Alabama Drumsticks…so easy and fool proof!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Malin

Last week we bought a new grill that was being delivered to us last friday and I had planned to make our friday night dinner on it but it was not delivered until 10.30 pm…who delivers anything at 10.30 in a friday night?!! Anyhow yesterday I made our friday dinner although it was Sunday…

Drumsticks

3 pounds 1.5kg Chicken Drumsticks

Salt and Pepper

How to: Place the drumsticks on a ovenproof dish and sprinkle the salt and pepper on top, place the tray in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 375 F/190C. Let the drumstick cool off (I did this before we went to Knut’s hockey game)

Alabama marinade

1/2 cup/ 1 dl Mayonnaise (see below)

2 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Fresh Chives

Coleslaw

½ Cabbage

White Wine Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Mayonnaise

1 Yolk

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar

2 dl /1 cup of Vegetable Oil

Salt and Pepper

Chili Flakes

How to: Start by making the mayonnaise and use half for the Alabama sauce and the rest for the coleslaw. Mix the mayonnaise with the cabbage and store it in the fridge until ready to serve.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and brush the drumsticks with the sauce and grill them on the grill for approximately 5 minutes each side. Brush again with sauce and sprinkle with the chives.

I left out a few drumstick for the kids as I was not sure if they would like the “Alabama style” and Mira loved her plain ones. I don’t think I ever seen her finishing all the meat and actually skipping the past

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You know it is spring when soccer starts

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Malin

We had a very early start this very beautiful summer like morning. At 8am Mira had her first kick off of the season with the “Fancy Blue Girls”. You might think that I would have had time to get a quick run in but it has been one thing after another the entire day. Knut also had his first outdoor soccer game of the season and while Freddie took the car me and Mira biked to her friend’s birthday party. I had a few errands to run at the mall so I biked over as fast as I could and in the mall I was running around getting more presents and trying to find a pair of black heels but it was impossible. With 10 minutes to go before I had to pick Mira up I hurried back on my bike. I feel a bit bummed that I didn’t run but I probably ended up biking for 20 odd minutes or so in a tank top and in my shorts so I did get some sun and I guess I just have to appreciate whatever exercise I got in today…Now I am getting ready to go downtown Chicago with the gals!

I woke up to a disaster…

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Malin

I spent Wednesday morning at Lifestyle Fitness (the warehouse) lifting weights that for me was so heavy that I needed Jonathan to spot me or otherwise I would have dropped them on my face, not sure how pretty that would have been…

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So after this intense workout I tried to blog on Wednesday nigh but I was so tired I decided to finish the post in the morning. Well, that did not happen as planned as my friend called me in the 5.30 in the morning asking me to come and get her as she thought her house was about to flood. I jumped in the car and our street had already started to flood and went to get them. When we got back to my house another flash flood came poring down and the water in my backyard kept on coming closer and closer up the hill.

As soon as the rain stopped we went outside and this point we were unable to leave the area. We could not get out and for those who tried ended up with very expensive car repairs… When we came up to the park that was no longer a field, it looked much more like Lake Michigan.

We were very lucky and managed to keep the water out of our house but I feel so sorry for my neighbors who I saw pumping water out of their houses, tearing carpet out of their basements as sewage was coming up through their sinks and for some who ended up having to evacuate altogether! Today the water is receding, the kids are back to school and life starts to get back to normal.

The best birthday present you can give to yourself

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Malin

I think that every family have their on traditions when in comes to celebration and we are no different and today is the day when can say I made it to at least 35. Yesterday the kids were so hyped up about it so at 3 am this morning Mira wakes me up saying that daddy is in the kitchen making you a cake, whaaat…haha. We finally went back to sleep and at 8 am they all came into the bedroom singing for me with my morning coffee (no cake) and a present. We snuggled a bit in bed before I went for a quick run before we all had breakfast together.

I really wanted to run fast and I did. I finished my 3.2 run in 25.57 which is my personal best outside. My goal is to run 5 k under 25 minutes but I think this is the best gift I can give to myself…My fitness 🙂

Inspired by Africa part 2 – Moroccan Tagine Chicken and Dried Fruit

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Malin

I stumbled over this recipe in the beginning of the week and it is absolutely unbelievable delicious. While it was cooking the house fas filled with the most amazing smell of spices. I had earlier this week asked at Whole Foods what would go well with the type of spices that I was going to use and was recommend a Riesling. It went really well with this dish is definitely something I will make again to share with my very good friends…

Marinade

12 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned

1/2 cup Olive Oil

8 cloves garlic, minced

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed

11/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Marinate the chicken for about 8 hours (I did not read the recipe until the morning so I only marinated the chicken for about 3 hours) or over night in a big ziplock bag and rub the chicken occasionally.

Tagine

1 14.5 ounce chicken broth (I used 1 chicken stock in water)

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup whole dates

3 tablespoons ground almonds

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon saffron threads

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cut fresh cilantro

2 tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted

How to: Place the chicken in the a slow cooker and all the rest of the ingredients and let it cook on a low temperature between 4-8 hours. I left the house to take the kids to their activities so it burnt a little so I do recommend to stir occasionally, I let mine cook for about 5 hours and the chicken just fell off the bone.

I served this with a simple salad (couscous was recommended) and I sprinkled the cilantro and the roasted almonds on top.

original recipe from Chicken Dinners

Oven Roasted Chicken

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Malin

This is one of the easiest and simplest recipe there is and it is so good!

