What's for dinner?
Vingar glazed chicken that's what and it's A-freaking-MAZING! I got this recipe from some magazine and it's been in heavy rotation ever since. It takes a while to make and is super messy (2 things that would make me immediately throw away a recipe card BUT this is so delicious that I suck it up, put on my big girl panties and look forward to the end result).
Let me say also that I don't like vinegar. I never cook with it and don't like pickels or that kind of thing but whatever it does to this chicken makes me LOVE it.
First get some chicken pieces with skin on them. Cut the large pieces in half. Marinate for 15 min. - 2 hours prior to cooking in 1 cup red wine vinegar, 2 Tbs. minced garlic, and 1 Tbs. fresh Rosemary.
Remove from marinade (set aside for later) and season each piece on both sides with salt and pepper then coat a skillet with olive oil and brown each piece thoroughly. Once the chicken is browned add 3/4 cup chicken broth to the skillet and let simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the reserved marinade to the chicken. Increase your heat and let cook down until it's reduced to a glaze type thickness (~30 minutes).
Doesn't this just look delicious!
And because I just wasn't busy enough I decided to make my first cake pops as seen in this book:
I saw some photos of 'Cupcake' cake pops and just had to make them. Here's the basics:
Bake any flavor cake you want (it's recommended to use a boxed cake) as directed by the recipie. Once it's completely cooled use your hands to crumble the cake into super small pieces.
Next add 3/4 tub of whatever flavor frosting you like to the crumbles and mix until it's doughy. Then roll into balls.
Place in freezer for at least 15 min. or fridge for a few hours. If you want to just make plain cake pops then simply ignore this next bit.
To shape your cupcake pops use a small flower shaped cookie cutter and roll each ball into a cylindrical shape and stuff the bottom portion into the cookie cutter leaving the top to mushroom out like a "muffin top" :)
Place them top down onto your wax paper lined baking sheet and put back into the freezer for another 15 min. During this time melt your chocolate (I used the colored melting chips from Michael's) in 30 second intervals until just melted. Next holding the muffin top dip the bottom into the melted chocolate and place back onto the wax paper top down.
Quickly dip a lolipop stick into the chocolate and insert into the bottom of the cupcake. (the chocolate gets hard really quickly so be prepared. I cracked several of my cupcakes b/c I took too long). Place back into the fridge while you melt your top coat of chocolate. Now holding the stick, dip the top of the cupcake into your top color and invert and place in your styrofoam holder (with premade holes). Quickly place any sprinkle/candies you want to decorate with onto the cupcakes, then stand back and smile at the cuteness :)
For the plain cake pops just roll them into balls then dip in chocolate. I opted to pipe a second color onto the pops for a little something extra. I spun the pops upside down to remove the excess chocolate on my first dop and got this tootsie pop look by accident. (Note: I left the plastic cover on my styrofoam which makes it much easier to clean up any drips)
I wanted to bring them to my friends at work and my sweet hubby was nice enough to help me put little baggies on each one :)
Ezra was crazy about them - yummy!!!
Let me say also that I don't like vinegar. I never cook with it and don't like pickels or that kind of thing but whatever it does to this chicken makes me LOVE it.
First get some chicken pieces with skin on them. Cut the large pieces in half. Marinate for 15 min. - 2 hours prior to cooking in 1 cup red wine vinegar, 2 Tbs. minced garlic, and 1 Tbs. fresh Rosemary.
Remove from marinade (set aside for later) and season each piece on both sides with salt and pepper then coat a skillet with olive oil and brown each piece thoroughly. Once the chicken is browned add 3/4 cup chicken broth to the skillet and let simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the reserved marinade to the chicken. Increase your heat and let cook down until it's reduced to a glaze type thickness (~30 minutes).
Doesn't this just look delicious!
And because I just wasn't busy enough I decided to make my first cake pops as seen in this book:
I saw some photos of 'Cupcake' cake pops and just had to make them. Here's the basics:
Bake any flavor cake you want (it's recommended to use a boxed cake) as directed by the recipie. Once it's completely cooled use your hands to crumble the cake into super small pieces.
Next add 3/4 tub of whatever flavor frosting you like to the crumbles and mix until it's doughy. Then roll into balls.
Place in freezer for at least 15 min. or fridge for a few hours. If you want to just make plain cake pops then simply ignore this next bit.
To shape your cupcake pops use a small flower shaped cookie cutter and roll each ball into a cylindrical shape and stuff the bottom portion into the cookie cutter leaving the top to mushroom out like a "muffin top" :)
Place them top down onto your wax paper lined baking sheet and put back into the freezer for another 15 min. During this time melt your chocolate (I used the colored melting chips from Michael's) in 30 second intervals until just melted. Next holding the muffin top dip the bottom into the melted chocolate and place back onto the wax paper top down.
Quickly dip a lolipop stick into the chocolate and insert into the bottom of the cupcake. (the chocolate gets hard really quickly so be prepared. I cracked several of my cupcakes b/c I took too long). Place back into the fridge while you melt your top coat of chocolate. Now holding the stick, dip the top of the cupcake into your top color and invert and place in your styrofoam holder (with premade holes). Quickly place any sprinkle/candies you want to decorate with onto the cupcakes, then stand back and smile at the cuteness :)
For the plain cake pops just roll them into balls then dip in chocolate. I opted to pipe a second color onto the pops for a little something extra. I spun the pops upside down to remove the excess chocolate on my first dop and got this tootsie pop look by accident. (Note: I left the plastic cover on my styrofoam which makes it much easier to clean up any drips)
I wanted to bring them to my friends at work and my sweet hubby was nice enough to help me put little baggies on each one :)
Ezra was crazy about them - yummy!!!
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Romantic Dinner Bruges