Beyond The Stoop - Life in Jersey City: chicken

Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2012

friendsgiving

thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all of the wonderful things in your life.

yet, most of us simply spend a day eating, drinking, watching THE parade, and possibly watching or playing some football.... all with family.

for us, and many 20-somethings-without-children (and i suppose some WITH the kiddos), thanksgiving is ALWAYS a time for travel, especially us lucky ducks who decided to move hundreds of miles away, meaning holidays include a brutal amount of hours in the car (thanks, ke$ha and t-swizzle for making those trips a tiny bit more tolerable)

all that is great, but... what about your friends?

normally, we all just leave each other in the dust as we travel "back home" to our families.

this year, however, was different! we were able to celebrate a "friendsgiving" last weekend with some great people in philly that we have had the opportunity to become friends with. mr p and i have recently made friends through many different avenues, so they aren't all in the same group. but it was still nice to get together and eat great food (and drink great drinks.. hellllllo Wells Banana Bread Beer )

our wonderful hosts, matt and jenna, made the turkey, and the rest of us brought the rest! by the time the list came to us, most of the standards were taken. sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean cassarole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, collard greens... all taken. mr p and i decided to go for some not-so-traditional treats and hoped they would be a hit. after much hesitation, mr p's chicken liver pate was a HUGE hit! so was the mushroom pate, maybe even more than the chicken liver pate.

(ewwww... chicken livers?? you guys are gross..)

don't knock it until you try it (i couldn't even get a picture of it before someone snagged a scoop!!). we mr p followed this recipe to a T (with the exception of salt and pepper to taste), and the mushroom (aka vegan) pate recipe will be coming shortly, stay tuned :)

in the meantime, check out the rest of the pictures from our first ever friendsgiving :)

perfect labels for those not-so-obvious appetizers. cheap frames with white paper. write on the glass with dry-erase markers!! use them over and over again.

the spread. it's a good thing i'm getting to at least 2 kickboxing classes this week, because i tried this ALL .... AND the collard greens. AND the stuffing. AND the pies.

we will be spending next year's thanksgiving with these two lovebirds on the beautiful island of barbados for their WEDDING!!

meet edie james. slightly spastic, slightly cuddly, 100% awesome.

our other lovebirds. aren't they cute?

what did i learn from this weekend?

1. 2 thanksgiving weekends are better than 1

2. i NEEED a kitty
(wait, i already knew that, playing with edie james just cemented that thought into my brain)

3. chicken liver pate isn't scary... it's DELICIOUS!!

4. wells banana bread beer is heaven. definitely tastes like banana bread, but isn't sweet. perfect beer combo :)

we have thanksgiving numero dos this weekend in ohio... can't wait to see our families!
what are your plans!?

cheers!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

weeknight surprise

mr p knows me too well. after going to target and home depot to get supplies for our halloween costumes, i came home to this:

that's right. a buffalo chicken sammich! we were both rushing to get some last minute things together for this weekend, but he came home first to grab a bite to eat and he made this for me before heading out :)

it's just a simple sammich, but it's very good.

whole wheat bread

rotisserie chicken

sharp cheddar

red leaf lettuce

Frank's

put it together and smash in a panini press!

or, just put together and toast on a hot pan with a weight on top of the sammich

(a brick covered in foil works just as well!!)

cheers to the weekend! i'll leave you with a song i heard on my way home from work today that i NEVER thought i would hear on the radio again...

R.Kelly Ignition Remix OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO by melaniblonde

it's festive. for the weekend. and it's stuck in my head now, so i'm passing on the fun music to reminisce the good 'old days when we used to listen to this in 2003 (yes! 2003! wikipedia says so. time is moving too fast)

have a GREAT weekend!!

...don't get too crazy for halloween ;)

(and stay tuned to see OUR costumes!! i'm super excited for them)

Monday, October 22, 2012

tacos and fried chicken

saturday after the hunt, friends from ohio came to visit. we welcomed them to jersey city by taking them to some of the best tacos around, at taqueria! double corn tortillas is the key to great tacos, and they serve double corn tortillas, indeed!

followed by zeppelin hall beer garden, followed by hollywood fried chicken (because really, people, sketchy ghetto fried chicken blows KFC outta the water).

it's a good thing we had an impromptu dance party until 2am after we got back to work off all those extra calories (or that's what i tell myself). my neighbor insured me she wasn't home, so we cranked up the tunes, turned down the lights, stood on the furniture, and shaked our groove thangs. i rocked the "strobe light" by spinning my mini maglight by the nylon handle, and charlotte showed some youtube DJ mixing skills i didn't even know were possible.

(i found out today how loud the music was when i wanted to turn on some quiet dinnertime music. sorry to the rest of the neighbors who had to endure our obnoxious dance party, because our windows were WIDE open...)

tonight's the last night with our friends from ohio, and we are completely exhausted.... visit deemed a success!

cheers!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

sammiches and sailboats

i know what you're probably thinking... "he got her a fancy new camera for their anniversary, but she didn't get him ANYthing??"

well, you are wrong, my friends! i got him a panini press! not just any panini press, though. THE panini press. the best one you can find at williams sonoma. when i asked about it in the store the ladies go "OH! we have them over HERE!" (not in the direction i saw THE one i wanted) "oh, sorry, i don't want that one that's on sale, i need the BETTER one"

i always tell mr p that some things we just don't need the best of the best right now, especially if we don't know how much we will use it or if we know exactly what we want. some things have little quirks about them that just get annoying (even super expensive things!) . a panini press is different though. we have a panini press WEIGHT from my mom that you would use with a skillet or a grill pan, but this summer has just been BRUTAL and turning on the stove is just a disaster in this tiny apartment, and the grill pan just radiates heat for EVER after you are finished with it. so...i splurged, and i got him the breville smart grill and griddle !

