Barefoot Blogging : Chicken Piccata

My friend Tia has a great blog called Southern, Eh? and I noticed while surfing her blog, that she is a member of the Barefoot Bloggers group. Well knowing my love for Ina Garten and her recipes, I had no choice but to sign up!

So the first recipe for this month is Chicken Piccata. I've actually have the episode that Ina makes this on, so I was lucky to be able to refer to that while I was making this. Ina went all out and served it with buttermilk mashed potatoes, roasted onions, and an apple-pear crisp. I just served it by it's lonesome little self, but it'd be great with a mixed salad. Let's see how to make it....

Ingredients

• 2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 extra-large egg
  
• 1/2 tablespoon water
  
• 3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
  
• Good olive oil
  
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
  
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
• Sliced lemon, for serving
  
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving
  

First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This is so we can keep the chicken warm while you're fixing the sauce.

Since we want the chicken to cook evenly and much faster, we're going to pound the breasts. Give them a mammogram! Place the breast in between sheets of wax or parchment paper. Grab your rolling pin, or whatever you've got on hand and get mashing! You're going to want them to be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Next up it's time for a breading bath. Please don't judge me for using my Chinese takeout plastic wear. They are so handy. And I'm cheap. In seprate bowls, I've put 1/2 cup of flour seasoned w/ salt and pepper, an egg whisked with 1/2 TBS of water, and the 3/4 cup of bread crumbs. Look how lovely.

Pick up the breast and dip on both sides in each of the containers. The flour makes sure it's dry enough, and the egg helps the bread crumbs to bind to it while cooking. Make sure you shake off any excess... that's right... SHAKE YOUR BREASTS! WOO HOO! *shimmies*

Next up, you're going to want to pour about 2 TBS of your olive oil into a pan.

Then place your chicken in the heated oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side.

Once throughly cooked, remove and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put in your pre-heated oven to keep warm while preparing the delicious lemony sauce that will get poured on this crispy chicken.

I love that this is a one-pan dish! Simply wipe out the same pan you just cooked the chicken in and add 1TBS of butter, the lemon juice, and wine. Then add in the salt and pepper. While you're at it.... toss in those lemon halves you saved while juicing those lemons. ( For those that cheated and used bottled juice... I won't tell) Cook this until it's reduced by half, which should be about 2-3 minutes.

And since this IS an Ina recipe, we're going to make this sauce extra delicious by adding an additional 2TBS of butter once the sauce has reduced. When adding, make sure you swirl it in the pan to combine.

Discard those lemons, for they've done all the flavoring they can do. Remove your chicken from the oven, and plate it. Scoop up some of that scrumptious sauce you just made and drizzle it over your chicken....mmmmm...

Garnish with chopped parsley and slices of lemon!

Now you can honestly make all kinds of variations of this.... I for one next time would only use 1 lemon for the sauce, as when I tasted it, it was VERY strong. If you want to cut through the sourness, you could also add a TBS or two of drained capers. A handful of Parmesan cheese would be extra delicious in this as well!

If you'd like to check out a printable version of this recipe, here is is.



Check back this month... I've got 3 more recipes to try this month. Sauteed Broccolini, Brownie Pudding, and Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts. I guess that means I need to go sweat at the gym some more, don't I?

An Afternoon at Whole Foods

Ah, Whole Foods. Or as other people refer to it as "Whole Paycheck". We finally got one here in Jacksonville in December, and ever since it opened, I have forked over parts of my paycheck on a weekly basis.

The moment you walk in, you're greeted by the floral and veggie departments and you feel welcome. The produce is beautifully displayed and arranged, and bascially screams at you to "pick me pick me! I'm good for you!" Walking around the produce you see so many new and interesting items that you have only seen on maybe The Food Network.... dried chiles, rappini, aloe leaf, cactus leaves, bitter oranges, and so much more. I ended up selecting some Broccolini for my Barefoot Bloggers challenge, some dried Chipolte peppers for making enchiladas this week, some Meyer lemons, tomatoes on the vine ( I was sad to see they were out of the big Heriloom tomatoes), some hydroponic Basil, and some fresh garlic.

Since I wasn't really there for grocery shopping, I decided to grab some lunch while I was there. And at Whole Foods, you can get anything under the sun. No matter if you're craving Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, Vegetarian, American, the honestly have it all. I happen to LOVE their marinated Feta cheese from the cold bar section, as well as their marinated artichoke hearts. I was looking at all of the other salads they had available, and they had a fantastic looking Broccoli salad with cashews.... well I just had to try it as well. I scurried over to check out the selections on the hot bar, and they had just brought out a gigantic pan of 3 Cheese Lasagna. Looking at that melty cheese and bubbling sauce, I couldn't resist. I also selected a few meatless meatballs just to try them.

I go to pay for my goods and go to their "cafe" seating area. It's light, spacious, airy, and a perfect place to enjoy your selctions. Whole Foods was so smart to put a seating area in so that you can go shopping, or just come in and eat.

So I will still continue to have myself pulled into the magical world that is Whole Foods week after week. The possibilites are endless. Now if only they brought an IKEA to Jacksonville, my life would be complete. I'd be broke, but at least I'd be happy!

