Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Oregano

We love chicken recipes and when it's nice and lemony, all the better. I tried this dish out on my daughter along with her favorite veg...beets and the hasselback apples I posted a while back. A lovely dinner. Not so great a photo...oh well. We were hungry and I didn't take much care with the camera. Happens to me a lot.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Oregano
From Bon Appétit

Ingredients:
1 lemon
4 large or 8 small skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
3 sprigs oregano
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Method:
Preheat oven to 425°. 
Very thinly slice half of lemon; discard any seeds. Cut remaining lemon half into 2 wedges. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
Coat a large room-temperature skillet with 1 teaspoon oil. Add chicken, skin side down. Place skillet over medium heat and cook, letting skin render and brown, and pouring off excess fat to maintain a thin coating in pan, until chicken is cooked halfway through, about 10 minutes.
Scatter half of lemon slices over chicken and half on bottom of skillet (the slices on top of the chicken will soften; those in the skillet will caramelize). Transfer skillet to oven, leaving chicken skin side down. Roast until chicken is cooked through, skin is crisp, and lemon slices on bottom of skillet are caramelized, 6-8 minutes.
Transfer chicken pieces, skin side up, and caramelized lemon slices from bottom of skillet to a warm platter. (Leave softened lemon slices in the skillet.) Return skillet to medium heat. Add oregano sprigs, shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Remove skillet from heat. Add wine; cook over medium heat until reduced by half, 1-2 minutes. Add broth; cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Squeeze 1 lemon wedge over and season sauce with salt, pepper, and juice from remaining lemon wedge, if desired. Drizzle with 2 teaspoons oil. Return chicken to skillet, skin side up, to rewarm. Serve topped with caramelized lemon slices.

Dark Chocolate Chunk and Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Yet another Pinterest find! So easy to make, your kids can do it in no time at all. And they're chock full of everything good...oatmeal, chocolate and dried cherries. Something delish in every bite. They'd be a great take along for any picnic or casual party; I don't classify them as an elegant tea cookie, but one everyone will love.

Dark Chocolate Chunk and Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
From Bake or Break

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter 
1 cup light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed 
2 large eggs 
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
3 cups old-fashioned oats 
1 cup dried cherries 
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Beat butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture just until combined. Do not overmix. Stir in oats, cherries, and chocolate. 

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lined baking sheets. I made slightly bigger cookies and used an ice cream scoop. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (mine took a little longer), or until bottom edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Easter Coconut Flour Classic Vanilla Cake

Happy Easter!

When I was first experimenting with coconut oil, I came across several recipes using coconut flour as an ingredient. I had seen it in Whole Foods and brought home a package, but still hadn't made anything with it. In the back of my mind, I was thinking I'd make my daughter's favorite coconut bread with it.  After much reading, I made two other recipes first to test it out. One was a big success, one was not. Coconut flour is tricky. It absorbs way more liquid than regular flour so you can't substitute it for APF in your recipes without changing the basic recipe. Coconut flour soaks up A LOT of moisture. You will read the ingredient list below and think it's incorrect. It isn't.

For some reason, the original recipe made only a single layer, so I just cut the single layer in half, making half a layer cake. You can certainly double the recipe, using two cake pans to make a full cake. This cake worked out well and I frosted it with my mother's old 7-minute frosting recipe. That frosting recipe can be found in Joy of Cooking and just about everywhere online. The original recipe had a Swiss meringue icing. You can follow the link if you'd prefer to make that.

Easter Coconut Flour Classic Vanilla Cake 
From  Healy Real Food Vegetarian and the Indulge Cookbook

Ingredients: 
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
3 tablespoon raw honey
1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of an 8×1.5 inch round cake pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Whip until stiff peaks form.

In a bowl, cream together honey and coconut oil. Mix in the egg yolks. Add to the mixture, coconut flour, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined. Fold the batter into the egg whites starting with a little bit at a time. Combine until the batter is completely mixed.

Pour the mixture into the cake pan. Bake for 20 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Let the cake cool before icing and serving.

Lemon Limoncello Biscotti

Biscotti are one of my favorite things..........just barely sweet with tea or savory to serve with wine. I ran across this simple recipe and because anything lemon makes my mouth water I simply had to try them. If you really want them a little sweeter, you could dip one end of them in a limoncello glaze, but these were light and perfect with a cup of tea just as they were. Elegant simplicity.

Lemon Limoncello Biscotti
From Liv Life

Ingredients:

2  3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup sugar 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1  1/2 tablespoon grated lemon rind 

2 tablespoons limoncello (or lemon juice)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

3 large eggs 

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. 

Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Combine rind, limoncello, and eggs in another bowl and add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). Knead it with your fingers a few times until it comes together.

Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness. 

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove the rolls from baking sheet; cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch) slices. Place the slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325°; bake for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 10 minutes (the cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet, and cool completely on wire rack.