Smitten with Friends and Food: Night 4

I will admit that I rarely am able to make chicken that I feel confident about eating myself and especially serving to others. I usually end up smoking out my whole apartment and then pick at chicken, wishing I had made something else.

Not this time! 

I successfully made beautiful and delicious chicken and the only embarrassing part is how many times I burned myself on the searing pan. You think after grabbing the handle once I would learn. 

This harvest roast chicken from the SK cookbook called for a unique pairing of tastes with red grapes and Kalamata olives, but it was just another reason why I wanted to make this recipe. With the chicken I made dijon-braised brussel sprouts and an interesting concoction of rice and roasted butternut squash based off of this Smitten Kitchen recipe to make a complete meal that I was proud of.

Harvest Roast Chicken with Grapes, Olives, and Rosemary: by the Smitten Kitchen

serves 4

What You Need

3 pounds chicken parts (I used thighs) with skin and bones

Table salt

Ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup seedless grapes

1 cup pitted Kalamata olives

2 small shallots, thinly sliced (I skipped these)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon freshly chopped rosemary

What You Do

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with a rack in the middle.

2. Pat chicken dry and generously season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it simmers.

4. Brown the chicken, skin side down first, turning them over once, about 5 minutes per batch.

5. With the skin side up in the pan, surround the pieces with grapes, olives, and shallots.

6. Roast the chicken in the oven until it has just cooked through and the juices run clear, about 20 minutes.

7. Transfer the chicken, olives, grapes, and shallots to a platter.

8. Add wine and chicken broth to the pan juices in the skillet. 

9. Bring liquid to a boil, scraping down any brown bits, until it has reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes.

10. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with rosemary.

The dinner was topped off with french bread, which was great for soaking up the juices on my plate, wine, fun conversation, and a little impromptu karaoke. 

Pizza  night! Off to make the dough!

Everything Good is Gold

It all started with a simple purchase of gold, metallic spray paint.

Bottle in hand, I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. 

Before I knew it I was convincing myself that everything in my apartment should be gold.

Luckily I came to my senses right before I started painting the refrigerator. 

I actually purchased my spray paint at Wal-Mart but anywhere you can
find non-toxic, gold (or silver) paint is great!

My first project was to jazz up an inexpensive set of stemless wine glasses from Ross (only $4.99). I don't think they look that inexpensive at all anymore.

I followed the directions from my favorite DIY site and it was a relatively easy process that resulted in new glasses that I cannot wait to use!

A few tips!

*Wear plastic gloves if you want to protect your hands or nails, because mine are now covered in gold paint.

*Always spray outside in a well ventilated area!

*Wait until the paint is completely dry before removing the tape!

*Do not put these glasses in the dishwasher. Only hand wash!

Once I had finished the glasses I just walked around my apartment picking up other things that I could paint. You can't go wrong with gold paint-- it makes everything look better!

I bought this hand at Ross as well and used the gold spray to paint the bottom half and cover up the hideous pattern that was there previously. Now I have a chic, two-toned, gold jewelry holder.

These fun, patterned books are actually old Readers Digest that I bought for a dollar each at The Rink in Bethany. Using painters tape and a plastic bag I covered everything but the bind to create a 

display-worthy literary collection. 

Be glad that I didn't paint the cookies I was making gold too!

They will be on the blog tomorrow

Things I Love

For all those who have been reading this blog for awhile, I am sure you are thinking "wait, it's Monday, and Kathleen is doing a "Things I Love" blogpost"... 

Trust me, I am thinking the exact same thing. I haven't done a post like this in a long time and I have missed them. So the possibility of "Things I Love Thursdays" returning is a high chance, but today you get "Things I Love Monday".

Who doesn't love to start their Monday morning off with some lovely things?

VinoEco Candle Company

I love these candles made from recycled wine bottles. I especially love the ones with the Cupcake wine label because it makes for a really cute candle.

The Etsy shop has many different scents but I think Sangria White Peach sounds unbeatable.

Caloric Cuvee

This witty wine glass just makes me laugh. Honestly could be helpful and would make for a great gift for a girlfriend or your favorite blogger who loves it.

And lastly, I love this DIY for cutting wine bottles. It is on my weekly list of projects and hopefully it happens, when it does I will be sharing the results!

Anyone else see a trend here?

Dark Chocolate and Red Wine Cookies

I have talked about dynamic duos before, I mentioned Tom Hanks with Meg Ryan and Essie nail polish and J. Crew, but I discovered the best duo this past weekend. 

Dark chocolate and red wine. I swooned for hours.

I was looking through my files for a sweet treat to take to a bachelorette party in which I was asked to bring either dessert or an alcoholic beverage. I thought to myself, why not combine the two for a real crowd pleaser. 

From the moment I found these cookies, on Keep It Simple Foods, I was intrigued and I knew that a  party with my best friends was the perfect event to try them out. My sister helped and as the smell of the dough filled my little kitchen we agreed that we had found a great cookie recipe. We could not keep our hands out of the mixing bowl as we were placing the spoonfuls on the cookie sheets and waiting for these gems to come out the the oven was torture. The cookies proved to be equally as wonderful as the dough and I knew my friends would agree later that night. Even after a massive mexican feast we all found a way to eat at least one cookie; they were just that wonderful.

In typical fashion I forgot to take a picture of the final product... just imagine a dark cookie with the most perfect gooey center you could ever think of. 

MAKE THESE