Red's Big Adventure: February 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Hunter getting attacked by family!!! @neightg019 @jodi_top @keely.a.quinn

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It is a true shame that no one in our family knows how to cook. ☺️ baked chicken with potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans with oranges. Homemade croissants. Quinoa with basil, parsley, thyme, and lemon juice. #yearofchange #parentingwin #AllGone #apartmentliving #snow #soblessed #denverliving #family #foodie #framilyisawesome #homemade #houseofnerds #healthyeating #cookingtogether #baking #bigstrangefamily #nomnomnom

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My adorable mouse this cold, cold morning! And a decently clean room too! #winterishere #uberadorable #parentingwin #apartmentliving #soblessed #denverliving #family #coloradochild #mickeymouse

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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Hey look! I see a pattern for this day! KC two years ago, Denver today! #winterishere #apartmentliving #snow #subzerotemps #stillgoingtoschoolwhy #denverliving #kc #timehop

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Stove-Top Chicken Cacciatore

NOM NOM NOM-NOM-NOM

I'm not going to lie, I know that I am a good cook, but I was SUPER surprised at how well I pulled this off tonight. It was a weird day at work, the snow came like 4 hours early, roads started getting bad shortly after I got home, had to run to the grocery store for the tomatoes, then the liquor store (Colorado liquor laws are strange), and finally getting Squishy from his after-school care. That's a lot to do in an hour with crappy road conditions!

I mean come-on!!!! How delicious does this look?! Pretty sure the last time our kitchen has smelt this good was when le Boyfriend made chocolate cake... on Sunday... okay, so maybe our kitchen smells good a lot. :-)

The chicken got so tender that I could cut it with the plastic slotted spoon I had been using, and the veggies were still firm since I didn't cook them to death. We warmed up a tiny loaf of french bread with chunks of garlic in it and Oh.my.goodness!!! NOM NOM NOM!!!

Perfect dinner for when it's snowing!

Stove-Top Chicken Cacciatore
Polla Cacciatore sulla Stufa

Serves 4

½ cup olive oil (cut back for less chicken - I might have forgot and had to scoop it out with a measuring cup after it got hot, oops!)
1 (3 pound) chicken, cut into 12 to 14 pieces, or 8 chicken thighs (we only used 3, but kept the same amount of veggies)
2 celery stalks, peeled and sliced (who peels celery?)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 (35-ounce) can imported Italian plum tomatoes, hand-crushed with the juice. (the largest, non-crazy large, size was 28 ounces, worked perfectly fine)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon dried oregano or rosemary (I just sprinkled the heck out of it)
8 fresh basil leaves (I sprinkled the heck out of the dried crushed stuff)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down, and brown in batches, turning occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the celery, carrots, and onion and cook, stirring until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring and scraping up the brown bits that stick to the bottom of the pan, until the wine reduces by half. Return chicken to the pan, skin side up. Stir in tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and add pepper, oregano or rosemary, and basil. Cook partially covered (I had to use aluminum foil since I don't have a lid that large for the skillet that I used), for 45 minutes to an hour until the chicken is tender. Serve.

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On another note, it has been a whole year since I made the move back to Colorado!!! A whole post on that is in the works for a day that I don't try a new recipe.... so probably tomorrow or Friday.

Stove-Top Chicken Cacciatore. Another recipe from Rao's, therefore, another blog post coming soon! #Raos #yearofchange #apartmentliving #snow #denverliving #family #foodie #homemade #healthyeating #backontrack #nomnomnom

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The look on his face is because of Doctor Who, and the introduction of the Daleks. Trying to teach him that just because he's scared, doesn't mean he has to run away. #parentingwin #tinywhovian #doctorwho #houseofnerds

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Monday, February 23, 2015

Potatoes and Eggs

Who doesn't love potatoes and eggs?! Well... maybe besides vegans, which more power to them for being that dedicated, Lord knows I couldn't do it!

Anywho!

Does this not look delicious?! And with only 7 ingredients it is the perfect monday night meal after a snow-pocolypse weekend. It's super filling too, which is always a plus when you live with a growing 7 year old boy and le Boyfriend has a hallow leg and eats like every 30 minutes. I wish I was kidding.

