Honey Brine Chicken with a Mohawk

So I kind of have a Mohawk now and the decision to do this was a scary one.

 Ever since watching a the season of Project Runway with Anya who was the gorgeous beauty queen from Trinidad turned fashion designer who had the sides of her head shaved, I was very intrigued by this style.

After that season aired I started noticing more and more people with this strange haircut. You leave the top long, in some cases very long like Anya, and shave the sides and back. The next thing I know there is another girl on Project Runway with a similar cut, Pink has a version of that haircut, and then the haircut that shocked the world was Miley Cyrus. Once I saw her version of the haircut, I really wanted to try it. In no way am I a real fan of her or her music, but I do think she looks amazing with the haircut and has some catchy tunes.
So I go to my incredible stylist Vickie at Salon Vie and show her pictures of....Miley Cyrus.

We talk about the cut and decide to take baby steps. No clippers came out that day but I ended up with a pixie on one side and a very textured short bob on the other. As the hair was flying off, I got nervous and my heart was pounding. I wasn't even going for the full shaved sides but it was still scary and that says a lot for me because I am pretty adventurous with my style. I remember watching the transformation in the mirror and nervously joking; "uuuhh wow, I can't believe I am doing this...."
Well that was nothing!
I ended up loving the cut and felt it made me feel younger and prettier and made my face look thinner...
All things that are very important to a woman of course.
I got a great reaction from friends and guests at my current job and so that gave me the confidence to finally, after about 2 years of thinking on it, go for shaving most of my head!
I show up at the salon again with pictures of Miley... again. I sit down in the chair and Vickie says; "OK, what are we doing today". My current cut and color had grown out a lot and was almost unrecognizable to the original style at this point so I had lots of options. I took a deep breath and said; "we are doing it, we are buzzing my head today."
She was instantly thrilled as we looked over more pictures and talked about how this was going to go, what color to dye it, and before I even knew it, the clippers came out and the first row of hair was on the floor. No turning back. Other stylists were coming over to my chair to watch and talk about it. It was the buzz of the whole salon. Patrons were talking about it and watching it all buzz buzz buzz off on to the slick black floor.
We painted on the bleach and now it was time to just sit and wait and hope I didn't make a horrible decision.
It took what felt like forever. Part of me was scared but part of me was really excited. I remember waiting for the color to process and kinda praying that Nick would like it, and that the other Moms at the play ground wouldn't think I was strange.
Why was I even doing this? I guess I am taking this time in my life to really enjoy life. I get to be home with Lily and I have a pretty neat little part time job, I finally lost all the baby weight, and it just felt like why the heck not. I am 33, Im still young and fun, and this is me. Who cares what the Mom's at the playground think. I wanted to try something really different, I wanted a change, I wanted to challenge myself in a way and be brave.
So I did it, and it came out great. People have been lovely about it and although I do think most the Mom's at the playground wonder what type of person I am....and are pretty curious if I am gay. Let them think what they want, and if I were gay, shame on them for judging me for that! Shame! A haircut doesn't define a person, but it can very well express something about them. My lady Mohawk says I am fun, adventurous, and daring....and I like that!

So as part of enjoying life more, I am cooking again and blogging again...yay!!
So in honor of the new do, I wanted to try something new with chicken that I had never done. Chicken can be pretty darn boring but I have created some great marinades that put flavor through all the meat and Im pretty proud of them. However, I usually grill chicken and the weather is turning colder so I thought....whats a way I can get great flavor through the whole piece of chicken, keep it moist, but bake it. So I thought why not brine it. I do that with pork chops and its awesome.
So I looked up a couple things on honey brines and thought, yep that's the ticket.
So I created my own brine and then made honey lemon carrots and simple pan roasted brussel sprouts to go with it.

Honey Brine Chicken
1/3 cup sea salt
1/2 gal of hot water
2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/4 cup honey
3-4 handfuls of ice
chicken breasts ( I used two but you could do up to 4)

In a large bowl combine salt and hot water. Stir until dissolved. After that add veggie broth and honey. Stir.
Add chicken and immediately add ice to cool down the water. Cover and place in the fridge for several hours. I started the brine at 9:30am and took it out at 5:15pm

Pat dry the chicken breasts and place in a greased baking pan. I sprinkled the breasts with garlic powder, parsley, pepper, a little lemon juice, and a little more honey drizzled on top.
I cooked them for 25-30 mins at 375.

Honey Lemon Baby Carrots
2 lemon slices
2 T butter
about 2 cups of baby carrots
honey 1-2 T depending on how sweet you want it
salt and pepper

Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Add carrots and boil about 5-6 minutes until just getting tender. Drain the carrots and add back to the pot. Next add lemon, butter, and honey. Cook on med for about 5-6 mins until nice and tender and the carrots have a bit of a glaze on them. Add a little salt and pepper to finish it off.

The whole thing came out amazing! It was the best baked chicken I have ever made!

