A Pinterest Review or Two

A show of hands please, how many of you are crazy pinners?  
Whoa, that is a lot of hands.

 The top 3 boards I pin the most to:

1. Yum, Yum, Yummy: Recipes.

2. Stuff for baby Blakely Boo.

3. Inspire:  Quotes and such type stuff.

Recently I have been trying quite a few of these recipes.

I have a couple planned out for this week.  Very anxious to try these spicy crab cakes.  Here are some of my faves I have tried so far.    

Pasta With Mascarpone, Chicken, Sun Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

I tend to change things to our families preferences a bit.  We always use whole wheat pasta, it just tastes so much better, so we used whole wheat penne.  Another friend who tried this had mentioned that she added a little red pepper so I followed suit and added some red pepper flakes.  My husband topped it with a spoon of ricotta.  I thought it was pretty amazing.  The sun-dried tomatoes were perfect in this.  The original recipe can be found here.  Be sure to reserve that pasta water as recommended cause it does try out rather quickly.  
★★★★

Basil Pesto Chicken

This was so crazy easy.  You can find the recipe here.  The only place I varied was I kicked it up to broil for a few, after foil before cheese, to give it a good crust, then added cheese and broiled it another 5.  I served it with some whole wheat penne, its my go to pasta, with basil pesto lightly added and some sauteed mushrooms and green onions tossed in it. yum :)
★★★★

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Fried Chicken

I actually made this one for dinner last night.  It was great!  I stuck right to the recipe on this one.  I served it up with some steamed broccoli with lemon juice and grated parmesan.  I wanted to put a balance to how sweet it was with the honey.  My husband said this would be the perfect 'chicken and waffles' style chicken.  He liked it so much he is plotting on the next time I cook it.  
★★★★


So there are a few of the recipes I have tried lately for more stuff I have tried, click here.  

This would not be complete without a lil more from my other top boards so. here are a couple faves.

from my Baby B board:

Adorable right!?!?!  I am so going to be getting some of these super soon for Blakely from FORGET ME KNOTS CROCHET.  Did I mention they are only $10?  Very cute!




from my inspire board:

yup, I have that on my inspirational board, cause, it inspires me ;)  You know cause he does yoga and stuff, check it out here.  That look on his face on the right side, oh my!




Enjoy your day y'all!


xo♥xo♥
lydia

Involuntary Yummy Sound-Smoked Paprika Thighs

So a few days ago as I sat watching some Food Network, as I often do, I saw Alton Brown make this awesome looking chicken recipe you can find here.  I decided to give it a go but change a couple things up too.  Its pretty easy for the most part too.  


My husband loved this!  He said it was the best thing I had made in a while.  The brininess of the olives with the smokey flavor is pretty amazing.  I do not even like olives but wanted to make something I thought my guy would like and was surprised that I liked it as much as I did.  


Ingredient List
Garlic Stuffed Olives
Cherry Tomatoes
Lemon Zest
Garlic Cloves
Smoked Paprika
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Bone In-Skin On, Chicken Thighs
 Russet Potatoes (its the kind I had on hand)
One Sweet Vidalia Onion

• I chopped a handful of green olives stuffed with garlic, chopped a couple cherry tomatoes and grated a few extra cloves of garlic and added a good bit of some lemon zest. (Sit to the side)

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

• Next I took about 5 tablespoons(+/-) of smoked paprika and two tablespoons of olive oil, kosher salt and fresh black pepper to form a paste.  (Sit to the side)
• Time to de-bone.  This is the most difficult part of the whole recipe.  I hate to de-bone stuff.
• Put your chicken skin side down and cut the meat away from the bone and remove.  Next, toss thighs into your paste.

Take some peel on, 1/4 sliced potatoes and french cut sweet onions.   Toss with some salt and pepper and put on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Place a baking rack over your potatoes and onions.  Next take your olive mixture and stuff under the skin of your thighs and place it skin side up on your rack.   I kinda did this roll up, tuck type deal  when I was put them on the rack.

• 
  

I lightly dusted the tops of the skin with smoked paprika, garlic salt and pepper.

Put in the oven on 375 for about an hour, depending on the amount of chicken you cook.  I did 11 thighs cause I like to have plenty to pack for my hubbys lunch the next day.  I cooked 11 for about 75 minutes or so.  The house will fill with a pretty awesome smell.

xo♥xo♥

lydia

•