Rating: 💋 💋 💋
Add a little bit of lemon to roasted asparagus and you've got yourself the perfect side dish. There is no better to time to prepare asparagus than at the peak of its season - April. We may not be able to go outside right now, but I figured the next best thing would be to bring the taste of spring into my kitchen. Just to spice things up, I decided to expand beyond the lemon asparagus, and I discovered a fantastic new recipe along the way. I paired it with a super easy new chicken recipe - my first time cooking meat since Lent began! - and the whole thing turned into a delicious meal.
Both these recipes were new to me and I was so excited about how easy they were to whip up together!
For my side I made roasted asparagus with toasted seeds and mustard vinaigrette:
Now, I confess, I was not able to find the sunflower seeds requested in this recipe, but I added extra pepitas to make up for it. Remember when I had them with that farro and discovered a pumpkin seed obsession? This recipe confirmed that pepitas are wonderful. Especially toasted - oh my gosh. Not only does it add a smoky depth to the flavor of the seeds, it makes your whole kitchen smell wonderful.
For the main, I cooked up a super easy Spice-Rubbed Chicken. I have to admit, I am not sure why the recipe hated on chicken breast so much. If you grill a chicken breast right, it is not bland at all. It is a delicious pairing with pasta, salad, or a veg and rice/pasta side. I also love putting olive spread or pesto on top of grilled chicken. Despite the article's dismissive tone, the recipe attached was a revelation. The spicy paprika and brown sugar was a perfect mix to cover the chicken in, and it cooked beautifully. Unfortunately, my grocery store only had chicken on the bone, which grosses me out, but we are all doing the best we can. I made sure to cook the chicken just a little bit longer than the recipe called for, to account for the density of the bone, and stripped the meat off the bone before eating. That way, I did not have to worry about accidentally getting a bite of nasty cartilage. Bleh!
Paired with a side of Spanish Rice, cooked in olive oil water, this made the perfect dinner. I proudly told Shannon that I made a "Mom Meal." It reminded me of dinners I used to eat when I lived with my parents, back before I moved to college and went on a culinary journey that started with campus dining and ended with the amazing discovery of one-dish meals that fed me for the week. This was taking it back to childhood. All the elements were there: meat, vegetable, carb.
It tasted so good! The tangy asparagus with the sweet pumpkin seeds proved to me why my mom loyally subscribes to Bon Appetit - their recipes are simply the best. Also, once cut off the bone, the chicken was perfect. In fact, cooking it on the bone made the chicken even juicier, so it was really a bonus. Coated in the spicy rub, it was a total flavor party. The brown sugar made sure the other spices did not overwhelm, but the chicken still had a fun little kick that I loved. My favorite part is, these recipes are so adaptable. Make them once, you can remember how to make them for a hundred future occasions. I especially love that you can get creative with the spices on the chicken. You can pretty much mix up any conglomeration of your favorite spices and herbs - as long as they're not totally contrary flavors - stir them up, and create a delicious entree out of it. I am very excited to experiment further.
Lord knows we have the time for it. Shannon and I have started playing Go Fish and the games get pretty raucous, I have to say. My Granmom taught me how to play poker back in preschool and, I confess, I am a card shark. I used to clean out the pot of the pretzels and m&ms we bet. My older brother and sister were outraged and Granmom, she just sat back and laughed at the scene. I am excited to return to my old glory. When we get tired of playing cards, I have a fresh stack of crosswords my Dad sent me that I am very excited to start on. I am trying to ration them as best I can. I recently did a spring cleaning of my social media, in a desperate attempt to freshen up my life. I thought it might be fun to create a new look with my social media presence. The only trouble is, Twitter won't let me see past 32,000 tweets, or something like that. If it happened before senior year of college, I cannot see it. This is kind of a bummer for me because I know I retweeted an adorable video of a bunny eating a banana, in slow motion, during junior year of college, specifically so I could scroll back and watch it whenever I wanted. Now I can't! Ugh!
I hope you are all finding interesting ways to keep occupied and are all doing well, in spite of these strange times we find ourselves in. Sending you all my best!
XX,
MK
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