Holiday Edition: Grandma's Breakfast

We have always loved breakfast in my family. These days I don't always eat it, even though I know I should, but on the weekends I usually just have to cook one big breakfast. I love the smell of toast in the toaster and bacon sizzling and the color of that bright yellow egg yolk just waiting for a buttery piece of toast to be dipped in it.
When I was a kid my Mom made eggs every weekend too and we always had "dippin" eggs. I had no idea until I was probably 12 that dippin eggs were usually called over easy.
Part of my love for breakfast and I have to assume my Dad's great love for the most important meal of the day, is my Grandmother.

My beautiful Grandma Ruby when she was a young woman

We used to visit my Grandparents in West Virginia almost every Thanksgiving and I always loved it so much. It was exactly how Thanksgiving should be. Driving hours down country roads, over the mountains, and through the woods to Grandmother's house to share a massive meal with our equally massive family.
Before some of the bigger highways were built, our trip was six hours long and involved some of the scariest mountain roads I have ever seen. Barely any guard rail, these steep narrow rounds wound up and down mountains, past rivers and through valleys. Steep grades with runaway truck exits and roads signs warning of falling rocks. I remember always looking up this one cliff to see three crosses in the ground, watching over the farmland. I remember blue skies with huge fluffy clouds as far as you could see and the leaves turning all the colors of the rainbow. It was the longest, sometimes scary, but most beautiful drive.

After a final steep, winding, hilly road, passing cows and sheep and old homes that looked 100 years old, the road would level out, the trees opened up, and there was Roscoe and Ruby Swanigan's home. My Grandma and Grandpa's Lincoln would always be in the drive and sometimes they would even be waiting on the front porch waving a warm welcome back. It was a simple brick front rambler with cream siding and a huge open yard. When we came inside, it always smelled the same, like food had been cooking and I believe my Grandma's perfume. Their favorite cushy rocking chairs were always in their place in the front room and our cots were popped open and waiting for us in the guest room. Kick-knacks were placed on every shelf and dresser. Ceramic men and women holding flowers, or an old coal miner carrying a pick ax.
In the game room was a pool table. all of my Grandpa's guitars and banjo, and a wall of pictures of all of my Aunts and Uncles high school portraits. I used to stare at the soft black and white photos and compare each face, seeing how my relatives looked so alike and marveling in their youth and beauty and thinking how their faces had changed but how beautiful they all still were to me.
We would settle in and hours of looking at old photos, playing under the pool table, and listening to Grandpa's stories and jokes would ensue.
Once all of our cousins and Aunts and Uncles arrived, there would always be the turkey, and stuffing, and my Grandma's amazing home-made mashed potatoes but that isn't my favorite meal or memory.

Two different Swanigan family reunions

I have always been an early riser and never slept well because I was afraid of the dark so I would lay in my cot and pray for morning to come and to hear my Grandma's humming coming from the kitchen.
She always hummed when she cooked and that's how I knew it was ok to come out of bed and join her in the kitchen. She would be up before the sun making fresh from scratch biscuits and would see me and always say/sing something like "good morning, morning glory". It would be her and I sometimes for a couple hours before everyone else rose. I would rattle off all the millions of stories and Ideas that were in my head while she hummed and pat the dough and would say "whew honey, doesn't your tongue ever get tired!".
She would sometimes pull out a coffee can full of change and give me a few coins. I remember being so amazed by all the coins she had. I thought she was rich. It was a tiny little kitchen with one small window over the sink and barely any counter space, but my Grandma made the most delicious food there and I loved our quiet time in the morning together.
Then once everyone was awake, and the coffee was brewed, and the gravy was bubbling, we would eat. In a small dining room with an organ in the corner, we sat around a large wooden table and I would pile eggs, bacon, gravy, and biscuits on my plate. I would mix it all together in one big, messy, gooey, hill of breakfast delight and devour the entire plate.
A big home-made breakfast always makes me think of my Grandmother and reminds me of the holidays, no matter what time of year it is.

So with the holidays fast approaching and for the first time in many years, I made pancakes.
 These weren't just any pancakes though. There were Cranberry Almond Pancakes with Honey Orange Sauce.
Super easy to make and so delicious.
I followed the recipe for thinner pancakes on the Bisquick box but added a handful of dried cranberries, a handful of sliced almonds, and a little vanilla extract to the batter.
It made about 12 medium sized cakes.
Then for the sauce I took about a 1/4 cup of orange juice, the juice from half of a fresh orange, a little orange zest, about 1/4 cup powdered sugar, mixed that, then added honey until it got to the consistency I wanted. It was a little thinner than syrup but the pancakes soaked it up and it was heaven.

I served the pancakes with bacon and sausage and the house was just filled with great smells of breakfast for hours. I thought of my Mother and my Grandmother as I served pancakes to Lily for the first time.

Happy Thanksgiving to you Mom, Grandma and Grandpa. We miss you!