 June 17th is National Eat Your Vegetables Day. I feel like I'm on a life long quest to incorporate more plants and vegetables to my diet. I really like vegetables - I just don't always make time to prepare them. Most days, I'm more likely to grab a granola bar instead of taking the time to chop vegetables for a salad at lunchtime. And when I'm in a time crunch for dinner, the vegetables are the first thing to get cut from the menu in an effort to keep the meal on schedule. Vegetables definitely don't get placed at the priority level that they deserve in this house. So, in honor of National Eat Your Vegetables Day - I'm sharing one of my favorite vegetable recipes. Grilling vegetables coaxes out every bit of deep, roasted, sweetness from any vegetable. The grill adds a nice char and smoky flavor to each deliciously addicting bite. Can you tell that I'm a big fan?  I may not grill vegetables often so when I do - I make A LOT - enough for at least a few meals. I arrange my grilled veggies on a big platter and we eat them as a main course or as a side dish with chicken, mea or fish. Then we eat them as sandwiches with a little ricotta cheese and avocado. And if you've never tried Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad with grilled vegetables - you're missing out. 😋 My grill isn't huge so I have to grill my vegetables in batches. It's definately a time commitment but totally worth it in the end. And if I haven't done enough to convince you that grilled veggies need to be the highlight of your summer menus - this marinade is also great on chicken. 😅  Summer Grilled Vegetables ½ cup chopped fresh parsley ⅓ cup chopped fresh mint leaves 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup, divided 1 teaspoon salt, divided ¾ teaspoon pepper, divided 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and quartered lengthwise 2 zucchini, halved lengthwise 2 summer squash, halved lengthwise 1 red onion, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices 1 medium eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
 Place peppers, zucchini, squash, onion and eggplant on the oiled rack; grill, covered, until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape, 3 to 5 minutes per side.  Transfer the grilled vegetables to a serving platter. Serve with the parsley-mint sauce.  I chose an eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, red onion and a red bell pepper to grill but you can sue almost any vegetable that floats your boat. 🧅🫑🍆 But if corn, asparagus, brussels sprouts or cauliflower are more your speed - give those a try.
Ciao!
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 A massive clean out of the Davis family basement is underway! This is fair warning to our two wonderful children who may or may not still be using our basement as a storage unit. 🤣 The motivation behind this whole get-rid-of-everything movement was not simply to clean out - but rather to make space for a new home office for my hard working husband. You heard that right - as of this week - we're BOTH working from home - the same home.😬 We thought it might be best if we were on separate floors while we get used to our new work situations. 😂 We've had an unfinished basement for 18 years and we're really good at using it to store a whole lot of unnecessary junk.😂 Now that we're talking about finishing our basement and adding an office to the space - we've been forced to consolidate all of our random "stuff " and fit it into just one area of the basement. You wouldn't believe what I found when we went through some of our boxes during our clean out. I had been saving my old recorder from elementary school!! 🤣 Did I really think that I was going to get it out again one day and play Moonlight River on the recorder after dinner? 🎶 🤦🏻♀️ A good basement clean out every once in a while, is good. I will admit that after a week of hard work - our basement has never looked so tidy. I'm not sure that we would have tackled that project had we not been motivated by a new office space but - whatever it takes. 🤣 In the end - I'm happy that it's finished and we can move forward with our plans to get the basement finished and a proper office built.  Here's the thing about cleaning out one room (or level) of your house though - somehow it highlights all of the flaws and disorganization in the other rooms of your house. 🤷🏻♀️ The spice cabinet in my kitchen didn't bother me until I spent a week in extreme home organization mode. All of a sudden, I have an overwhelming need to see a cabinet full of alphabetized spices with forward facing labels. 😅 Piggybacking off of the organizational momentum - I tackled my spice cabinet with gusto this week too. I emptied everything, checked all the expiration dates and then started to organize. If the thought of organizing your spice cabinet doesn't light you up - not to worry - I've got a solution. Make my Blackened Chicken recipe.😅 By the time you're finished putting together the dry rub - most of your spice containers will already be out of your cabinet and you can be systematic about how they go back in. 😂 There's no question that there are a lot of different spices that go into this seasoning mix but the flavors are truly extraordinary. You can pan sear your chicken, bake it in the oven or cook it on the grill - your choice.  Blackened Chicken 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika 1 Tablespoon paprika 1 Tablespoon kosher salt 2 teaspoon garlic powder 2 teaspoons onion powder 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 6 chicken thighs 1 teaspoon oil 3 Tablespoons butter
 Unlike most of the "blackened" seasoning mixes that I buy at the grocery store, I get to control the amount of HEAT when I make my own rub. My family prefers it on the mild side so I go lighter on the cayenne than recommended but it's still got a lot of big, bold flavor. Enjoy!
