Just call me Julia, er Paula, um

OK so that is a lie, I am no cook. Just about all the goodies you see here are made by my husband, with very little to no help from me. I do most of the meal planning though, I find all the yummy ideas...that should count for something, right?!

Tonights masterpiece...Pan-Roasted Chicken With Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound trimmed green beans
• 8 small red potatoes, quartered
• 4 chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin, about 3 1/4 pounds) *We used thighs/legs.

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

                             

In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.

Roast for 50 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet. Place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally. Serve warm.

*Note: We found the lemon to be a bit over powering, the potatoes and chicken came out fine but the green beans didn't fair as well. Next time we will change it up, maybe do oranges instead or a mix of oranges and lemons...one way or another we will use less lemon slices on the bottom.

                             

Mmmm looks good!

It kept steaming up my camera LOL.

See what I mean about the green beans, Xander would rather eat his own toe LOL.

Jericho didn't have that problem :)

After the kids went to bed I made a little dessert. I was craving some edible cookie dough. This was my first time making it, turned out pretty good but there is room for improvement. I took a couple different rec. added parts of each and came up with my own concoction.

1 tbsp butter, slightly softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter 
3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp vanilla
2 ½ cups rolled oats, old fashioned or quick
1 cup plus chocolate chips
Mix above until all blended then start adding water or
milk one tspn at a time until it is your desired thickness