Garden-Fresh Chicken

Since moving to our new house, my plants have been thriving! We have so much sun on our back deck and a hose very conveniently located. So that gives me much more to cook and figure out with the abundance of herbs I have shooting up everywhere. Yes, I dry some out... but I really like the taste and smell of fresh herbs in our food.

So the other day I used three of my herbs in a delicious chicken recipe! It was pretty good and VERY simple. And the result was this crispy, charbroiled, fresh, healthy(ish) chicken thigh (see below).

If you didn't have fresh herbs growing in your backyard or at your local grocery store, you can always used dried herbs. I've done it and it's just as good. But I needed to use my fresh ones up! 

I chose to combine rosemary, sweet basil, and thyme. Other herbs that would work great with that combination would be oregano or parsley. Make sure you rinse the herbs, pull the leaves, and loosely chop. 

Combine your herbs (1/4-1/2 cup worth) with the juice from one lemon, some olive oil, 2-3 cloves of garlic (unless you get lucky and get a HUGE, MONSTROUS clove like mine), a dollop of dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Combine the ingredients and spread on all sides of the chicken. You could do thighs or breasts. If you want, pull the skin up and rub the herb mixture underneath. I didn't and found it still tasted crispy and good. 

You could either bake your chicken at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or do as I did and GRILL! It's too dang hot to turn my oven on. I grilled each side for about 10 minutes. The way to do chicken on the grill is medium heat. It gets you a crispy skin, while keeping the center moist. 

That's about it. It's garden-fresh, easy-peasy food! We ate it alongside rice and broccoli. What are some recipes you like to use your fresh herbs on? 

Garden-Fresh Chicken

• 4-5 Chicken breasts or thighs, bone-in, skin-on
• 1/4-1/2 cup of fresh herbs
• rosemary
• parsley
• basil
• thyme, etc. 
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• the juice from one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil, or more until smooth consistency 
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Blend or process the herbs, chopped garlic, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Pour in olive oil until you reach a smooth consistency. 
2. Rub the mixture over both sides and/or under the skin of each piece of chicken. 
3. Grill the chicken on medium heat for 10 minutes on each side or until done. 

Breakfast on the Go

We love breakfast in this house. My husband and I were just talking the other day about breakfast food. We both agreed we could eat it anytime of the day and never hate it. So yummy. Still moist eggs, crispy hashbrowns, salty bacon, chocolatey pancakes... it's all just so good.

We usually have breakfast for dinner... or brinner... at least once a month. It's an easy dinner and takes little time. I always try to make extras so I can pack up some delicious breakfast burritos for the future.

So for dinner I usually scramble and entire dozen or more of eggs. I pour an entire pack of hashbrowns in the skillet for crisping. I cook up an entire pound of bacon (and if I run out of room, I throw them in the oven), and I make 25-30 pancakes.

Once you eat all the food you want for dinner... which can be a lot :), gather all the leftovers to start to assemble your burritos. They are an easy breakfast on the go that you can freeze and enjoy for a long time.

I usually stuff our burritos with the eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, some cheddar cheese, and sometimes salsa. You really could put whatever else in there you like that microwaves well. Although, I would stay away from whole veggies or things that don't freeze well.

I layer the tortillas with all the goods, fold them up, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Once they are tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, you can throw them in a gallon ziploc bag for freezing. When you are ready to eat them, pull one out and microwave. I usually defrost mine in the microwave for 5 minutes and then heat for 1.5 minutes. You could also thaw the burrito while you are getting ready or the night before and then microwave for a minute or so.

This time I even had leftover potatoes from dinner the night before that I stuffed in the burrito! Pretty yummy. Make sure to add lots of cheese... that really makes it good.

And those 30 pancakes I made? We ate about 5 of them between the two of us and I put the rest in a ziploc freezer bag. Pancakes freeze nicely. You can pull out 1 or 20 and microwave them for an easy breakfast as well.

Or if you want to get fancy, grab two pancakes and put some eggs and bacon between it... homemade Mcgriddle? I think so.

Easy and delicious!

Breakfast Scrambler

We eat a lot of potatoes in this house. Usually after dinner we have a good amount of leftovers. I always make extra for my husband to take to work the next day. Today, however, he worked from home so I thought I'd whip up a Breakfast Scrambler using the leftover potatoes from last night.

It really is rather simple. You need leftover potatoes, eggs, cheese, and bacon. I even used bacon bits to make it easier. It's pretty much like a deconstructed omelet with a heap of yummy potatoes.

The potatoes I used were made on the grill the other night. I have posted this recipe before, but you just make a foil pouch, cut your potatoes, rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and let them sit on the grill for 30 or more minutes. Easy. You really could use any kind of potato in this scramble though as long as they are small and cooked. I like the skin on too.

So to begin, throw your potatoes in a non-stick skillet with some butter (about a tablespoon).

Let those potatoes get a little crispy. Just a few minutes. Then add your eggs. I did four eggs... do as many or as little as you'd like. 

Now, you could either scramble the eggs with milk, salt, and pepper outside the skillet in a bowl and then dump it into the pan or you could do what I did and just crack it and scramble right in the skillet. I added milk, salt, and pepper too. You may also want to add cayenne pepper or hot sauce here if you're into that spicy thing. 

Lookin' good! Let the eggs cook as you scramble them with the potatoes. 

The only things I added to my skillet then were bacon bits, more salt and pepper, and cheese. You could add all sorts of things though! Peppers would be delicious or you could do mushrooms, sausage, ham, spinach, etc. We didn't have any of that on hand this morning, unfortunately. 

It should start looking like a big pile of yum at this point. Once the eggs are cooked, pull it off and add it to a dish. 

I sprinkled a little more cheese and bacon on the top... just for good measure! 

Breakfast Scrambler

• 1 cup or so of Day old, already baked potatoes
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk 
• 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons of bacon bits or chopped real bacon
• salt and pepper
• other "omelet" toppings, such as, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, sausage, etc. 

1. Put the potatoes into a non-stick skillet and let them brown slightly. 
2. Crack and drop in the eggs. Scramble as you add the eggs. Add salt, pepper, and milk. 
3. Once the eggs are almost cooked, add the cheese and bacon. Stir to incorporate the ingredients. 
4. When the eggs are fully cooked and all the toppings are added, remove and serve hot.