It's Been A Good Day In The Kitchen

Since my kitchen is nice and clean and I have great fresh groceries in the house what's a gal to do?  Well, cook, of course.  So that is what I did.

There is no question about it,  I really dislike the frozen prepared foods from the grocery store but I have to succumb to them more often than I would like to admit.  My forays into the kitchen lately have not always resulted in finished products to my full liking.  Hopefully, I can get my mojo back.  And, this may just be the beginning of that journey.

I decided to keep it simple and not try any new recipes, just solid good home cooked food.  I have been wanting to make some oven roasted potatoes and I have some fresh Yukon potatoes.  So-so easy.  This is what I did.  First, coat the potatoes with olive oil. And then season them with garlic ( prepared chopped garlic from a jar works fine), kosher salt, black pepper, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried basil and some grated Parmesan cheese (from recently purchased 3 oz. Kraft grated parmesan).  Even though I usually avoid this product I bought it because of the small container which to me meant that it probably would not get old and then wasted.  It was perfect for this quick little adventure of mine into the kitchen.  No fuss, no mess!

They turned out so very good and flavorful.

Lovely white fresh mushrooms were for sale at a price that was so low that I can't remember ever seeing it that low.  And, since I like sauted mushrooms it was going to happen. 

I have always made my mushrooms sauted in real butter and at the end add a few splashes of Maggi Seasoning. It has to be years ago that I first started doing that.

I have been so disappointed with the chicken that I have recently bought at the big chain grocery store that I can not bring myself to do it.  The other day when I shopped close to home I bought some boneless skinless chicken thighs that are called Air-chilled Smart Chicken.  Oh my, what a difference!!  An air-dried chilling technology is used instead of the standard water immersion/absorption method which results in a watery product.  Just look at this beautiful chicken !!  Can chicken thighs be beautiful ???

I did not even have to trim anything from the thighs.  Just rinsed and then into the baking pan with a little sprinkle of Grill Mates Montreal Chicken  seasoning.  And, of course just a teeny bit of butter on each one.

Now some steamed very fresh Broccoli Florets.

The chicken baked very fast and reached 165 degrees in "no time" but it was not browning.  I popped it under the broiler for a minute or so but then realized that since it is skinless there would not be a lot of browning.  But, let me tell you.  The flavor and quality of the chicken is fabulous.

Will you join me for dinner ??   I would like that.    Oh, and we must have a little vino.

Happy Weekend.

Mary