Herb and orange baked chicken

"Christmas is coming"

Sometimes you just want to bake some drumsticks for a crowd. This is definitely a crowd-pleaser kind of chicken that both adults and kids would love. It’s fairly simple to make and does not take up much time. Quick and easy is a good combination for the holiday dinners where there are so many other things to prepare. Salty, Sweet, sticky and full of flavor, just the way a drumstick should be.

Rosemary smoked beef short ribs

"Beefy"

This is my first time making bbq short ribs. Normally I make them as a stew with red wine, carrots and the works. I decided I wanted to do a bit of smoking, and rosemary is one of the best herbs to do this. I am lucky enough to have a friend who has the most fragrant strain of rosemary growing like weeds at his apartment complex. I was going to get some from my mother’s plant, but her plant is no where near as fragrant as my friends. He gave me basically a lifetime supply of rosemary and I put it to good use.

Sticky Pineapple rosemary drumsticks

My Dinner

I really had no idea what to do for this month of recipes. However I cook dinner 3 to 4 even 5 times a week most weeks. So I figure I will blog whatever I cook for dinner. So this month I am posting whatever I cook for dinner so you can cook it for your dinner too. Now let me just warn you, I am the easy dinner queen. I want full flavor with little effort.

Rosemary garlic sweet potato rice

"Potato Patata" 

This month it’s all about potatoes. Potatoes are one of the most versatile starches out there.  You can do any and everything with them. Have you ever mixed it with rice? This is seriously a carbohydrates overload but it’s a really good recipe.

Mushroom Omelette

The best way to eat an egg!

There could not be an omelette month without this recipe. If there was an omlette kingdom the mushroom omelette would most definitely rule over the vegetarian court. The ever so versatile mushroom has a subtle flavor (depending on the variety) is meaty, filling and healthy to boot. I may have rendered the nutritional value null and void with a creamy parmesan filled mushroom sauce, but it’s worth every calorie.

Chocolate chip, Orange and Rosemary Corn Muffin

 "Feast of Saint Valentine"

Can you believe the first month of 2015 is over? Chocolate month flew by so fast. For the last recipe I decided to make a very flavorful  muffin, full of herb and citrus flavors. I find this muffin has something for everyone, a little grown up but kids would still enjoy it with the orange flavor and the chocolate chips.

Rosemary garlic cream biscuits

"Christmas is coming"

One thing I have always said every dinner table needs, is yummy bread. It can be a hot crossed bun, some rolls or tender flakey biscuits. For this post I opted to go with the biscuits but not just any biscuits. The easiest biscuits you will ever make in your life. None other than cream biscuits, literally three ingredients needed for the most tender, flakey and soft puffs of love. Now add some garlic and rosemary to the mix and you have got a serious addiction on your hands.

Honey rosemary sausage

Luncahbles

Taking lunch to work is all good and well. But there comes a time when you are in no mood to prepare a lunch from the night before. If you are in need for something quick and simple to prepare, and by quick I mean 10 minutes max then this might be the lunch for you.

Smashed potato

"Christmas is coming"

I love instagram, you get so many ideas from this lovely app full of pictures posted by absolute strangers who you pretty much have accepted into your social media family. You see, I was all set to make my garlic roasted Irish potatoes, the same potatoes I make every Christmas and most sit down dinners. Its quick, easy and yummy. Then in scrolling the feeds I see hassleback potatoes and quickly the menu changed. This greedy girl was all set to make her own version of hasslebacks (another item on my cooking bucket list yet to be crossed off) Then in scrolling the feeds (again) I see smashed potatoes, here is where the internal struggle began, I’ve seen smashed potatoes done a few times on food network, but it never really grabbed me, and the hassleback thing I have been wanting to do for so long.  

Pumpkin gnocchi with white wine cream cheese sauce

  

 "Pumpkin Everythang”

I’ve always wanted to make gnocchi. In my early days of cooking, when I was mostly a spectator (that is watching food network) I decided to try these little Italian dumplings, however I purchased the prepackaged ones in the pasta section and needless to say it was not good. It deterred me from ever trying or attempting to make gnocchi again. That was years ago, and I know better now. Its always better to make your own than to do store bought if you can. So one fateful jet blue flight from Kingston to JFK about two months ago, I was watching food network on my little mini screen. I saw a really quick video with Mario Batali and Mark Bittman making gnocchi and as usual the light bulb went off.