Herb and Garlic Baked Chicken

 Oven baked chicken is one of my favorite recipes to make at home. It is healthy, yummy, and easy to cook.  I will describe to you step-by-step how to make oven baked chicken. This recipe will easily serve 4 people.

Ingredients

Oven baked chicken with potatoes and carrots. My lunch today. :)

• 1 whole chicken- about 2 to 3 pounds.
• 6 small red potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• 1 tbsp of fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp of fresh rosemary
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of kosher salt
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• Olive oil

Preparation

First make roasted garlic by placing peeled garlic cloves into a small ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven covered with about a tsp of olive oil at 400 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the garlic is soft. Set aside to cool. 

Then, remove the raw chicken from any wrapping and rinse the chicken off with running water. Remove the gizzard, heart, and neck from inside the chicken. Once the chicken is clean, place the chicken in a casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Be sure to wash your hands and any surfaces the chicken has touched to prevent the spread of salmonella. 

Raw chicken ready to go into the oven. 

Next, crush up the fresh thyme and rosemary in a mortar and pestle with kosher salt and about 2 tsp of olive oil. Make sure to remove all the stems from the herbs. Crush the herbs until a mushy consistency is made. Now, rub the cooked cloves of garlic and the herbs all over the chicken. Then, slice up your potatoes and carrots into large size pieces. Place the veggies around the chicken. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken and veggies. Pour about a tbsp or so of olive oil over your raw veggies and chicken. 

Chicken is cooked and ready to enter my belly. Delicious!

Cover the the chicken in the casserole dish with aluminum foil and put the chicken into a 375 degree preheated oven for two hours. Then, uncover the chicken and broil the chicken for about 5 minutes to brown the skin. Before broiling, you can rub butter on the skin to help make the chicken skin crispy. (This is optional.) 

Serve the chicken warm with the veggies on the side. Enjoy!

Okra Potato Fritters

Okra potato fritters are delicious and unique way to make okra. This recipe is my new twist on southern fried okra. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Okra Potato Fritters

• 1/2  pound of okra
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of white corn meal
• 1 tbsp of cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tbsp of chipolte seasoning (optional)
• 2 tbsp of season salt 
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 large russet potato- graded

Preparation 

First, slice the okra long wise into strips like french fries. Put the okra in a container and cover with water with 1 tbsp of salt. Allow the okra to soak for about a hour in the refrigerator. After a hour, pour off the water and rince with water again to remove the slimey coat off the okra.

Next, beat two eggs in one bowl and add a cup of milk. Then, add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Then, in another bowl add flour and corn meal. Mix together with 1 tbsp of season salt. Lastly, place the graded potato in a bowl and season with 1 tbsp of season salt along with the optional cayenne pepper and chipotle seasoning to make the batter spicy.

Finally, heat up vegetable oil in a large skillet. Fill the pan you use half way with oil. Heat the oil on  medium high heat. Then, batter the okra by soaking the okra in the egg mixture, coat with the flour/corn meal, and cover with the shredded potatoes. Fry the okra on each side until the potatoes turn a medium brown. 

After the okra is cooked, let the okra cool on a paper towel for a few minutes to remove any extra oil before serving. Enjoy the okra with your favorite southern meal. 

Curry Chicken Stir-Fry

Curry Chicken Stir-fry is a delicous and simple recipe to make for lunch or dinner. The recipe will take  about a hour to prepare and cook. Serves 3 people.

Ingredients

Spicy Curry Chicken Stir-Fry

• 1/2 small red onion
• 2 large chicken breasts
• Chili Peppers (optional and add as much as you want)
• 1 tbsp of curry powder
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 tsps of turmeric 
• 1 large red potato 
• 1/4 cup of cilantro 
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/8 cup of broth -beef or chicken

Preparation 

Preparing the potatoes

                                                                     First, cut up one large red potato into medium size chunks. I always leave on the skin for extra nutritional value but, it is optional. Place the potatoes into a microwavable dish and season with salt. Cook the potatoes in the microwave until the potatoes are soft. Will take approximately 7 minutes.

                                                                                                              

Fresh ingredients. Yummy!

Preparing the stir fry

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the chicken, red onion, chilies, and garlic. Heat up a stir-fry pan on a high heat and add the olive oil and garlic. Then, add the other ingredients once the garlic begins to sizzle. Add the curry powder, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Allow everything to saute for about 5 minutes on a medium high heat. 

                                                                                                                                       

After 5 minutes, add the potatoes. Then, add a bit more olive oil to the stir fry to help the potatoes to brown. Continue to cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes more. Then, reduce the heat to a simmer and add 1/8 cup of broth to the pan. Cover the the stir-fry and allow to cook for about 10 minutes. The broth will help soften any potatoes still chewy. 

After ten minutes, salt and pepper the stir-fry for taste. Serve the stir-fry with rice and a favorite vegetable. I served mine with pan fried eggplant. Also, I garnished my stir-fry with cilantro and a fried quail egg for additional flavor. Enjoy!

WTF!!! My breakfast journey stilll continues... Why??!!

So... since my last post, my pets have not learned. I guess they do not follow my blog.. Well.. that is unfortunate, sneaky, and RUDE!

Anyways, again I am awakened, early in the morning. I am miserable wishing for these creatures to die. Do these emotions change? Well, maybe during the day once I have reached sanity with caffeine. But, at sunrise, when the moon has barely hidden itselt, hell no. Pets are awaiting for their breakfast. These animals seem to think that annoyingly bothering with their attention, cries, and cuteness will cause me to suddenly open these cans of food and place it in a bowl at the crack of dawn. Well, no.. .I do not care... Maybe if they brought me coffee, I would change my mind.

Again. the daily struggle of humans vs. cats happens again. My lovely husband somehow sleeps through all this. Why is this? Not sure. I want to push him out of the bed and throw pillows at him. Why does he not wake up?! Grr... (hubby, if are reading this, I deserve flowers for all this pet sitting lol)

My pets continue to bother me in bed as I try to go back to sleep. I have let the dog out because he is too noisy in his kennel. The cats are on the bed trying their best to act nonchalant, in their own way, but seem like they  are trying to compete in the Olympics by using my head for hurdle jumping to get my attention. By this time, my dog is sprawled out in the middle of the bed, stealing my covers, and laying on his back with his legs in the air. He is farting too...gross. His farts smell as bad as a garbage dump that intoxicate me like mustard gas as I try to sleep. I continue to remove animals and push them off the bed in hopes to snooze a few more minutes.

Well, as always, food is served to the pets, and I am still sleepy. Will I get sleep? Will I get my 5 star breakfast? Who will ever know? The journey still continues till next time... These pets always win. Well, so they think the will HAHAHA...

Its time for coffee.....

Anyways, I plan to get to back to basics today. Conjuring up thoughts for a new recipe. Key ingredients chicken, potatoes, eggplant, curry powder, and spice. I will post up a new recipe tomorrow. :)