I was tagged by my sister Hope for this Sunshine Tag, where I'm supposed to list seven random facts about myself. Well, here goes!
1. I recently changed my blog name from Joy's Country Kitchen to Joy's Country Kitchen and Diary (the URL link is still the same).
2. I love to bake artisan bread recipes out of The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoe Francois, and I recently discovered the joys of using a pizza stone to get yummier and crustier bread.
3. I am endeavoring to learn French by using a free program called DuoLingo. It's such a beautiful language, and I look forward to being able to speak it fluently.
4. I LOVE the ITV show Downton Abbey!!! I love all period drama, and the story of an aristocratic family in Yorkshire in the early 1900's to the 1920's is truly fascinating. The show follows the lives of the Crawleys that live at Downton Abbey, and the stories of the servants downstairs. The final season is currently showing, which is kind of sad, but at the same time I'm happy because everyone is finally getting a happy ending.
5. I don't really have many "heroes" or "role models" in my life, but two people that I admire very much are Audrey Hepburn (see my Tribute to Audrey Hepburn), and Monty Roberts, a very unique and extremely talented horseman.
6. My whole life, I've never cared much for any popular singers, but recently I've really started to like Josh Groban. He has such a wonderful voice and I really like the fact that his songs are always clean. I don't care for all of them, but he doesn't sing anything inappropriate. I have a few of his CDs, and a few of my favorite songs by him are In Her Eyes, You Are Loved (Don't Give Up), and Brave.
7. Ok, last fact! I love horses, and I am currently working at a therapeutic riding center called Magical Meadows. I've worked there about a year now, and once February hits the classes will start again. I've learned a lot from Magical Meadows, and I can't wait to return there.
I think I'm supposed to tag a friend, so I'm tagging my friend Keturah!
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Spicy Chicken Wraps
For the past few months, I've been making chicken wraps. They're one of my favorite things to both make and eat, but every time I made them I felt like I should write down the recipe for my blog. No time was ever convenient, however, and I kept putting off the task. Finally I decided that I was going to write down the recipe and photograph the process, and here we are.
These chicken wraps are very simple and pretty healthy; you can use whole wheat flour for the wraps, and you are cooking the lean white chicken breast in extra virgin olive oil. You can top the wrap with yummy spinach or some cheese, or just eat it plain. However you decide to devour this meal, I promise you one thing: you will be very full and satisfied when you are finished!
Yields 2-3 servings
Ingredients:
Wraps:
1 C. white or whole wheat flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 C. and 1 or 2 t. water
Chicken Filling:
1 large chicken breast, thawed
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 t. chili pepper
Dash of black cracked pepper
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
An additional T. extra virgin olive oil for cooking chicken
Cut your chicken into uniform sized pieces, between half an inch and an inch. Put the chicken in a small bowl and combine the spices and extra virgin olive oil, mixing them gently until the chicken is evenly coated in oil and spices. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator for the time being.
As your chicken marinates, mix together your flour, salt, and water to flour a slightly stiff ball of dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour. If you find that your dough isn't collecting into a ball, add water a teaspoon at a time until you have reached the desired consistency.
Once you have your ball of dough, set a frying pan on the stovetop to heat at medium-high. As you wait for the pan to heat, cut your ball into three equal balls. Lightly flour the countertop and roll out the balls into flat, round wraps, about seven inches or so across. Once your wraps are done, place one in your heated pan and wait about a minute. Once your dough starts to bubble up a little, that side is finished. Flip the dough and repeat for the second side. Be careful not to leave the wraps on for too long, or they will burn and taste a little bitter. Repeat for the next two wraps, placing the finished wraps into a closed plastic bag. The trapped heat will help the wraps stay soft and not get hard and crack when bent.
Clean out your frying pan, set it back on medium-high heat, and wait until a sprinkle of water makes your pan sizzle. Pour in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and once the oil hits the heat it should become more fluid very fast. When this happens, place your marinated meat into the pan carefully, so that you don't splash hot oil on yourself. Using a wooden spatula (that's what I used, but feel free to use something else) move the chicken around frequently so it doesn't burn.
