Lauren's Kitchen

Orange-Maple Glazed Chicken Thighs

on Feb 04 in Featured Post, Poultry tagged All, Chicken, Citrus, Herbs by Lauren

It’s Super Bowl week, and there has been an overwhelming smell of apathy in the air for the upcoming game.  Compounding the lack of any real excitement coming from surrounding Cowboys fans, we have had some incredibly cold, treacherous weather here in the Dallas area recently.  Beginning on Tuesday morning with an ice storm that shut down the entire city coating each and every street along my commute with slippery sheets of ice.  The temperature has not ventured above freezing since Monday,  so the ice has stuck around, much to my (and my boss’) chagrin.   Last night, we were rewarded with another 6″-8″ of snow on top of that inch of ice.  As a native Las Vegan living in the South, let’s just say that this is exactly why I DIDN’T move to Chicago when I had the opportunity.

Needless to say, I’ve become a bit stir crazy, and we decided to break out the camera equipment, lights, and “fancy” dishes for a dinner photo shoot.  This is an adapted Bobby Flay recipe that I came across recipe was a delicious combination of sweet and savory, and when I suggest using real maple syrup, I’m using grade A medium amber maple syrup.   No Mrs. Butterworth’s, please.   The chicken was moist and tender.  I left the skin on the thighs, and after broiling with a nice amount of seasoning, added a lovely crispy texture to the rest of the meal.  This is a definite “make again”, and after serving with some very simple steamed broccoli, the sauce makes plain old broccoli a delicious veggie that your kids might even happily eat!

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Beef Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine

on Jan 09 in Beef & Veal, Entrees, Featured Post tagged All, Autumn, Beef, Herbs, Italian, Sauces, Vegetables, Wine by Lauren

Happy New Year, all!  I hope you have all had an incredibly enjoyable Christmas and New Year and have been settling into life in 2011!

In the past few months, W and I have been through a lot of bottles of wine.  And my Uncle Roger, has been generously making creative gifts of old wine bottles by stuffing LED Christmas lights into them.   Ta Daaa; Christmas-light wine bottle fixture!  We are now blessed with a Christmas-light bottle of Silver Oak (Alexander Valley Cabernet, 2004) and a bottle of The Prisoner.  I would try to explain the history behind The Prisoner vs. The Promise, but the moral of that story is; wear your glasses when picking out bottles of wine, kids.

Today, we had 3-6″ of snow in Dallas, so I spent the day braising beef short ribs in wine.  This dish makes the house smell like Heaven while it’s cooking.  There is nothing more homey than beef and wine served with creamy mashed potatoes with garlic and chives.   The best part about this braising sauce is that you can use the leftovers for chicken the next day; it’s delicious.

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Chicken Peanut Stew

on Oct 25 in Featured Post, Poultry, Soup tagged All, Appetizers, Autumn, Chicken, Chilies, Soup by Lauren

Looking back through my past (most recent) posts, it’s clear I need to make some apologies to you, dear Reader.  Or excuses.  Whatever you really want to call them, I haven’t been adding content at a pace I’m happy with, so I wanted to make sure I submitted something before we made it through October with nary a new recipe.

It seems like this year is just flying by, and with the cooler weather approaching, I’ll be much more likely to spend a Sunday cooking and photographing dinner.

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Lemon Almond Biscotti

on Aug 15 in Baked Goods, Bread, and Muffins, Desserts & Sweets, Featured Post tagged All, Dessert by Lauren

I’ve never really been one for baking, but because I love cookies, I decided to make an attempt at homemade biscotti.  I’m also not much of a coffee drinker, so this lemon almond biscotti is perfect paired with a sweeter green tea.

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Tomato Basil Bisque

on Aug 02 in Featured Post, Soup, Vegetarian tagged All, Healthy, Soup, Vegetarian by Lauren

Our garden is just on fire this month.  Tomatoes are being produced at a phenomenal rate and our basil is just in fantastic shape!   I haven’t really been posting as many recipes lately because frankly, I haven’t been cooking nearly as much.  The summertime is just my least inspired season to explore in the kitchen because of the heat, but truly, with our garden producing as much as it has, how could I not!

This bisque was a fantastic and light weeknight dinner and because W always makes crostini topped with salt, pepper, olive oil and parmeggianno reggianno when I make soup, it made for a nice meal.

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