Ina's Herb Baked Eggs

So I have a confession. I love Ina Garten. I love her simple and no-fuss style of cooking. She makes food that is delicious, gorgeous, and best of all, easy! I TiVo her every day, and I have 65 episodes currently saved. Out of all of my cookbooks that I have, I can honestly say that I reach for hers the most.

I've been meaning to try a recipe that I saw in her "Barefoot in Paris" book a few months ago. It's a recipe for herbed baked eggs, made with fresh herbs and parmesean cheese. It looked simple enough for a Sunday brunch for myself, so I decided to give it a whirl today.



Some things you'll need:
Shredded parmesean cheese
Herbs (I used parsley, chives, rosemary and chopped garlic)
Heavy Cream
Butter
Eggs (duh!)

Go ahead and turn your broiler on and set the top rack about 6 inches away from it.

First you'll need to crack your eggs into a bowl, taking care not to puncture the yolk. You won't be cooking them in this.



Next, you'll need to take 1 tsp of butter and 1TBS of cream and put them in the ramekin you'll be cooking your eggs in. Pop that in the broiler for 3 minutes so it can get melted and bubbly.





Next you'll be mixing about 1.5 TBS of Parmesean cheese, a sprinkle of each of the herbs, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper into a bowl. This will be your topping for your eggs.




After the 3 minutes in the broiler, take out the butter/cream mixture. Carefully pour the eggs into the ramekin and sprinkle your cheese/herb mixture over your eggs. Put back under the broiler for 5-6 minutes. After that, remove from the oven and let set for 1 minute. This is best served with some toast, because who wouldn't want to dip their toast into this delicious mixture? It's a wonderful breakfast, full of flavor. And it only took about 15 mintues, MAX.

As Ina would say, doesn't THAT look good?

Even though I'm a non-believer.... Happy Valentine's

Well technically I abhor Valentine's Day, but I love all the sweets that come with it. I normally spoil my co-workers with some great treats and since some of them won't be here on Saturday, I decided to bring them in on Thursday.

What kind of goodies are here you may ask? Let's see.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing:
I cheat and use the red velvet mix from a box, God Bless Duncan Hines! But the cream cheese icing is so easy enough to make, and it tastes SO much better when it's homemade!

All you need is:
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened

1 16oz box of powdered sugar

2 tsp Vanilla extract

Add all ingredients and mix until smooth and creamy!

And the next treat for your enjoyment would be.....

Red Velvet Cake Balls, Bakerella style.

And last but certainly not least we have:

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

I hope you all enjoyed these Valentine goodies, and if you love or hate the holiday, please make them!!!

Accomplished!

UPDATE! I've been blogged about!!! OMG! I feel so proud! I was featured on Unclutterer as the Workspace of the Week!

Check it out here!!!!

For the past two weekends, I've tackled a project each Sunday. Last Sunday was getting my closet organized. This Sunday it was all about getting my desk organized. I get angry when I can't find something I'm looking for. My desk was a combination of magazine/mail/general clutter. And with me trying to get into this whole photography and Etsy shop deal, I needed a clean, organized workspace.

So then I started browsing through Pottery Barn's website to get inspired. I already have a great desk to begin with, and I just needed a little guidance on what to do. I thought about what I had already, organizing wise, so I wouldn't have to go out and spend any more than I honestly needed to. Something I knew that I needed was a new printer stand. I had this older busted file cabinet with absolutely no storage space for my things. It needed to have storage drawers as well as room for files. My desk currently has space for drop files. I've never used them for that. They've had crap like binders and junk mail in them for the past few years. Taking all of this into consideration, I got to work.


I had to sort through the entire pile of junk first. I had receipts from electronics from 2004, ones I didn't even have anymore! I found old car papers, random photos, high school essays. Seriously? Why do I even have this anymore?! I ended up throwing out 2 huge paper bags full, not to mention the documents I shredded.



The after...... is so worth it. It's pleasing to the eye, I feel like I can actually get some work done here. My things are so neatly organized and laid out. So now I present you with some before and after shots !

I've got that itch....

The time has come to plan my next Europe Trip. This time the theme is simplicity. Not trying to cram 7 cities into 15 days. I want to go to places I've not been to. Here's where I'm thinking of going.

Italy- Tuscany and Venice
France- Nice, Marsailles, Aix-en-Provence
Spain - Barcelona
Czech Republic- Prague
Germany- Berlin, Frankfurt
Austria- Vienna
Scotland- Edinburg

I'm wanting to go sometime in late summer or early fall. Time shall see.

Say hello to my new friend.

So I did it. I took the plunge. Right now I have a Canon XSi D-SLR camera on its way to me. I keep thinking of the possibilities of things I'm going to do with it and I get all kinds of tingly. I have been reading some wonderful blogs about Food Photography lately and they have some tricks and tips on using different settings to getting the best shot out of it.

So if you're one of my friends that wants a few photos done... I'm willing to do them for no cost so I can have a portfolio :) Just let me get used to it and we're on!