Chicken with Garlic Mushrooms

Chicken with Garlic Mushrooms

I need to begin with OMG!!! This dish although not very colorful is amazing! I'm not a big fan of chicken thighs overall as they can seem never cooked enough for me. I'm not even a big fan of mushrooms! Can you believe it, I don't usually choose either one of the main stars in this dish and I still loved it! Even brought the leftovers for lunch today! Just as good the next day as it was the first.

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients

For The Chicken:

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (around 6 fillets)

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil


The Sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

8 ounces sliced white mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tablespoon minced garlic)


1/2 - 1 teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried rosemary


Instructions


Combine the onion powder, garlic powder, herbs, salt and pepper. Coat the chicken evenly with the combined seasoning.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat and sear chicken thighs in batches until browned on each side and no longer pink in center (about 8-10 minutes each side, depending on thickness). Add remaining oil if needed for second batch. Transfer to a plate; set aside.

To the same pan or skillet, melt the butter and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft (about 3-5 minutes). Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary; sauté (about 1 minute).

Return chicken to the pan, reduce heat to low, cover for about 5 minutes. Taste test and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Serve immediately.

Like I said, although not pretty this dish is super tasty and worth trying!


Enjoy!


Witchy Tip: If sage isn't available, use peppermint essential oil mixed with water. Spray to cleanse your room or space!

Fat Shaming

Got to get this off my chest...


A few months ago I went to a Plus Size store that I would shop at every now and then. I found something and asked the gal who worked there if I could try it on. I had lost maybe 20 lbs so far and was in their smallest size a plus size 14. She basically looked me up and down, rolled her eyes and let me in the dressing room. I chalked it up to her just having a bad day, even though she clearly looked me up and down and I figured she assumed I shouldn't be there. Just the vibe I got. I went back maybe about a month later. I can still buy items from the store at this time. Maybe not everything they sell but definitely their bras, shoes and jewelry. I found something to try on and a whole different girl did it again! Same reaction. I put the item down and left. Decided I wasn't going back to that store. Fast forward to today. I didn't have anything to do on my lunch hour so I went to a clothing store that sells clothes size 10 and up to 6X. I didn't buy anything but as I was browsing there was a lady there who was talking to the workers (quite loudly)about how a friend of hers had lost all this weight. She told said friend that was her store now and she didn't belong there. The lady's behind the counter told her well we do have size 10-12 so maybe those still fit her. The rather rude woman said pretty loud, "she's barely a 10-12 and doesn't belong here anymore!"

When did this become ok to do? I bet her friend who worked hard to lose the weight wouldn't appreciate what this woman was saying. We should be happy for our friends that reach goals they've set. If you're jealous keep it to yourself. If you want to be a jealous crabby b*tch, do so on your own time! I feel bad for this friend of hers, and if I had been more on it, I would've asked this rude woman if her friend was there in the store, so I could tell her congrats on her weight loss!

I know that it is not anyone's issue but that woman's, but we need to stop being jealous rude crabby b*tches. Support each other's journey. Doesn't matter if you are skinny, fat, rich, poor etc... tell someone they look nice. Or that you like their necklace.

Jumping off the soapbox... cheers!

Before, Progress and Cheeseburger Casserole

We've been doing the Keto way of life for 7 months. For those who don't know what "Keto" is, it is a high fat, low carb diet. We mostly eat a protein (chicken, beef, pork or fish) and tons of green veggies/salads. We stay away from sugar, processed foods and anything with a commercial.

Over the weekend we both hit our halfway mark! At least what we think is our halfway mark. Dan and I both haven't been this weight since the early 90's or before, so we really don't know what our final goals are. We are going to keep on going until we reach our mystery goals though. We'll know when we get there!

Here is a picture of us a couple years ago and then just last week during a Halloween party. Sometimes I think we are getting younger!

This way of eating has really changed us for the good. Just being able to tie our shoes without passing out, eat without feeling bloated afterwards or walk up stairs without needing a 30 minute break halfway up! So many things we lived with for so long without even realizing it until we are not doing it anymore is amazing. I mean don't get me wrong I love a good pair of sweatpants (eating pants)and would still rather have someone else run upstairs to grab the laundry, I'm just saying the day to day things we do are just simply easier. Keto does nothing for laziness unfortunately!

Our next goals are to get through the holiday season with a little control and dignity. Although we may mess up here and there we are in this for the long haul and hope to enter the new year with our heads held high.

Recipes to come! I made this fabulous Cheeseburger Casserole last night. I took pictures along the way and then totally spaced on taking a final picture of the final product. LAME! But it did turn our fabulous. I'll put the recipe below anyways since it was really good. Having some leftovers for lunch today!

