Easy Greek Chicken & Potatoes!

This is a keeper! The recipe comes from a wonderful Greek chef named Christina.  Her account is Christinadynamite on Instagram and this recipe went viral after she posted it.  Once you make it and taste it you will understand why - it is easy and delicious!  She uses fresh lemon and orange juices and german-style mustard.  Apparently the german-style mustard at Whole Foods sold out after her recipe went viral!  I have the german mustard from Whole Foods but I also tried the recipe with similar tasting brown mustard by Eden -both are great.  I also tried it with larger yukon golds that I peeled and sliced in thirds.  It is important to keep the pieces small so if you can't find the smaller yukons make sure to cut the larger ones into 3-5 pieces each...keep potatoes on the small side for best results.  

I modified the recipe by adding fresh and dried oregano - leave out the fresh if you don't have it!

xoxo

Easy Greek Chicken & Potatoes

8 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on) I have also used 6 thighs and 2 breast - it works!

1 1/2  lbs baby yukon gold potatoes (unpeeled, rinsed and any dark spots removed)

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 orange (I used valencia)

1 Tablespoon German-style mustard

1 large bunch of fresh oregan, chopped fine

1-2 teaspoons  freshly ground pepper

2 teaspoons  kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3-5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

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Preheat oven to 400° F.

Place chicken pieces into a 9x13 roasting pan.  

Rinse baby potatoes under cold water, dry with cotton kitchen towel and slice in half.  Add potatoes to the chicken - scatter the potatoes around the chicken pieces.  (If using large yukons make sure to peel them and cut into small pieces.)

Juice the lemon and orange - pour into measuring cup or small bowl, whisk mustard into the juices.

Remove oregano leaves from their stems and chop fine.

Distribute fresh oregano, salt, pepper, and dried oregano over the chicken and potatoes. Pour juices over the chicken and potatoes.  Lastly, pour olive oil over chicken and potatoes.

Cover pan with foil and bake at 400 for 1 hour.  After 1 hour remove foil and allow chicken to cook uncovered for 30 more minutes until chicken skin is golden brown and potatoes and easily pierced with a fork.

Christina's original recipe is all thighs - this works too (4 thigh, 2 breast)

German-Style is preferred but this Brown Mustard works too!

After 1 hour (covered with foil at 400degrees)

After 30 more minutes (uncovered) at 400degrees.  PERFECTION!!!!!

Sofi’s Snickerdoodles

Last year we started a special tradition.  Sofi's Week!  My goddaughter and I spend a week together during the summer.  We cook, bake, go to museums, eat special lunches, and most of all spend time together.  At the end of the week, we have her family here for a special celebratory dinner.  I love it!!!  I am just amazed at this 10-year-old - super smart, funny, talented, kind, beautiful, stylish, and a natural in the kitchen!  (Oh, and she is afraid of clowns just like me. HA!)  Sofi is very very special.

I realized that I need to sharpen my listening skills.  Last year she told me she does not like dark chocolate, but I missed that important piece of information (or forgot).  At the beginning of the week, we sat down at the kitchen table to come up with an agenda for our week.  I kept recommending lots of chocolate recipes for our baking projects.  Sofi reminded me that she is not a fan of chocolate.  

She wanted to bake Snickerdoodle cookies!  Let's do it!

Sofi's Snickerdoodles (adapted from several recipes)

2 sticks of unsalted butter

3 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Cinnamon Sugar Coating: 

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

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This cookie dough needs to set up in the refrigerator for a couple hours, but I suggest overnight.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat to allow to cool slightly while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, white and dark sugars, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, combine (using paddle attachment, mix a few times on low).  In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter and vanilla.  Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix on low t0 medium until soft dough forms.  Will be very loose.  Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight so dough can be scooped out and formed into balls.

When ready to bake cookies preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine sugar coating:  sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  

Scoop dough out with cookie scoop or a tablespoon and form into 2-inch balls by rolling in the palm of your hand.  Place each dough ball into the sugar coating and roll around to completely cover.  Place 12 sugar-coated dough balls on unlined, ungreased baking sheet.  Using the bottom of a glass flatten each ball slightly.

Bake in middle of oven for about 8-10 minutes.  Then remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.  Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.  

Energy Muffins: A very special recipe and a very special person

 
There we are!  Mary and Claire!  Friends forever!  This is us a little over a year ago at Mary's 60th surprise birthday party.  Yes, she IS the youngest-looking person alive!  Beautiful outside and inside - a precious jewel of a person.  I love you, Mary!

When our kids were little Mary's neighbor shared this recipe with her and Mary shared it with me.  I modified it a little to make sure all the ingredients were organic and not highly processed.  For example, instead of bran cereal from the grocery cereal aisle, I found coarse, natural, organic wheat bran.  In place of shredded wheat cereal, I found an organic, no-sugar, version.  

I made so many of these when my kids were growing up and brought them to many friends, family, teachers, etc., etc., THESE ARE REALLY REALLY DELICIOUS!  They freeze beautifully.  Pop a frozen one into the microwave for a minute and it's like it just come out of the oven.

Ingredients are easy to find at Mom's Organic Market or Whole Foods and many other grocery stores.  See the original post in my featured post section and HERE.

Energy muffins were the star on a recent menu!

Chia Seed Pudding: revisited (NO SUGAR needed!)

My oldest was home for a very short visit (sans baby and husband).  Wanted to visit her pals for few days and she also cleaned out A LOT of her "stuff".  I hope was as cathartic for her as it was for me. ; D

I needed some GF options for breakfast and my go-to is chia seed pudding with berries.  It never disappoints!  I decided to heat up the coconut milk to a simmer before whisking in the chia seeds.  It allowed the seeds to bloom quickly, and I realized I loved it warm! Slightly thick, chia pudding - serious comfort food!  But weather here is very hot (90+ degrees) now, so the puddings went into the refrigerator to cool down. 

At serving time I kept them on ice for the girls, so everything was nice a cool for them.  

See my original post in the featured link.  In the original I added agave but if you want it sweetened, I suggest using maple syrup or honey instead - much cleaner flavor in my opinion.  Enjoy!

Chia Seed Pudding REVISITED (NO SUGAR)

12oz to 14 oz of unsweetened coconut milk
5 Tablespoons of chia seeds
fresh organic berries to use as topping

Pour coconut milk into a saucepan and heat on medium low to bare simmer - just a few minutes.  Take off the heat and whisk in the chia seeds and allow to bloom for a few minutes.  Check after a couple minutes and you will notice the pudding has thickened to a nice milkshake-consistency.   Pour mixture into a large quart-size measuring cup for easy pouring into small jars or ramekins.  Eat immediately if you want a warm comfort food (topped with berries or nuts).  Otherwise refrigerate for 30 minutes to cool and thicken even more.

One of my go-to snacks! Toasted pecans that I keep in the freezer - nothing like it!