PW: Peach Whiskey Chicken

I'm late to the party on posting this, as it's already November 11, and this was an October recipe.  But we did cook this in October. Or I think we did.  It may have slipped in on November 1.  I don't remember.  (Which is sad in and of itself, that I can't remember 10 days ago.  But that's another worry!)

This was actually my pick, and when I learned it was my month to pick, I flipped through our two Pioneer Woman cookbooks and realized that we've really cooked up a storm this past year!  I wanted to pick an entree rather than a side or dessert, because entrees help me force the issue for me to cook real meals when I really otherwise might want to be lazy and either do something pitiful or something we cook all the time.

But I also realized that I've tended to pick chicken recipes, and this was of course no exception.  Bummer.  I need to branch out to the PW blog more often, I suspect.

In any event, here's the scoop:

PW: Peach Whiskey Chicken

Verdict:  Yummy!  Not earth-shatteringly so, but still a nice step up for a weekday meal.
Cook it again: Probably.  This time, with a side.
Cost factor:  It added up, because of the peach preserves, the whiskey and the unreasonably expensive chicken prices around here lately.  But under normal circumstances, pretty inexpensive.
 
I have to admit a few things:

(1)  I don't know the differences between whiskey, scotch, and bourbon.  I have looked it up and tried to commit it to memory about a million times, but I can't get my brain around it.  Labels that say "bourbon whiskey" don't help me.  Since this was all I could find in our house (that didn't clearly say it was bourbon or scotch, that is), I went with it.  Mick said it was bourbon.  Oh well.

(2) Pioneer Woman has a tendency, I think, to add lots of ingredients that I am not convinced that I can taste.  I had hoped for some awesome flavor here but although the sauce was tasty and I could taste the peach flavor, I really couldn't taste the whiskey.  Maybe that's because I inhaled so much of it (no, I mean literally!  I wasn't drinking.  I poured it into the pot and about choked on the vapors!) that I was scarred?  Mick said he could taste the tones of peach and the bourbon/whiskey.  Maybe if I had this side-by-side with a similar recipe without these ingredients I would be able to tell the difference?

In any event, this recipe is amazingly simple to pull together and could very easily be made in a slow cooker if you wanted.

You brown up some chicken:

I provided Mick with what I thought was a detailed grocery list.  Sometimes my level of detail is actually more confusing to him, but this time I think the confusion was all his own.  I said we needed 10-12 chicken legs.  He came home with thighs.  I said, "I didn't realize I told you thighs... the picture shows drumsticks."  He answered, "No, you didn't.  Your list said chicken legs. I didn't know what part of the leg.  So I went with thighs, because I like them better."

I panicked for a moment, until I re-read the recipe and saw where PW says an excellent and tasty substitution is to use thighs instead of drumsticks.  Phew.

Still, thighs take up more space, so it took me a little longer and a few rounds to get them all browned.  Then I took them out of the pot and added some chopped onions to the hot oil.

Then I added the peach preserves, the bourbon/whiskey, and some barbeque sauce and Worcestershire.  (I didn't specify what I wanted for barbeque sauce and although the recipe says "use your favorite," I don't have one.  So Mick bought the generic stuff.  It worked just fine.)

And that's it.  You let it simmer in the oven for a few hours, take it out, and serve it over mashed potatoes or noodles.  I kind-of forgot to make a side, so we whipped something up quickly -- but I don't even remember what we did.

Oh well.  That's what I get for failing to post this in a timely manner!

Ultimately, this was yummy, flavorful, and easy.  I don't know that I'd cook it for company because I don't tend to cook stuff like this for company.  But there's no other reason not to, and I think it would be a hit.

Just don't forget the mashed potatoes.

--Jen

Mick's Back!

I didn’t tell you he was gone to begin with because, well, I’m afraid of psycho-killers (Psycho killer? Qu’est-ce que c’est?) and stalkers. But at long last, Mick went down to Georgia to get the rest of our stuff.  He left Saturday morning and got back yesterday afternoon.

