Month: May 2020

Grilled Chicken Breast

Grilled chicken has such a unique flavor. It reminds me of Memorial day, because every year there would be a chicken BBQ in our town to support the little league teams. Tough this chicken isn’t bone in with skin, the flavor of this chicken reminds me so much of that small town tradition. I didn’t do much to flavor this chicken, I just cracked fresh pepper over the top. I cleaned my grill, but I didn’t spray or use any non-stick on my grill. The chicken did stick a bit, but for the most part it was fine. I also cooked the chicken on my grill for about 40 minutes, and my grill was between 375 – 400 F. If i could have controlled it a bit more, I would have liked the 400 – 425 F range better. This chicken was very good, juicy with lots of flavor, but it would have been nice to have a bit more char to the chicken.

  1. Heat your grill with all burners on high for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat on half the grill to low. Heat until grill reads about 400 F with the lid closed.
  2. Prep your chicken by transferring it onto a small plate. Coat the top with pepper. Transfer onto heated grill and cook on first side for 25 minutes.
  3. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 10-20 minutes until internal temperature of 165 F is reached. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
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Raised Beds

We finished building and filling these raised beds a few weeks ago. Planting season will be starting here at the end of the month, so I thought I would share before the time comes for me to get all my big plants in the beds. This weekend, I got some onions, radishes, and lettuce started in my beds, but I have a lot more planned for this space! I plan to add tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, dill, carrots, and potatoes, all once the weather is right!

These raised beds are 4 ft by 8 ft in size. We bought six 1 in x 12 in x 8 ft pressure treated boards. People don’t usually recommend using pressure treated, but they handle weather and they are no longer treated with poisons chemicals. We assembled them in place because 1 x 12s are very heavy. The only thing we did before assembling we the 2 cuts for the end boards.
Once we had all the boards together, we paired up the end pieces so the the ones of most similar size were together. Then we began butting the ends up, making sure the were flush, and pre-drilling before screwing in deck screws. Once one end was assembled, we would attach the other end in the same manner. We then did this to the other bed, so both beds were assembled where we were going to have them at the end.
Then we leveled the beds, and made them square. The first bed was on a large slope. We decided that if we could get at least 2 boards flat, the we can prop up the other 2 with some extra rock we had. It took us several hours to get it level, once it was level, we squared it, then propped up the corner that had no support. We then built a small stone wall to hold up the bed and fill in the gaps. The second beds was easier since it was on mostly flat ground. To fill these beds, we used excess dirt we had around our yard. Around the house there were several mulch beds that were almost a foot deep. We stripped off all the layers of mulch that was now mostly dirt, and added them to the beds. We then topped the beds with 1 inch of mulch to keep away weeds, and to give the beds a finished look.

This weekend when we were planting, we had to move the mulch from where we were working. This mulch got added to 2 fabric pots I have, that will need to be filled in the next few weeks before planting. We also turned up the grass in one bed, but didn’t for the other. The grass in the one we turned up is already a slight problem, whereas the one we didn’t turn up, there is no signs of dirt growing under the ~10 inches of dirt there. I would recommend not turning up the dirt if your dirt will be thicker than 6 inches on top of your grass.

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Fondant Potatoes

I was watching an episode of Kitchen Nightmares yesterday where Gordon Ramsey was working with an upper-scale restaurant. I saw this dish, and I immediately needed to find some way to make it. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com from Chef John. Chef John is one of the more renown and one of the first chefs on YouTube. I was very interested in his recipe, but it required a skillet or cast iron pan that I could then bake with. I do not have either. Someone in the comments mentioned how that just boil it on the stove top, and I figure that can be my way around baking them. I understand that means I may have softer potatoes than what is intended for this dish, but I found these to be absolutely delightful! Even Josh, my potato critique, absolutely enjoyed this dish. It is a wonderfully fancy way to make potatoes, and the flavors from the herbs and broth were so pronounced! I highly recommend!

  1. Wash 3 large potatoes. Cut off the top and bottom, then peel the skin around the outside of the potato. Cut potatoes into halves or thirds (about 1/2 inch thick). Soak slices in cold water.
  2. Get a large skillet and heat it over medium heat. Once warmed up, add 4 Tbsp oil and wait a minute for that to heat. Once oil is hot, remove potato slices from water, dry with a paper towel, then add to hot oil. Fry on the first side for about 5 minutes or until golden brown.
  3. In a side bowl, make 1 cup of chicken broth.
  4. Flip your potatoes. Add 2 Tbsp butter, and 1/2 Tbsp of Thyme, Rosemary, and garlic powder. Cook for 2 minutes. Add your 1 cup of broth, reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer for about 15 minute or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Serve right away.
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Squirrels in the Attic

Josh and I purchased this house the end of last May. Lustrons, I’ve heard, can get all sorts of critters in them, usually into the attic through gap in panels, or into the access panels in the utility room through gaps along the side of the house.
We began hearing noise in the attic almost as soon as we moved in. There was a gap in the roofing between the roofing and where the gutters attach. Shortly after hearing them scratch in the walls, we heard them chewing on our metal house. Since the weather was good last weekend, we decided to finally seal it. Josh cut a piece of sheet metal to help close the gap where they had been chewing. Finally, we added a screw between the panels where there would have been one, but must have fallen out at some point before we bought the house.
The next morning, Josh had work, but the squirrel got back to chewing. I went outside once the sun came up, and saw the fuzzy little faces of at least 3 babies trapped in the attic with a very frantic mama biting the new sheet metal piece. Josh went to work, and I decided to free them. I grabbed the ladder, undid the new screw, and added a block of wood for her to get her babies, and we left it for 3 days before we sealed it up again. The day I had been opening the roof again, Newman and I had heard some noise in the utility room. And after a few hours, we also heard some cries from a little squirrel that must have fallen into the utility room wall. I told josh and he grabbed a small trap from his parent’s house that we set up that night, but we didn’t hear anything more after that. There are plenty of ways into that wall since we usually have some mice, shrew, and voles passing through in the winter. Josh and I inspected the space when we were pulling out the trap, and there were no signs of a squirrel. We are sure the mama was looking and managed to get the little guy out.
All that to say, never a dull moment in this house! We’ve sealed everything back up, and we’ve seen no signs of anymore of our squirrel friends. We did by a spray animal repellent that we’ve applied, and it may be doing something, who knows!

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French Bread Pizza

I’ve had an old Italian loaf in my freezer for months. I made this back when I made my Homemade Italian Bread post in March. It had a little freezer burn, but over all it survived very well in my freezer for a month. Josh and I needed a quick dinner the other day and I had just mad more bread on Monday, so my starter was still maturing in the fridge. This is similar to my other pizza recipes as far as toppings and seasoning. You can add more toppings as you desire, but i’m reserving what I can because of the pandemic. I baked my bread an extra 10 minutes at the beginning to thaw it, but otherwise, I did the exact steps listed below.

  1. Heat an oven to 350 F
  2. Divide an Italian loaf (or french bread) in half by length and then cutting each half in half.
  3. Place the cut bread onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes to toast your bread.
  4. Once toasted, top your bread with tomato sauce, a sprinkle of garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and marjoram. Top with a thick layer of shredded mozzarella, the sprinkle on some oregano.
  5. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
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