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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

The best part.

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Sometimes a meal rolls around that during the smell leading up to it and while enjoying it all M and I can manage to do is keep repeating how completely awesome it is. We can’t seem to form one other singular thought. New. recipe. trance.

‘Top 3 for sure’ according to M. He put it right up there with this and this, which is no small accomplishment. A lot of ‘yums’ and ‘wows’ were also exchanged during the meal, on top of a lot of silence. Silence is always good. I love silence.

So what is all the fuss about? I was trying to focus on the best part of this recipe to highlight in my writing but there are just too many best parts.

Is it the way the bread crisps up that’s not too soft and not too hard? How about the way the tomatoes get to the point of just bursting so that some of their juice runs onto the bread and makes it softer but in a perfectly non soggy way?

Then there’s that skin on the chicken. Perfectly browned and crisp. Speaking of crispy, there’s that pancetta that sits down on top of the chicken and gives the whole dish an ever so slightly smokey flavor…

Let’s keep going. Roasted garlic cloves. What is better than spreading soft roasted garlic onto bites of bread and chicken? I sure can’t think of much. And let’s not forget those olives. I splurged – they were nice olives and totally worth it. Little hidden gems in this dish. Highlighted by the freshness and pretty pop of green color from the basil.

Do you see my problem here? Everything was perfect. This is the answer to your winter dinner party question. Put the big roasting tray on the table oh so rustic style along the side of a beautiful cheese platter and some chilled buttery Chardonnay. Look at how fancy you are.

Oh wait – it hit me. I knew I’d get there. The best part? L made about 90% of this meal as my hands were full of B. Yep, it’s that easy.

Chicken Facile
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Ingredients
  1. 1 ciabatta loaf
  2. 2 big handfuls of cherry tomatoes
  3. 1 big handful of the best olives you can afford
  4. 1 big garlic bulb
  5. fresh basil
  6. one whole cut up fryer chicken
  7. good olive oil
  8. salt & pepper
  9. red chili flakes
  10. 8 slices of pancetta
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large roasting pan, rip up a ciabatta loaf and throw it in. Along with it goes two big handfuls of cherry tomatoes, one big handful of the best olives you can afford and one big garlic bulb broken into cloves, skin still on.
  3. Tear up some fresh basil and sprinkle throughout.
  4. Pat one whole cut up fryer chicken pieces as dry as possible and lay them on top of the roasted pan. (see picture)
  5. Over everything, pour a generous amount of good olive oil, salt & pepper, and a sprinkle of red chili flakes. Toss with your hands and then reposition chicken on top.
  6. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove and reposition chicken and roast another 30. Take out and place 8 slices of pancetta on top of the chicken skin and roast 15 minutes more.
  7. At this point your chicken will be cooked through. I switched the broiler on at the end to crisp up the pancetta and chicken skin a bit. Feel free to do this, or even brown this chicken skin before putting in the oven. If you go this route, I'd cut back the cooking time a bit.
  8. Before serving, add a few fresh basil leaves for color.
Adapted from Georgie Socratous
Adapted from Georgie Socratous
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Oh la la!
C

Decisions, decisions.

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Let’s make this one easy and just give the highlights.

The good:

1. Whole grain pasta
2. Peas
3. Olive oil

The bad:

1. Whole grain pasta (this can go from very good to very bad quickly depending on the amount consumed)
2. Cream
3. Butter

The ugly:

1. Bacon

Your decision…does the good outweigh the bad? Funny how that is always the question.

Let me know what you decide.

Fancy peas and bacon
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 1 lbs whole grain bow tie pasta
  2. 4 slices of thick bacon
  3. olive oil, as needed
  4. 1 medium sweet onion, minced
  5. 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
  6. 1/2 cup heavy cream
  7. 2 TBS butter
  8. salt & pepper, to taste
  9. grated parmesan, for garnish
  10. parsley, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.
  2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Dice the bacon and fry in a skillet over medium high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon when cooked and set aside.
  3. Add the onion to the skillet and saute until soft and tender, about 4 minutes. Add peas and saute until heated through. If the skillet starts to get dry, add some olive oil.
  4. Stir in the cream and simmer a few minutes until it begins to reduce and thicken.
  5. Add the cooked pasta and the bacon to the skillet and toss gently. If the dish seems dry add some of the reserved cooking liquid. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
  6. Remove from the heat and drizzle in some olive oil and the butter. Swirl until the butter is melted and pour pasta into deep bowls. Top with freshly grated parm and chopped parsley.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

We decided two bowls each sounded about right.
C

An (easy) alternative to Chinese take out.

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I’ll admit it. I’m a huge sucker for Chinese take out. The little white boxes full of heaping warm food, the fortune cookies, the chop sticks. It’s all incredibly delicious. It’s all also, unfortunately, pretty unhealthy. So for that reason we typically take a pass. Also? There just isn’t a spot close by that we love and it’s rare I can convince M to drive 40 minutes for take out. For some reason my Dad never had an issue with this when my mom or any of us girls asked him. God bless that man.

Anyways…so, where does that leave us. Unhealthy and inconvenient. Not a good combo. Enter this recipe.

