Easy Mushroom Baked Chicken for a Day Blanketed with Snow

Easy mushroom baked chicken with garlic roasted potatoes and steamed asparagus is the carte du jour (the menu item today).  Though I had planned on this all along, it now is in celebration of today's beautiful snow!

You may have received a draft version of this earlier today, my apologies...
I mistakenly pushed the enter key again while I was still writing!

Before I get into the chicken recipe, let me say I feel like my winter is now complete!!!  Snow, snow, snow...I know I keep talking about it, but this morning, my winter wish came true...at least 2 (maybe 3) inches of snow covered everything when we woke up, and it was still snowing a little, huge flakes.  Ahhhh, the sweetness of snowy satisfaction!!!

The sun quickly melted everything as the day progressed, perhaps causing trouble for tomorrow morning; this cold front that came through is supposed to bring freezing temps overnight...not so good considering I have an appointment in town so I need to get off the mountain early...slow and easy will be tomorrow's mantra...

On to the carte du jour...

Easy Mushroom Baked Chicken
Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz chopped mushrooms (I am using baby bella's)
3/4 cup Marsala (can use Sherry, I like the Marsala flavor) 
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper (I am using truffle flavored salt)

Preheat your oven on 400 degrees F.  On the stove top, medium heat, heat the olive oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet.  Saute the mushroom bits on high for about 3 minutes, then add the Marsala and a little salt & pepper, stirring to blend.

Remove the mixture from the pan (I used the same dish the chopped mushrooms were in, helps with keeping cleaning easy).

Place the chicken breasts, top side first , into the same pan to sear the tops a little, then turn them over.  

Cover the top of the breasts with the mushroom mixture and pour the sauce around the chicken, drizzling over the mushrooms (try to keep the chicken covered with mushrooms).

Seal with pan with either a lid or tin foil and put it into the oven for about 45 minutes, depending on the size of your breasts.  Remove the tin foil and broil until the mushrooms become a little browned.  Pour a little of the juices over the chicken when you serve it...this is really easy and quite tasty if I do say so myself.  A keeper for sure!!!

The potatoes can be cut and put into a baking dish to roast at the same time the chicken is cooking...just wash and cut your potatoes, cover with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast!  Stir them after 20 minutes.  Throw a little minced garlic into the potatoes for the last 15 minutes of cooking. I steam my asparagus...not other seasonings...a perfect compliment to the rest of the meal!

Bonne appétit!  Loosely translated that means enjoy your meal:)

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

I Participated in The Great Backyard Bird Count!

Today I participated in the The Great Backyard Bird Count (an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are; click on the link to learn more).  I always enjoy birdwatching, but trying to count them is a whole new experience!  Birds come and go as they please, eat a lot, especially when it's cold, and are repeat visitors...and guess what, everyone in the same family looks the same!...I'm sure there are distinct bird specialist differences, but to me, beyond type, they are indistinguishable!  Even still, today was great fun:)

This is my favorite picture of the day, a handsome Purple Finch...these guys are very shy but they sure take a pretty picture when you can get one!

I made 2 official observations today at the cabin.  One was 15 minutes long and I saw:
9 Carolina Chickadees
3 Purple Finches
6 Goldfinches
6 Tufted Titmouse's

4 Dark-eyed Junco's
1 White-breasted Nuthatch

These were what I believe to be individual sitings and not duplicated counts of the same bird (which was a bit of a challenge, as I described previously, but I believe I was successful).

During my observation, I took a few photos...this isn't the best, but there were 4 Goldfinches on this tree at the same time near enough to each other for a picture!  Can you find them?

A Goldfinch and Purple Finch together...their colors are beautiful contrasts.

The second was a quick sighting earlier in the morning while sitting inside and having coffee...I'd seen this beauty before but could never get a picture to confirm what it was.  Today was my lucky day, and I saw 1 Downy Woodpecker (not a great picture, but a picture)...

