FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

I Know What Boys Like

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I know what boys like.  I know what guys want.  Roasted chicken.  Seriously, the boys loved this roasted chicken.

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My roommate and I invited a slew of friends over to celebrate the birthdays of Billy, Tyler Dean, and Molly.  And when we thought about what we’d make, a ‘Merican family dinner came to mind.  I made a roasted chicken (using Jenna’s recipe) and chocolate cake.  Kara made parmesan mashed red potatoes and soy glazed brussels sprouts.  Perhaps I have a different level of trust when it comes to Jenna’s recipes because she went to culinary school, but I’ve had such huge successes with her recipes that I have a hard time veering from her site for the basics.

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So back to the dinner.  Who knew roasted chicken would be such an easy crowd pleaser.  An easy, crispy, juicy, flavorful crowd pleaser.  One of the boys even said this was one of the best meals he’s had in Austin…  Austin!

It Really Is Perfect

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I stumbled upon this salad recipe a couple weeks ago and couldn’t wait to try it.  And considering that I use Jenna’s pizza dough recipe on the regular, I trusted that this recipe would also taste every bit as good as it looked.

I remember tasting tahini the first time I made hummus and thinking… Ew.  But each batch of homemade hummus was accompanied by another tahini tasting, followed by an increased liking of the used-to-be-strange-to-me taste.  Now I find myself sticking my spoon in the tahini jar a little more frequently than the peanut butter jar.  Weird?  Possibly.

And mixing tahini love with sriracha obsession?  Bomb.com

This salad was simple enough to throw together during a weekday lunch, but complex enough to leave you wanting for nothing.  I had never (knowingly) tasted white balsamic before and was so pleased with how well the vinegar flavored without overpowering the other awesomeness this plate had to offer.  I’ll be making this salad again and again and again.  That’s a promise!

Pizza Dough Now!

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I bought a gynormo jar of green olive salad from the olive lady at Sweetwater.  I knew within seconds of exchanging dollars for jar I’d be dolloping this spread all over homemade pizza as soon as possible.

I googled ‘pizza dough recipe’ in the grocery store, knowing I’d be able to find a familiar blog on the first page.  Sure enough 101 cookbooks appeared.  I confirmed I already had all of the necessary ingredients and moved on to the produce department to buy a boat load of roma tomatoes.

When I got home, I noticed that the 101 Cookbooks recipe required the dough to refrigerate overnight.  That was not a part of my plan!  I ran to my computer and without a second thought searched Eat Live Run.  Surely Jenna wouldn’t have me wait twenty four hours for pizza I wanted now!

I whipped up some FoodFash marinara while the dough was rising.

Then I rolled out the dough, opting for a “rustic” shape requiring little patience and even less skill.  I spread the marinara and olive salad over the dough and used some of the oil from the olive salad to coat the exposed dough/future crust.

The crust was PERFECT!!  It’s always a gamble whether or not a hearty portion of marinara will create soggy crust, but there was no sog in sight tonight.  As far as the rest of the pizza goes, it was exactly what I had imagined earlier in the day at checkout.