Cooking again!

Finally getting back into the swing of things! I've been in my apartment for a little over a month now, and despite a few minor things, I love it!

I was very excited to get back to cooking and blogging about it! Tonight, I made Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce from www.eatingwell.com. I made some mashed potatoes to go with it, and they were the perfect side because they used some of the sauce too! This dish was delicious and I can't wait to make it again! And the best part is that it's only 244 calories per serving!



Mmm Dijon mustard! Be very excited.



Dredged in flour...



The sizzle when these hit the pan was a good sign of things to come!



I used green onions because they were cheaper than chives. I think they worked just as well!



Mmm shallots!



De-glazing the pan



I only used 2 chicken breasts rather than the 4 called for, because a. there were only two of us, b. I only had two, and c. they were very good sized!



Doesn't that look amazing?



Dinner all set up on my new (old) table!


I was surprised at how well the close-up turned out, considering that I'm still using my BlackBerry to take pictures.



I can't believe I ate the whole thing!



This recipe is Mike-approved!

Here's the recipe:

Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), trimmed of all fat
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 plus 1 tablespoon flour, divided
3 teaspoons EVOO, divided
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 14 oz can reduced sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 bunch)

1. Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Dredge chicken in 1/4 cup flour.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to plate, cover and keep warm.
3. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly to de-glaze pan, for 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon flour, stirring to coat. Add wine, broth and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
4. Return the chicken to pan, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth, turn chicken to coat in sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

Summer...

I'm ready for summer. Bring on the sunshine, the heat and the pool!

(500) Days of Summer

I have recently found a new favorite movie that is right up there with La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful) It is called (500) Days of Summer and stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's a little off-beat, indie to the core and absolutely adorable!



See, aren't they cute?



One of the things I like best about this movie is that, despite being a "romantic comedy" it is not at all a chick flick and has a way of presenting itself as true to life that I absolutely adore.



Bookstores are always a win for me. I love his "Love will tear us apart" t-shirt!



Tom: It's official. I'm in love with Summer.
[while Montage of Summer plays]
Tom: I love her smile. I love her hair. I love her knees. I love how she licks her lips before she talks. I love her heart-shaped birthmark on her neck. I love it when she sleeps.



This was at the Sundance Film Festival photobooth. Still adorable together!



See the chemistry??? See it???


Note: all images are from Photobucket or Google Images.

Je suis retourné!

I've been living in my new apartment for a week now, and I'm finally getting used to it. The first two nights were very quiet and lonely, but I'm learning to enjoy the solace! The only thing missing right now is that my oven is not working, so I can't bake! It's driving me nuts! Hopefully soon that will be remedied and I will have some yummy new recipes to post!
Until then, here are pics of my new apartment and the kitchen that will (hopefully) be all over this blog soon!



My apartment is an efficiency, so there's a main room, kitchen and bathroom.



Finishing touches!



The teeny tiny bathroom... not as tiny as the one in Paris, however!


My beautiful kitchen, my favorite part of this whole endeavor!


I'm hoping I can find a little bistro table to put back in the corner by the window. It will be a great place to drink my coffee in the morning and plot my world takeover! :)

Epic Library!

This is a picture of a library. That looks like books. Awesome books. I want to visit this library! Isn't this amazing?

Snickerdoodle Muffins!

I have to say, these muffins are one of my favorite new recipes! They turned out so moist and wonderful! They got good reviews from my guinea-pig colleagues!



It's always a struggle to fit all the ingredients into one shot and be able to see them all! Also, I'm sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I've been taking them on my Blackberry because my camera's batteries have died and I keep forgetting to replace them!



Butter and sugar creamed together!



The eggs awaiting their demise...



I love muffin batter. I really do.



A whisk is so much easier than sifting, for sure.



Mmm muffin batter!



This made so many muffins! I forgot to get a picture of them pre-baking as I was doing 23989 other things as well.



These were so good, and definitely even more fantastic warm!

Here's the recipe:

Snickerdoodle Muffins

2 sticks unsalted butter (I had 1 1/2 sticks, and used 1/2 a stick of salted. You couldn't tell, I swear.)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I had pre-ground. Also, the directions don't actually say when to put this in, so I just put it in with the other dry ingredients.)
1 1/4 cups sour cream (I used light, and they turned out fine)
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon mixed together for rolling (original recipe calls for 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon)

1. Cream butter and sugar until soft. Add vanilla. Add in eggs one at a time.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and cream of tartar (and nutmeg!)
3. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately to egg-butter mixture. Start and end with flour.
4. Scoop out balls of batter, roll in cinnamon-sugar. Place in muffin tins. You should get about 12-14 muffins, depending on the size of the tins. Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees.

Above all, enjoy!

Cinnamon Brownie Cupcakes (and an apology!)

I have to apologize for how long it's been! Somehow life got in the way of... life!

Anyway, I made one of the many recipes on my list last night, and although the aesthetics were... shall we say, lacking, the results were delicious nonetheless!

This recipe is actually from www.mccormick.com and was super easy! However do not, as I did, mistake the 4 teaspoons of cinnamon for 4 teaspoons of baking powder, or the cupcakes will end up like mine!

Anyway, here's the process!



For some reason, the array of ingredients is always so impressive to me! It looks so neat and organized... not at all how I actually make things!



Real ingredients wind up looking like brownie mix... but they taste so much better!



I adore chocolate chips. The recipe called for minis, but I didn't have any. I also use milk chocolate chips because they get all gooey and melty and they're sweet and delicious, as chocolate should be!



I also love this KitchenAid mixer. I will miss you when I move out!



As you can see, the cups were very full! This recipe definitely makes more than the 15 promised!



They look pretty ugly, partly because of the baking powder mishap (I removed most of the excess, but obviously not all) and partly because I overfilled the cups!



Post-frosting, they didn't look so scary!

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Brownie Cupcakes

1 cup flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (we were out, so I used canola oil)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Mix flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in medium bowl, set aside.
2. Mix sugar, applesauce, eggs and vanilla in large bowl. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 15 paper-lined muffin cups.
3. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool completely on wire rack. Frost as desired.

Yum!