It is good. And painfully easy. Repeat after me ‘I can do this in 5 minutes.’ You place your meat in the crock pot, pour over your awesome homemade marinade, and go about your day.

Then when dinner time rolls around you heat up some already prepared rice (brown or white), courtesy of Trader Joes, fry up some sugar snap peas and voila! You have a beautiful, convenient, and healthy Asian dinner.

How does it taste? Well, to quote M: ‘this is the best thing I have ever eaten.’ Can’t get a much better critique than that.

Make this.

Slow cooked sweet and spicy Asian pork shoulder
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Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
  2. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  3. 1 to 2 TBS asian chili garlic sauce
  4. 1 TBS freshly grated ginger
  5. 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder (optional)
  6. 2 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces (have your butcher do this!)
  7. scallions, sliced, for serving
Instructions
  1. In a slow cooker, combine all the ingredients up until the meat. Whisk together.
  2. Season your pork with salt and pepper and place in the slow cooker. Toss to coat.
  3. Cook, covered, until the pork is tender. On high for 4-5 hours, on low for 7-8 hours.
  4. Serve topped with scallions with rice and your choice of a crisp green veggie.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

I hope you just wrote down these ingredients for you shopping list!
Courtney

I promised.

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Remember a few days ago when I had my newborn brain moment? Well, I promised when I actually was able to remember to buy everything needed to make the yummy fall recipe that I would check back in. Shockingly, I remembered to do that now.

We dined on roasted sausages, potatoes, apples, and onions last night and it was delicious. Great for all those fall apples! This dinner comes together incredibly easily – it’s great for nights when you really have no energy left to follow directions in a recipe. You chop stuff up, throw it in a dish, roast away, and enjoy the smell while you sip on something to take the edge of your day. B has been hitting the 7 week growth spurt hardcore so my mommy medicine of choice has shifted from wine to any icy vodka tonic. Just one, of course. That’s really all that is needed.

Fall Sausages
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Ingredients
  1. 4 sweet Italian sausages (I used chicken for me)
  2. 3 cups whole small potatoes (I used yukon gold, cut up)
  3. 1 onion, chopping into large chunks
  4. olive oil
  5. 4 springs of fresh thyme
  6. salt & pepper
  7. 2 granny smith apples
  8. 2 TBS cider vinegar
  9. spicy brown or dijon mustard, for serving
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Combine your potatoes and onion in a large baking dish and toss with 1 TBS olive oil, your thyme leaves, salt & pepper.
  3. Place the italian sausage on top of the vegetables and bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until the sausage is brown on top. Flip over the sausage and bake for 10 more minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, chop up your apples (unpeeled) and toss with a little more olive oil, salt, and pepper. Scatter the apples around the sausage, drizzle the cider vinegar over the whole dish, and bake for 5 more minutes. Serve with dollops of mustard, should you choose.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Promise kept!
C

Newborn brain.

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So, in my new role as a stay at home mom I find it helpful when I wake up to set goals for the day. I find that structure soothes me and since I no longer have controlled deadlines like I did in the office, I need to create some on my own. They can range from as simple as ‘you literally need to leave the house at some point today as it’s been three days since your last outing’ to ‘finish two loads of laundry, cook, pay bills, organize the creepy room in the basement, call your girlfriend, bake, and get an hour walk in.’ I try not to over do it too often as the boys are a job themselves. As my good friend Heidi (mom of 3) said: ‘it’s an accomplishment if I can wear my hair down for the day.’ My hair is in some semblance of a pony tail as I write this.

So today I woke up with what I thought was a great goal: cook a new recipe and blog about it. Yes, I can definitely accomplish this! I browsed through Dinner A Love Story and came up with the perfect fall treat – roasted sausages over potatoes, onions, and granny smith apples. Extra flavor would come from fresh thyme and apple cider vinegar. Bravo.

I had done a majority of my grocery shopping on the weekend and needed just a few ingredients for my new found recipe. So, armed with my measly list, I entered the store. Now, does anyone find what is written confusing?


Well, apparently I do because I exited the grocery store with zero onions. A key ingredient in my picture perfect fall dinner I had planned as well as my black bean soup I had on the agenda for tomorrow. Of course, this wasn’t realized until 6:00PM and the oven was preheated and ready to roast. What is wrong with me?

The answer is simple. I have a newborn. While some women go through severe pregnancy brain I have the joy of experiencing severe newborn brain. I can’t recall things. Don’t even ask me what I did the night before – I will stare at you like a deer in head lights. I find my keys in weird places, I buy things at stores and drive away with them still in the shopping cart in the parking lot and I attempt to make my morning coffee with formula.

So, refusing to head out at 6:00 with two boys for one item, dinner time had to get a bit creative. I thought the onions were a pretty key ingredient so I opted to just roast some rosemary potatoes with the sausages. The granny smith apples will sit on the counter for another night some time soon, and I’ll be sure to check back in on how it goes. If I can remember.

In other news, B is 6 weeks today (!!!) and had a lot of smiles to prove it. If you’re spending most of your day staring at this kid you might forget a thing or two as well…right…?


I’ll be OK in 6 months or so. Gosh I hope so.
C

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