Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

I saw this on Pinterest of course.  When I went to retrieve the recipe, my original pin didn't link to a recipe. After some searching, I found the recipe to make this Hawaiian Grilled Chicken.  Here's the recipe:
http://www.carddit.com/view/tLPxS2lPS

In order to begin to understand this post, you first need to know that I really, REALLY wanted to be a vegetarian when I was little.  I wanted to be a veg simply because I couldn't/can't stand the thought of knowing where meat came from.  My mom wouldn't allow me to be a vegetarian because I "needed my protein."  So, I would eat filet and chicken.  I never could stand the sight of raw meat.  From the age of ten, I was responsible for cooking dinner one night a week.  Gradually, I had to cook raw meat! I acted as if it should be a crime.  One thing that never changed from my childhood state of mind- I don't eat the edges of my meat because when I was little I thought it was the skin of the animal.  Now I know it is not true, but it is a habit.  Good thing my husband is a carnivore!  By the time I was in college, I obviously needed to even prep raw meat.  Now I can even trim fat off of meat without gagging.

When grocery shopping, I made a HUGE mistake.  I didn't buy boneless and skinless chicken.  I had to buy chicken thighs for this recipe which  I rarely cook with.  And this time, I bought it with skin on and the bone in.  As soon as I realized what I had done, I called on my husband Pat.  I felt nauseous and wanted to toss the 5 pounds of meat.  Pat told me I would be fine and it seemed silly to toss the meat (**Note:  He didn't offer to take the skin off for me.)  Bravely, I peeled of the skin, but firmly believe I have never done anything so disgusting.  I did all of this without touching the meat.  I let the chicken marinade overnight.

This chicken had nice flavor.  I think I would like it even more if I diced up chicken breast instead of using chicken thighs.  This is a recipe I would make again.

Lemon Cookies and Gnocchi

....no! Not together.

After recovering from my sister's housewarming.  I woke quickly to start baking. I made a family recipe for Pignoles which is an Italian cookie with pine nuts.  These were for my father-in-law's birthday.  First time making them and I think quite successful :)


Then I had to rush around making High Tea Lemon Cookies for tea at a friend's.  This recipe was originally posted here:  http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/HighTeaCookies.htm

There is a special note added in the recipe that discusses properly melting the butter.  It says that if you don't melt it correclty, they will be crumbly.  Well, mine was melted correctly; mine were crumbly.  I think the recipe calls for too much cornstarch.  The cookies have a nice flavor, but several fell apart.  When eating them, I also felt the consistency was weird. If I try these again, I will use less cornstarch.


Coming home from the tea, I quickly made recipe 103- Gnocchi with Sausage, Fennel, and Tomatoes.

The recipe is here:  http://www.divaeatsitalia.com/?page_id=84

I liked the recipe.  It was good-but nothing great.  I used store bought gnocchi for this recipe (although I have made my own gnocchi several times).  I really like the tip on this blog for the gnocchi.  It suggests pan searing the gnocchi.  My husband and I thought that it really stepped up the store bought gnocchi.  The recipe itself was easy to follow.

Car Buying and Recipe 101

Yesterday morning began with my weekly trip to the grocery store around 7am.  It's the best time to go because NO ONE is there.  After finishing a few errands, my husband and I were on our way to buy our first brand new car.  We went to a nearby dealership that knew we were going to buy a car from them and new exactly what we wanted.  We get there and guess what?  They don't have the car we want!  They tried to talk us into the car with extra features including door visors (which looked absolutely awful!).  So we left, we ended up buying our car yesterday from a dealer in town who had everything we wanted AND matched our asking price.

Anyway, my sister just moved in to a new house with three girlfriends.  We had a house warming party to attend.  I was going to make key lime pie dip.  I did.  It was super easy and quick.  Thankfully (the car buying thing took WAY long).  I served it with graham crackers and vanilla wafers.  In my haste I forgot to take a picture of my 101 recipe.  There was none left to take a picture of- I guess it was a hit!

This recipe came from Recipe.com

http://www.recipe.com/key-lime-pie-dip/

The Beginning

So Wednesday it happened....it was my first day with my new kids and I reached the 100th recipe I had made thanks to Pinterest!

I love to bake (and cook, but let's be honest, there is no dough to taste test when you're cooking dinner).  I also love to take pictures on my Canon Rebel.  As I was making my way to my 100th recipe, I wondered why I was taking pictures of everything I made because I wasn't doing anything with them.  So I decided I would start a blog to see my way to my 200th Pinterest recipe!  Why not...it's not like I have nothing else on my plate this school year.  Oh yea, except for maybe teaching first graders, taking two graduate classes, teaching 4 dance classes, and continuing to take ballroom lessons with my husband.  So yea, why not!

My goal is to make 100 more recipes during this school year (100 recipes in 177 school days).  While I do dream of owning a bakery with a dear friend, not all of the recipes will be baked goods.  In this blog, I will recap some of my first 100 recipes and probably rant about how stressed I am :).

Not only do I have a crazy schedule this year, this is only my second year teaching, I have been married to my high school sweetheart for just over a year, and we have been homeowners for a year.

 So here it goes!