Except that he wasn’t able to get the rest of our stuff.

He ran out of time and he ran out of space on the moving truck, and he’s flat-out exhausted and was ridiculously deliriously punch-drunk the past few days.

Good news:  he got most of our stuff.

Better news:  we learned that our apparent moving jinx has nothing to do with Mick’s trusty (bwah hah hah -- don't get drunk on the sarcasm!) old truck or towing, but might just have to do with Mick.  (Sorry, Mick.  I'm crossing my fingers for you, really, I am... not that it's a bad problem to have, to tell people you're not able to move them because bad things will happen.)

Remember this trip to move my sister and future brother-in-law to Florida?

And this trip to Maine with one of the big loads of our stuff?

Well, this time Mick flew to Atlanta with a friend and they rented a giant U-Haul.  And it broke down.  Three times.  They lost an entire day and a half of travel time and ended up stranded in South Carolina twice.

Mick finally arrived here yesterday afternoon, which was fantastic because he was able to pick up CAM from school.  She was expecting to have to go to after-care and was absolutely thrilled to see Mick and my dad there to pick her up at the regular time.

Oh I probably forgot to mention that.  I didn’t want to give away that Mick was gone, so I didn’t mention that my parents came into town Saturday – they came to watch WHM (and on Tuesday take him to preschool) while CAM and I went to work and school.  And, you know, to see their grandkids.  We’ve had a good week together!  (And we’ve eaten really well … WHM has a thing for the 99 Restaurant here in town and my parents were gracious enough to take us to eat there twice.  Then, when Mick came in yesterday, they took us all to Longhorn for dinner.  Not bad!)

Anyway …  now we have the daunting task of unloading the truck.  I haven’t seen inside it yet, but it’s a full-size moving truck (I'm pretty sure it's the biggest one you can rent before you hire an 18-wheeler), and it was packed by a moving company, so it’s filled to the brim in every nook and cranny with no real system except to maximize use of space.  So … I am quite dreading that project, especially because we are unloading into a house that’s already furnished, and into a storage unit that’s already largely full.  We’ve got our work cut out for us in the coming days until the truck has to be returned.

Oh yeah, and they’re tearing up the driveway on Saturday in order to re-pave it in a few weeks, so we won’t be able to unload Saturday until that’s done.

Thank goodness it’s at least a sunny day today.  Rain would be the icing on the cake!

--Jen

Catching Up, At Last!

I have not forgotten you, my lovelies!  I've just been struggling with how to balance all this work stuff with the rest of my life:  CAM at school, family, unpacking still, and errands and meetings and all the rest of running a household (granted, with Mick, but still coordinating it all), and my precious sleep.  I think this bug is still playing a role, too -- the other day, I went to bed at 8:00!!

Anyway -- pictures of our weekend adventure in Boothbay last weekend are finally here.

For the record, Boothbay is about an hour away, but the roads to get there are typically only one lane in each direction and they wind through a very scenic, very touristy, route.  So we were anticipating a long ride, and because it was "Kids' Day" at the Railway Village, we wanted to be there early and ahead of any crowds.  (Kids' Day = free admission for kids, and we all know the masses tend to come out for free stuff.)

Last summer, we arranged our trip North especially to be able to see "the big Thomas" at the Boothbay Railway Village.  This year we were in Maine for Thomas' visit, but we'd already seen him in Chattanooga barely two months earlier, and we'd only just gotten to Maine when Thomas was here.  Those two factors together meant we had to pass.  Fast-forward a month, and I happened to see a commercial for the "kids' day" at the railway village -- kids' day as in, kids are free!

We woke up super early on Saturday anticipating traffic to get there (it opened at 9:30).  We didn't tell the kids where we were going, other than "a meeting far away." They woke up, got dressed, and were so sweet all morning.  Such troopers on their sleep-in day!  On our way we made two time-consuming stops: one for a quick breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, and one at Target because we needed Pull-Ups and wipes. 

