zehrensinthekitchen

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Beef Bourguignon also known as beef burgundy is beef braised  in red wine with garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, and bacon.  This version is scrumptious yet easy enough for even the novice chef. https://www.smalltownwoman.com/beef-bourguignon/

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Is this how you roll?

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Honestly, the recipe for this lemon garlic chicken is amazing. Like is here: http://littlespicejar.com/one-skillet-chicken-with-lemon-garlic-cream-sauce/?+littlespicejar/RQzi+(Little+Spice+Jar)# We basically followed it completely with the only adjustment to being subbing white onion for the chives or red onion just because it’s what we had on hand. To pair, Jared made oven roasted red potatoes with onion, garlic, dijon mustard, s&p, and olive oil. I tend to sub onion powder for real onion because I hate cutting onion, but it proved it be worth it this time. We also did oven roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar and a bit of Dijon to cut the sweetness. 😋it was a delish Sunday dinner after a pretty crappy week.

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Cheesy Roasted Red Pepper One Pot Pasta

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Honey Glazed Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

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“Speedy” Extra Cinnamon-y Cinnamon Rolls

Photo from gimmedelicious.com * 

Firstly, “Speedy” is in quotations for a reason. I adapted this recipe from one I found named “Quick Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls” the link at the bottom will take you to the recipe. I do not find this a particularly quick or easy recipe; but that could very possibly be my novice skill level. I will tell you however, they are absolutely worth the trouble. 

My husband LOVES Cinnamon. He won’t drink coffee, but during the winter he will order a Cinnamon Dolce Latte from Starbucks and add literally double or triple the amount of Cinnamon flavor. It’s disgusting actually. So these Cinnamon Rolls are always made for him, and I add a TON of extra cinnamon. You absolutely do not have to.  Generally speaking Jared and I are a dynamic team in the Kitchen, but the one exception to the rule is when I bake. Baking for me is a very interesting experience. I find it to be one of the most satisfying things to do, but it is a completely chaotic time from start to finish. I always doubt that I’m doing things correctly and can guarantee I’ll have a mini meltdown halfway through thinking that all this work was for nothing and it will not work out. For that reason, when it all comes together at the end, and I was able to produce something magical, that other people enjoy, I then decide I enjoy baking.

In Zehren fashion let me detail the mishaps of this experience reminding you that even when it’s chaos in the kitchen, you can still have a fantastic result. Just learn to laugh at yourself. 

1. Ran by the grocery store after work to pick up some ingredients and forgot all the ingredients. Husband had to make another run to the store. 

2. Pre-heated the oven WAY to early TWICE. Once I even pre-heated it WAY too high so I had to wait 20 minutes to let it cool down enough to move to the step where you put the rolls in the oven to rise. 

3. Got the dough going in my mixer and waited for it to be “mixed until no longer sticky” this never happened. I have no idea what I did wrong, but it’s the second time this has happened. I just end up using a TON more flour and kneading it by hand. I may just have to start out this way next time. 

4. Refer back to #2 - I misunderstood the and let the still probably too sticky dough rest in the over set at @ 100* for 10 minutes. I’m not even sure how i misread the instructions so badly because it did not tell me to do this. 

5. STILL had to add more flour before rolling the dough flat and continued adding flour to avoid it sticking to the rolling pin. 

6. Almost ruined everything because i pressed to hard on the rolling pin and nearly knocked all the dough on the floor. 

7. I CHIPPED MY CUTE MARBLE ROLLING PIN. This is devastating. It still works, but i feel like it’s not good to use a chipped rolling pin. When my husband tried to get me to not use it, I replied “Once i used a wine bottle so this should be better than that right?”. 

The next few steps when pretty smoothly. I mixed the cinnamon sugar mix together, spread room temp butter all over the rolled out dough, and then rolled and sliced dough to put in a greased baking dish.  8. This is when I realized this is when I was supposed to put the rolls in the over @ 100*. My oven was already set @ 375. I turned it off and drank wine for 20 minutes. (Again refer back to #2)

After all these mishaps, I HAD PERFECT CINNAMON ROLLS. I mixed the powdered sugar icing together with a wisk and drizzled it over the top. I made extra of this too since and practically drowned the rolls with it.

I could not tell you how this happened, but it’s the second time attempting this recipe and it’s worked every time. Sharing the recipe I adapted below because if I could make it work with all those crazy mistakes, everyone should try this. Thank you Layla at gimmedelicious.com ! 

http://gimmedelicious.com/2016/05/25/quick-45-minute-cinnamon-rolls/ 

P.S. Layla and everyone -- unless your a pro or just way more organized than me. THIS TAKES WAY LONGER THAN 45 MINUTES; but they are some damn good cinnamon rolls. This recipe #ZehrenProof and #ZehrenApproved

Get in the kitchen, make some memories, and fill your bellies. 

Xoxo 

-Erin Zehren

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Apparently I can make fried chicken

Last night I bartered with my husband to go dancing with some friends. I told him I’d make fried chicken for dinner and he agreed to go to the smelly bar with me to two-step and watch idiots ride bulls. We live in Oklahoma. 

I’ve never made fried chicken. It was quite the journey, and to document and share, here’s what went down. 

I found a recipe on Pintrest for skillet fried chicken. I’m not about to tell you it looked simple, or that it was simple, because it was not. Starting out it included a marinade that you are supposed to do overnight or for 4 hours.

Marinade included: Cayenne pepper Garlic Salt Paprika Salt Pepper Buttermilk I had 1 hour, so I put it together and set it in the fridge for all of 30 minutes, while i attempted to put together the “breading”. “Breading” in is quotation, because I have no idea what was supposed to happen, but what I did was clearly not right.  Pintrest recipe breading included:  Flour Baking powder Paprika Cayenne pepper Garlic salt Salt & Pepper Buttermilk

You read it correctly that this recipe i tried to follow wanted me to add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients to make some sort of a clumpy, breadcrumb esc, coating for the chicken. Mine turned into a dough of some sort. I was going to have to start over, but I had lost all faith in this recipe. So I tossed the dough ball in the trash and went with my gut. 

From a culmination of reading recipes and watching cooking shows in my spare time, I gathered the ingredients I thought I would need fry this damn chicken. 

-Buttermilk & eggs beaten together to dip the chicken in before the breading The NEW breading: (that actually worked)  Flower Baking powder Cumin (I had actually run out of paprika so that was fun and I decided Cumin had a smoky flavor and might work)  Cayenne pepper Garlic salt Salt & Pepper Italian Breadcrumbs (NO BUTTERMILK IN THE BREADING!) 

At this point, I take my “marinated” chicken (if you can call it that after only 30 minutes) and dip it in the egg wash and then the breading to coat. I set the chicken aside to be ready to fry. 

I started heating the oil in a cast iron skillet on medium high heat. I used about 1 ½ cup of oil. You can test that it’s hot enough by dropping a tiny bit of the breading in and if it sizzles it’s ready to fry. 

Before I get started frying, I set up a drying rack with paper towels layered to absorb the excess oil when the chicken is done in the oil. 

From here, we just lie the chicken in the frying oil, making sure not to crowd the pan. I was able to fit 2-3 chicken tenders in the pan at once. The timing for each side of the chicken will vary on different cooktops I assume, but mine took about 3-4 minutes on each side. 

NOW YOU HAVE FREAKING FRIED CHICKEN. YOU GO GIRL! 

I made mashed potatoes and green beans to go along. I’d love to document how I made those too, but that’s for another day. 

My boy and I ate this delicious meal quickly and threw cowboy boots on to go dancing. It was the most stereotypical Okie night we have ever had.