Sorry about the long break. Lots of things going on here. The kids and I took a vacation that was only supposed to be 2 weeks and ended up on being 3. No complaints here, we had a great time. Lots of great memories made. The first 2 weeks of vacation were spent with my sister and her family in Florida. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen together making lots of great food. And the kids spent lots of time in the swimming pool. The 3rd week of vacation was spent in Georgia with my husband’s family. We were only supposed to be there for one day but my husband ended up being able to take a week off and join us in Georgia. What a great surprise.
Anyway, we’ve been back for a week now but I haven’t taken the time to blog. I turned another year older last week and for my birthday I wanted the salad that my sister had made one night while we were in Florida. I think the dressing and the chicken marinade make the whole dinner awesome. For dessert I made the brownies. I used the recipe that my sister made the night before we left. They are so rich and chocolaty and what makes them even better is a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I’m tell you….to die for.
Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
¼ tsp. kosher salt
Pinch ground black pepper
Good squirt of Honey, depends on how sweet you want it
¼-½ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Chicken Marinade from Mom Makes
1 1/2 lbs – 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, split in half
the zest and juice of one lemon
2 cloves fresh garlic, roughly chopped
fresh thyme 8-10 sprigs
splash of white wine* I omitted because I didn’t have any on hand but I used a couple Tbs of chicken broth
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste
Put all the ingredient inside a plastic ziplock bag, close top of bag and place bag in a pie plate. Put plate in the refrigerator and marinade a couple of hours, flipping the bag half way through. When your ready pull chicken out of bag and grill. Slice and place on top of salad. For my salad I had romaine, spinach, cucumber, carrots, tomato and forgot to put the red onion in but it was still really good.
Fudge Brownies adapted from King Arthur Flour, seen on Mom makes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups AP flour
2 cups chocolate chips
Directions –
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. In a medium saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it’s hot, but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
3. While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.
4. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
5. Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.
6. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan.
7. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.
punky purls 