....and we've made 43728943729 sammiches already!

(first is just a rotisserie chicken sammich, second is a grilled chicken sammich with cream cheese, buffalo sauce, and alfalfa sprouts!!)

our original anniversary celebration plans were to use up a gilt city coupon for a sail in new york harbor with manhattan by sail on the shearwater , but the weather was not in our favor that friday night, so we rescheduled for last night!

see more after the jump!

green chicken tacos

these tacos were ah-mazing.

and totally not mexican at all. well.. except for the whole corn tortilla thing. and the salsa thing.

but the rest was totally a "whatever we had in the fridge" sort of thing that turned out super delicious! and pretty ;)

mr p has been on this kick where he cooks chicken breasts in the crock pot in chicken broth and lots of herbs, then when it's done in the morning, we have insta-pulled chicken! ...for sammiches, salads, and... lately... tacos!

we've been adding spinach, plain greek yogurt, chopped onions, pickled jalapenos, and salsa we bought from a local guy, JC Hot Sauce at the craft fair.

hope you enjoy as much as we do! we had it two nights in a row... so far ;)

Green Chicken Tacos

shredded/pulled chicken breast

yellow corn tortillas

plain greek yogurt ( chobani is best! it's super thick almost like sour cream)

fresh spinach, chopped

yellow onion, chopped

pickled jalapenos

green salsa ( JC Hot Sauce Jalapeno Onion is our green salsa of choice)

heat/toast tortillas under broiler until they begin to JUST turn brown, flip and repeat on the flip side (they shouldn't crack when you fold them into a taco, that's TOO crispy!). smear yogurt on one side of the tortilla, add some fresh spinach, chicken, onions, jalapenos, and top with green salsa. put on as much as you like of all things, but remember not to put TOO much or you won't be able to fold the taco without spilling!! mr p also likes to use 2 tortillas like they do at our favorite mexican place in philly!

mr p's tacos: double tortillas and some bright green el yucateco

my tacos: spinach on the bottom, 1 tortilla, and JC Hot Sauce

we know it's a little unorthodox to put yogurt and spinach on a TACO , but hey, we like to mix it up a bit and occasionally NOT use a recipe ;)

cheers!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

happy birthday, murica

baseball

beer

fireworks

(twice!)

mcd's

cookout

jello shots

(twice!)

all on a tuesday and wednesday?

burgers and beer before the game at molly blooms ... and go mets!

(from the VERY last row... best. seats. EVER!)

fireworks, piggie-back rides (mr p: "man, i feel like mario riding on yoshi!" (immediately nick stops, crouches, and sticks his tongue out "bloop bloop"...), stroll through grand central, and (ugh) jello shots.

festive empire state building, mr p and christina have a quick heart-to-heart, and mr p orders THREE mcgangbangs (well, one for me, two for him)

miracle grow in full form... so ready for those babies to turn red and juicy!

backyard oasis, complete with a blow-up pool and tiki torches, courtesy of my awesome upstairs neighbor!

and MMmmm... beer-marinated chicken skewers !

3 most adorable pups ever... also courtesy of my awesome upstairs neighbor

(of course, not cuter than my boy stewie , but he's 600 miles away)

winners for being most festive! these girls are roommates to the owner/baker of brookie cookie , and my friend jo brought this awesome dessert pizza! (brought the toppings separate, so the bext artist of the group could turn it into a patriotic pie :P)

after we stuffed ourselves with grilled food, lots of desserts, and jello shots (again, courtesy of that awesome girl above us), we ventured to hoboken to catch the BEST view of the macy's fireworks (yep! those ones you watched on TV!) , with the manhattan skyline lining the background.

happy birthday america!!

now it's back to work... while all the people with more than 2 weeks vacation turned their weekend into a 5-day weekend.

someday, jenn... someday.

how did you spend your holiday!? hopefully seeing at least SOME fireworks!!

cheers!

Monday, June 18, 2012

bbq and booze

if you have even just an OUNCE of backyard space when you live in the city, what's the best way to use it!?!?

bbq and booze, of course!!

why?

1. it's too shady to lay out.

2. it's too small to play any fun yard games (it's not even big enough for cornhole , people!!)

3. there's no grass, only concrete and mulch

4. most of our friends don't have outdoor space, so we share the wealth by bbq-ing and booze-ing

5. we LOVE to cook, we LOVE to entertain!!

smorgasburg glutton-fest.

SO much eating.

and eating.

and eating.

bbq brisket. don't remember the name of the place. just look for the big line. that'll be it.

Pages

Monday, November 19, 2012

friendsgiving

Thursday, October 25, 2012

weeknight surprise

Monday, October 22, 2012

tacos and fried chicken

Saturday, August 25, 2012

sammiches and sailboats

Thursday, July 19, 2012

green chicken tacos

Thursday, July 5, 2012

happy birthday, murica

Monday, June 18, 2012

bbq and booze

Sunday, June 17, 2012

smorgasburg glutton-fest.