cookin' saturday

Mr. G is finally home from his business trip and a beautiful sunny Saturday (and a giddy me) welcomed him! :) 

After hugs for him and my new Ina Garten cookbook, we headed to the grocery for some much-needed edible retail therapy :) Of course, there was no other thing to do next other than to cook, eat, nap, cook, eat for the rest of the day. Perfect. 

First up, a very easy paella dish from Donna Hay. I just substituted shrimp for some mexican chorizo which I had used in my Jamie Oliver carbonara the day before. AND after sauteing everything, I just dumped it in the rice cooker and added the meat when most of the liquid was gone. I got a little stressed when the cooker turned off and the rice was still hard, so I just added more water and let it cook for a little more (and kept it in "warm" mode for 10 minutes before serving).

It smelled and tasted awesome. Mr. G declared it could be one thing he can eat a few times a week, which made me super happy because it was easy to make, so it won't be too stressful to make once I start working. Of course, variations are needed - different meats, add eggs, shrimp, eat it with potato chips (which is the only way we can eat here). Live a little, go crazy!

easiest paella. adding boiled eggs would be the hardest part. 

I suggest ogling her site because most recipes are not too daunting. I'm not sure which networks carry her show, but fortunately we have it here, which is how I discovered her stuff! 

Of course, we HAD to have dessert, despite being so full from the paella. We heated up one of the chocolate and cheesecake brownies (disastrous-looking) from the day before and topped it with vanilla ice cream. AWESOME. The inside was soo gooey and perfect. It wasn't such a disaster after all :p The result: 

napping at the deck...

...and then later at the couch (okay, we drooled over Tempur mattresses and pillows for while)...and then off to sleep. We woke up at 630pm. I know, we are awful people. But that's how we spend our Saturdays. It can be worse. WORSE. Believe me. Anyway, we finally got up and prepared for dinner. Oh yeaaaaah. Mr. G was in charge of drinks: 

the man loves green label. 

...and I made these: 

chipotle wings. sides: vodka cranberry and JW green label on the rocks.

Thanks to my friend Katrina, who recommended this marinade to me. I used chicken wings instead of thighs because...I felt like it. I will be eternally grateful to the beautiful and funny Christy Teigen who introduced this recipe to the masses. The recipe is basic and chipotle IS hot, so you can modify the recipe to your taste (Christy recommends this). I almost put 2 CANS of chipotle vs the 2 pieces the recipe called for. Remember, I'm an airhead. Katrina was kind enough to tell me that I should add at least 3 times the amount of sugar before tasting. Boy am I glad I followed her because I would have passed out if I tasted the basic recipe. The stuff is HAAAAWT. I almost choked and Mr. G asked what was going on in the kitchen because I was making weird sounds. Anyway, more lemon, ketchup and sugar helped tons. I just marinated the chicken in the marinade, threw it in a pre-heated oven and an hour later, I had a front row seat to this: 

the man loves his wings too.

Oh boy was it oh so spicy, tangy, sweet, juicy. Everything we want in wings, which is one of the things we are absolutely bananas about (also: Amazon, Apple, etc). If it's too much, just eat it with sour cream or blue cheese dressing...or just drink more. If you can get your hands on chipotle (I use the canned ones), then PLEASE make the marinade. It will be money well spent. 

I have another cranberry vodka to down before we move on to our LOST marathon, so I need to go now. :p 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! 

xoxo, 

Janice