Despite those stops, we managed to get to Bootbay in just about an hour!  There was no traffic at all -- perhaps because it was so early (we were on the road by 8), or because it was overcast and dreary, but either way, we got to the Railway Village right around 9:40. 

While we were there, we rode the first train of the day ...

 went through a covered bridge that the kids called a "time tunnel" ...

waved to the conductor when we got off at our stop ...

... rode on a 1938 firetruck (in the rain; no pictures, sorry)

... toured the historic village

This is an old filling station from the 1920s, if I remember correctly.  It was moved to its current location in 1970.

... drove a few trains of our own ...

Love that runny nose.  Sorry, folks, I don't (yet) own Photoshop to spare you this view!

 ... and rode in a 1914 Model-T!  It's 98 years old!  That was super cool.

It rained on and off the entire time we were there, but we still managed to do everything the village had to offer, going in and out of all the buildings, watching an old internal combustion engine fire up, looking at the miniature model railway -- the whole shebang.  The kids loved it.

We loved it.

When we were done, I wanted to duck into the gift shop.  WHM, of course, was immediately sucked by the gravity of Thomas over to the Thomas the Tank Engine play table.  He had no desire to leave.  Finally, I said to him, "There is nothing on that table that is not also at our house.  It is time to go."  And the volunteer who was working in the shop said to me, "You have no idea how many times I hear that exact statement.  I have lost count!"

That made me smile.

WHM and Mommy matched on Saturday.  It was fun.  We might be in Maine, but it's still 'Bama game day!

 We had a great time, and the kids are already asking to go back. Best of all, because Thomas was NOT there, we were able to do so much more of the actual village part, and that was pretty darn cool.

Grandpa, are you reading this?  You need to come with us next time!

--Jen

Oh, Tervis.

I should explain a little for you readers who aren't quite aware of all the little details of my life (I mean, as compelling as it is, and all, I don't understand how that could be, but still...)  that for the short term, we're staying at my in-laws' place here in Maine, 'til jobs settle out and we figure out where, in fact, we want to be (whether in Maine -- which is huge, by the way -- or elsewhere).  My in-laws keep a nice supply of wine in the house (mostly red, but some white).  When we got here, Mick and I were both exhausted and it was hot, and for at least a week all we wanted to drink was a swimming pool full of sweet tea ice water.  Until one night last week when I really, really wanted a glass of wine.

But you see, I wasn't going to call my mother-in-law and ask, "Hey, can I open a bottle of wine?"  Because really.  She would be too nice to say no to me, but what if I opened a supercrazyexpensive bottle?  I couldn't put her on the spot like that.  And I was too cheap lazy confused about how to drive there to go to the grocery store to buy a bottle.  And Mick won't really drink wine with me typically, but especially if it's hot out.

So, I went wine-less.

And then my friend Kristin blogged about this. 

You can buy one!  $8!  Here's the link for your convenience -- or hit your local Bed Bath Beyond and use a coupon.  http://www.tervis.com/designs/Accessories/Shaker-top/62453ae3e6bb5dd1150f70832f89d543

It's a shaker top fora Tervis tumbler!

And the angels sang in heaven.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not a crazy Tervis addict, but in recent months I have become quite addicted to my Tervis tumblers -- provided that they have a lid on them and a straw.  (The straw must come from McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, or some other place that uses big straws.  Yes, I know you can buy Tervis straws, but I don't like to wash straws, and point of fact: I can't drink from a Tervis tumbler without spilling it all over me unless I have a straw.  New mouth.) 

Anyway, she said it would be life-changing, and she wasn't lying.

I found these boxes from our move stacked in a corner...

I labeled everything for our move, and if it was heavy or fragile, I made that clear.

 ... pulled out some tequila and mixer that were conveniently in the top box,

and made Mick and I each a margarita.

We watched Honey Boo Boo Child* -- I'm not sure if we were able to watch it because we were drinking or if Honey Boo Boo drove us to drink -- but either way, in one short evening we were out of tequila.** 

So we bought more.  And this time we're onto Strawberry Lime mixer.