The chicken will cook quite fast, and in a few minutes you can remove a piece of meat from the pan and cut into the middle. If there is any pink whatsoever, the chicken isn't finished. Put the chicken back into the pan and keep checking every minute or so until the meat is white all the way through. At this point, remove the chicken from the stovetop and put the pan on a hot pad on your counter.
I like to angle the pan a little so all the oil flows to one side of the pan, letting the chicken drain a little as they sit on the higher side of the pan. Take out your wraps and fill two or three of them with the chicken, and feel free to add spinach, cheese, or anything else that strikes your fancy. I've only ever eaten these hot, but I'm sure they'd taste great cold as well. Enjoy!
These chicken wraps are very simple and pretty healthy; you can use whole wheat flour for the wraps, and you are cooking the lean white chicken breast in extra virgin olive oil. You can top the wrap with yummy spinach or some cheese, or just eat it plain. However you decide to devour this meal, I promise you one thing: you will be very full and satisfied when you are finished!
Cut your chicken into uniform sized pieces, between half an inch and an inch. Put the chicken in a small bowl and combine the spices and extra virgin olive oil, mixing them gently until the chicken is evenly coated in oil and spices. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator for the time being.
As your chicken marinates, mix together your flour, salt, and water to flour a slightly stiff ball of dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour. If you find that your dough isn't collecting into a ball, add water a teaspoon at a time until you have reached the desired consistency.
Once you have your ball of dough, set a frying pan on the stovetop to heat at medium-high. As you wait for the pan to heat, cut your ball into three equal balls. Lightly flour the countertop and roll out the balls into flat, round wraps, about seven inches or so across.
Once your wraps are done, place one in your heated pan and wait about a minute. Once your dough starts to bubble up a little, that side is finished. Flip the dough and repeat for the second side. Be careful not to leave the wraps on for too long, or they will burn and taste a little bitter.
Repeat for the next two wraps, placing the finished wraps into a closed plastic bag. The trapped heat will help the wraps stay soft and not get hard and crack when bent.
Clean out your frying pan, set it back on medium-high heat, and wait until a sprinkle of water makes your pan sizzle. Pour in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and once the oil hits the heat it should become more fluid very fast. When this happens, place your marinated meat into the pan carefully, so that you don't splash hot oil on yourself. Using a wooden spatula (that's what I used, but feel free to use something else) move the chicken around frequently so it doesn't burn. The chicken will cook quite fast, and in a few minutes you can remove a piece of meat from the pan and cut into the middle. If there is any pink whatsoever, the chicken isn't finished. Put the chicken back into the pan and keep checking every minute or so until the meat is white all the way through. At this point, remove the chicken from the stovetop and put the pan on a hot pad on your counter.
I like to angle the pan a little so all the oil flows to one side of the pan, letting the chicken drain a little as they sit on the higher side of the pan.
Ingredients:
Wraps:
1 C. white or whole wheat flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 C. and 1 or 2 t. water
Chicken Filling:
1 large chicken breast, thawed
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 t. chili pepper
Dash of black cracked pepper
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
An additional T. extra virgin olive oil for cooking chicken
Cut your chicken into uniform sized pieces, between half an inch and an inch. Put the chicken in a small bowl and combine the spices and extra virgin olive oil, mixing them gently until the chicken is evenly coated in oil and spices. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator for the time being.
As your chicken marinates, mix together your flour, salt, and water to flour a slightly stiff ball of dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour. If you find that your dough isn't collecting into a ball, add water a teaspoon at a time until you have reached the desired consistency.
Once you have your ball of dough, set a frying pan on the stovetop to heat at medium-high. As you wait for the pan to heat, cut your ball into three equal balls. Lightly flour the countertop and roll out the balls into flat, round wraps, about seven inches or so across. Once your wraps are done, place one in your heated pan and wait about a minute. Once your dough starts to bubble up a little, that side is finished. Flip the dough and repeat for the second side. Be careful not to leave the wraps on for too long, or they will burn and taste a little bitter. Repeat for the next two wraps, placing the finished wraps into a closed plastic bag. The trapped heat will help the wraps stay soft and not get hard and crack when bent.
Clean out your frying pan, set it back on medium-high heat, and wait until a sprinkle of water makes your pan sizzle. Pour in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and once the oil hits the heat it should become more fluid very fast. When this happens, place your marinated meat into the pan carefully, so that you don't splash hot oil on yourself. Using a wooden spatula (that's what I used, but feel free to use something else) move the chicken around frequently so it doesn't burn.