Cheeseburger Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bacon diced
1 lb ground beef
1/2 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
4 oz cream cheese
2 TBLS Heinz 57
1 TBLS mustard
1 TBLS worchestershire sauce
4 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and Pepper to taste (about 1 tsp each)
1 tsp hot sauce or to taste
8 oz of grated cheddar cheese


Instructions:

1) Cook the diced bacon until crisp. Set aside. Drain grease.
2) Add ground beef to the same skillet and cook until browned, make sure to crumble it up as you cook. Drain the fat when done.
3) Add Onion and garlic to the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
4) Add cream cheese, Heinz 57, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until the cream cheese has melted and everything is combined.
5) Spread the beef mixture into a greased oven-safe casserole/baking dish. Top with the crumbled bacon. (I forgot to do this step and ended up putting the bacon the very top of the dish and it still worked out great!)
6) Beat eggs with heavy cream, hot sauce and some more black pepper. Pour over the beef mixture. Top with cheddar cheese.
7)Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the egg mixture is set and golden brown.

About 4 net carbs per serving and it makes 6 servings.

Sorry for not having pictures! I'll try to do better next time!

Enjoy!


Kitchen Witchy Tip: Since Thanksgiving is upon us, lets talk sage. Sage is probably one of the most commonly used herb for spells. It is a powerful protector and can rid, purify and cleanse negative energy.

I’m back!

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here. Not because I didn’t want to but because of time. After my last post my mother’s cancer progressed rapidly. We moved her in and took care of her until she passed June 2017. After her passing we had her funeral and at that point I just needed time to heal. I decided to travel more. Dan and I drove up north to visit the redwoods in October of 2017. Spent a few days in an Aptos beach house with family at the beginning of March 2018. Then in April I ended up in Disneyland for a few days. Iowa for Dan’s family reunion in August. My Aunt and Cousin drove me around Massachusetts and Rhode Island in October and coming up this November is Disneyland again! 2018 was certainly a year of healing for me.

So back to this blog...

I’ve decided to write about our keto journey. We made some big changes to get Dan healthy. His blood sugar was getting out of control and he was faced with yet another foot issue. I’ll explain his foot issues in another post sometime for you.

We started the Keto diet March 11th, 2018 and haven’t looked back. It has truly worked for us. Dan has so far lost about 70 lbs and I am at about 40 lbs. I’m sure you will hear me say this a lot through our journey but the weight loss is truly just a great side effect of this way of eating. Best part so far has been Dan’s health. His blood sugar has been NORMAL since about day 3 of the diet. It’s gone up a couple of times but he was still fighting infections in his system. We both have more energy and we feel and look younger (IMO).

I’m going to start posting recipes we’ve tried and liked . Maybe even ones we didn’t like. It’s been an awesome journey so far and can’t wait for what more weight loss will bring us. I started this blog because I love to cook and eat! I also wanted a place to write and create. I’m hoping our newest journey will bring that to me here.

I’ll still post witchy tips as well!

Pork Chops with Roasted Sweet Potato Hash

It's a week night and after a work day I usually have no desire to cook. It was just my husband and I tonight for dinner though and I had a few apples, a sweet potato and a half a red onion left over that I needed to cook before they went bad. So voila I came up with a roasted sweet potato hash!

I took these beauties and chopped them up...

With the veggies in a bowl I tossed them with some salt, pepper, olive oil and red pepper flakes...

I transferred the veggies to a baking pan and roasted them for about 30 minutes on 400... I just tested them for tenderness and once the sweet potatoes were fork tender I removed them from the oven.

As the veggies were roasting I seasoned some pork chops with salt and pepper...

Then in a frying pan with some olive oil I panned fried the pork chops for a few minutes on each side. About 3-4 minutes on each side. Once they were done I let them rest on the plate while the veggies finished up cooking.

And this is what we got...

It was so tasty! I would definitely make it again!

Cheers!



And a little more witchiness...


When you light a candle make a wish... send out what you want into the universe. If you need money say it! Its ok to ask for what you need. The goddess will listen. Be open to what you need or want. Let the candle burn out. I light a tea light candle every night. Some things take time, but be patient as what you put out into the universe will come back!

Straws and Strawberries

Hi everyone!

Before I decide what's for dinner tonight I thought I would share a trick I learned. This past week we had a birthday party for a co-worker and I was in charge of chopping the strawberries. (We like to call them Starbabies in my house)I live in California so we have the best produce even into October!

So I have 4lbs of strawberries to clean and chop. I was trying to figure out a quick way to do this since I work in a very busy office and didn't want to take up a lot of time. Then I remembered seeing a trick on how to clean the strawberries quick, easy and with less waste.

Use a straw!!! It was so easy! Just push a straw through the bottom/tip of the strawberry all the way through and it will push the stem right out! Try it! Here are the pictures I took to show you how easy it was... nothing glamorous here folks, I was at work and a co-worker helped me with the pictures.

The party was a success! But more importantly those strawberries only took me about 15 minutes to clean and chop! Have a fabulous day everyone!


Cheers!

Beginnings ... and Pumpkin Turkey Chili (of course)

Here's a bit about me...in a very small nut shell!


