C'est Magnifique!

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman we now have a new favorite dish in our house. I tried Coq au Vin and it was a success. You can't really go wrong with a recipe that has wine as it's main ingredient. The recipe calls for Burgundy but I decided to use Cavernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir would be good as well.


The only thing in this recipe that didn't go over so well with my kids were the mushrooms. They just can't get used to the texture of them.
I had to pull out the cute dishes for this!

Whatever you do, don't use a non stick skillet. I used a big stainless steel one, it allows all of those good browned bits to stick to the pan. When you deglaze with wine, stir 'em all up. Yum!!

• 1 whole Fryer Chicken
  
• 4 slices Bacon, Cut Into Small Pieces
• ½ whole Medium Onion, Diced
• ½ cups Carrots, Washed, Peeled, And Roughly Chopped
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 pound White Mushrooms, Sliced
• 2 cups Burgundy Wine
• 1 pound Pasta (egg Noodles Or Fettucini)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• Parsley, Fresh, Minced
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Saute bacon pieces in a large skillet over medium low heat until fat is rendered. Remove bacon from the skillet and set aside. Increase heat to medium.

Salt fat side of chicken pieces, then place chicken, fat side down, in skillet and cook in bacon grease until both sides are nice and golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside in a 2-quart baking dish, skin side up.

Saute onions, carrots and garlic in bacon grease until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove from grease with slotted spoon and set aside.

In a separate skillet, saute mushrooms in 2 tablespoons butter until golden, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

Layer half of the bacon pieces, carrot/onion mixture, and mushrooms in pan with chicken.

Drain grease from the large skillet, then place over medium heat. Pour in 2 cups Burgundy wine, using a wire whisk to scrape loose all the burned/brown bits. Lightly salt liquid and allow to cook for 3 minutes. Pour over chicken and vegetables. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with 2 tablespoons butter.

Serve chicken in a pasta bowl with noodles, sprinkling minced parsley over the top. Spoon juice from baking dish over the top of everything.

Wendy's Chili

As if you needed another chili recipe right? This one is so good though. It tastes so much like Wendy's! I've had it simmering all day. It such a great day for it too, it's so cold here. Hope you enjoy!


2 pounds of ground beef
1 can (29oz) tomato sauce (I prefer Dei Fratelli)
1 can (29 oz) kidney beans with liquid
1 can (29 oz) pinto beans with liquid
1 medium onion diced
1 small can diced green chilies
1 celery rib diced
3 medium tomatoes chopped
2 teaspoons of Cumin
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water

Brown the beef, drain, add remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring every few minutes, for 2-3 hours.

Blah Blah Blah

I had a few left over Christmas pictures that I wanted to post, and also a really good cookie recipe. Although I don't have a picture of the finished product.

If this post makes no sense it's because my son has his headphones on my ears while he is controlling his Ipod. I'm supposed to give him the thumbs up or down for each song he plays. So far he has gone through the entire Beatles catalog. Did I mention how sick of the Beatles I am? Ugh, I liked so many of their songs until his dad bought him Beatles Rockband, kind of ruined it for me. Now if they made a Kings of Leon Rockband that would be an entirely different story! Ok, he has moved on to the Foo Fighters, finally!

We watched 500 Days of Summer tonight. Loved that movie, even if I'm only a hipster wanna be. I'm a big Zooey Deschanel fan! The soundtrack is really good too.

I'm going to try my hand at Co au Vin tomorrow. That is if I have some burgundy on hand. My luck, with tomorrow being Sunday, I'll be out.

Ha! Now he's playing "Stairway to Heaven" but he said I had to promise not to sing it. How do you listen to that song and not sing along? Impossible, and you know I sound good with these headphones on and the house as quiet as it is. Ha! Enough babbling!





Mexican Wedding Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces
Directions
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At
low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1
tablespoon of dough and shape into a ball. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies.
Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in
additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

Say Cheese

My brother and his wife asked me to take their portrait. We went to Starrs Mill in Fayetteville which was flooded. I wasn't prepared for that but I got a few shots that I liked. This was my first time taking someone elses portrait, so while they may not be perfect, it was wonderful practice.

Crock Pot Wednesdays

Italian seasoned chicken with potatoes, cooked in the slow cooker.
Cook Time: 7 hours
Ingredients:

* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
* 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or mix basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, and garlic powder to equal same)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
* 4 to 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or thick slices

Preparation:
Place chicken in bottom of Crock Pot. Sprinkle with half of the Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese. Put the potatoes on top or around the chicken. Sprinkle with the rest of the dressing, spices, and cheese.

Cook on low for about 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is done and potatoes are tender.

Christmas Decorations

Not much time for a post, but plenty of pictures!

So Very Tired

Whew, I am shopped out. I've been going since 7:30 this morning! It's 9:20 and I just got back from Best Buy. I only have 2 more gifts to by. Yay! I am so ready to be done. I just want to sit by the fire, wrap presents, and watch Christmas movies!

I have The Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake in the oven. It's for my husbands party at work tomorrow. The whole house smells like chocolate. And to think that they told him he could just bring in beets. Hmph!

I'm hoping to take pictures of the house tomorrow so that I can get in on the home tours. If I'm too late, I'll post them anyway!

The picture is not that great, but this is what we will be doing tonight. If I can keep my eyes open..............

Crazy Busy

I've been so busy, there is still so much to get done. Baking, shopping, wrapping, photos, the list goes on. I'm hoping that I'm not too late to participate in at least one Christmas home tour. :(

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, with Thanksgiving over everything is kicked into high gear. It seems like the days just go by so fast because there is so much to do. Gifts to buy, goodies to bake, parties to plan.
We kicked off our holiday season by going to a play. We saw a production of " A Christmas Story." The Henry Players did a great job!

Complete with the leg lamp!

I look forward to all the Christmas home tours and hope that I can participate. All of my decorating is finished. I usually have it completed before Thanksgiving, but this year I decided no to let the holidays run together.




I have a couple of recipes from Thanksgiving to share but for some reason the photos wouldn't upload. I'll try again tomorrow!