Moroccan Chicken Tagine

My loyal readers know that I am a Pinterest fiend.  A while back, I pinned a recipe for Moroccan Chicken Tagine. 

A Tagine is a type of cookwear, that shares the same name of the meal often cooked in it.  Read more here.

I pinned the recipe a while back.  Whenever I pin recipes on Pinterest, I go crazy and pin a bunch of things at once.  I often forget about things that I pinned, or get ahead of myself and make things that I pinned that night, instead of going back to old pins waiting to be utilized.  I was perusing my old pins tonight, and decided to give this one a whirl.   I don't have a tagine (yet!  hint hint) so I used a regular ol' roasting pan instead. 

I got this recipe from Pinterest, but it was originally posted at Ally's Kitchen

Her recipe calls for Harissa or Ras El Hanout.  I have both in my spice cabinet.  I often use them just to add some flavor to ordinary recipes, but this was my first time using them in a recipe that actually called for them.   I bought the Ras El Hanout a few months ago at the SoWa Market here in Boston.  It's an awesome summer tradition where artists and local purveyors gather every Sunday afternoon in the summer to sell their awesome stuff.  I got the Ras El Hanout at the Soluna Garden Farm table.  They're a great local farm and they sell great spices and teas.  I saw them again today at a Holiday Festival, and bought some spices as stocking stuffers.

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken & Roasted Brussels Sprouts

It's been a long time since my last update.  I was feeling motivated tonight and put together a dinner that I was pretty proud of and I figured that I'd write about it.  One of my goals this year was to write more, so I think that getting back into blogging might fulfill that!

I've been such a Pinterest fiend lately.  I pinned this recipe a while back and finally got around to making it tonight.

After you make the chicken and brown sugar mixture, pour it over the chicken.  I used a baster to paint it on:

Once the chicken is in the oven, begin your prep for the brussels sprouts.  I used the same pan that I used for the brown sugar garlic mixture.  Chop 2 shallots and toss them in the pan to saute.

Add a dash of Champagne vinegar and a dash of lemon juice.  When the shallots are browned, mix them with the chopped brussels sprouts and put in a baking dish.  I also added some more olive oil and spices.  Put in a preheated oven (I had the chicken on 450, so I did the same for the Brussels Sprouts and let everything cook at the same time.  I left both pans in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Baked Potato Soup

This is another recipe that I got from Pinterest.  The original pinner pinned it from Pearls, Handcuffs & Happy Hour.

I threw it in the crock pot this morning, and it made a great lunch.

A few adjustments I made/ideas for next time:

- I used a 32 oz. carton of  stock instead of 3 cans.  (could use veggie instead, to make it vegetarian-friendly)

- Next time, I might try cream of celery or cream of broccoli soup instead of cream of chicken.  (thinking of my vegetarian friends)

I didn't have time to cook some bacon to put on top, but I did add some cheese and scallions.

Delicious!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Baked Chicken

I got this recipe from Pinterest.  The original pinner pinned it from This wonderful blog.  After discovering this recipe and reading more of her posts, I'm hooked.

I used Onion powder instead of garlic powder (since I didn't have any garlic powder on hand)  I also didn't have any seasoning salt, so I used Trader Joe's "Everyday Seasoning"  (which happened to have garlic in it as well as most of the ingredients in Seasoning Salt).  I also used Monterey Jack cheese in place of the parmesan.  (I forgot a lot of the ingredients that her recipe called for, so I used what I had on hand.  It worked out well. 

Pull-Apart Bread (looks like a Bloomin' Onion)

I got this recipe from Pinterest.  It was originally from this blog.

I used some substitutions.  I couldn't find thinly sliced Monterey Jack cheese, and the line at the deli was insane,  so I opted for Sargento's thinly sliced Provolone cheese.  The recipe called for 12-16 oz, so I bought 2 7 oz packs.  I didn't even use the whole first pack, because I couldn't fit anymore cheese in the slits.  Stop and Shop was out of scallions, so I used the chopped (dried) chives from the spice cabinet.  I also used sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds.

I was thinking about it and there are so many options for fillings.  You could do a pizza bread, a cinnamon apple bread, or any kind of cheese.  The possibilities are endless!

Cake Batter Rice Krispies Treats

I love cake batter flavored things and I love Rice Krispies Treats.  When I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew it was a must-try!  The website that this originally came from (before someone pinned it to Pinterest) has quite a few recipes on my must-try list.  This will be an ongoing kitchen experiment!

Pretzel Buttons

I've seen this recipe floating around Pinterest for a few weeks now.  I didn't know what to call them until I saw someone post them saying that she likes the name "Pretzel Buttons"  I thought it was cute!  I have a family party to attend this weekend, so I figured I'd make them!

You'll need:
-square checkered pretzels (Snyder's calls them "Snaps"  (I didn't use the whole bag)
-Hershey's Hugs
-M&Ms

Preheat oven to 250.
Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Place a Hug on each pretzel

Bake for 5 minutes
Drop an M&M on top of each hug (the hug will collapse on its own)

Refrigerate for an hour or so to let the hug harden.

Rolo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is another recipe inspired by Pinterest.  That recipe outlines how to make the cookies from scratch.  I love doing that, but I was feeling particularly lazy tonight, so I bought a roll of Toll House.  I cut the dough into pieces

and rolled a Rolo candy into each one. 

 

Then I placed each ball of dough approximately an inch apart on a cookie sheet.  (Toll House says not to grease the cookie sheet, but all recipes are different.

(wow, my oven needs cleaning.)

The Toll House wrapper says to bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes.  Whenever I add any candy to my cookies and brownies, I always add a couple of minutes to the suggested time on the package.

Yum!

Crock Pot Sesame Chicken

Lately, I've been addicted to Pinterest.  In addition to planning my imaginary wedding, and furnishing my imaginary house, I've been collecting recipe ideas.  Tonight, I made honey sesame chicken in the crock pot.

I found the recipe on pinterest. It was originally from this blog.  Instead of ketchup, I used an orange ginger marinade that I found in the international foods section of Stop and Shop.

sixsistersstuff.com

It came out really well!  I used to only make soups in the crock pot.  This recipe inspired me to do more with it!