Rao's Lemon Chicken

The other day, Carson and I were watching the Food Network and we caught Frank Pellegrino show Ina Garten how to make his famous Lemon Chicken and then the following happened...

Carson only had to look over at me, and his eyes asked, "you are going to the market, aren't you, to go get all of the ingredients to make this, aren't you?"  I looked back at him, and my eyes replied, "yes, yes I am going to do that, just as soon as you get the kids away from me so I can go shop in peace."  And then my son said, out loud, "why are you guys staring at each other like that."  He doesn't understand Eye Talking, I guess.  Alas, I did go later that day and picked up a chicken (and had the butcher butterfly it and remove the spine), some fresh lemons and parsley.  I had the rest of the ingredients at home, that's how simple this dish is.

As Ina says in the episode, if you're going to call something 'Lemon Chicken' than it better taste like lemon, and THIS tastes like lemon.  The chicken is juicy, the skin is crisp, and the lemon flavor is off the charts.  For the recipe, click here.

CPK Chopped Salad

When I moved to California after college, my roommates and I went to California Pizza Kitchen, a lot.  We were creatures of habit, and went to the same places (that we could afford) over, and over.  If I wasn't with my roommates, I was picking up food for all of the writers at the TV show Frasier, where I worked as a production assistant.  It was always fun stumbling out of there with 8 giant bag cutting off the circulation in my arms.  

I really don't miss the pizza (especially now that I live near some of the greatest pizza in the world), but there was a salad that we would ALWAYS get.  It was a basic chopped, with uniform-sized strips of crunchy lettuce, sweet basil, salty salami, creamy mozzarella, buttery garbanzo beans and THE most perfect, tangy dressing.  My friend (and old roommate) found a copycat recipe so I made it at home and it was a PERFECT match to the real thing.  I will make it again, and again (because I am still a creature of habit).    

Recipe HERE.

Green Breakfast Sandwich

Most mornings, I run around the house with a yogurt in my hand, occasionally taking bites as I nag on my children to put their clothes on, eat a bite, put their clothes on, eat a bite, go pee, brush their teeth, PUT THEIR CLOTHES ON, etc.  However, their are those magical mornings when I actually wake up before them, and they actually sleep past 7am, and I have the school lunches made and their clothes, snacks, vitamins and backpacks ready to go.  On those mornings, which I will refer to as unicorn mornings, I make myself something fun for breakfast!  

This particular sandwich is loosely based on one at this restaurant (I order NOTHING else), and it took me no time to throw it together.  I toasted an English Muffin, spread on a layer of cream cheese, added some arugula and then avocado, fried up an egg and topped the whole thing with store-bought pesto.  Salt, pepper, lemon juice, drizzle of olive oil... it was ridiculous.  I love my unicorn mornings!  

Coffee cup was made by a friend based on THIS Instagram page :)

Fajitas and Queso on TODAY

Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early and made chicken fajitas and queso dip on the Today Show.  The recipes were based on some dishes from one of my favorite childhood restaurants, Chili's!  Today I woke up bright and early to write this blog post.  Ok that's a lie, my daughters woke me up bright and early... at 1:30 and 4:30 and 5:00 and 5:30.  You know how it goes, right?  PLEASE TELL ME YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES.  Sometimes people ask me, is it hard to wake up so early for the show and I say no, no, no, no, no.  I get to drink my coffee in peace.  Someone blow dries my hair, and I get to wear eyeliner that doesn't make me look like a cat (I've never been able to do my own makeup properly).  It's the mornings when I wake up, milk bottle, vitamins, breakfast, pack lunch, pack snack, get clothes, stop fighting, brush your teeth, wipe the nutella off your face, brush your hair WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE BUS... those are the hard mornings.  Sooooo that said, I better go!      

You can find the recipes and video from yesterday here.  

Stay tuned for some delicious pasta later today!