Sunday Supper

Tonight we had one of our family's favorite meals...Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad.

There are two things that are critically important to this salad...

...the homemade croutons and the grilled chicken.  I will tell you how I do it.  Not that my way is the only way, it's just the way we like it ;) Tonight it was even better because everyone chipped in to help prepare it. 

The first thing I do is get the croutons started because they will take about 30 minutes to crisp up in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  I always start with 1/2 stick of butter, add 2 large cloves of fresh chopped or pressed (I always press) garlic into the bowl with butter and nuke till the butter is melted (about 30 seconds).  Then I add about 1/4 cup of olive oil to the garlic butter and whisk it together.  Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter/olive oil onto both sides and edges of thick-sliced italian bread.  (I use Publix bakery Chicago Italian bread, almost a whole loaf.  I would use a whole loaf but I can't resist eating a slice or two while I'm buttering it.)  After it is buttered, I cut it into approx 1" squares, carefully so you don't squish the bread...you want it to spring back to shape.  A really sharp bread knife is good for this, but my bread knife is duller than dull.  My husband sharpens it for me frequently but it is past keeping a sharp edge.  Anyway, when you have about 2 slices left to butter, you will inevitably run out of garlic butter and you will have to, a) make some more or, b) eat the two slices quickly before anyone catches you.  I am not saying which one I did, but I am feeling a little overstuffed right now for having eaten salad for supper.  Put the bread squares on a baking stone and into the preheated oven.  In 30 minutes they will be crispy on the outside and still soft on the inside.

For the chicken, I have a basic marinade I use that is really simple.
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup canola oil
a few sloshes of balsamic vinegar
juice from 1 lime
1 Tbsp dried oregano
2 - 3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
This is enough marinade for an entire bag of frozen chicken breasts.  Don't make this much if you are just grilling a couple breasts.  I marinate mine for at least a couple hours.  I guess I should have put this step first.

When I grill the breasts, I don't shake the oil off really well before I put it on the grill.  The dripping oil makes the grill catch on fire so you need to shut the lid really quickly and watch the smoke billow out the sides.  This is good because all that smoke is giving the chicken a really GREAT smoky flavor!  I learned this by accident one day and I've been doing it ever since ;)  Tonight DW did the grilling and they were amazing!  He does not naturally like a grill billowing smoke, it goes against his nature to leave it alone...but I convinced him.

By the time the chicken is grilled, the croutons will be ready and all that is left is assembly.  I like to line the dishes up on the counter assembly line style.  This is the order I like to use when I assemble the salads:

1.  Fresh romaine lettuce is best.  I have seen someone cut a garlic clove in half and rub fresh garlic on the bottom of the bowl first, but I always forget to do that.

2.  Cardini's Caesar Dressing is next.  This is the only brand I use, and I've tried almost all of them.  Again, just my preference.

3.  Chicken breasts go on next.  I like to slice them in strips first.

4.  Freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Eden loves to do this step in the food processor with the grater blade.

5.  Coarsely ground black pepper

6.  Warm croutons

Because SOMEONE in this family does not like salad much,

he made some pasta instead. 

Pasta with Alfredo sauce from a jar, lime juice, grilled chicken and coarse ground black pepper.  Waverly is the official pepper grinder/salad assembler for this meal.

I wish my kids would get up so they could eat these...

This morning I was in the muffin making mood.  I'm not sure how I came upon these Snickerdoodle muffins, but I decided to try them.

If you are at this very moment comparing the pictures, you will notice that mine look a lot different than "hers".  I have this habit of tweaking recipes.  I can't help myself.  I had blueberries in the fridge and I wanted to use them, but the nostalgic snickerdoodle recipe was beckoning.  So, I added blueberries to the batter right before I put them in the muffin pans.  This was the perfect thing to do, especially since I like my muffins with a lot of texture and not cake-like.  The oatmeal and blueberries in this recipe make them full of texture AND flavor! 

One more thing I changed...I told you, I can't help myself.  Instead of saving the sprinkly sugar/cinnamon coating for after they came out of the oven, I sprinkled some on right before they went into the oven, then every 5 minutes or so, I sprinkled more (while they were baking).  When they had about 3 minutes left in the baking time, I put a little dab of butter on the top of each muffin and sprinkled even MORE sugar/cinnamon!  This made the tops of the muffins crispy and crunchy and cinnamon/sugary.  And that's all there is...there isn't any more.

Duvet cover/shams

I have been diligently working on this the past couple weeks.  Well, as diligently as possible in the middle of running teenagers who don't drive alone yet to all their summer activities ;)  I got a couple hours of sewing in most days, well, a couple days.  Oh forget it, I fooled around for 4 days last week and then killed myself sewing for 12 hours straight, ok?!?  It is done and that is all that matters, right?

This duvet cover with 2 shams is for my "original client".  I think I've mentioned her before.  She keeps me in business.  If it wasn't for her, I'd fool around every day doing meaningless stuff like laundry and blogging and then wonder why everyone else seems to get so much more done than me.  (My codependency counselor would reprimand me for comparing myself to others...in the most truthful, loving and encouraging way possible, you understand.)


I've been told that my blog sounds exactly like me when I talk...scary, isn't it?  I can jump from one subject to the next totally unrelated topic at the drop of a pin.  No wonder I don't get anything done.  I need pictures to keep me focused.

Ah, yes, duvet cover.  It is very girly, no?  Doesn't really go with my aqua color scheme, but my bed was the only one big enough to spread it out.  It does look amazing on a black bed, though.

The main body of the duvet cover is this really furry, fuzzy fabric and the trim is sheer pink chiffon. The fuzzy fabric can also be seen on a few outfits I made for the same client.  People really seem to love this fabric and her daughter gets lots of compliments whenever she wears these one-of-a-kind items ;)