Crock Pot Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

I am literally eating the leftovers from this meal while I type this post, and I am reminded of how delicious this dish turned out! This was a true first time try dish and it turned out great! It will be making it onto the regular dinner rotation for sure. It all started with Harris Teeter having a sale on split chicken breast. I picked up a package and figured I would do something with it over the weekend. Turns out our friend Rob was snowed in with us for a night so I figured it'd be a good chance to fire up the crock pot. I started by gathering all the ingredients.

I cut each breast in half so they would cook a little quicker and serve as better portions for serving. Then, I took a whole slew of spices, mixed them up, added a little olive oil, and rubbed the chicken with said mixture. I put the chicken in the crock pot and topped it with a copped onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf. A little water was added so the chicken wouldn't stick.

Then, I set the crock pot on high for 3 hours. Meanwhile, I made the mango salsa. Mango, lime, onion, honey, vinegar, and salt were mixed together.

The finished salsa product was sweet, tart, and just the right flavor balance to give the chicken a little extra something.

While the chicken was finishing up, I prepped some broccoli for roasting.

Then, almonds were toasted and added to a nice batch of quinoa that had been seasoned with a drizzle of olive oil and a hefty pinch of kosher salt.

Once the chicken was tender and falling off the bone, I took it out of the crock pot and garnished it with a little fresh lime.

Dinner is served!

 Rob enjoyed playing with Lily the cat and is also probably convinced that Jacob and I are weirdos after being snowed in with us for 24 hours.

Crock Pot Jerk Chicken Recipe

3-4 large bone in chicken breasts

 1 small yellow onion

 3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

1 cup water

Lime slices for garnish

Directions:

- Take the skin off the chicken breasts and cut each breast in half (you'll need a hefty knife for this)

- Mix together the spices and olive oil into a paste

- Massage the spice mixture onto the chicken breasts and place the chicken in a crock pot that has been greased with a little olive oil or cooking spray to prevent sticking

- Slice the onion and chop the garlic cloves, drop on top of the chicken in the crock pot

- Add the water to the crock pot, cover, cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6-8 hours

- Once the chicken is falling off the bone, take out of the crock pot and garnish with lime

Mango Salsa Recipe

1 ripe mango

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 lime

2 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp honey

3/4 tsp salt

Directions:

- Peel the mango and onion and chop into small pieces

- Zest and juice the lime into the mango and onion mixture

- Add the vinegar, honey, and salt to the mango mixture

- Cover and chill for 1-2 hours before serving (not a crucial step, but helps the flavors to develop)

Easy Busy Night Dinner

There are some days when Jacob and I do not get home until 7 or 8pm. Usually on days like this we're tired, hungry, and not in the mood for cooking a long and lengthy dinner. Which is where the semi-homemade method comes into play. Jacob's parents left us with some of this awesome ravioli while they were here last weekend, so we put it to use with some doctored up sauce and a nice biiiigggg salad.

Mixed greens, cucumber, carrots, blue cheese, and some of those look-like-dog-food but taste delicious sesame sticks for a little crunch. Balsamic dressing to top it off. Sounds great, right? Moving along now...

The ravioli was of the wild mushroom variety. Cooked just until it floats to the top of the boiling salty pot of water, and tossed with a little olive oil as soon as it comes out.

The sauce was made using baby portabella mushrooms, onion, garlic, and canned tomato sauce. We sauteed the mushrooms, onions and garlic just until tender and added the sauce until it heated through. A nice helping of freshly grated parmesan on top does the trick every time!

Oh, and here's a little glimpse into what I see while cooking every night. She follows me around patiently waiting for some food scraps to fall or for me to hand her a piece of vegetable to play with (the dog LOVES her vegetables). The puppy dog eyes kill me.

Family Visit Recap

Jacob's parents and sister came to visit last weekend. Although they arrived on Friday, Jacob and I had plans to visit friends in Athens, GA for a concert - so we didn't get to spend as much time with family as we had hoped. But, we made the best of the one afternoon and evening we had by doing primarily what? Eating. Are you surprised? Although, our afternoon did started out with a walk downtown.

After we were frozen and wind burned, we decided to head back to the house to start working on dinner. We started things out with a mixed greens, grapefruit, and avocado salad - paired with a home made citrus and honey dressing. All of those things are my favorites. Best. Salad. Ever.

We tossed broccoli crowns and carrot strips with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted them just until crispy and golden. Topped them off with some freshly grated parmesan. Pictured alongside roasted baby potatoes.

The meal also included grilled flank steak with mushrooms and onions, and wild rice and onion bread. It was served on our (new!) kitchen table, which easily accommodated all 7 of us. The table story will be shared in another post, but lets just say that Jacob really pulled a great pre-birthday surprise with that one.

Great wine was drunk drank, and fun times were had. The night was finished off with some of this deliciousness. But you already know about that.

Andrew enjoyed the food and company...

Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cake

As promised...

Citrus is the livelihood fruit of the winter. How many fruits are actually in season during the winter months? Not many. Citrus fruits are some of the only fruits that can be found fresh and non-imported during the days of little daylight. As you will quickly find in the future, I typically only purchase things at the grocery store that are on sale. It's hard to find produce that's on sale if it's not in season. Which is why I stumbled upon this recipe.

MLK Day seemed a perfect fit for cake baking to begin. Jacob and I got the day off and I spent the morning baking, organizing, and cleaning. The cake took a bit longer than expected to create, but proved well worth while in the end. It started with zesting and juicing three large lemons.

Other steps involved beating egg whites to stiff peaks (by hand, not on purpose), and folding them into a batter full of lemon essence and good extra virgin olive oil. For more on good quality olive oil, and what those funny terms "extra virgin" mean, go here.

After oiling and flouring my bundt pan more generously than ever before, the cake came out of the pan perfectly.

I topped it off with a drizzle of lemoncello icing and some more freshly grated lemon zest. Served with a (big) scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a dusting of powdered sugar. Mmm. Truly amazing, refreshing, and light. While eating this cake, I had a short moment when I forgot that we would be experiencing below freezing temps and record winds all week. Sigh...

Welcome!

Welcome! This is my second attempt at keeping up with the blog world - my previous blog, Tiny Kitchen Diaries, was a success at first but I got frustrated with my old camera and lack of cooking space. Now, I have moved on to a much bigger and better kitchen and a much newer and nicer camera! Here's to hoping that I can keep up with blogging on a regular basis.

Now, on to the good stuff....

Let me introduce myself and my husband, Jacob.

Jacob and I were married this past September in our current home of Boone, North Carolina. And then there are the pets...

Madi the Dog and Lily the Cat. You'll be seeing more of them in the future, don't worry. And don't worry, Madi the Dog is much happier in person than she looks in this picture.

The majority of this blog will be written about the food that I eat, the food that I cook, and other various things related to home remodeling, fitness, and travel. I hope you enjoy! Next up... Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cake!