Simple And Quiet Words

Daily Musings Of My Life - Monster Jam 2015

09:51 Unknown 0 Comments

Earlier this month,we took the boys to Monster Jam! Aiden had an AMAZING time but it took Kyle sometime to warm up to the event. We ended up having to get him ear muffs (highly recommend) and that's when he began to enjoy himself. Food was very
overpriced (chicken fingers and french fries) and didn't taste that great. If you decide to take your kids make sure you carry a snack and a water to avoid over paying for food. Surprisingly the beer (Heineken) was delish! It was very loud, the trucks were pretty intimidating but the drivers were the coolest and your kids will love it!

Fried Chicken! Oven Fried & Traditional

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The easiest, yummiest, fried chicken you'll ever eat. All the ingredients are pretty basic and you can fry these traditionally (on the stove) or in the oven.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken leg quarters

Flour
Salt
Black Pepper
Paprika
Complete Seasoning
Sazon
Vegetable Oil or Butter

METHOD

Wash and clean your chicken.

Season with pepper, paprika, complete seasoning, and sazon.

Let your chicken marinade for at least 30 mins.

In a separate container add flour, salt, pepper, paprika.

Coat chicken in flour mixture piece by piece.

FOR TRADITIONAL

In a heavy skillet, add oi. Enough so that when you add your chicken it covers it only half way.

Do not over crowd your pan. I usually do three pieces at a time.

Cook each side 10 mins at a time.

Serve.

FOR OVEN FRIED

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large metallic baking pan add 2 table spoons of butter and then let it melt in the oven.

Place each piece of chicken in the pan and then back in the oven for 30 minutes and then turn for an additional 30 mins on the other side.

Serve.

Ackee and Saltfish

10:20 Unknown 0 Comments

This morning I made ackee and saltfish for my family for like the hundredth time for breakfast and then I noticed that I never shared how I make it. I don't add too many things that will alter the "true" taste of the food.

INGREDIENTS

1 Can of ackee (if you get fresh ackee from a tree, clean it properly and boil it until soft)

1 package of saltfish

1/2 of a tomato

1/2 of an onion

2 stalks of scallion

black pepper

(garlic powder is optional - a lot of people love it but I hate it)

1/4 tsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp stick butter

METHOD

Soak your saltfish from over night and boil it once in the morning. If you're reading this right now and want to make it right now, wash off the excess salt and boil it twice.

throw the water off and set aside to cool.

Heat your pan and oil set your stove to 4 or medium

Add onions & scallions let them cook for about a minute (do not burn)

Break up the saltfish into pieces with your fingers and add them to your pot

After a couple minutes of stirring, add your ackee

Stir and try not to crush the ackee out too much

Add black pepper, stir some more, drop in your butter, turn your stove to 2 (low) and cover with lid until butter is completely melted

Serve right away with boiled dumplings, green bananas, plantains, white rice, fried dumplings, even bread! Enjoy.

Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken

11:51 Unknown 0 Comments

Two nights ago I decided to make one of my family's faves, and that's Brown Stew Chicken. The method is similar to that of curry chicken. I added spinners to mine but that's completely optional. Brown Stew goes with literally anything on the side. Don't forget your veggies!

INGREDIENTS

Scallion

Thyme

Onion

Black Pepper

All Purpose Seasoning

Paprika

Oxtail & Stew Seasoning

Browning

Fish & Meat Sauce

Brown Sugar

Ketchup

Vegetable Oil

Potatoes

Carrots

METHOD

Wash and clean your chicken. (I use leg quarters - leg chopped in half. thigh chopped in quarters)
Season with all ingredients EXCLUDING sugar, ketchup, potatoes, carrots and oil.
Let it marinade for at least 30 mins.
In a dutch pot, heat your oil with the burner on high.
Slowly add the pieces of chicken to your pot stirring occasionally for 5 mins. so that your chicken doesn't stick.
Add enough water with the rest of the seasoning that was in the container your chicken was in, to cover the chicken in your pot.
Cover the pot, reduce your flame to a medium and let it cook for 30 mins.
After 30 mins. add your potatoes and carrots. ( I added spinners to mine as well but this is optional & is the same method as making boiled dumplings just in a smaller portion.)
Add more water if needed and cover your pot for an additional 30 mins.
After the 30 mins. add a little bit of brown sugar and ketchup (taste to see when it's to your liking) and stir.
Cover for an additional 15 mins. and then DONE!
Serve with white rice, boiled dumplings, boiled green bananas, rice & peas, fried dumplings. ... Just like curry chicken, this can go with anything.