I used 1 whole chicken (you can use what ever part you prefer)

1 bls / 500 grams Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage (whole foods)

1 Zucchini

1 Yellow squash

1 red onion

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 cup pitted Olives

1/2 Lemon Juice

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Thyme

Rosemary

Salt and Pepper

How to: Cut the chicken into to pieces, slice the sausage and dice the vegetables then place it on an oven proof tray. Sprinkle lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and the herbs over the ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Place the tray in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked at 400F/200 C.

Next time I’ll not use a whole chicken because it almost landed on my head while cutting it, guess I am no butcher…haha, but I’ll get some extra chicken wings because Mira just loved them 😉

Tarragon patties with a cold Béarnaise

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Malin

Even if it is Monday sometimes I just want to eat “fancy” without paying the $$$ so I thought why not go for the cheaper version of a luxurious stake…Think Patties 🙂

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Patties

500 grams/ 1 pound minced Beef

1 egg

1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon Kalvfond or Better than Bullion

2 Minced Garlic Clove

Fresh chopped Tarragon

Fresh chopped Basil

Salt and Pepper

Blend all the ingredients together and make patties roast the either on the grill or in the oven till they are done 400F/200C.

Béarnaise

2 egg yolk

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon White wine vinegar

2.5 dl/ 1 cup Vegetables Oil

Mix together all the ingredients for the mayonnaise except the oil that you will slowly add during whisking.

1-2 minced Garlic Clove

1/2 Lemon use the juice and the zest

1 1/2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard

Chopped Tarragon

Salt and Pepper

Add the rest of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper. I served this with roasted brussels sprouts mix with spinach and cocktail tomatoes in an olive Oil Vinaigrette. The kids ate whole wheat pasta and Knut was begging me that next time he really wants the patties to be made on the grill, let just hope that the summer will be here soon!!

Really…I think someone was taking the piss today!

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Malin

When I left the house for my “recovery jog” this morning I had about 40 minutes until I had to be back in order to get Mira from school. I started out light but I guess I’m not really a recovery type of person. I took a track I normally don’t run, the track that Freddie runs. I do know where he turns around so I ended up running faster and faster trying to get to the power line, I didn’t make it though because the thing was I also had to get back in time…lol

When we got home from school I was very hungry and I released I hadn’t eaten any breakfast so I grabbed some leftovers from last night and took a seat outside on the patio thinking I would enjoy my lunch in the sun. Now, some genius then thought it was a good idea to start burning leafs (or something) so this thick stinking smoke stated to cover the neighborhood. Of all the cold and freezing days we have had they had to pick today to burn stuff. I grabbed my plate and finished my lunch inside, not being able to be outside we took the car to Hartigan’s Ice Cream Shoppe and the kids picked their favorite flavor happy as could be.

Just another simple Chicken Salad

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Malin

So I mentioned last night that I had one and a million things to do and therefore I did not have an awfully lot of time to stand in the kitchen so I picked up a Grilled Chicken from the grocery store and made a simple but yet delicious salad.

1 Whole Grilled Chicken

Spinach

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Marinated Mushrooms

Chili Olives

Roast Vegetables

Brussel Sprouts

Fennel

Green Bell Pepper

Red Onion Sliced

Zucchini

Olive Oil

Salt

Guacamole

2 avocado

2 small chopped tomato

3 tablespoon chopped red onion

½ Limejuice

Cilantro

Salt and Pepper

Red Chili Flakes

How to: Start with roasting the vegetables in the oven 200C/400F until they are nicely brown and crispy, sprinkle some salt on top .

Meanwhile mash the avocado and mix in all the other ingredients for the guacamole. I always make sure I have a lot of lime juice because this prevents the avocado to become brown. Then cut the chicken into smaller pieces and add them on top of the spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms and olives. Then put the roasted vegetables on top with a click of the guacamole. Sprinkle over olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

For the kids I made some whole wheat pasta to go with as we still working on getting them to appreciate vegetables like I do 🙂

Moroccan Chicken Stew…All I say, Mmmmm…

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Malin

This morning I was browsing the internet for some inspiration what to make for dinner and I came across this amazing recipe that was inspired the by Moroccan kitchen and I knew straight away it was going to be a success (I did make some alteration to it to fit my diet). While the stew was cooking the most amazing smell filled the kitchen, unfortunately I did not have time to really sit down and enjoy my dinner as I had to rush out the door to take Knut to Hockey practice.

4 Chicken Breast

1 Yellow Onion

2 Garlic clove

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Cinnamon

1 tablespoon Cumin

1 tsk Turmeric

Salt and Pepper

1 can of Diced Tomato

1 cube of Chicken bouillon

2 cups/4 dl Water

Mushrooms

1 Lemon juice and zest

Chopped Parsley

Quinoa

Sour Cream

How to: Start by cutting the chicken into small pieces (I prefer the taste to the chicken if the dice are not too big). Slice the onion and the garlic and fry them in a frying pan and season with the spices .

I always fry the meat little by little so you get a nice browning as swell as the meat wont start to simmer. Add the rest of the ingredients except the parsley and lemon and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes but the longer you let it cook the more tender the meat will become.

When you are ready to eat squeeze the lemon juice into the stew and sprinkle over the chopped parsley and lemon zest. I served the dish with roasted vegetables but for the kids I made quinoa with a click of sour cream. They loved the flavors of the stew but was not too keen on the quinoa, this is a dish I will make again but I will serve it with cauliflower rice for me and regular rice for the kids!

Original recipe http://www.ica.se