The chicken will cook quite fast, and in a few minutes you can remove a piece of meat from the pan and cut into the middle. If there is any pink whatsoever, the chicken isn't finished. Put the chicken back into the pan and keep checking every minute or so until the meat is white all the way through. At this point, remove the chicken from the stovetop and put the pan on a hot pad on your counter.
I like to angle the pan a little so all the oil flows to one side of the pan, letting the chicken drain a little as they sit on the higher side of the pan. Take out your wraps and fill two or three of them with the chicken, and feel free to add spinach, cheese, or anything else that strikes your fancy. I've only ever eaten these hot, but I'm sure they'd taste great cold as well. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn
Twenty-three years ago today, on January 20th, 1993, Audrey Hepburn died from cancer. She was only sixty-three years old.
My interest in Audrey Hepburn began early this summer after I happened, quite by chance, to watch a few movies, back to back, that starred Audrey. I'd always known about her; I mean, who HASN'T seen, or at least HEARD of, My Fair Lady? So while I knew about Audrey, I'd never had much interest in her life, but after seeing her moving and wonderful portrayals in Roman Holiday, Charade, and How To Steal A Million, I was hooked!
What first drew me to Hepburn was her beauty and her exquisite fashion sense! She dressed so elegantly, smiled so radiantly, and was loved by everybody. This superficial interest in looks and clothes drew me to start reading little bits, pieces, and facts about Audrey, and then I read Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Soul, by Sean Hepburn Ferrer (the oldest of her two sons) and Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris, as well as a few small books filled with glossy pictures and little facts about her life.
Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4th, 1929, and she originally wanted to be a ballet dancer, but WWII stopped that dream. She lived through the brutal Dutch Nazi occupation, and when the war was over she came to England. Audrey soon discovered that being a ballet dancer was not in the cards for her, but instead of sinking into depression she found work at the theater, and from there slipped into British films and finally made her way to Hollywood, where she starred in Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck as her first American movie.
After Roman Holiday, Audrey was made. She married twice in her life, having a son by each marriage, but although she was in huge demand she only made a few more than twenty movies in her lifetime, putting her career second to being a wife and mother. Audrey didn't care for Hollywood, and spent as much time as she could at her house and gardens in Switzerland.
After her second divorce, she entered into a relationship with another man and never married. Audrey spent the last years of her life as the special ambassador for UNICEF, visiting Africa, Vietnam, South America, and many other places. She made a total of eight trips to Third World countries, drawing enormous attention and support of the starving people there. It was after her last visit, this one to the country of Somalia, Audrey became ill, and died soon afterwards of appendiceal cancer.
I love Audrey Hepburn because of amount of importance she placed on being a good wife and mother; reading of the sacrifices she made for her family inspire me when I think of the future family I want to have someday. Also, everyone loved Audrey because she was gracious, kind, and gentle, and those are all traits that I struggle with quite frequently. While Audrey Hepburn wasn't perfect, I find the good in her life uplifting and inspiring.
My interest in Audrey Hepburn began early this summer after I happened, quite by chance, to watch a few movies, back to back, that starred Audrey. I'd always known about her; I mean, who HASN'T seen, or at least HEARD of, My Fair Lady? So while I knew about Audrey, I'd never had much interest in her life, but after seeing her moving and wonderful portrayals in Roman Holiday, Charade, and How To Steal A Million, I was hooked!
Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4th, 1929, and she originally wanted to be a ballet dancer, but WWII stopped that dream. She lived through the brutal Dutch Nazi occupation, and when the war was over she came to England. Audrey soon discovered that being a ballet dancer was not in the cards for her, but instead of sinking into depression she found work at the theater, and from there slipped into British films and finally made her way to Hollywood, where she starred in Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck as her first American movie.
After her second divorce, she entered into a relationship with another man and never married. Audrey spent the last years of her life as the special ambassador for UNICEF, visiting Africa, Vietnam, South America, and many other places. She made a total of eight trips to Third World countries, drawing enormous attention and support of the starving people there. It was after her last visit, this one to the country of Somalia, Audrey became ill, and died soon afterwards of appendiceal cancer.
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