This afternoon, we took a hike into the Nantahala Forest behind our cabin, and came across 1 Red-tailed Hawk and 2 Carolina Chickadees (no pictures, the hawk flew away too quickly and the chickadees were too high in the trees).  I was surprised we didn't see more!  It was a very peaceful hike, except for the logging truck that lumbered past us on it's way down the mountain with a load of logs.  We did come across this interesting ice formation...

...intriguing (except for the plastic soda bottle stuck in the ice...next time I hike up there I am taking a garbage bag, I was disappointed and surprised by the amount of trash I saw littering the path along the way!).

It was a fun experience, next year I may participate in observing all 4 days.  You may want to consider participating too!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

There's Something About Snow

I do love the snow.  This probably has something to do with the fact that I live in a place that only gets snow now and then, usually not a lot when it does, it usually melts within a week, the low temperature rarely gets below 10 degrees F, other than a good pair of snow shoes/boots and a good coat I don't need an entirely different wardrobe because layering works, and I can usually still get around with my car.  There is something about it that makes me feel a childlike glee!


Yesterday, when we were in town, snow flurries would come and go.  All of a sudden, as we were heading into one of our stops, the snow started falling and gusting about...it made me laugh out loud, letting the snow hit my tongue...I was so delighted that as I got indoors I said excitedly to Johny "look at it!", which must have been pretty loud because a couple people looked at me like I was loosing my mind. 

As we drove up the mountain after dinner (which was excellent, by the way), we reached a point where no one had driven.  The road was a blanket of white, fresh, clean snow and I relished being the first to imprint the path, driving with care to keep from slipping.  When we neared the cabin, the snow began to fall again.   As I stood on the porch watching it fall, I could smell it's freshness and feel the chill on my skin.

 

We didn't get a lot, but it came down good for a while, and I savored every moment.

We woke this morning to a beautiful white coat of snow surrounding us. The night's blustery winds blew it off the trees,

so the mountains showed only some evidence of it.  But still, I got my snow!

It was a frigid start to the day, 14 degrees outside and the cabin was 45 (even though we kept the stove going slowly all night, the wind pushed some of that cold air in through the cracks), we were stoking that fire for most of the morning to warm the place up!

It was a good morning for Johny to play with his new toy...a Samsung 8GB Galaxy Tab 2...he is loving it!

While he is a lover of a book in his hands, he is excited about this tool allowing him to download articles from the net and read them in the comfort of a chair rather than printing them or sitting at the computer, which was his main objective, though he sounds like a walking advertisement for it; 'it will read most formats, access the Internet, stream video, etc, etc, etc'.  I'd like to take credit for this great gift selection, but he told me this is what he wanted!

While he played with his toy, I made him "day after" birthday pancakes...these are one of his favorite homemade breakfast, and so easy to make!

I just combine the pancake recipe from Bisquick + Jiffy corn muffin mix, and viola, crispy, light yummy pancakes!  The secret is to be sure to let the batter rest for at least 10 minutes before cooking.  The best part is there are always leftover pancakes, so we freeze them for future quick breakfasts!

Another good day, even though the snow has now melted anywhere the sun has hit it.  There are still pockets here and there that I can gaze at and enjoy...but you will still find me singing LET IT SNOW!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Happy Birthday Mountain Man!

Today we've been celebrating Johny's birthday.  It's been a great day so far, relaxing and enjoying our fire while we watch to see if he might get some birthday snow (just a few blustery flurries so far, the clouds are north and south of us, just not on top of us).  Later we will be venturing into town for a little shopping and then a nice dinner at Lucio's, our favorite fine Italian restaurant (I love their escargot appetizer, so buttery and garlicky, I hope they have it tonight...I know, this is one of those things you either love or hate, to me, they are delectable).

In honor of his birthday, I thought I'd share some of his artwork.  He begins with photographs and manipulates them to create unique compositions.  You can see more of his creations at A Splash of Pixel Dust.  Johny personally selected these photos to share with you...I hope you enjoy!

This is our friend's daughter, chasing chickens.

A collage using various elements; the original photo is our woods.

 This is an abstract piece; the photo's subject is a spiderweb.

Our woods.

 A farm nearby.

