Lemon Mustard Chicken with Asparagus and Potatoes

This is a really easy dinner to throw together – all goes in one skillet.  I followed the original recipe from Damn Delicious, but next time, I’d cut up the chicken more and quarter the potatoes instead of halving them to make sure it all gets cooked through evenly – we had to put it in the oven awhile longer to finish. 

Lemon Mustard Chicken with Asparagus and Potatoes (adapted from Damn Delicious)

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• ½ t dried thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 6 bone-in, skin-on thicken thighs (we already had boneless in our fridge, but I think bone-in would have turned out better…)
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 12 baby red potatoes, quartered
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.   

2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, and thyme.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Rub onto both sides of the chicken. 

3. Melt butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.  Set aside. 

4. Add quartered potatoes to the skillet.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place skillet in oven and bake 20 – 25 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.  Add asparagus and chicken to the skillet. 

5.  Place in oven and roast until chicken is completely cooked through (with an internal temperature of 175 degrees F), about 30 more minutes.  The cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken and size of your potatoes, so adjust accordingly.  

DIY Lemon Rosemary Room Scent

We had a bit of a kitchen catastrophe the other morning – we were heating up vegetable oil to make crispy breakfast potatoes, and the oil caught fire.  We put it out immediately and aired the kitchen out, but the entire house has had a terrible burnt oil smell since then. 

To fix this, I’ve been simmering a DIY room scent on the stove since I got home from work earlier tonight.  It’s super simple and the smell is incredible.  The recipe is apparently the one that Williams Sonoma uses to make their stores smell so homey. 

DIY Lemon Rosemary Room Scent

Ingredients:

·        1 lemon

·        2 sprigs rosemary

·        2 T vanilla (mine was homemade in a mason jar with fresh vanilla beans & vodka...which is why it looks lighter than normal vanilla extract in the photos)

·        water

Directions:

1. Slice the lemon.  Add all ingredients to a saucepan half-full of water. 

2. Simmer on low for as long as you’d like, adding water as needed.  That’s it! 

You can create your own combinations of scents by mixing up the ingredients. Here are a few other ideas:

·        Citrus spice – oranges, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, anise

·        Christmas scent – twigs from your Christmas tree (pine, cedar, etc), bay leaves, cranberries, nutmeg

·        Summer scent – lime, thyme, mint, and vanilla extract

And it’s all natural ingredients, so feel free to breathe deeply and know you don’t have gross chemicals like you would in normal air fresheners!  Yay!

Wrights Gourmet House – Tampa, FL

My friend Juliet was in town today, so I caught up with her over lunch.  When deciding where to eat, we thought it should be a Tampa staple that she can’t have in Boston (where she lives now). 

Wrights Gourmet is a Tampa landmark – it’s a family owned sandwich shop that’s been around since 1963.  They serve signature sandwiches and salads with quality ingredients, and they also provide catering.  They have classic sandwiches like pastramis & reubens, along with unique creations like their Beef Martini sandwich (rare roast beef, mushrooms marinated in white wine, and bacon with garlic herb spread on buttercrust bread). 

They are renowned around Tampa for their decadent cakes.  I’m not a huge fan of regular cake (like sheet cake from Publix), but these cakes are to die for!  They are incredibly rich and moist. 

Today I got the Golden Gate sandwich (another one of their specialties).  It is one of their grandmother’s recipes – roast pork, bacon, Jarlsberg cheese, and lettuce, topped with their homemade mustard and peach chutney on pumpernickel bread.  If you can believe, the photo below is ONE sandwich. 

Juliet and I split slices of their lemon and chocolate cakes.   The lemon is a tart bundt cake topped with a sweet glaze.  And the chocolate cake certainly deserves its name: two layers of chocolate cake with chocolate icing & chocolate chips!  So extravagant – it makes me think of that scene from Matilda when Ms. Trunchbull makes the fat kid eat an entire cake.   

Needless to say we had a lot leftover to bring home (which means I’ll have an amazing lunch at work tomorrow too!) 

Wrights Gourmet House is located at 1200 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open 7am – 6pm Monday through Fridays, 8am – 4pm on Saturdays, and closed Sundays. 

Sore Throat Remedy Tea

I woke up this morning with a cough and sore throat – not fun.  Luckily I have Wednesday/Thursday off this week, so I’ll have time to recover during my “weekend”.  I made some Sore Throat Remedy tea with breakfast, so hopefully that’ll help.  It combines several ingredients with healing properties to kick the sore throat before it gets worse. 

Apple cider vinegar has acetic acid, which is antimicrobial and can help kill bacteria.  Lemon is rich in vitamin C, which helps protect the immune system.  It also helps flush out toxins and helps prevent bacteria growth.  Honey helps suppress coughs and is also antibacterial.  And cinnamon helps reduce inflammation. 

Sore Throat Remedy Tea (adapted from JessCapades)

Ingredients:

·        2/3 cup hot water

·        1 tea bag (whatever kind you prefer – I used Tazo Sweet Cinnamon Spice)

·        2 T lemon juice

·        2 T honey (raw local honey is best – but all I had today was normal Publix honey)

·        1 T apple cider vinegar

·        Dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Prepare your tea as normal.

2.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and drink up. 

You can prepare this 2-5 times until your sore throat goes away.  Of course, if your symptoms get worse, I’d talk to a doctor, but this remedy seems to work if you catch a cold at the first symptoms.