Monday, January 28, 2013

Guest Post – Roasted Quarter Chicken

After a little blogging break I am back and so is One Hungry Dude! Here’s another great recipe for you to try – and it’s an easy one so perfect for when you’re feeling draggy on a Monday evening. Enjoy!

Today I’m sharing an herb butter recipe that, while simple, packs a great amount of flavour. I like this recipe for chicken but it can easily be adapted for other types of poultry including turkey. Chicken is simple to prepare which makes it a great option for a weeknight dinner when you don’t have an hour to stand in the kitchen.

Roasted Quarter Chicken

Ingredients
• Four Pieces of Quarter Chicken
• 8 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tsp Thyme
• 2 Tsp Basil
• Juice from 1/2 Lemon
• Salt and Pepper


Preheat the oven to 400 C. Mix the butter, olive oil, Worcestershire Sauce, thyme, basil and lemon together in a bowl. Use your hand to rub the butter mixture onto the chicken, until each piece is thoroughly coated. Place in a roasting pan or deep, oven safe dish. Cook for about 45 to 50 minutes, basting roughly every 20 minutes, until the skin becomes crispy and the chicken reaches doneness. Remove the chicken from the oven, let sit for about five minutes, then serve.

Friday, January 11, 2013

DIY Card Week – I Adore You

Today I’m sharing a card that I made for Nathan to give my mom on her birthday last month. Making cards from Nathan is fun because I can create them in a different “voice” than I do the ones from me and Chris. This card started with the “I Adore You” sticker (he really does love his Nana!) and then I picked other papers and elements to match.

I Adore You Card

I liked the contrast of the orange and blue and added in the heart pattern paper as I thought it went well with the sentiment of the card. To make it stand out a bit I outlined and coloured in one of the hearts. Had I just left off there I think this would have made a great Valentine’s Day or anniversary card but that wasn’t exactly the theme I had in mind so I added the cute little tag, attached with a brad. The giraffe is adorable and it automatically helped the card to feel more like it was from a child.

I Adore You Card_close

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got even more cards to share with you so stay tuned for a DIY Card Week 2!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

DIY Card Week – Birthday Clown

Well my grand plans for DIY Card Week have fallen a bit short as my son is sick with a cold and nasty cough. It might have to become Card Weeks and the posts will just continue next week ;). Just a quick post today to share a birthday card I made for my brother. He was turning 29 so you might not think a clown to be age appropriate at first but I thought juxtaposing the silly clown sentiment against the plainer, numbered background helped “age” the card a bit. And my brother is a fun guy anyway!

DIY Clown Around Card

I liked the black and white with all that colour. The centre is a Sassafras sticker and I love its vintage feel. Sassafras definitely makes my go to products for card making.

DIY Clown Around Card_close 

I hope to be back tomorrow with another card post so stay tuned!

Monday, January 7, 2013

DIY Card Week – Birthday With Love

As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve got a backlog of DIY cards that I haven’t had the chance to share with you yet so I’ve decided to declare this DIY Card Week and I’m going to post as many as my son’s naps allow ;)

The first post of the week is a birthday card I made for my aunt back in October. I kept it simple and feminine with lots of pink and layering.

DIY Card - With Love

I like the idea of using the same paper for a couple of layers like I’ve done here. It’s a good way to use up scraps and it also helps to balance your composition. I inked everything in pink and then piled it on. The two flower shapes are paper whimsies from Sassafras and the paper is from one of their lines as well. The “With Love” is a sticker and so is the cupcake. I thought the cupcake helped to make it feel more birthday instead of just a generic card and I liked that it had some dimension.

DIY Card - With Love-close up

I really am a convert when it comes to inking edges. I’ve never bothered before because those special ink pads are expensive, especially if you need them in multiple colours. But adding ink really does help define and separate your elements so I tried just using the edge of a marker and it works like a charm. Now I ink everything.

Be sure to check back all this week for more cards!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Guest Post – Beef Wellington

Happy Sunday! You probably won’t have time to make this recipe from One Hungry Dude for this week’s Sunday dinner but definitely consider it for next week! And check back with me this week for a series of DIY birthday cards!

I was looking for a special dish for New Year's Eve, and found it with Gordon Ramsay's take on Beef Wellington. My in-laws came over for the meal, and my father-in-law raved about it all night. I only made a few minor changes to the original recipe; no need to mess with a classic, I say. There was a bit of preparation and work put into the entree, but each individual step was surprisingly easy. I made a few rookie mistakes, but the results were delicious and impressive.

Beef Wellington
Ingredients
• 2 lbs Beef Fillet
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 250 g of Mushrooms
• 50 g Butter
• 1 large sprig fresh thyme
• 100 ml red wine
• 500 g puff pastry, thawed if frozen
• A little Flour , for dusting
• 2 Egg Yolks beaten with 1 Tsp water


Heat oven to 425 F. Sit the beef on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 minutes for medium-rare or 20 for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.


While the beef is cooling, chop the mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs.


Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on medium heat, with 1 large sprig fresh thyme, for about 10 minutes stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture, pour in the red wine and cook for about 10 minutes until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.
Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Spread half the duxelles over the beef, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over. Roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.


Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out a third of the 500 g of puff pastry to an 18 by 30 centimetre strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remainder of the puff pastry to about 28 by 36 cm. Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry. Beat the 2 egg yolks with the water and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides. Trim the joins to about a 4 cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours.


Heat oven to 400 F. Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp (20 to 25 minutes for medium-rare, 30 for medium). Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving in thick slices.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Most Popular Posts of 2012

Happy New Year! 2012 was a great year for me with the highlight being the birth of my son :) Tonight I want to take a look back and share my most viewed projects posts of the year.

This Clothespin Wreath was a hit on Pinterest and was my most viewed post of the year. It was really easy to do and I’m thinking about making another one soon with a Valentine’s Day theme.

Clothespin Wreath

People really got a kick out of my DIY Turkey Headbands this past Thanksgiving. Again, another really simple project but they turned out so cute!

DIY Turkey Headband

Another popular post was my Paper Flower Garland. I love this one because, if you’re a paper crafter, then you’ve already got everything you need to put these together.

Paper Flower Garland

This template for Monthly Baby Photos was a real hit both on the blog and with my friends in real life. I post Nathan’s monthly photo on Facebook each month for my friends. It’s a fun way to watch him grow and to commemorate his milestones.

Monthly Baby Pictures

And last but not least, you guys were digging my homemade birthday cards – these three in particular! Find the posts here, here and here.

Dream Big Birthday Card Birthday Cards DIY Birthday Card

I’m really glad that my cards have been popular as I’ve made a bunch more recently and will be sharing them soon. I’m still debating on whether to have a week devoted to cards or to do one  a week for a while. Anyone have a preference?

Here’s hoping 2013 is a fantastic year for all of us!