Me and Katie being sassy

Micah and Joel…being sassy

We helped them move on Monday and got back on Tuesday night.  We walked in the door to our apartment after 4 hours of driving and 10 minutes later I started making this dinner.  30 minutes after that it was on the table and ready to eat.  So though it may look fancy, take my word, it’s one of the easiest dinners I’ve ever prepared.  Don’t be afraid of artichokes-they’re easy!

For the artichokes, I followed these directions and she describes it much better than I would.  Adding the lemon to the water was a great idea.  I also made a lemon/pepper/mayo sauce to dip the artichokes in:

1/3 cup mayo

Juice of 1/2 large lemon

a few hefty shakes of pepper

Mix it up until completely smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat

For the Gnocchi:

Follow directions on package to cook gnocchi (it usually says ‘cook until gnocchi float to top and then cook 2 minutes longer’. They’re pretty forgiving).  Heat up the sauce of your choosing in a medium sauce pan.  Drain gnocchi and top with sauce.

For the salad I just sliced up some strawberries, added feta and chopped almonds and tossed it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I also toasted some sourdough bread which we used to sop up the extra sauce.

SO EASY!!!

Peonies have long been my favorite flower, and my mama-in-law happens to grow them in her garden, so she gave me a few.  They really brightened up the whole house, plus they smelled so nice!

You know what else smelled nice? Apple cake!

1/2 cup veggie oil

3 large apples, peeled cored and cut into small chunks (I used Pink Lady apples)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/ 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8″ pan and set to the side. Over high heat in a medium saucepan, bring apples and 1/4 cup water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until apples are fork tender.  Mash apples and stir until mixture looks like chunky applesauce. Remove from heat.  In sauce pan with apples, mix in brown sugar and oil.  Then add eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and spices.  Transfer batter to pre-greased pan and bake until just set, about 30-35 minutes.  Let cool and transfer to a cooling rack. Sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar.

This would be good as muffins as well, or served warm with some vanilla bean ice cream.

recipe from April 2010 issue of Everyday Food

For me the easiest way to reinvent leftovers is to throw it all into a pasta…it’s also usually a family favorite when I do that, which makes it increasingly hard to recreate. For this I just chopped up the leftover chicken and veggies (from Mother’s Day Dinner) baked some cherry tomatoes in the oven (in the baking dish pictured) with olive oil and salt and pepper and some thyme sprigs for 15 minutes.  While I was doing that I cooked the pasta and chopped up some flat leaf parsley. When the pasta was done cooking, I poured it in the pan with the tomatoes and topped it with some Pomodoro Sauce (kind of like marinana), added the chicken and veggies, mixed it all together and topped it with feta, parmesan and more parsley. Then I baked it for 20 more minutes (on 350) and served it with some delicious country bread.

Edit: my husband was sweet enough to remind me that this did dry out quite a bit, so it would be helpful to add 1/2-3/4 cups water in with the pasta sauce. Thanks Micah!

To cook the chicken:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a large skillet over medium/high.  Roughly dice 1 large white onion and 2 cloves of garlic and quarter 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes. Rinse and pat dry 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and 2 bone-in skin-on chicken leg quarters & sprinkle with plenty of course salt and ground pepper.  Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in skillet.  Place chicken breasts in skillet, skin side down and grill each side 5 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.  Remove from pan and drain 1/2 fat from pan.  Return to heat and add onions and garlic.  Cook 3-4 minutes or until just soft.  Add tomatoes and cook until juices begin to release, 4-5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and remove from heat.

Sprinkle onion and tomato mix with salt and pepper and top with the grilled chicken pieces.  Place uncovered in oven and cook 20-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.

For the veggies:

Chop up 3 medium zucchini, 6-8 medium carrots and 2 large red onions.  Spread on a baking dish and sprinkle with s+p and olive oil.  Bake about 20 minutes or until veggies are just fork tender.  Serve with plenty of pan sauce and sliced chicken over the top.  We also served it with some awesome Ciabatta bread to sop up the extra sauce.

We also had some delicious apple cake for dessert…I’ll save that recipe for another post

Trader Joe’s Petite Cocoa Batons! They are extremely addictive, and surprisingly low in fat. I could eat them all day long.   I don’t, but I could.

1Lb ground turkey, 1/2 finely chopped yellow onion, 1/3 cup chopped parsley, salt + pepper, 2 egg whites, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, dash course salt, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic – mush it all together, squish into 8 smallish patties, drizzle with olive oil and broil in oven for 3-5 minutes per side.

Yogurt sauce: 1 cup Greek yogurt, 2 sprigs chopped mint leaves, juice of 1/2 large lime, s+p – mix it all together

3 tilapia fillets

Chili Powder

S+P

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup cous cous

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup English cucumber, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh dill, minced

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 Tbsp olive oil

S+P

Pour water into a smallish saucepan over medium/high heat and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling remove from heat and pour in 1 cup cous cous.  Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile place a large skillet over medium/high heat and pour in olive oil.  Pat fish dry and sprinkle both sides liberally with salt, pepper and chili powder (or paprika).  Place in skillet and cook about 3 minutes per side or until just opaque.

While the fish is cooking, add cucumber, dill, feta, lemon juice, oil, and salt + pepper to cous cous.  Mix well and cover until ready to serve.

That’s it!

While he was over, the boys greased up my old Frye boots

and put some shine on Micah’s Brook Brothers shoes as well

None of that has anything to do with food, so here’s the sandwich I made them to eat while they were hard at work doing manly shoe things:

Honey wheat bread, smoked turkey, tomato, pickle, spinach, mayo + mustard, s+p.

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

1.5 Cups flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp course salt

1 stick room temp. butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp lemon zest

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine first three ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a mixing bowl cream butter for 2 minutes.  Add sugar and lemon zest and cream for another 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla to the milk and add the wet ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  In a 12 cup muffin tray, place paper liners in pan and put Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-17 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized mixing bowl combine:

1 stick unsalted butter (room temp) 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tsbp milk, 1 tsp lemon zest and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Mix until smooth and spreadable.  Top cupcakes with a hefty dollop of frosting and place a fresh blueberry or two on top.