Why food? (and some sexy chicken)

Well, that's an easy question!

E and I love to cook together. We always have - I know- we're awesome!

One of the first dates we had involved "cooking" in his tiny campus apartment ( the quotations are there because, well, the meal was Pad Thai from a box...but we tweaked it, of course!). Sure, we love eating out just as much as the next person, but we also really love spending our evenings together in the kitchen. and I love food. period. So, there you have it.

Thankfully our meals we make together these days have evolved from boxed thai, although that is still one of our favorite lazy night meals... Over the years we've picked up on each others strengths and weaknesses in the kitchen. For example...Any super complicated, precise, measure-heavy dish - all him. I'm more of the haphazard, throw in a little of this, and a chunk of that and see what happens kinda gal. 60% of the time..it works EVERY time....

that doesn't make any sense.


SO -  long answer short- food make sense because I, we, love it. A LOT. Yep.

Side note: ( I had to have one..) The thing about our dinner plans..is that they're made early. Sometimes it's first thing in the morning, sometimes its sometime earlier in the week. I have the habit of going nuts brainstorming for thursday night's meal before we've even gotten to lunch on monday. which is great- less planning later....except the thing about those dinner plans ... is that they change with our mood. A lot..

thats why I got a call last night from E ...who went out to get chicken. Sadly his quest for chicken was blinded by an array of other possibilities...namely pork chops... pork chops? Such a guy..

Luckily for me he came home with chicken in hand..and an avocado...because he loves me :) 

So, dinner. here's the run down

Thursday: Roasted Butternut Squash and Sexy (yes, sexy) Chicken 

Let's start with the fun part. My all-time favorite side dish, and a sure sign that it's fall around these parts  - the butternut squash. I need more. Now. 

Roasted Butternut Squash (adapted from an array of other recipe's..but mostly my own noggin)

Ingredients

-1 medium/large butternut squash - peeled and cubed

( we only use the skinny part for roasting, the thick part we either cut in half and cook like a sweet potato or turn int soup..tmi?) 

-Roughly 2 TBS rosemary (we used dried. because that what we had)

-1 tbs autumn spice (or paprika, allspice, whatever sounds autumn-y to you. We found our "autumn spice" in a spice shop in colorado. Its' so good, I'm only allowed to use it during fall - details to follow) 

-3 cloves of garlic  - minced

-Enough extra virgin olive oil to coat

-Salt and pepper 

Instructions

*Preheat oven to 400

*Add all ingredients to a bowl and toss to coat

*Spread squash out evenly on baking sheet

*Roast squash for 45 min. to an hour (turning occasionally) until crispy

Seriously....

These little babies are so STINKIN good. I told you, I was on a roasting kick this week. 

Alright, sexy chicken. I dont know what it is about chicken cooked in broth like this. but it is seriously sexy.  That's really all I have to say. and that sauce? It's also pretty darn good on the squash. and by itself...really.

Sexy Chicken

Ingredients

-1 Chicken Breast ( or however many you want to cook. we always try to split our protein..portion control!) 

-2 + cups vegetable broth

-3 cloves garlic, sliced 

-Autumn Seasoning (yep)

-Salt and Pepper

-2 TBS butter

Instructions

*Add vegetable broth to a pot and season with lots of pepper, autumn spice and garlic -heat until boiling

*Add the chicken breast to broth - reduce heat to medium-high (

add extra broth as neeeded to cover chicken)

*"boil" chicken until fully cooked.

* heat skillet with 2 tbs butter

*remove chicken from liquid and add to hot pan 

*turn heat up on liquid until a slight bubbly-foam is created  on top (basically, you're reducing it into a sauce)

Like this!

* gradually begin to ladle the liquid over chicken 

*cook chicken covered with liquid about 5 minutes

*Serve that sexy chicken! 

Oh, and for anyone curious- this is the spice mix we use. the ingredients are at the bottom. super simple. super awesome. 

The final result...oh, thats a terrible picture...c'mon Iphone. It was dark pretty dark, but such a lovely night for dinner on the patio.

..and then my amazing husband made milkshakes for dinner, and the portion control  is thrown out the window!

mmm.....

There you have it! Thursday night dinner at the Holder hut. Tonight our plan is chorizo taco salad ..but you never know. .