It's 5:11 and I thought you deserved a photo of the tumblers and shaker top.  The things I do for this blog!

--Jen

*Thanks as well to Kristin for this.  It's a train wreck we can't peel away from no matter how hard we try!
**the bottle came from our liquor cabinet in Georgia and was not full when we got here. OKay?  We are not that bad!

Not the Healthiest Pinterest Dinner Ever

Every once in a while, we like to do "free apps" for dinner.  (If you've seen the movie Beautiful Girls, you might get this reference.  If not, first of all, you're missing out, and second of all, Beautiful Girls came out long before smart phones -- we're talking about appetizers.  Sorry for the confusion.)  

Anyway, we had no plans for dinner tonight and had bounced a few ideas around without any firm decision, and then I saw this recipe on Pinterest and sent Mick an email*:

"Not good for us, but good for our souls.  Dinner tonight?"

Then I went to Publix in a monsoon to get the smokies and bacon.  I risked my life for this meal.  (It was worth it.)

And then we ate.

My sister Courtney will be pleased to learn that we pretty much had our dream dinner tonight:  bacon** wrapped in bacon, drowned in butter and sugar, finished with Fudgsicles for dessert.

To explain:

Wrap lil smokies in bacon.  Each smokie takes 1/3 of a strip of bacon.

We like to dress up to cook around here. 

If you don't have time to freeze the bacon before you cut it in thirds, just use kitchen scissors to cut right through the package.  That's what I did, and it worked like a champ (and kept the bacon from sliding, or at least mostly).  You could also take the slab out, lay it on a cutting board, and cut it with a pizza cutter, but the scissors work just as well and you don't have to touch the bacon and get all slimy while you hold it in place for the pizza cutter. 

Lay them all in a baking pan.

Melt a stick of butter with one cup of brown sugar.

It's surprisingly viscous.  Kinda like melted caramel.   Sorry for the photo quality.  You know all those bloggers who say how hard it is to take a photo while you cook?  They're right.

Pour over your bacon-wrapped bacon smokies.

Sprinkle another cup of brown sugar over the top of everything.

Bake 20 minutes at 375, and then another 5 minutes at 400, or until the bacon crisps up.

They could have been crispier, but we weren't waiting any longer. 

Devour.

Eat Fudgsicles.

Feel sorry for your sister who moved to Florida and didn't get to partake of this sinfully delicious dinner.

--Jen

* Yes, I send my husband emails from my office to where he sits in the living room.  It's a whole ten steps!  TEN STEPS! And so much easier than saying, "Hey, Mick, would you come here for a sec please?"  Or, "Hey, Mick, how would you feel about bacon-wrapped-in bacon-and-then-drowned-in-butter-and-sugar for dinner?"  Nope.  Email.  And then I holler, "Hey, Mick!  Check your email!" 

**Okay, okay, so lil smokies aren't bacon.  Close enough.

Today

Today was one of those random days where you sleep in, set out for lunch around 11:30, and the next thing you know, it's 6:45 and you're still out and about running errands as you think of them. 

It was a good day!!  Mick was a trooper, too!

While we were at lunch, we realized WHM's Alabama hat is just crossing the threshold into being too small. (Where were we on this observation, oh, I don't know ... last week, when we were in TUSCALOOSA?!?!?!?)

Anyway.  There are college-sports stores at the Mall, and Mick decided to brave it as a family. The Mall.  THE MALL.  On a Saturday afternoon. Of a holiday weekend.  When it's 105 degrees out. (Yes, 105.  I exaggerate a lot, but this is fact.)  I think the heat was getting to him, but I was glad for the chance to scope out a new hat for the little guy.

I

have

never

seen

so

many

people

at

the 

mall 

EVER.

EVER. 

For goodness' sake, there was a line to get into Old Navy!*


(For the record, we didn't go in Old Navy.)**

We managed to walk the entirety of the mall both upstairs and downstairs and still missed one of the sports stores -- and we struck out on getting WHM his new hat.  (Not to worry.  This excursion was as much to kill time as it was to find a hat.  We had no real agenda today and it was hot out.  We'll have a new hat in no time, fear not, my fellow Tide fans.)

