A Pair of "Jacks": 2010: A Year of Adventure’s in the Kitchen

I made two new recipes this week. And keeping with my resolution, I'm posting them here:

Recipe#1:
My mom got me The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook for Christmas, and I shortly after read it cover to cover (does that count as one of my 25 books this year??…I guess that was still in 2009). Anyways- I wanted something for dessert and happened upon this lovely gem- Mocha Brownies!!

This recipe gets 1,000 stars! Delicious, moist, cake-like brownies, covered in a thick layer of sweet, chocolate & coffee flavored icing- yum, yum, yum! I'll tell you I made them the 2^nd and there are none left!

Recipe (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks):
Brownies:

Four 1-once squares unsweetened chocolate
½ pound (2 sticks) of butter
2 cups Sugar
4 large eggs
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

"Mae's Mocha Icing":

½ pound butter
5 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ to ¾ cup brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray 8x8 sq. baking pan with cooking spray.

Brownies:
Melt chocolate in microwave (in 30 sec increments), set aside to cool. Cream butter and sugar, beat in the eggs. With the mixer on low speed, add melted chocolate and vanilla extract. Add flour until just combined, pour batter into pan. Bake 40-45 minutes until center is no longer soft. (At this point the house will begin to smell downright heavenly!!!!)

Set brownies aside to cool completely before icing. In my opinion, it is just torture to have to wait that long!

Icing:
Combine butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla. Mix until slightly combined and then add ½ cup coffee. Continue to mix until icing is desired consistency; add more coffee to thin if necessary. Icing should be light and fluffy. Ice cooled brownies with a thick layer and refrigerate until firm (again I had to wait…it was very difficult, but totally worth it). Then enjoy your hard work.

Recipe #2:
Lemon-Roasted Chicken (yum, yum!!) from http://www.marthastewart.com/
Ingredients:

1 whole chicken cut into pieces (Martha recommends buying it cut to save time, then cut breasts in half at home)
6 cloves of garlic, smashed (I think next time I'll add more…heehee)
2 lemons quartered
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 Tbsp. Olive oil
Coarse Salt
Ground Black Pepper

This recipe is super simple too- great weeknight meal, and made plenty of leftovers.
Preheat oven to 450 F. On a large rimmed baking sheet combine chicken, lemons, garlic, olive oil, & oregano, toss to coat chicken, season with salt and pepper. Roast chicken, skin side up, for 25-30 minutes until golden brown, and cooked through. I didn't get a good after picture…oops. Martha's recipe included dilled orzo and an arugala salad, but I didn't have either of those things, so we had this chicken with couscous and a mixed greens & citrus salad, and it was fabulous!