I'm in my early 40's (when did I become "in my 40's"), married and bored! My husband and I raised my 2 nieces for over the last 10 years and they recently graduated high school and are off living life and going to college now. One of them still lives with us part time between school and work, but for the most part we are empty nesters now. My husband Dan recently had some surgery and has been off work for a few months. He started a project of restoring his old 70 Camaro which leads me to this... I need something to do! I like to think of myself as creative and have been looking for something creative to do with my free time. I have a pretty busy career as an escrow officer however during the restoration time my husband will be in the garage and I can only read so many books and watch so many movies. I did start a recent exercise program with a friend from work. She is training for a half marathon and so I told her I would train with her. I haven't decided if I want to sign up for the event yet. We'll see how training goes.


So what do I expect to get out of this blog? Creative wasted time! I don't plan on being a perfectionist. I plan on writing a little bit and putting together a catalog some of my favorite recipes. I watch cooking shows ALL THE TIME and have a ton of recipes I email to myself to try out. I try to do one a week. If not a new recipe I try to make one of our favorite meals on Sundays.


My kitchen is far from tidy and I do not have the "state-of-the-art-handy-dandy-tools." But I love to cook and write... and draw and paint...and and and. You would think I wouldn't be bored! LOL


Let me ask you this? If you could have your grandma's banana bread recipe that was just in her head or you uncle's clam cake recipe all in the same place, would you be thrilled or what!?! That is my plan. To get as many of my favorite recipes old and new in one place to pass on to the youngsters of my family. BTW I really do I wish I had my uncle's clam cake recipe. I'll have to try and recreate it sometime. I recently found my grandmother's Portuguese Sweet Bread recipe. I've made it a couple times and wow the memories that come flooding back from my childhood. We make this at Ostara/Easter time so stay tuned!


I called this blog "The Kitchen Witch" because I'm in LOVE with the fall and Halloween, and a little witchy. Starting this in October is very fitting, trust me! I'm going to ask you to only show love and positivity. Anything nasty will be deleted. I'm not here to be perfect or to be judged. Spelling errors and grammar issues are a given! Duh! I'm here to have fun and to have a hobby of my own.


So let me begin...


Today with the cooler weather here in California (ok so it was in the 70's, but coming from 110 degrees in the summer...70's is cooler to us) I decided to make my Pumpkin Turkey Chili. This recipe came to me a few years back. I was watching a cooking show and they were adding pumpkin to just about everything and all it does is thicken the chili naturally (no flour needed) and give it just a little more heartiness. So I just started to play around with some of my favorite flavors.


To start I chopped these beauties up and some garlic (not shown, sorry I'm new at this...I'll get better I promise!)

While I was chopping those up I browned up some ground turkey with a little bit of olive oil in a pot.

Once the Turkey burger was brown I strained it out of the pot (leaving the juices in the pot, there's a ton of flavor in there!)

So do any of you need one of these to light their stove? Yep "state of the art" kitchen right here!

So in the same pot with all the turkey juices left in there, I added the chopped up veggies (my favorite part, smells heavenly!)

I cooked these for a few minutes and then added some spices (don't worry the recipe to follow!)I like to use Himalayan pink salt in my recipes... you?

Let the spices "bloom" a bit in the veggies...then add this...

BTW, I love owls! :)

Add the turkey burger back into the pot and stir it up! I let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

You can add toppings to the chili... what ever you like. Cheese, green onions, cilantro and even sour cream. I like to add red chili flakes for some heat. I like things a bit on the spicy side. If you don't like spicy of course don't use red pepper flake! Get mild chili powder as well. I think I did pretty good for my first post. I'll get better and better as time goes on.

Recipe:

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1-lb. of Ground Turkey, browned
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped (optional)
2 pasilla or pablano peppers, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2-3 garlic cloves (ok I used more but it really is to taste)
1 can of pumpkin puree
2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes
2 TBLS tomato paste
1 cup (approx.) of low sodium beef broth (you can use more or less depending on how thick you like your chili)
2 TBLS of cumin
1 TBLS of Oregano
1 TBLS of chili powder
1 tsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 TBLS of olive oil

Topping Ideas: No rules here folks!

Chopped up cilantro
chopped green onions
sour cream
shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large pot heat up olive oil and brown the ground turkey.

Remove the turkey and set aside in a bowl. Leave the juices from the turkey in the pan.

Add the cut-up veggies to the pot and cook on med for about 5-6 minutes until soft.

Add all the spices to the veggies and mix together for about 2 minutes. At this point I add some salt and pepper. Maybe about a tsp. each. You can add more at the end if needed.

Then add the Tomato paste and stir that around to get it mix in.

Add the rest of the ingredients and the ground turkey. Stir and let simmer on low for 30. The longer it simmers or sits the better! If it gets to thick you can more beef broth to thin it out, it is totally to your preference.

Serve and enjoy with your favorite toppings!



Now for a little witchiness...

Cook with purpose, put love and good energy into everything you make. Always stir clockwise and think of the things you need in your life. Love, money, goals. Prepare foods with intention and put it out in the universe what you want. Bring magic into your kitchen each and every day!

Cheers!