Last Night's Dinner: Chicken Wings, Rice, Tomato Salad

I had a splurge of creativity last night. I'm not big of making up my own dishes most of the time, but I think I'm getting more and more into it! I had some left over chicken wings in the freezer, and I recently read a post on how to roast chicken with crispy skin - the secret is to dry the skin as much as you can and then oil it up before cooking. I dried it with a bunch of paper towels, but some even suggest drying it with a hair dryer on cool setting. My skin turned out pretty crispy with paper towels alone so that's good enough for me! But don't expect the same result as fried chicken or anything... the skin is still super thin, but it is definitely crispy and delish!

BTW, I apologize about the pictures being so yellow in this and the last post - super warm kitchen lighting and a phone camera combo. I'll try to use a different camera from now on.

Here are the results:

[Crispy garlic chicken wings]+[Tomato salad with goat cheese dressing]
[Roasted carrots and beets with brown sugar]+[Onion rice]


Onion Rice
Serves 6

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Last Night's Dinner: Salmon, Leeks, Mashed Potatoes, PBM Squares

Sometimes I spend all day on a Sunday dinner. Other times, I got like an hour. I like making dinners from scratch - I don't remember the last time I made a frozen meal. Actually I do, and it was a microwavable lunch in junior high. I don't like tasting freezer in my food. I don't like reading a 50-line ingredient list 90% of which I don't understand.

You only get one body, you might as well take a care of it, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way perfect in taking care of my body. I make my mistakes, overindulge once in a while, get super lazy a lot.. a... lot. I really try though! When I have an opportunity to try and do something good for my body, I take it. Like trying to include veggies in my meals. Trying not to eat fast food. Trying not to eat canned/preserved foods. Chocolate bars. Oh man, it's amazing what some people eat on a regular basis. Anyways...

So fresh food it is. Just my personal choices, not trying to preach to anyone.

Last night my lovely brought me some salmon, white wine, chicken broth, fresh thyme. I had some enormous leeks from Spud - an organic/local food delivery service. I get a veggie delivery every 2 weeks, extremely convenient!

Here's the result

[Salmon with Onions, Tomatoes and Tarragon]+[Mashed Potatoes]
[Leeks Braised with Wine and Garlic]+[Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares]

Everything turned out pretty damn good! The potates and peanut butter marshmallow squares were left over from a few days before.

Salmon with Onions, Tomatoes and Tarragon
Serves 4

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We all have to start somewhere...

Hello everybody! Welcome to my first blog ever. Cooking has become my passion within the past year, and there's nothing like sharing your passion with the world. There's gonna be some pictures, some quick stories, some ingredients... All the good stuff that comes with making food that my dear boyfriend ends up having to eat.

Check out the other tabs for more random stuff!

I enjoy drinking wine and trying to find the best recipes to create my boyfriend's and my favorite foods from scratch. Join me on my quest!

Happy Holidays!
Ksenia