So the last 5 months have been a little crazy... I finished my last semester, planned a wedding, had an amazing bachelorette weekend in Whistler, got married (WOOOOO!!!), went to Mexico, watched my HUSBAND cross the stage, moved across the province, painted our new place (o.m.g. it took forever), flew home so I could walk across the stage, drove back and have been unpacking and cleaning ever since. Matt started work a few days ago (my brilliant engineer <3 <3) so I've been housewifing it up.
I honestly didn't think organizing, cleaning, 10 million loads of laundry, ironing and cooking would take so much time! That god I have a week until I have to think about jobs again so I get all this shit done :P
For Matt's first day of work I wanted to make something special. The biggest problem is that we are broke and had very few things in the fridge to work with. The slightly smaller problem is that our kitchen was still half full of sandpaper, tape and other random painting stuff (although it's now sparkling clean and only full of kitchen related items). After staring at the pantry/fridge for a while I decided on sangria, salad, potatoes and whatever the cheapest protein was at the store. Just a note... we have a Save-On but it's called Overwaitea. I have never heard of this super random name before but my save-on card saved me big $$$$ so I'm just rollin with it. Does anyone reading this know which name came first??
Anywho... back to dinner... I bought chicken. Did I mention I am already missing Costco like CrAzY!! A 2 hour versus 10 minute drive is not the same :( I came home with my chicken and starting perusing pinterest, my favorite place to find random recipes. I found a photo of almond crusted baked chicken breast that looked delicious!!! And it just so happens we have almonds so I figured it was meant to be. At this point I made a big mistake... I read that they used a food processor but decided I could just chop them really fine. Wrong. It took me 25 minutes to chop all the almonds fine enough :( I need to buy a food processor (I've already picked it out... just need to bite the bullet and pay for it... urgh).
Notice the awesome antique blue glass mason jar?? I am in LOVE with them!
Nana gave me a whole box full <3 <3
After I finally finished chopping the almonds Matt called and surprised me... he ended work and HOUR AND A HALF earlier then he originally thought and that he would be home in 20ish minutes. Bahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That definitely threw a wrench in my schedule.
So I scrambled to start and finish prepping the potatoes.... By the way, these are not just any potatoes. They are the most amazing greek potatoes I have ever had in my entire life! One of my domestic goddess friends, Michelle, made them a few months ago. I stole her recipe and have been making them ever since. I've never made it exactly how it says.. just wing it.
Here's what you'll need for Greek Potatoes:
- 4 large russett potatoes (I used 8 smaller yellow potatoes that we happened to have)
- 1/2 cup olive oil (I generally do 1/4 or 1/3 and add more lemon juice and water)
- Juice of 3 lemons (or more.... )
- 1 tablespoon "Greek Seasoning" from Clubhouse (this is a MUST)
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 3 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 1 cup of water (add more if they dry out while cooking)
I quickly cubed the potatoes and threw everything in a casserole dish and mixed (shown below). I've used glass and ceramic dishes and they both work great.
The potatoes need to cook for approximately 1 hour. I've noticed that the time can vary greatly, I have nooooo idea why. Make sure you turn them occasionally and watch that the tops down burn. There should always be some liquid in the bottom, usually I just add more water until it covers the bottom 1/3 of the potatoes. They should be super soft when done.
Matt still wasn't home yet so I made a mad dash to get the chicken prepped so I could pop it in when the potatoes were done. These include all the changes I made along the way...
Ingredient's you'll need for Almond Crusted Chicken Breasts:
- 3 seasoned chicken breasts
- 3/4 cup roasted, unsalted chopped almonds
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Make a paste of the bottom 5 ingredients. Mine was kind of chunky but it would be smoother if you used a food processor. I seasoned the chicken breasts with a little Italian Herbs mix. Next time I would add some cayenne or something with a little more kick.
Seasoned chicken breasts
I pressed the chicken into the almond paste, flipped it, pressed again and then put them in a baking pan. I poured the extra almond mixture over top. After the potatoes were done, I lowered the temperature to 425 and threw the chicken in for about 30 mins until there was no pink left!!
Here's the chicken before going in the oven
Matt caught me making sangria when he walked in the door. This is another recipe I stole from Michelle (she is amazing). She gave it to me at my bridal shower and I had the chance to try it when she had us over for dinner. It was delicious! You can add whatever fruit and juice are handy. What I put in was slightly different from Michelle's.
Most delicious White Wine Sangria:
- 1 bottle white wine
- 2 cans pineapple palmbay
- 1 sliced orange
- 1 sliced white nectarine
- splash of orange juice
Michelle added some vodka (which definitely gave it more of a bang), white grape juice instead of OJ, and raspberries instead of nectarines. I think it will taste amazing no matter you add... It's my new favorite drink :)
Appetizer #1
Matt was still starving after having some sangria so I whipped up the salad early for a little snack. I have been obsessed with this salad. I've had at at least once a day since we came back.
Mixed Green and Goat Cheese Salad:
- Mixed greens
- Crumbled goat cheese
- Chopped almonds (walnuts work too)
- Dried cranberries (diced nectarines are yummy too)
- Vinaigrette of choice! We used a balsamic from the store.
Salad is super hard.. lots of technique goes into mixing haha. Here's a shot before the dressing went on...
Appetizer #2
The chicken was finally done!! And it was delicious! As were the potatoes... Yum!
After we ate dinner I decided to make one of Matt's favorite desserts - Peach Cobbler. I had never made it but I was also given this recipe at my shower. It's a Sturdivant classic.. Matt's Nana and Mom are pretty famous for it from what I hear. It's supposed to be easy but I made a few mistakes...
All the ingredients you'll need for Peach Cobbler:
- 1/2 cup margarine
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 approx. 400 ml can peaches
Apparently the type of dish you make this in is VERY important. We got a kitchenaid cast iron for a wedding gift so I used it. First melt the butter in the dish. Mix the dry ingredients separately, then add milk. The first time I read the recipe wrong and added 3 cups of milk.... oops!!!! haha I guess I was getting tired. Pour the batter in the margarine but don't stir! Then pour the can of peaches in, juice and all. Again, don't stir!! Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until the top is golden. Serve with or without vanilla ice cream. Soooooo yummy and easy to make and cheap!!! Definitely try this one :)
The 4 steps are labelled so you know what to look for!
