Apricot-Bourbon BBQ Chicken

Boy-oh-boy is this good. This recipe from the Pioneer Woman Cooks is the inspiration for our dinner tonight.

I did a few things differently from the recipe above. First, I used Wild Turkey brand bourbon instead of Jack Daniels. Second, I used apricot preserves instead of peach. For garlic, I used Penzey's dried minced instead of fresh, just because I have it on hand. I used skinless boneless chicken thighs. They fell apart in cooking, which was so yummy in the final dish. Instead of baking the dish in the oven, I threw it in my crock pot because it's hot here and I didn't want to use the oven. At the end, I took the sauce out of the crockpot, then transferred it to a stovetop pan where I reduced it for about 10 minutes. Perfecto.

I have several meals left for the freezer - frozen into individual meal packages, they'll solve the "what's for dinner" problem on a weeknight this coming September.

Pasta con Pomodoro Crudo

Fresh from my garden. I came home tonight.

Nick has a standing order to "saute an onion" which he did before he left to pick me up from the train station, only 1 mile from our home.

I approached the house from the back door. I smelled that yummy onion and olive oil smell through the screen. The pasta water was hot. The onion was in the 10 inch saute pan, nicely golden.

I diced one yellow crookneck squash (picked from the garden this morning), put it in the pan with some fennel seed and garlic, covered the pan, and put it on medium high.

Meanwhile, I halved my tomatoes - cherry red and lemon pear. I added a gigantic red one for good measure. Put the tomatoes in with the squash and onion. Meanwhile, I cooked my 3 minute angel hair pasta.

After two minutes, the tomatoes were starting to ooze their juice. I put in some chopped basil from the garden, then drained my pasta, and poured my vegetables on top.

A complete meal, with the addition of some grated parmesan cheese.

Pancakes

Happy Mothers' Day!

Pancakes are a simple and homey comfort food. Usually, we enjoy the plain type, made with regular flour and eggs. Today we mixed it up a bit.

This morning I used my Vitamix to make pancakes and blueberry syrup. (Yes, in separate batches.)

The book that came with the blender has some great recipes. I adapted one to make the following pancake recipe.

Hearty Pancakes

1 1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flax seed, ground

Blend the above on high for about one minute.

Add 3/4 cup oatmeal (not cooked - the flakes from the container), 1/4 cup dried cranberries, and 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds.

Blend all on low for about 20 seconds. Let sit about 5 minutes. It will thicken up.

Thin this mixture with water, if desired. Heat griddle to medium (I use a nonstick griddle, with a bit of canola oil on it). Cook pancakes.

This makes about eight big pancakes. I cooked the whole batch, then packed the leftovers in a plastic container, lined with paper towel. Tomorrow morning, we'll just microwave these and enjoy again.

Blueberry Syrup

1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (or more if you want)

Thaw the blueberries. Add all ingredients to blender. Blend on "high" for about 4 minutes. Pour on pancakes.

Nick says these pancakes are good, but a little too 'Healthy' tasting.

Harrumph.

Next time, I might use regular flour instead of whole wheat, reduce the milk a bit, add an egg, and eliminate the flax seed.