Ciao!  We're empty nesters again and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. 🙃 What I do know, is that it's been an adjustment to motivate myself to cook for just two people again. I'm struggling with dedicating over an hour of my time, during an already busy day, to preparing a meal for two people. I'm not sure why it's so much easier to justify cooking for three than it is for two - but for some reason, empty nesting has me wanting to eat more sandwiches for dinner than ever before. 🥪😅  Downsizing meals takes practice. Brunch for 50 or a dessert buffet for 150 - no problem, but cooking dinner for 2 has thrown me all out of whack. 🤣 I've found myself going back to some of my old standbys - like roasted chicken. Roasting a whole chicken has always been one of my go-to meals. With relatively little prep time, I can pop a chicken into the oven (or on the grill) and come back to a fully cooked bird in just a couple of hours. There's no question that I love a good mimosa. They're bright and citrusy and bursting with freshness. That is exactly how I would describe this Mimosa Roasted Chicken. It's super flavorful, juicy and delicious. And one whole chicken can feed a family of 4 or 5 OR it can feed 2 for dinner and supple enough leftovers for all the chicken salad, chicken sandwiches and chicken soup that we can eat in a week. 😅  Mimosa Roasted Chicken 2 navel oranges 6-7 pound roasting chicken 3/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup butter, softened 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 Tablespoon dried basil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram 2 cups champagne 2 onions, cut into wedges 1/2 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup orange juice Gravy chicken broth 1 Tablespoon butter 2 Tablespoons flour
  Serve gravy with chicken.
Maybe the reason that I have so much trouble cooking for two people is that it isn't consistent. Most days I cook for 2, but some days it's 4 or 5 and at least once a week it's even more. On mimosa chicken day, I was cooking for 9 - so I made 2 chickens. 😂 Hope you enjoy! Ciao! 
The opening of a new eatery in our little hometown is all the reason that we need to plan a date night where the goal is to sample as much of the menu as possible. 😅 And that is exactly what we did last night at The Brown Fig.
Yummy drinks. Unique menu. Delicious food. Live music. A warm and welcoming atmosphere. And a line of customers out the door, eager to experience this new restaurant. And they haven't even had their official grand opening yet!!  You can imagine that by the time we ate all of that amazing food, we came home from our date, absolutely stuffed. (You didn't really think I'd pass up the chance to make that pun on a stuffed date blog post, did you?) 🤣 Stuffed dates are my new favorite hors d'oeuvre. They're simple but elegant. Casual but still fancy enough to serve at formal affairs. The mascarpone and cream cheese filling is the perfect filling for the hollow fruit. The drizzle of maple syrup adds just the right amount of sweetness and I love the crunchy pecans sprinkled over the top.  Stuffed Dates 24 Medjool Dates 8 ounces Mascarpone cheese 4 ounces cream cheese 1 Tablespoon maple syrup 2 Tablespoons chopped pecans
 Place under broiler until toasted.  The first time that I made these, I served the stuffed dates on a charcuterie-style appetizer platter. The dates paired perfectly with the assortment of cheeses and sliced meats, marinated anti-pasta skewers, grapes, breadsticks and crackers.  I used a combination of mascarpone and cream cheeses. If you prefer one cheese over the other - you could use all cream or all mascarpone cheese for your filling. I like the idea of changing up the toppings on my stuffed dates too. Fresh herbs, bacon, hazelnuts or even a drizzle of honey all sound like good options for these bite sized appetizers.
Ciao!  Charleston, South Carolina - you never disappoint. 48 hours wasn't nearly enough time for us to investigate, explore and eat all that this amazing city has to offer.
Did I mention the incredible food in Charleston?
Thanks to a referral from a friend, we dined at the Oyster House for our first meal in Charleston. There were four of us and the whole menu looked amazing but in the end, we decided to share a couple of steam buckets. This was the night that my daughter-in-law learned that our family has no boundaries when it comes to sharing food. 🤣 Have you ever tried to share a single ear of corn with someone? Armed with only a butter knife, I was unsuccessful at my attempts to saw it in half and cutting the kernels off the cob proved to be disastrous. 🌽 🤣 Needless to say, the mutilated ear of corn that was left after my struggle to separate it into two equal portions, was less than appetizing. 😅 #sheateitanyway  I shared a steam bucket of crab legs, sausage, potatoes and of course, corn. And despite my corn on the cob debacle, it was delicious. I'm a sucker for fresh seafood but I also love all the things that accompanies a great seafood meal. 🥔 I hope that I'm not the only person who finds salty, roasted potatoes - utterly irresistible. 😅 Now that I have an oven with an air fryer function - I've been making a lot more crispy potatoes at home. Sometimes to compliment our seafood dinner and sometimes - just because I really love salty, crispy potatoes. 😂  Crispy Roasted Potatoes 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, sliced 1/2" thick 5 Tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper
 Scrape potatoes and flip. Bake another 10-20 minutes on second side.  Season with salt and pepper.  Charleston is amazing but without a doubt, the best part of the whole weekend was attending the wedding of a man that we've known since he was an uninhibited 7 year old. I'm still not sure how in the world he grew up so fast but it was wonderful to see him marry the love of his life.
 Congratulations to the happy couple and thank you for including us in your beautiful wedding celebration.
Ciao! |