Potatoes and Eggs
Patate e Uova

Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and diced (or not peeled, we like the skin)
1 medium onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste (I used Kosher salt)
8 large eggs
3/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I used a Parmesan wedge)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (jarred stuff from the fridge works too)

Heat the oil in a large nonstick ovenproof or cast-iron skillet (Martha Stewart makes a wonderful cast iron skillet) over medium heat. Fry the potatoes until tender and golden brown. Add the onion and salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. (I put a glass lid over the pan to help with the cooking, and with containing the oil splatters)

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. (Next time I would do this first, that way the potatoes and onions don't over cook while I'm cracking 8 eggs and grating cheese) Add the mixture to the potatoes and onions. Cook, shaking the pan and gently moving the mixture from side to side with a rubber spatula as some of the liquid from the top reaches the bottom of the pan. Cook until the bottom is set and beginning to brown and the top is still loose. (Next is says to do some crazy inverting thing by taking the whole thing out of the pan and turning it upside down back in the pan to finish cooking, but I certainly didn't feel that adventurous in my cooking skills tonight, and wanted to eat before 7pm.) Place the skillet under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes until the top is set and lightly browned.

Unmold onto a plate, cut into wedges, and serve. (Again, I'm not one for extra dishes to clean so I just cut it into wedges from the skillet and served from there.)

I served it with some Naan but really it wasn't needed, the wedge of goodness was more than enough. :-)

Dinner tonight, Potatoes and Eggs, recipe from Rao's. Check the blog in bio for recipe in a bit. #yearofchange #apartmentliving #denverliving #family #foodie #homemade #healthyeating #backontrack #nomnomnom

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Back on Track.

So, I've severely neglected this poor blog. I did set up an "If This Than That" action to send all photos from Twitter to here... not sure how much good that did though.

We've made some really tasty food here lately at the "House of Bocktenbeck", as I'm sure you've noticed from all of the photos. Tonight's meal was so good! I love Italian food as the much as the next girl, but I certainly outdid myself this time.

When I went off to college (the first time) back in 2005,
my mother made sure that I had a 5 good cookbooks to use.
One of them was "Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood"

This is such a wonderful book; not only is it full of simple southern Italian recipes, they are paired with vintage photographs and essays on Italian heritage of home-style cooking. There's a list of what a proper pantry looks like for someone who does a lot of italian cooking. (Definitely taking it into account when making my next grocery list)

The photographs through out the book made me SO hungry that I decided that our entire dinner would come from here. It also helps that we recently stocked up our kitchen with bunches of fresh food.

First dish I decided to try from the book was the 'Broiled Breaded Pork Chops'. This dish really could not be any easier if it tried, seriously!

Serves 4

1 cup plain bread crumbs

¼ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I used a wedge of Parmesan cheese from King Soopers)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (dried works just as well)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon salt (I used kosher since that's what Frank suggested at the start of the book)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Four ¾ - 1-inch thick pork chops, butterflied (if smaller than ¾ inch, don't butterfly, the pork dries out.)

¼ cup olive oil

Preheat the broiler.

Combine breadcrumbs, grated cheese, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Press both sides of the pork chops into the bread crumb mixture.

Place the pork chops on the broiler tray (a cooling rack on a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil also works when you realize that you don't HAVE a broiling pan, like me) and drizzle with the oil. (I gave it a good coating with some olive oil spray instead.) Broil for a few minutes on each side until the bread crumbs are nicely browned. Serve immediately.

Whole meal. There were two pork chops on my plate,
but I kind of ate one before taking the picture :-)

The second part of our oh-so-delicious meal was the 'Spaghetti con Aglio Olio'. Translation: Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil.

Seriously?! Who knew something so simple would be so yummy and make the 7 year old ask for seconds!!!

Serves 4

1 pound of spaghetti (or the whole 12oz box)

1 cup olive oil (¾ cup when using less pasta)

8 garlic cloves, sliced into thin slivers

1 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes (I used half)

1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley

Bring a large pot if salted water to a boil. (I add some olive oil to pasta water to prevent it from sticking). Add the spaghetti (we use the Barilla pasta made with veggies) and cook until al dente, about 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and parsley. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. When the spaghetti is al dente, drain, reserving ½ cup of water, and return pasta to the pot. Pour the oil-and-garlic sauce and cooking water over the spaghetti. Stir well for 1 minute. Transfer to a platter and serve. (or just put it directly on the plate like we did, because seriously, who wants to clean another dish after dinner?!)

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I'll give a true and proper update later this week. So many distractions this evening! Oscars, figuring out things to do with the extra meat and bones from deboning the pork chops, getting the kiddo showered and in bed, le boyfriend coming down with a tension headache, and possibly a snow dance or two in hopes that the kiddo has a snow day so I can stay home from work. :-)