Happy Monday everyone!
If you're not personally a fan of Mondays, have no fear, it's almost Tuesday. I don't mind Monday this week because it puts me one day closer to the start of my long weekend in New Hampshire with a bunch of my college girlfriends. I'm looking forward to hikes, wine, bonfires and fall weather. In typical fashion, fall weather made a sneaky and likely fleeting appearance here in Richmond. Sneaky because this past weekend's weather was pretty unexpected following four 90+ degree days during the work week, and fleeting because, well, it's Richmond and that's just how it goes. Let's be clear - if you live in Richmond you know two things:
It was as if the heat and humidity heard it was pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin beer season and got out of town. I'm fine with that, but since it's still technically summer and still pretty warm outside, I haven't been able to bring myself to have any pumpkin beers as of yet. There will be plenty of time for that and I'm still trying to squeeze in enjoying some of my favorite summer-seasonal beverages, namely Oberon. If you're not familiar with Oberon, it's a summer beer from Bell's brewery in Michigan. Each year, it's so highly anticipated that the release day in late March is known as Oberon Day.
So at this point, you're probably wondering why I'm writing about beer when I'm supposed to be writing about what I made for dinner. Well, I've seen a lot of recipes for beer can chicken and recently made beer marinated, oven-baked chicken, so I knew it was a good combination. I figured this could be pretty easily adapted to a crock-pot meal, thus what we made for dinner on Sunday.
Interestingly enough, we also just happened to have beer and chicken for lunch on Sunday, but in much different form. Since the Ravens game wasn't on tv here (apparently CBS thought the San Diego/Philadelphia game would generate more interest...and they were probably right), we decided to venture out to our nearest Buffalo Wild Wings so we could see both the Ravens and Redskins games. When at BWW, you have to get wings, so get wings we did. I always favor boneless, even though I realize they're really just like chicken nuggets in wing sauce, but delicious nonetheless. And of course they had beer specials, so we enjoyed a beverage with our wings. But my favorite part of the day? We were able to sit outside on the patio while watching the games. Football and eating outside are easily two of my favorite things. Add in gorgeous weather and I'm a happy camper.
Anyway, as I mentioned, our dinner was our second beer and chicken meal of the day, but was different enough that it didn't really matter. Here's how it went:
Ingredients:
Super simple and delicious - just the way I like it. To go with the chicken, we made this cheddar cheese grits casserole. I accidentally picked up mild cheddar cheese at the store instead of sharp, but luckily we had some sharp cheddar in the fridge already, so what we used ended up being about half and half. I also tried to make it a little healthier by using skim milk and reduced fat cheese.
I had never made grits before, but it turned out really well and it definitely helped that it was nice and cheesy. In fact, I don't think I've ever even eaten grits without cheese. I looove cheese. It ranks right up there with bread and chocolate as one of my three favorite food groups (yes, those are food groups). One of my favorite things about this meal was that the husband enjoyed it without ANY hot sauce, so you know that means it was good on its own!
If you're not personally a fan of Mondays, have no fear, it's almost Tuesday. I don't mind Monday this week because it puts me one day closer to the start of my long weekend in New Hampshire with a bunch of my college girlfriends. I'm looking forward to hikes, wine, bonfires and fall weather. In typical fashion, fall weather made a sneaky and likely fleeting appearance here in Richmond. Sneaky because this past weekend's weather was pretty unexpected following four 90+ degree days during the work week, and fleeting because, well, it's Richmond and that's just how it goes. Let's be clear - if you live in Richmond you know two things:
- Richmonders love to talk about the wacky weather (though after years of the same thing, is it really that wacky?)
- "Fall weather" means the high temperature was a delightful 72 degrees
It was as if the heat and humidity heard it was pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin beer season and got out of town. I'm fine with that, but since it's still technically summer and still pretty warm outside, I haven't been able to bring myself to have any pumpkin beers as of yet. There will be plenty of time for that and I'm still trying to squeeze in enjoying some of my favorite summer-seasonal beverages, namely Oberon. If you're not familiar with Oberon, it's a summer beer from Bell's brewery in Michigan. Each year, it's so highly anticipated that the release day in late March is known as Oberon Day.So at this point, you're probably wondering why I'm writing about beer when I'm supposed to be writing about what I made for dinner. Well, I've seen a lot of recipes for beer can chicken and recently made beer marinated, oven-baked chicken, so I knew it was a good combination. I figured this could be pretty easily adapted to a crock-pot meal, thus what we made for dinner on Sunday.
Interestingly enough, we also just happened to have beer and chicken for lunch on Sunday, but in much different form. Since the Ravens game wasn't on tv here (apparently CBS thought the San Diego/Philadelphia game would generate more interest...and they were probably right), we decided to venture out to our nearest Buffalo Wild Wings so we could see both the Ravens and Redskins games. When at BWW, you have to get wings, so get wings we did. I always favor boneless, even though I realize they're really just like chicken nuggets in wing sauce, but delicious nonetheless. And of course they had beer specials, so we enjoyed a beverage with our wings. But my favorite part of the day? We were able to sit outside on the patio while watching the games. Football and eating outside are easily two of my favorite things. Add in gorgeous weather and I'm a happy camper.
Anyway, as I mentioned, our dinner was our second beer and chicken meal of the day, but was different enough that it didn't really matter. Here's how it went:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 bottle or can of your favorite beer (we used Oberon for its slight orangey-wheat flavor)
- McCormick's Montreal Chicken seasoning (yep, we cheated and used this instead of adding a bunch of different spices separately)
- Dried thyme
- 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary (we used about 5 and it was a bit overpowering, so I'd recommend just a couple for flavor)
- Place the chicken in the crock-pot. With the spices we used, there's no need to season separately with salt & pepper.
- Generously sprinkle on Montreal Chicken and thyme. (As you can see, I was a bit heavy handed with the spices.)
- Pour the beer around the chicken - try to avoid pouring it directly on the chicken so the spices don't come off. It helps to pour it slowly so it doesn't get too foamy.
- Place fresh rosemary on top of the chicken.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
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| Mmm...cheese |
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| Check out all those spices |
I had never made grits before, but it turned out really well and it definitely helped that it was nice and cheesy. In fact, I don't think I've ever even eaten grits without cheese. I looove cheese. It ranks right up there with bread and chocolate as one of my three favorite food groups (yes, those are food groups). One of my favorite things about this meal was that the husband enjoyed it without ANY hot sauce, so you know that means it was good on its own!
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