Anyway, I never really understood the phenomenon of why people flock to public places when it's so hot out, but as our 12-year-old a/c units are chugging along unable to keep up, and our power bill last month -- you know, back when it was a frigid 80 every day -- was astronomical, I kind-of got it.  I wouldn't do it, but I can at least now understand why people would leave their home a/c at 85 and hit the mall.  (Hey, we did it accidentally today, but we still did it. Of course, our thermostats are set at 72, but the house is still a less-than-delightful 80!)  That wasn't quite what our plan had been, but it was clearly what half of Georgia and about 37 tour buses' worth of people thought.  It was mayhem!  And the roads around the mall were just as bad. 

Catty side note: I have never seen people waiting around for the lounge chairs at the mall, but they were today.  In droves.  Ick.

It's hot out. 

And now that we were gone all day, all my daytime projects -- like, you know, packing!! -- get to get done tonight.  At least I can pack with a ponytail and an ice cold glass of wine.  Not a bad day at all!

 --Jen

*for K.C.
** also for K.C.

101 Things #7: Take the kids to Disney World -- DONE!

Mmmmmmmmm. 

Do you hear that?  That's the sweet sound of perfect contentment.  We did it!  We took the kids to Disney World Saturday morning (thank you to Courtney and her DW friends who got us in free!) and it was every bit as amazing as we'd hoped it would be.

But, like yesterday's post, let me back up here and give you the details.

Courtney used to work at Disney World, and has moved to Orlando to return to Disney.  She still has friends there, and if you don't already know this, friends can get you ParkHopper passes.  These are good friends to have.  HOWEVER, because of moving Courtney and Dom and the potential (which was realized) for truck troubles, we did not want to tell the kids we were going to take them to Disney World -- in case, for whatever of countless possible reasons, it didn't or couldn't happen.  There are a lot of things I don't mind sharing with the kids, and I am not exactly the world's biggest cynic, but I was NOT going to break their hearts on this one if it all fell apart.  And besides, the surprise would be fantastic.

But it didn't fall apart, we made it safely to Orlando, and despite being exhausted, Saturday morning we all got up and showered and headed over to Magic Kingdom.  (Thank goodness we went Saturday, too, and not Sunday, because Sunday was the start of hurricane Debby and it's been wretched weather every day since we left.)  Mick and the kids and I followed Courtney and Dom.  Although we passed more than a few signs with Mickey and the kids saw Cinderella's castle in the distance, we'd told them that we were following Aunt Courtney and Uncle Dom because we had to run some errands.  When they asked if we were going to Disney World, we just told them that Aunt Courtney used to work there and is going to work there again, and we just thought her errands must be close.  We didn't let on whatsoever, and the kids are still young enough to be so sweetly gullible!

So, we parked and we started walking to the trams, and if you've ever been to Disney World, you might be in the parking lot, but you're still not close to Magic Kingdom, and it didn't feel quite real yet.  Still, that's where we told the kids where we were and what we were doing, and although their reactions weren't quite YouTube freak-out-level, they were pretty excited.  Even so, we were in a big sea of a parking lot.  They didn't get it, and it was cool to see how that changed...

... we rode the tram to the ticket booths, and from the ticket booths, we rode "Shiny Dinah" (what WHM called the monorail -- Shiny Dinah is a much-loved character from Kindermusik book we have) over to the park entrance.

See for yourself:

image from disneyrevealed.com

image from amazon.com

And here, my friends, here is where the kids got it.  WE ARE AT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!

The view as the monorail arrived.

Main Street, USA right after we caught a dance.

Requisite family photo.  I promise I do not have a paunch, but I sure did pick a bad shirt!  Yikes.

 First thing we did?  Ride a carousel, of course!

 Next up?  Merida and the BRAVE exhibit!