Time to get back to the birthday boy!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

A Gravely Kind of Day

Today was a big project day.  One that would solve a problem that has needed fixing for some time now.  What problem?  Water runoff in our driveway causing mucky mud in the front yard and on Big Bear's (our ATV) path to it's parking spot under the deck.  Of course, all this being part of a bigger problem...erosion. 

After much research, planning, discussion, gathering bids, more research, planning & discussion, and finally agreeing on a plan, we hired Scott Farmer Grading, Inc. to come help us (they were awesome and I would highly recommend them).  The end result?  Our driveway, parking and turn-around area, drive for the ATV and under the deck are now covered with gravel.  Problem solved!  This photo shows some of what was accomplished (can't capture everything in one shot), but it shows my favorite part which is no more muck in the front yard.

We decided to lay pea gravel (small stones, about the size of a pea...ha ha, thus the name and it's easy to walk on) under the deck and to create a little drive for Big Bear.  Gravel under the deck would prevent erosion...

...and a gravel drive would make things look nice (as opposed to Bear's tracks in the yard) and give a solid path to drive along (the spot at the bottom of this little hill at the entry to the deck was very soft and got very muddy when it rained).

Looks great, doesn't it?

 Big Bears new path!

We decided that 57 gravel would go in the front yard (57 gravel ranges from the size of a grape to a plum and stays put when driven on),  

 ...and where we park the car.

This is the front completed (same view as the before shot above...the change of color in the gravel is where it changes from pea gravel to 57; once it rains on it, they will look the same)...

 ...and the parking area completed. 

We decided the driveway would have road bond or ABC gravel (the same size as 57 but it also has sand and dirt so it will compact and not roll down the hill).  Below is the section of the drive closest to the front of the house...

 ...this is the next section heading up to the road.

And the completed driveway...(not very pretty but once it packs down a bit, it will look better...this is the best stuff for the slope of the drive...)

Of course, this project took half the day.  It all looks so easy, doesn't it?  It was for us, we hired someone to accomplish the task!  Greg and Matt with did a great job...let me tell you more about what happened between the before and after shots.

Grading the area is the first step...making sure the ground is flat (though not necessarily level, as in the case of driveway)...

The gravel was delivered in 3 loads, one for each type of gravel.  This big dump truck had to drive backwards up our mountain road, because there was no turn around point to be able to dump in our yard!  Can you imagine?  I can't imagine going backwards up this steep mountain road...I have a hard enough time going forward!

Our strategy was to begin under the deck and progress through the yard to end at the top of the driveway.  So Greg loaded the backhoe to bring the first bucket of pea gravel down under the deck...

...woo hoo, first load emptied!  Greg backs up to get another load, and uh oh, wheels are spinning, he's stuck.  He stops the machine and say's "did I hear you scream?"...I laugh..."you were sliding down the hill...it's a big drop!"  He said he thought I was afraid he was going to take down the deck...good think I never thought of that!

Johny helps the guys bring some pea gravel over to give the area traction...

...after a few wheelbarrow's full, Greg turned the backhoe around and made it up!

He continued to build the small driveway up with a little of the dirt and rock from the main drive, which created a strong base so the job could continue.  

Matt spread the gravel with style...made it look effortless!

The pea gravel continued to be spread to make a very thick path for Bear. 

The second load of gravel, 57, was spread relatively quickly and without any glitches. 

And finally, the road bond was spread by emptying the dump truck as it moved up the driveway...

...really quite a site to watch.  The guys shared that there have been times when the grade of the road was so steep that when they started to unload, the truck's front tires lifted from the road!  I wish I could have seen that, would have made a great picture, donchathink?

The last step is a final grading to make sure everything is smooth...

...and ta da!  We are very happy with the result.  I may want to widen the rounded part in front of the cabin, the part that is at the bottom of this picture...to me it looks like it would be more aesthetically pleasing if it were a little more rounded...we'll see.  For now, it is perfect just the way it is!

It's been a good day.   And it gets better (for me anyway)...they say we may get some snow tonight...probably just flurries, but I'm good with that.  Let it snow!!!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise