprisingly, is right near our apartment. I mean, right near it. And, it's totally delicious! Hooray! Huzzah! The host and waiters now recognize us. We found it a month ago. We may have a problem. 

Anyways, the other night we went out for dinner with our good friends C and J. You may remember C and J from this post here. Say hi, boys! They love good food as much as we do. You can tell by the way they didn't notice I was taking this picture.

So we happily ordered our delicious food. I got Fajitas. Yum. I love fajitas. 

Then we even more happily ordered our margaritas. Then some more margaritas. Then, maybe one more pitcher of margaritas after that...

Then the best part. Well, one of the best parts. I got my very first food present since I started this blog! Take a look at that!

Look closer! It's the world's tiniest bottle of Tabasco sauce! 

Thanks boys! It's things like this that make me love yas!!

xoxo

Craig

Dressin it up to the nines

Trust me when I say I am no stranger to the easy does it meal. 

It still counts as cooking if you have to boil some water, right?

And heat up the sauce?

Im going to take your silence as consent.

I have my tricks, though, for making it all fancy and stuff. I'll share this one with you, but only cause I like ya...

Freshly grated cheese makes everyone forget that the sauce came out of a jar. Trust me on that one

xoxo
Craig

Easier than ordering take out.

A good home cooked dinner doesn't always mean you have to break out the recipes from Le Cordon Bleu. I mean, that's all good and everything, especially if you trained there, but sometimes you just want something that takes no effort, but tastes pretty dang awesome. Well, my little darlings, have I got the recipe for you. Again, keeping with my usual theme of versatility in a recipe, you can make this with chicken (like me) or pork, or whatever really. Probably even fish!

So grab your ingredients. This is already going to be simple, you can just tell: lemon, mustard, rosemary and olive oil. Oh yeah; and the chicken.

So here is all you have to do. A dollop of dijon, a sprinkle of dried rosemary, a good splash of lemon juice, and a dash olive oil. Come to think of it, this would probably make a good salad dressing too... or, maybe even on cous cous! I love cous cous.

Mix it all up, plop the chicken in a plastic bag, and add the marinade/dressing. Then let it sit there for a while well you prepare the rest of dinner. Speaking of the rest of dinner, want to see how I kept it super easy and fast? This may be breaking with my usual tradition of just focusing on one main dish, but what the heck, right?

So, my favorite grocery store has these convenient little packages of pre-chopped veggies. So I grabbed one of them on my last trip there, and all I had to do was toss them in some olive oil and salt and pepper, then stuff it into the oven and roast them for a bit. High heat, 30 or so minutes, and presto. Amazing veggies.

And, since I grew up always having three dishes on my plate, I usually stick with that method. But, since it is almost summer here, JP and I are pretending to diet so we can have beach bodies. And that means lots of veggies. So, streamed sugar snap peas it was! Love those guys, slightly sweet and crunchy. Delish!

So back to the chicken. One neat trick for getting a great flavor and color is to sear it on both sides first. This adds a burst of flavor and seals in the flavor of the marinade too. This is a great trick for any meat you cook, be it pork, chicken or steak. Mmmm steak. I adore a good steak...

Right, chicken.

So after I seared it up, I tossed it into the oven with the roasting veggies. This trick makes sure that you get great flavor on the outside without over cooking (read: burning the heck out of the chicken like I have done so very many times!) the inside of the chicken.

Yum; this is one of my very favorite ways of eating veggies. The roasting process just does something wonderful to the flavors. Its hard to describe, but trust me here. You will love it.

 

Once the chicken is done, let it sit for a minute. When you do this, it allows the juices to redistribute and makes the meat that much tastier. It also allows it to cool just a bit, so when you start eating it, you don't burn your mouth. Cause no one likes that. At least I am pretty sure no one would like that...

Serve it will all those tasty veggies you just made. Trust me that this is so simple its ridiculous. It takes less time than waiting for a pizza to get delivered too. Maybe about 30-40 minutes, start to finish. That easy, and trust me on this one, it is that tasty.

Just, yum, all over the plate.

xoxo
Craig