Daily Musings Of My Life - Orlando Vaycay

11:35 Unknown 0 Comments

Over the weekend we had a mini vacation with my dad and his new family. We stayed at the Oak Plantation Resort and visited Disney's Magical Kingdom. To say the kids had a blast would be an understatement.

Happy Fathers Day!

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This year for Father's Day I wanted the boys to do something really cute and creative. I found an interview template over at Lil Luna and thought it would be an awesome idea to film the boys' answers.

They made cards from this amazing site I found called Squishy Cute Designs and "they" bought him two shirts from Forever 21.

Fred loved it and even cried a little after he watched the video.

What did you/your kids do for Father's Day?

My Mom's Baked Chicken

09:50 Unknown 0 Comments

Growing up in Jamaica Sunday dinner was the one thing I looked forward to every week. I literally only had one request and that was "chicken leg and macaroni & cheese". Naturally, as I got older and was introduced to cooking by an ex-boyfriend I just had to learn how to make the bake chicken mummy made. After a while I began to add and take away certain ingredients and made it my own.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken (I always use leg quarters but that's a personal choice)

Scallions

Thyme

Onion

Scotch Bonnet Pepper (optional)

Sweet/Bell Pepper (for garnish-optional)

Black Pepper

Paprika

All Purpose Seasoning

Fish and Meat Sauce

Barbecue Sauce

METHOD

CLEAN YOUR CHICKEN!

Season with scallions, thyme, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, black pepper, paprika, all purpose seasoning and fish & meat sauce. Rub it all together and let it marinade for a couple hours or at least 30 mins.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large baking dish line the bottom with aluminum foil and lightly grease with butter.

Place the chicken in the pan about an inch apart.

(DO NOT THROW AWAY THE JUICE AND SEASONING LEFT OVER)

Bake for 30 mins uncovered.

Turn your chicken pieces after the 30 mins and add the seasoing and juices you had saved from earlier.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 30 mins.

After the 30 mins brush on your favorite barbecue sauce on both sides of the chicken and put it back in the the over covered for an additional 10 minutes.

Garnish with bell peppers and serve your chicken with whatever sides you want. Rice, mac & cheese, mash potatoes, Hawaiian rolls, baked beans, or a combination of all!

Home Made Coleslaw and Stove Top Burgers

06:43 Unknown 0 Comments

For dinner we decided to keep it low key. I used pre-formed burger meat but if you have ground beef go ahead and use that and form them yourself. Everything was homemade except for the fries.

METHOD FOR BURGERS

Rinse the meat (unless its ground beef).

Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.

Heat your skillet and a little bit of oil over medium heat. (I used a cast iron skillet)

Place your burgers on the pan and cook 5 min on each side for medium rare

Cook an additional 5 min on each side for medium well (how we like it)

Build your burger (lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, cheese, mayo, etc.), and DONE!

INGREDIENTS FOR COLESLAW

1 Cup of mayonnaise

1/2 Cup of sugar

1/4 Cup of vinegar

METHOD FOR COLESLAW

This is literally going to be the easiest thing you'll ever make in your life! You can always purchase pre-made slaw mix from your grocery store or do like I did and shred carrots and purple cabbage.

Whisk all your ingredients together.

Refrigerate.

DONE!

ONLY USE WHAT YOU NEED for the amount of cabbage and carrots you have.

