Spice-y

I created a spice drawer fir the new kitchen.

Like it? I love it!

I sometimes get a nagging thought about it, as if the space could be better used for something else besides holding plastic bottles that could stand on their own. But I REALLY like the spices in the drawer, it’s so convenient. And it’s SO luxurious, having just enough space to be able to tuck spices in a DRAWER of all things! If it was msm lotion, that’d be another matter… these are spices I use regularly while cooking.

I do like it, wasteful of space or no.

Where do you keep your spices?

Chicken Barley Soup

We’re cooking again! After the massive 4-month kitchen renovation, we’re back at the stove. This recipe is perfect for a cool, autumn day. Chicken soup can be bland (which is why I don’t make it very often), but I have found that the Salamida Pinch seasoning makes the big difference. The soup is very savory with it. If you do not have the seasoning, add a dash of Worchestershire sauce and some salt to spice up the soup; or, experiment with your own seasonings.

Chicken Barley Soup
serves 6

5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes
Olive oil
1 can or 2 cups chicken broth
3 cups fresh water
2 white onions, diced
2 carrots, sliced and chopped
2 celery sticks, sliced
1/2 cup uncooked barley
Salamida Pinch seasoning (optional)
salt

Prepare the chicken. In a skillet, heat up some olive oil. Toss the chicken into the skillet, and saute until the chicken is done and begins to turn a little brown.

Place the contents of the skillet (oil, chicken, and any brown drippings from the pan) into a large stockpot. Add the broth, water, onions, carrots, celery, and seasoning into the pot. Cook on medium-high until the soup begins to boil; then, turn down the heat to allow the soup to simmer.

When the carrots and onions are soft, add the barley. Allow to cook for another 20 minutes or so, until the barley is soft and enlarged. Add salt, and stir.

Serve with fresh garlic bread. Yum! My kids ate this right up. My daughter had also made fresh peach pie, a perfect accompaniment to the soup. It was good to be in the kitchen again.

Salamida’s Lemon Garlicious on Roast Chicken

I received some of that yummy Salamida marinade– the Lemon Garlicious marinade– from the folks at Salamida. They asked me to try out some of their spices and marinades and mention them on my blogs. Wooo! I love to grill with Salamida products during the summer… but we got two feet of snow, so I don’t think I’m pulling out the grill anytime soon. Some folks still have to pack up their winter pop displays! But I really really wanted to try the marinade, so I marinaded my roaster chicken.

I slathered the chicken with onions and elephant garlic cloves. And I tucked in a few potatoes for good measure.

I baked in a slow oven (300 degrees) for about four hours. Mmmm the house smelled good.

The chicken was incredibly tender; it practically melted in our mouths. The potatoes were SUPERB. I like the light garlic taste of the marinade, but wasn’t too fond of the lemon. I don’t like lemon, in general. This was light enough to make the chicken very luscious, though.

I wrote about the Upstate New York phenomenon that is Salamida marinades here. We love the marinades; I go bananas for the original Spiedie marinade. If you place an order, use the discount code SAUCE3 at Spiedie.com, you will get 15% off your order. The coupon code is good until April 1st. This is the best marinade EVER. It’s not all that expensive, and you can order online, which is nice.