Here is Merida telling CAM they must surely be sisters.  Her crazy feet and knees are a nervous habit.  CAM was truly beside herself.  A. Real. Princess. Said. We. Are. Sisters!!!!!!  I seriously had tears in my eyes.  It was every ounce of amazing, and if our day had ended there, that would have been fine for all of us.

I am pointing out crayons, not casting a spell.  I promise.

 OKay, so at this point,  WHM was downright grumpy.  (Look at the picture above.  That is NOT his happy face.)  He was exhausted and hadn't yet eaten, it was hot and muggy, and we'd only ridden a tram and a monorail and some carousel we could ride in the mall?  What kind of Disney World is this?!  We went straight to lunch -- and thankfully, that transformed him.  Mick and I had been afraid that WHM was going to be awful all day, but as it turned out, the kid needed a little food and air conditioning and he was back to happy.  Yep, he's my son alright!

Much happier, thank you!

We tried really hard to balance interests between CAM and WHM, so after Merida and lunch, we did the race cars. 

waiting our turn to drive the race cars

CAM rode with Aunt Courtney. 

WHM rode with me, and although he wasn't allowed to (or able to) drive, we pretended he was driving.  

Here's Mick, bringing up the rear of our little entourage:

We redheads also did the tea cups -- Mick and Courtney don't do spinny rides -- and then made our way across the park to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear.

Yes, Mom and Dad, I guided them to a blue-ish cup especially for your sake.  :)  (I really did!)

WHM wasn't too excited to actually talk to Buzz, despite being the driving force behind waiting in line for 30 minutes to see him!

Here's CAM showing us she can ride the roller coaster!

Space Mountain, here we come! 

We also rode other rides throughout the day, waited in lots of lines, caught the 3pm parade ...

Mommy!  Cinderella!

Who's next?!  Who's next?!

The lighting is terrible, but this is Ariel -- who waved specifically to CAM and showed her how they had the same hair!  Another magical moment!

 ... and then made our way back through the park with two exhausted kids and an exhausted Mick, just in time to catch a show at the castle and the afternoon fireworks.  I love these photos of everyone watching the show.

Yes, we were kind-of far away, but we could see and hear perfectly, believe it or not.

Just like Mommy.

 At this point it was late in the afternoon, WHM hadn't been able to ride too many rides (he was too short, and we thought it was selfish for him to constantly have to wait for us), and we decided it was probably time to head home.

On our way out, though, we stopped by the Theater.  We thought we were waiting in line to see a real show -- but it turned out we were waiting in line for a meet-and-greet with Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty!!

CAM was beside herself.  And guess what?  Cinderella told CAM that THEY could be sisters, too!  Sisters with TWO princesses?!  CAM talks about it every single day. 

I can't believe I am sisters with Cinderella!!!!!!

Hey, these princesses aren't my thing.  Can we go home now?

 
On the other side of the theater, we were able to wait in another line to see Mickey and Minnie.  It was fabulous!  Here's our family photo.

And finally, a few photos before we left the park.

Outside the theater.  Aunt Courtney and her favorite redheads.

The gang of us!  Dom stayed home to recover from his all-nighter. We missed you, Uncle Dom!

 If you are big Disney-goers, then all of this amazing-ness this is nothing new to you, and of course we all know the reputation Disney has for doing a top-notch job at everything and really making your experience magical, but I'll tell you what -- I expected the characters to be gracious, but never in a million years expected all the stray cast members who would walk by and just ask us how we were, how we were doing, told CAM she looked like Merida, or complimented the kids on their hair, or their buttons, or asked how their ice cream tasted, or ... well, any of the countless things they did to really engage with us at every turn.  It truly was magical, and CAM and WHM will remember this day forever.  It's one thing to go above and beyond; it's quite another to try to describe what they do at Disney World.

Thank you, Courtney, for jumping through hoops to make it happen!


--Jen

p.s.  we have literally hundreds more photos.  I have a few things to do to update this post, but I will spare you all the pain of posting every single pic.