Chicken Marbella

Sunday Dinner this week. This recipe is from a cookbook named The Silver Palate Cookbook which celebrated its 25th anniversary a couple years ago. Its a pretty famous cookbook with recipes from a deli/food store back East. Many recipes from this book are well known--this recipe, in fact, is supposedly one of people's favorites. I tried it for the first time this past Sunday. It did turn out pretty yummy and very easy. Another recipe from that book is the tomatoes and pasta recipe that I posted last summer. I LOVE that recipe.

The reason I made this dish is because the woman who co-wrote the cookbook, Sheila Lukins, died of brain cancer a couple weeks ago. Lots of people have written about her or posted comments to different websites about how influential she was to novice cooks everywhere. I thought it would be a fun tribute to her to make one of her most famous dishes and post it here. Thanks, Sheila!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/CHICKEN-MARBELLA-SILVER-PALATE-COOKBOOK-1277030

Because Dale is out of town...

Three days ago, this is what the kids discovered in the tree in front of our house. It was well hidden in the tree, so we never noticed it until now. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was about the size of a basketball...maybe a little larger.
And this is what was swarming around the nest and crawling in and out....

Very Scary!! And of course this is the week that Dale is out of town backpacking. Every once in a while a job comes along that is just meant for husbands to take care of. This was one of them. (Another one was when a large bird crashed and died in our yard a couple years ago when Dale was backpacking---gross!)

I thought about just calling a pest control service, but my dad told me that could be quite expensive. So we did some research on the internet, got brave, and took care of it ourselves. There was only a little screaming and running. It only took us three days to get rid of it, but it's gone now...unless of course they all come back to life in the garbage bag sealed inside the garbage can. Poor garbage collectors!!!

I think Dale owes me one for taking care of this.

Cinnamon Rolls

My friend Shelli makes the BEST cinnamon rolls ever. Everyone always wants her to make them. A year or so ago, Shelli taught a class at Church about making cinnamon rolls. I got the recipe but never got around to making them. For one thing, I've never felt very confident about making cinnamon rolls--I haven't had much success in the past. The other thing is that most "good" cinnamon roll recipes use a lot of flour and so you really need a mixer (I mean, like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) to mix and knead the dough.

Well, Shelli helped me out with that, too. While her son is on a mission, she let me borrow the Kitchen Aid that she lets him use while at school. It's so nice to have a big mixer like that. It's let me do recipes that I normally would avoid.

Anyway...

So I used her recipe for the first time today. And, after only one phone to Shelli for help, I turned out these beauties....my best cinnamon rolls ever!!! Mmmmm--sugary, cinnamony goodness!!!

Thanks, Shelli!!

Before frosting.....
After frosting.....

I bet you all want to come over to my house, huh? (Better hurry--they won't last long)