Sheet Pan Dinner Fail ~ Well Sort of

 

I've made this twice now, and the second time remembered why the vegetables don't cook.  I even cooked the veggies for 20 minutes before adding the chicken.  The recipe is online, but seriously it has it's flaws.  I was in a hurry, so I just looked it up to check bake time on it.  

It's a balsamic/honey recipe, but it doesn't work, as the recipe states to coat the veggies with the mixture.  They will not cook with the vinegar (my duh moment).  Even if you cook the veggies 45 minutes.

So, to remember what not to do, I'm posting to remember on what to do.

Cook the chicken on a separate pan.  The mixture of the vinegar and honey makes the chicken so tender and delicious.  Cook the veggies on a different pan do do not coat in the vinegar sauce.

I personally, like rosemary on roasted potatoes, and a bit of parmesan or other herbs on the carrots.  

Sauce recipe states 1 cup balsamic vinegar with 1/3 cup honey, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and reduce by half.  I will cut the recipe in 1/2, maybe in 1/4 amount for just the chicken and season everything as I wish.  Bake time was 20 minutes for veggies at 400°, then add chicken, but next time the chicken will be on a different pan, but bake for 20-25 minutes or until you have checked internal temperature on the chicken.

We loved the chicken, just didn't like the almost raw carrots, and the potatoes were semi-soft.  Sometimes getting recipes online is great, and other times not so.  I think the seasoning for the chicken was garlic powder, basil, and thyme.  I'd have to double check, but that sounds about right.  You can season however you like.

The same goes for crochet patterns.  Sometimes it's great to get patterns free online, but sometimes not.  I will share on that later.

Whipped Feta Dip Trial #1 ~ Asparagus ~ Mexican Breakfast Skillet Tidbits

 

We really liked the flavor in this first recipe we tried, for Whipped Feta Dip.  The recipe stated to heat the hot honey with the red pepper flakes.  First, this recipe used sour cream, so it whipped up to a very light dip.  We prefer a thicker dip, so we will be "whipping" up (ha ha) a trial #2 soon with another recipe.  If you want this recipe, it is online with Greens and Chocolate - Whipped Feta with Honey Honey.

Results:  Very good flavor!  Just not thick enough for our liking.  We did top it with chives from our herb garden.

Tip:  Make the dip at the same time you heat the honey, so it is room temperature.  Otherwise the honey will harden on the dip.  Also, we felt this was way too much for 2 people, so consider cutting the recipe in half, unless you are entertaining.  

We are still getting asparagus from the garden.  We are thankful for that, but I still need to dig up the raspberry sprouts in that part of the garden.  It's just been to dry to dig them up.

The recipe for the Mexican Breakfast Skillet is online at The Kitchen Magpie.  I used garden tomatoes we froze last year, as it needed to be used.  I did not can stewed tomatoes, so I created my own, with the thawed tomatoes.  If you canned stewed it would be a perfect way to use them.  Very good!  I added some jalapenos.  It would be great for lunch or dinner too.  It reheated nicely.