My Halloween Village

This is in my Halloween room. Yes, I have a Halloween room. I know, I have way too much time on my hands.

Happy Halloween!

A Blessed Life

Sometimes it's just the simple things in life that make me stop and realize how blessed I am. A beautiful fire in the fireplace of my living room. My sweet, amazing husband by my side. Knowing that I have a wonderful family that I love and can share my life with. Loyal friends that I can count on at any time.

The Pillow Show

I have a confession to make: I have an obsession with pillows. I prefer to sleep with 3 pillows, but I can make do with 2 if I must. If I'm spending the night somewhere and I don't have 2 pillows, I will roll up whatever clothing I was wearing that day and use it in place of the missing pillow. I absolutely cannot stand to have my knees touching while I sleep, so not having a substitute

pillow is not an option.

I know I have issues, but I'm willing to accept them and move on.

This strange obsession flows over to the part of my brain that loves to decorate. On each bedroom of my house, I feel the need to have a "Pillow Show". I realize that this pillow show is really only put on for me to see, but I feel that each bed must have multiple pillows to decorate it. Have you ever seen a bed with just the obligatory 2 pillows, and thought, "that is a beautiful and decorative presentation!" No, of course you haven't! Multiple pillows are essential to achieving this statement. My own personal bed currently has 11 pillows decorating it. And that is after downsizing! I used to have 13! Well, technically I still do have 13, but 2 are hidden and used for actual sleeping on. I realize that taking 11 pillows off the bed each night, and replacing all 11 again each morning is time consuming. It takes approximately 1 minute to remove the pillows at night, and about 2 minutes to replace in the morning (it takes more time to strategically place them in the correct places than it does to take them off the bed, even though after taking them off, I do neatly line them up at the foot of the bed in the same order that they are laid out on the bed). Yes, I already said that I realize I have issues.

So, I spend 3 minutes a day on the pillow procedure. That breaks down to 21 minutes a week, 1092 minutes a year, or 18.2 hours. So, close to 1 day out of my year is devoted to arranging pillows. But in my mind, it is time well spent.

Presenting, The Pillow Show:

My Bedroom Pillow Show

Bedroom #2 Pillow Show

Bedroom #3 Pillow Show

The End.

The Sweetest Husband Ever

Today I was awakened by my sweet husband Scott. I opened my eyes to see him standing next to the bed, holding a tray of breakfast he'd made me! He made his own creation- a poached egg smothered in taco meat, salsa, cheese, and hot sauce, on a piece of toast. I know, it sounds weird, but it was so delicious! It reminded me of Huevos Rancheros, plus meat. He had sliced up a tomato and had it plated next to the toast, with parsley flakes sprinkled on top. He also made coffee, and had poured me a cup in my new pumpkin coffee mug. The tray that he brought the plate up on was a Halloween tray... so adorable! He knows me so well and exactly the things that I like! I have the sweetest husband in the whole world!

Citrus Chicken with Sage Butter and Burbon Spiced Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I know, doesn't that sound delish? Well trust me, it was!

I created this recipe based upon my latest Whole Foods grocery purchases. While looking through the meat department, a tiny little chicken caught my eye. It was a 2 lb cornish game hen... how cute! I have never cooked one of these before, but figured it couldn't be that different from a regular whole chicken. So, I put it in the cart. The next thing that caught my eye was in the pasta section. Sweet Potato Gnocchi. I LOVE gnocchi in restaurants, so I thought as a side dish with the hen now would be the perfect time to try making this myself.

I've cooked a whole chicken a couple of times before, and a couple of turkeys, so I thought that this would be along similar lines. So, first things first: a glass of wine. I must always begin cooking by following the 1st of my 5 Basics (see previous blog post). I began by first selecting a wine that would go perfectly with this dish, a 2007 Chardonnay from Kunde Estates. Ok, Scott selected it, but whatever.

Why yes, that is a Halloween napkin! Isn't it just too cute?

(Again, see previous blog post to read about self proclaimed nerdiness.)

Here's a picture of my tiny French chicken:

How do I know he's French? Because he's wearing a Beret, duh!

Here he is, out of the bag. So tiny!

After washing him up (and then making him do a little chicken dance on the cutting board...come on, you know you do it too!), I rubbed him down with olive oil and Kosher salt. Now I'm going to quit calling him a he... it makes it seem as if I've killed and cooked my little French pet chicken.

After seasoning the bird (much better), I cut little slits under the wings and drumsticks. Then I loosened the skin from the meat, and stuffed fresh sage leaves and rosemary up under the skin.

I also rubbed minced garlic (about 1 cloves worth) all over. Next I flipped the bird over and did the same process on the breast side. I also covered both sides with fresh cracked pepper, and filled the cavity with a whole sliced lemon and a few sprigs of sage and rosemary.

I laid the bird breast side down in a small glass roasting pan and put a few lemon slices on top (to retain moisture and add flavor), and sprinkled on a pinch of Bourbon Smoked Paprika. Then I poured some Chardonnay and chicken broth into the pan, and covered the whole thing in foil.

I set the oven for 375, for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, I took the foil off the pan and set the timer for another 20 minutes. I think that by doing it this way, the foil keeps the moisture retained in the chicken while cooking, and when removed, the chicken continues to cook while the skin is now being browned. After 20 minutes, I turn the oven to broil on high for 3 minutes, to just brown the skin all nice and golden. I made this technique up, so I could be completely off base... but it seems to work for me!

Now, on to the Gnocchi!

I brought a large pot of water to boil, and once boiling, I placed the entire package of gnocchi into the pot, and set the timer for 5 minutes

I thought that a cream sauce would go nicely with the gnochhi, so I made one with these ingredients:

Whole wheat flour, milk, Chardonnay, pepper, salt, Bourbon Smoked Paprika, fresh sage, butter, and chicken broth. I never measure, as I usually just make recipes up so I wouldn't know how much to measure out anyway! I put a pinch of minced garlic (not shown, sorry!) and 3 pats of butter in a pan and let that saute.

Next, I added in some chicken broth (I don't know how much... about 2 'glugs' worth from the box) and some Chardonnay (about 1/4 cup). Look at all the bubbles!

Then I added a tablespoon of flour to thicken the sauce

I next added couple pinches of that deicious smelling Bourbon Smoked Paprika.... mmm! And also some chopped fresh sage.

The sauce smells so yummy!

Then, I added in that delicious gnocchi. Oops, did I forget to mention that I took it off the stove after 5 minutes and then drained it into a collander? Well, I did that. And then I added it into this sauce:

Oh. My. Goodnes.

Little bites of heaven in a creamy buttery sauce. Not too good for the waist band. But very good for the taste buds!

By the way, I heated up left over potatoes from dinner from the night before. Red new potatoes with garlic, rosemary, kosher salt, and pepper. Pretty basic. But good!

My cornish game hen has been out of the oven and resting for 10 minutes, and the thermometer reads a perfect 163 degrees. Check out this baby!

After carving it, and plating it with the gnocchi and the potatoes, here is the finished product:

The meat was juicy, moist, and flavorful.... thank goodness, because there is nothing worse than dry chicken. And the Chardonnay used throughout the cooking and then paired with dinner was perfect. All in all, I'd give this meal a 9. Very good!