Also, you would make this dish if you have a husband like mine who will open you a can of chicken soup when you crave for fried chicken in the middle of the night.

Ingredients (8 chicken thighs):

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

8 chicken thighs or breasts

3 tabespoons melted unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix all ingredients except chicken and butter.

Press chicken into the melted butter and turn to coat thoroughly with the mixture. Arrange the coated chicken on the baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake for another 15 minutes. Chicken is done when juices run clear when pricked with a fork.

Serve hot with ketchup.

But this time, over these first few months, ANY SECOND I’m either throwing up or wanting to throw up, the only exception is when I’m asleep. Once I wake up, I want to puke. Anything I eat has some annoying smell and strange taste. Even that glass of water I sip is the most distasteful liquid in the universe.

When my craving hits me, I feel like my savior has arrived, I want an enormous portion. And I just eat and eat, that couple minutes when I gobble up that bowl of pho, I want to strip naked and jump into the bowl and swim with the noodle. After that, what I mean “after that” is around 10 minutes later, the after-taste starts to attack me, so bad that I don’t wants to eat for the rest of my life.

My best friend is lemon. 2000 packs of super lemon candy in my purse, 4000 cans of lemonade soda in my pantry, 7000 fresh lemon in my fridge. I cook with lemon ALL THE TIME……until the day my husband decides to divorce me.

Ingredients (serves 2-4):

8 – 10 large chicken drumsticks
salt and freshly ground pepper to season
3 tablespoon olive oil
4-5 slices of ginger
1 head of garlic, all cloves peeled and lightly crushed
few thyme sprigs
2 tablespoon white wine
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 tablespoon honey
1 cup hot water or chicken stock
1 lemon, finely sliced

Directions:

Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper.

 

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. Brown the chicken pieces on each side over high heat for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pan.

Add ginger, garlic and thyme to the pan. Stir fry lightly.

Add white wine to deglaze the pan. Drizzle over the soy sauce and honey.

Pour in hot water, add the lemon slices and drumsticks. Lower heat to medium high, let the liquid bubble until it becomes thick, about 10 minutes or until the drumsticks cook through. Add spoonful water at a time if the sauce becomes dry.

Transfer the chicken to a plate and serve immediately with steamed rice.

My very first improvised chicken pot pie is not about the pie itself. Weird, huh?! Yes, cause it’s all about the filling which was completely-beyond-my-expectation easy to make, delicious and versatile. I made extra to go with pasta and white rice.

If the crust sounds too intimating for you, use store brought puff pastry instead or just forget it. Again, it’s the filling which you can have it plain.

Yet, don’t make it if you don’t have white wine and cream. Extremely important!

The portion I had was way bigger that the one in the photo. That was Ethan’s bowl. He loved it too!

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Prepare the crust by placing flour, salt and sugar in a food processor to mix. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. While the machine is running, pour in ice water slowly. The dough should hold together when pinched. Add a little more water if necessary.

Gather dough into a dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to chill.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add the onions and carrots, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the flour and cook, stirring for another minute. Slowly whisk in chicken stock to blend completely with the flour.

Add milk and cream. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the chicken meat, wine, peas, corns, salt and pepper and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Divide the filling among 4 to 6 ramekins.

Roll out the crust dough on a lightly flour surface to around 1/4″ thick. Cut into rounds with around 1/2″ larger than the circumference of the ramekins. Lay a dough round on each pot pie filling. Fold the excess dough under itself and use a fork to press the dough against the edge of the ramekins. Cut a 1-inch vent into each individual pie.

Lightly brush the beaten egg on each pie. Line a baking sheet with foil, place the pies on the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve.

Besides what I had anticipated before about my returning to the office, I also have hard time keeping my blog updated. I do still cook as we still need to eat though I’m tired after work. And so I have tons of finished product photos archived in my folder that I have to post them before I forget how I cooked them.

8 chicken thighs, skin on

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup dried fruit (prune, raisin or cranberry)

1/4 cup green olives, sliced or halved

1/4 cup capers with 3 tbsp juice

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

In a large bowl combine garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, vinegar, olive oil, dried fruit, olives, capers with caper juice, and bay leaves. Add the chicken pieces and coat completely. Cover and let marinate overnight in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Arrange chicken in a single layer in a shallow baking pan and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.

Bake for 50 minutes, basting frequently with the pan juice.

Transfer chicken, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Add some of the pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley. Serve remaining juice in a gravy boat.

So, my friend, if your family dinner has been cursed by those fast-food chains for ages just because you barely cook, I’m now passing it on this super easy recipe hoping that you could give your family a break for just one day a week.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

4 springs rosemary

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, soften

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved with 2 tablespoons warm water

Directions:

Heat oven to 450F. Remove giblets and liver from cavity, discard. Let chicken rest at room temperature for an hour.

Trim excess fat from cavity. Rinse chicken thoroughly under cold water, inside and out, then pat as dry as possible all over the cavity and the skin.

Season cavity with salt and pepper, then stuff with lemon, rosemary and garlic.

Rub skin with 2 tablespoons soften butter. Season all over generously with salt and pepper.

Place chicken in a large ovenproof skillet. Roast until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165F, about an hour. Transfer chicken to a platter, let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

To prepare gravy, discard fat from juice in the skillet. Place pan over medium high heat. Pour in wine and broth to deglaze pan, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon.

Cook until reduced by half, add cornstarch mixture to thicken. Pour through a fine sieve into a serve bowl.

Serve chicken with gravy.

This is actually one of my inventions. Yes, I heard you, “Really? Such an easy recipe, you call it an invention?” Well, honestly, I didn’t plan to post it until my sister-in-law, who’s a huge fan of this dish, kept begging me to put it on my blog so that she can make it on her own.

Now, Keturah, if you ever try to make it, but ruin it. You are not eating in my house for the rest of your life!

Ingredients (serves 6):

8 chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to season

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced
5 tomatoes, diced

1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and pepper.Heat oil on medium high heat in large sautee pan. Add the chicken (skin side down) and cook until browned on each side. Set aside.

Add onion, garlic and tomato, and cook for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add wine, cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

 

Add broth, tomato paste, caper and rosemary. Mix well.Put in chicken thighs. Cook until the juice bubbles. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

 

Serve with spaghetti or rice.

Anyway, I wasn’t dare to take risk. Afterall I don’t want my child to miss any chance to taste one of the best food in the world when he grows up. So, I stopped having seafood for more than one freaking year! Not only myself, but my husband also had to cut it down since I’m the chef in the house who controls our daily menu. But, just because you have to sacrifice one of the best food, it doesn’t mean you can’t have another delicious alternative. So, instead of having seafood paella, I made chicken paella.

Ingredients (serves 6):

8 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth

2 cup balsmati rice

2 carrots, diced

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Salt and pepper