Feel free to alter your coleslaw however you like, for example, adding bell peppers or onions, substituting the vinegar for balsamic or apple cider vinegar.

credit for slaw recipe : cooks.com

Jamaican Chicken Soup

06:40 Unknown 0 Comments

This is literally the easiest thing you'll ever make. And I'll probably say this about everything I post here. Today we're going to Fred's little sister's graduation and I'm doing makeup on two faces on top of everything else so I figured I'll do the one thing I don't have to hover over constantly. And why not write a post about it in the mean time right?

INGREDIENTS

3-4 Chicken Leg Quarters

Dumpling (I'll have that recipe below)

2 Packs of Soup Mix (Because I'm not adding any pumpkin to this which you can do, along with cho-cho, corn on the cob & yam, I'm using the pumpkin flavor)

2 Medium Potatoes

2 Medium Carrots

2 stalks of Scallion

1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (red,yellow,green,orange - the color doesn't matter once it's uncut)

METHOD FOR SOUP

Wash, clean and cut up your chicken (see video below for reference).

Put the cleaned chicken in a large stock pot and fill with enough water to cover the chicken. (The more water, the more soup, less water, less soup).

Put it on the stove and set your burner to high. Let that boil for 30 mins.

While your chicken is boiling start making your dumplings. Add them to the pot. Stir your pot to prevent the dumplings from sticking.

After 30 mins go ahead and add your potatoes, carrots, (pumpkin,yam,cho-cho), scallions(beat a little with the back of a big spoon), pepper and soup mix.

Stir your pot to make sure the soup mix is properly distributed.

Cover half of your pot with its lid.

Check on it after 30 minutes stirring and testing the potatoes & carrots.

If they're done, your soup is ready! I like to leave mine for an extra 15 to 20 mins but once your potatoes are cooked you can eat!

INGREDIENTS FOR DUMPLINGS

4 cups of flour

1 1/4 teaspoons of salt

(some people like to add cornmeal to their dumplings, that is a personal choice and completely optional)

1 cup of warm water

METHOD FOR DUMPLINGS

I'll probably need to do a video for this but for now, here we go. Your hands will get messy so PLEASE make sure they are clean before you start.

In a large bowl add your dry ingredients and blend them together with your hands.

Slowly begin to add your water as you roll and knead the flour mixture into a dough.

If it gets too sticky add some more flour a little at a time. (just dip your hand into the flour)

As it begins to form, roll it out length wise and then break of palm sized balls. (pics below)

Form your balls into dumplings as best as you can and then add them to your pot of boiling water.

Stir immediately to help prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

When your dumplings start to float they're done. (about 30 minutes)

The Easiest Teriyaki Chicken

06:38 Unknown 0 Comments

For dinner I wanted to try something different. I was tired of fish and Jamaican food so I decided to look up an EASY recipe (because believe it or not, I really hate to cook) for chicken breasts using ingredients I already had here at home. The entire meal took me literally 30 mins to complete. The only thing I did different was

while still frozen, cut the breasts in half because they were very thick.
let the chicken cook in the sauce a little bit longer than the suggested time.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and if you do, leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram and let me know!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 teaspoons peeled, grated fresh ginger (from about a 1-1/2-inch piece), grated on the small holes of a box grater
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 medium scallions, thinly sliced

METHOD

Bring the soy sauce and honey to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often until the honey has completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, stir to combine, remove from the heat, and set aside.
If using chicken breasts, place them on a cutting board and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet or a frying pan to gently pound them to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut each in half so you have 4 pieces roughly the same size. (If using chicken thighs, no need to pound or cut.) Season both sides of the chicken with pepper.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat until shimmering. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook without disturbing until browned, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook the second side until browned, about 3 minutes more.
Reduce the heat to medium, slowly pour in the reserved sauce, and cook, flipping the chicken occasionally to coat in the sauce, until cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Transfer the chicken from the pan, letting the excess sauce drip off, to a clean cutting board. Reduce the sauce in the pan over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes more. Slice the chicken crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces. Place on a serving dish, top with the sauce, and sprinkle with the scallions.

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