Chicken Breast with Orange, Olives, and New Potatoes *Recipe #26 - page 88*

This is a five star recipe!! I wasn't looking forward to cooking, but I ended up really enjoying my time in the kitchen with this dish. The smell was wonderful and for once I wasn't cooking with onions and garlic. Don't get me wrong, I love onions and garlic, but it is just a nice change of pace to have a dish with such nice clean and fresh flavors. I was patient to get a good sear on my chicken breasts and they ended up beautiful and were very crispy. The orange slices gave a nice subtle orange flavor and the olives added a little salty flavor to the overall dish. There are only 4 new potatoes sliced in the whole dish, so the potato is not too heavy. I think this is a beautiful dish to entertain with and would be gorgeous rounded out with a salad on the side. The chicken was juicy and just all around delicious. This is a healthy and delicious meal and I am dreaming up other combinations to imitate this meal. I am thinking about limes and some southwest flavors. Chili-Lime Chicken.... I must be feeling creative today.

Ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil
2 large chicken breast halves, skin on
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 new potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cup black olives, pitted
1/2 orange, sliced
fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large ovenproof saute pan heat a 3-count of olive oil (3tbsps.) over medium heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper; add them to the pan; skin sides down. Cook for 10 minutes until the skin is golden brown, then turn breasts over and add potatoes, olives, and orange slices. Cook for 5 minutes more, until the potatoes begin to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer pan to oven and bake for 12 -15 minutes, until chicken is golden brown and juices run clear (180F). Garnish with fresh parsley leaves.

**My chicken breasts were pretty big and they cooked in the allotted time, about 15-17 minutes.
My meat thermometer broke again. I have a drawer full of new meat thermometers. They only last about 5-10 uses and then they break on me. Good thing they are relatively cheap. I have to replace them constantly.

Everyone please try this. It is healthy, fresh, light and refreshing. One of my Tyler fave's!!

layouts to share

Hi all , I have been busy creating. Im really happy with my latest lot of layouts, it helps when you are scrapping such a beautiful BUBBA.

Gotta go Larsen is waking up, dont forget the scraploot cyber crop this Friday check out their blog

Cheers

Hump Day Burgers - Mediterrean Style -

I had some ground beef and chicken breast in my fridge that had to be cooked today. I really wasn't in the mood for cooking meat or eating meat. My husband is on the road, my daughter doesn't like ground beef, and my son is allergic to it. So, I am calling these burgers "hump day" because it was just one of those days in the middle of the week where I just felt "blah" about eating. I am also calling these "hump day" burgers for Donna of My Tasty Treasures. If you have not visited her blog, here is the link http://mytastytreasures.blogspot.com/ She posts her delicious looking food with naughty humor. I always get a chuckle out of her posts.

I looked in my fridge and was bored with propects of a plain cheeseburger with everyday cheese. I found some feta cheese and olives and had a great idea..... a feta cheese salad/topping. This was really tasty and very flavorful and I think if you are a fan of feta cheese you will love this idea:

Mediterrean Style Salad:
1 block of feta cheese, crumbled
2 - 3 sundried tomatoes. chopped
5-6 kalamata olives. chopped
handful of italian-leaf parsley, chopped
olive oil - just a drizzle
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

I mixed all these ingredients together in a bowl and tested it out on a few crackers. It was really tasty on the crackers, so I went ahead and topped my burger with it. I thought it was really tasty and unique and decided to share it. This is a great feta salad for vegetables, crackers, burgers, chicken or lamb. I love salty food, so I really enjoyed it. This recipe would easily make enough to top off four burgers with a little leftover for the cook. You could even eat this alone on some fresh bread or serve it with hummus inside a pita. I could go on, but it's time to watch American Idol and I still have to cook that blasted chicken.

My Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies - Tyler Florence recipe -

These cookies have been very popular lately on Tyler Florence Fridays. I have been watching as the ladies bake thse cookies with outstanding results. I finally tried these cookies today and let me say that this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! Leave it to Tyler and his baking recipes. I think this is his biggest secret....I really think he was meant to be a pastry chef. Not only are his baking recipes good, they are outstanding and oftentimes the best version of that particular dish that I have ever had. Everyone should try these cookies at least once. I followed the recipe to the "T" and used the dark chocolate. I love dark chocolate, but kids love semi-sweet or milk. I am going to try these cookies aain (soon) and use semi-sweet.

My sole purpose for baking these cookies were to give them to a new family who moved in the neighborhood this weekend. I am painfully shy when meeting new people so the occasional "baked good" reallly makes it easier for me to get the courage to go over and knock on the door. They were really happy to have the cookies and I hope they enjoy them.

You can find this recipe on food network, but here is a link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/my-big-fat-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/index.html

Thanks to everyone on Tyler Florence Fridays. This is such a great blog for people who love Tyler Florence and also love cooking. We have the freedom to choose any Tyler recipe and cook it over the week. It is so much fun to see what everyone else picks. I am so glad that this recipe has been made so many times. It finally sunk in that this was the cookie to make.

Larsen turns 3 months

Today Larsen turned 3 months old, boy the time is just flying. He is such a happy baby smiles , coos and laughs constantly, he loves tummy time and lifts his head right off the floor for ages, will stay on his tummy for over half an hour. Today his new trick was to play soccer with some ladybirds dangling from his rocker, Addison and i were facinated by him kicking them.

he is one happy baby

Till next time

Cyber crop at scraploot

Scraploot will be holding our very first Cyber Crop on the Scraploot Blog!! Come and drop by the Blog on March the 6th for some challenges that will be set by two of our Design Team Members, Sheree and Anthea. Challenges will start at 7.30pm and you will have until midnight Sunday the 15th of March to have your challenges completed and posted in our Gallery. The DT will then vote on the overall winner who will receive a voucher to spend in the Scraploot store and 2 random prizes will be put up by Sheree and Anthea.
Post your layouts here

shares from the scraploot Dt

Being the first of the month I up loaded my projects to the scraploot website. I got to play with some fantastic Heidi Swapp papers and clear embellishments and a Kaisercraft mini album.

The feel was very grungy and so I decided lost of sanding and inking were in order. Im very pleased with the outcome I think its my favourite project i've done as a DT member.

Mini Album

Go check out the other great Dt Projects here
Must be off to bed

till next time