Chicken again?

Sometimes, it's easy to get sucked into the same ol', same ol' chicken dishes. Chicken isn't too expensive, and lends itself to a wide variety of preparations, but if you're like me, it's easy to get stuck in a rut of the same recipes.

My friend Kim gave me this great, simple recipe for a honey-mustard chicken with a little bit of a curry kick to it. I've now made it with both bone-in, skin-on and (to lighten it up) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and I'm happy to report that both were tender and juicy. This is a nice simple recipe for a weeknight.

One boneless, skinless breast, according to Kim's calculations, is about 6 WW points.

Honey-Mustard Chicken

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

3 chicken breast halves (boneless, skinless or bone-in, skin-on)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Arrange chicken breast halves in a baking dish.

Mix together melted butter, honey, mustard, salt, and curry powder. Pour sauce over chicken, coating thoroughly.

Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165-175F, basting during baking time if desired.

Easiest holiday goodies ever

My friend Mindi introduced me to these little bites of yummy goodness. I made some for our two holiday parties this weekend, and they disappeared very quickly. If you like the whole sweet/salty thing, and you have about ten minutes, these are for you!

Rolo Pretzel Bites

Small pretzels, grid-shaped or twists - not rods!

Rolos, unwrapped (may also use other small chocolate candies, like Hershey Kisses or Hugs)

Plain M&Ms

Preheat oven to 250F.

Line jelly roll pan with parchment or foil. Place pretzels on baking sheet.

Top each pretzel with an unwrapped Rolo.

Bake at 250F for 6 1/2 minutes.

Remove from oven, and top each Rolo with an M&M, pressing down slightly so the Rolo flattens out a bit, and the M&M is stuck into the chocolate.

Allow to cool completely at room temperature, or pop them into the fridge to cool.

Thanksgiving wrap-up, 2009

Wrestling with the turkey, 2009, originally uploaded by MarthaC.

Our eighth year of hosting Thanksgiving went pretty smoothly. Well, today went pretty smoothly. Yesterday was pretty scary.

You see, they came to install my new countertops yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving. Cutting it a little tight, yes, but better than working with plywood counters on The Big Day. They got here a little late, around 3 p.m. or so, and got right to work. The install was done in record time, at which point they asked Mr. Throwing Spoons if he was providing the faucet....which he was not. They were supposed to bring the faucet. The one that we had paid for.

"Can we bring it tomorrow?"

"Nope. Not going to work. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. We're hosting dinner for 15 people. We need that faucet."

However, they didn't have it, and they had to get to another job, so they left. Shortly thereafter, I got out of work and called home, and got the scoop. It was approximately 4:20 at this point.

Trying not to have a fit, I called the company. No one answered, so I left a somewhat panicky message on their voice mail. I then managed to drive myself home, repeating to myself that of COURSE they would be there when I got home, with the faucet.

I pulled up to the house. No truck.

Cue hysteria.

I walked into the house, bawling, which Mr. Throwing Spoons initially interpreted as my emotional response to my beautiful new counters. He figured out fairly quickly that there was something else going on, and immediately called the company himself, and left another voice mail for them. By now, it was nearly 5:00.

Shortly thereafter, he headed to Home Depot for a faucet, as I was emailing the owner of the company. I stayed home, in case they called or showed up. Good thing. About ten minutes after I sent the email, the owner called, EXTREMELY apologetic, and let me know that his sister (who works with him) was on her way over with the faucet. I called Mr. T-S to let him know that he didn't need to go to Home Depot after all. It took him a while to get it installed, but I had water by 10 p.m. :)

Today there was, of course, the last-minute craziness of trying to get everything on the table at once, as usual, but mostly, it was pretty smooth. I didn't forget or scorch the stuffing, the turkey was moist (and beautiful - see photo), the gravy was perfect, and I was surrounded by people that I love.

It was interesting dealing with a new traffic pattern in the kitchen this year. For the most part, it worked pretty well, except when too many people were on the work side of the island. (Too many cooks, and all that.)

Dinner included:
Cheese and crackers
Shrimp cocktail

22 lb. turkey
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Roasted butternut squash puree
Green bean casserole
Sweet potatoes and apples
Homemade cranberry sauce AND jellied cranberry sauce (we have fans of each)
Rolls
Tofurky and roasted veggies
salad
vegan cranberry dumplings

Apple and pumpkin pie
Quick chocolate cake
ice cream
Hot fudge sauce

Notes for next year:

Apps: two bags of large shrimp, cocktail sauce, a couple of blocks of cheese, some Rondele, and crackers seemed just about right.

Turkey: If my uncle is coming, a 22-pound turkey will not cut it. He is a turkey fiend. Not much in the way of turkey leftovers for tomorrow, other than the turkey soup I've got bubbling away. Perhaps a 20-to-22 pound turkey plus a turkey breast?

Mashed potatoes: Once again, I went overboard with the potatoes. Five pounds probably would have been enough; I did about eight.

Stuffing: Plenty; two casserole dishes (red stoneware and another 2.5 qt.), and the smaller one is still full. Will post the recipe here soon.

Roasted butternut squash puree: I bought nearly eight pounds of squash, and have very little left. Will have to make more, as I just love it.

Green bean casserole: My aunt brought this. Not much left!

Sweet potatoes and apples: My aunt brought this. Haven't yet tried it, but have some leftovers.

Homemade cranberry sauce AND jellied cranberry sauce (we have fans of each): One can of the jellied would've been enough. One batch of the homemade was enough. Keep an eye on the orange zest; I only did half the orange, and it was almost more than enough.

Rolls: two dozen was plenty, even with my nieces, the roll fiends.

Tofurky and roasted veggies, salad, and cranberry dumplings: all brought by my brother's girlfriend, who is vegan. Not sure how many people tried the Tofurky and the dumplings, but I know the salad was appreciated by several people.

Dessert: we had plenty!
Apple and pumpkin pie: brought by my mom; my aunt brought a second apple pie that we never needed to cut into.
Quick chocolate cake: made by me - happens to be vegan
ice cream: brought by my aunt
Hot fudge sauce: brought by my aunt

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so very many things to be thankful for - family, good health, good friends, a roof over my head, and, of course, food. On the slightly more materialistic side, I am so thankful to be blessed with my beautiful new kitchen - not yet done, but definitely moving along.

My kitchen, four years ago:

My kitchen, now:

The times, they are a' changin'

So, if you read my opening paragraph up there at the top of the page, you can see that I mention my blindingly orange counters. The picture at the top right of the page, of the teapot, was taken on that counter. I'm rather attached to that photo; I love the warm glow it seems to have.

However, as of this moment, I have only a scrap of said orange counter left (surrounding the old sink), and even that will be gone as of Wednesday.

I'm interested in your opinion: though I obviously have to change my opening paragraph a bit, should I take new photo in the new kitchen, or keep the old one?

New floor!

Installed today - will seal tomorrow. Love, love, love it!

Getting ready for...

Getting ready for: countertops! They're coming to make a template for the counters this coming Thursday, and will hopefully do the install the week of Thanksgiving. In the meantime, at least I have some makeshift plywood counters.

Getting ready for: a floor! Hoping maybe it can happen this weekend.

Getting ready for: Thanksgiving! This year there'll be about a dozen of us for Thanksgiving. I was starting to get a little antsy about it, but I just read over my notes from last year, and have remembered that I'm starting to feel like I've (finally) got it down pat. This will be our eighth consecutive year hosting, and I love it. Love it, love it, love it.