"Jillia" is back!

If you weren't reading the blog this winter you won't know the story behind my nickname, "Jillia", so you can click HERE for a background check :)

Oh y'all don't know how good I feel to be cooking again! The two months we lived in Tucson were wonderful in all kinds of ways, but it wasn't fun being DEPRIVED of one of my most fun "hobbies"- I guess you could call it.  We lived HERE and obviously, there wasn't a kitchen so now that we have settled into our new apartment in Washington, I have been cooking up a storm! I decided not to bring my Julia Child's cookbook for the summer because I need to cook more simple and most importantly, cheaper meals. Recently, I went home for a week, and I opened up my French cookbook and went to town!  I want to share with y'all a wonderful chicken recipe that is so simple to make, rich to the taste, and elegant enough for a dinner party!

"Poulet Saute aux herbs de Provence"
"Chicken sauteed with herbs and garlic, egg yolk and butter sauce"



I followed the recipe for the most part but of course I had to make a few little "Jillia" adjustments.



You will need:

cut-up chicken
garlic
basil
butter
egg yolks
lemon
white wine
salt and pepper

I'm not going to give you many specific measurements because it all depends on how many and what kinds of pieces of chicken you have, how healthy you are trying to cook, etc. This recipe is very flexible and forgiving with the exception of the sauce.

-First, place the chicken pieces on paper towels and pat them dry. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

-Meanwhile, melt butter on medium heat. When it foams, add the chicken pieces.



-Saute the chicken until pale yellow, do not let it brown. Keep turning the chicken every few minutes for about 15 minutes.

-Then, throw in 2-3 garlic cloves unpeeled. (Just trust me.) If you LOVE garlic use more!



-Also, add a few tablespoons of chopped or "julienned" basil. Thyme is also a good addition but I didn't have any so I didn't use it.



-Turn the heat down a little bit, and cover your dish. Cook the chicken for another 15-20 minutes or until your it is just done... Really try not to overcook the chicken.



-When the chicken has been thoroughly cooked, let it rest on a plate covered with aluminum foil.



-Now we will use the browned butter, garlic, basil, lemon, egg yolks, and white wine to make the delicious hollandaise-typed sauce.

-Now that the garlic has softened, press the cloves with your spoon and the garlic will squeeze out. Discard the peel (or whatever you call the white papery part). Break up the garlic cloves with your spoon.



-Now there are going to be little brown bits that are full of flavor on the bottom of your pan from cooking the chicken. Along with adding great flavor, the white wine will help deglaze the pan.



-Pour in the wine and bring the mixture up to a boil and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half.

-Meanwhile, in another saucepan, beat 2 egg yolks (which act as a thickener for the sauce) for about a minute until they get thick and sticky. Add about a tablespoon of lemon juice and beat again.





-While whisking, slowly add in the butter-wine mixture to "temper" the egg yolks. Egg yolks are moody, they will not agree with you or the sauce if you don't do this step.



-Keep whisking until the sauce becomes thick enough to coat the spoon.

-When the sauce is done, put the chicken and the sauce back in the pan or on a pretty serving dish and top with some more basil.



And there you have it: a simple, pretty, and fabulous tasting French chicken dish!



Enjoy!

Lookin' Out the Window

When I looked on Google Maps to see the route we would be driving from Tucson, Arizona to Tri Cities, Washington, I was like, "Great, we have to drive ALL THE WAY up Nevada and it is going to be soooo boring." Boy was I wrong, it was BEAUTIFUL! The scenery and Aaron's country concerts kept me so entertained the entire 23 hour trip that I never got bored! Here are the pictures I took in chronological order.

The goal for the first day of the roadtrip was to make it to the Hoover Dam (in the daytime) on our way to Las Vegas... So we took off for the open road and I took my first picture entering the state of Nevada. You will probably see Brad and Emily in the black truck in many of these pictures. Oh, and keep in mind that most of these pictures were taken in the car which means you may have to look through the bug guts on the windshield to see the scenery... Sorry!



We saw a beautiful sunset, however it came BEFORE we could get to the Dam.





So here is what the Hoover Dam looks like at night. It was ENORMOUS.



We made it to Vegas, stayed for 2 nights, had a blast, and hit the road again!











I don't know how this picture turned out like this and I didn't make it black and white... Strange but cool!









This picture starts my favorite part of our trip. I love the Rocky Mountains!









Those mountains are near and dear to my heart.

Ok moving on... We made it to Idaho and stayed the night in Boise.



Idaho has some beautiful farmland.




Then we drove to Oregon. It was so nice to see GREEN!





And here is a sneak peak of our final destination!



I will be dedicating a post entirely to Tri Cities and our living conditions later.  Hope you enjoyed our little roadtrip in pictures!  We are currently in Salem, Oregon on an away trip so I will share pictures when we get back.

Later!

A Wonderful Week

Oh how I love being home! Don't get me wrong, traveling the country is an unbelievable opportunity and I am taking FULL advantage of it and loving every minute, but there's nothing like being at home with family and friends. Our "excuse" for flying home for the week (only 2 days for Aaron) was for Aaron's 4 month checkup with Dr. Andrews and it was very positive! He is now able to start his throwing program and he is feeling great. Granted, he has to start out barely tossing a ball but hey, you gotta start somewhere. And if everything goes smoothly, (and it may not, but we're still keeping our fingers crossed!) he will be able to throw full speed fastballs and off-speed pitches come spring training!

Aaron only got to stay home for a couple of days so we all made the most of his (and our) short time here... A cookout with some of our best family friends was how we spent the one full night Aaron was home. We have had many many get-togethers on this pier.





There was a lot of food eaten, pictures taken, and definitely a lot of laughs.









The mommas!



Bri did a photoshoot of me and Court. I just love this girl.



It's hard for us to take pictures because we're always laughing so hard.









The boys...



The camera did not agree with the dim light but the sunset was beautiful despite all the clouds.





We all had so much fun catching up and laughing... We are blessed with such special friends!

Aaron and had to leave on Friday headed back to Washington and he has "tossed" twice and feels great. Yay!

Meanwhile, Mom, Dad, Court, and I headed to my Papaw's cabin to "jerk a perch" as Papaw says! It is one of the most beautiful places to get away for some peace and quiet... not to mention, the bass fishing is amazing! Last summer I caught one that weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz WITHOUT eggs.



This was the lure we were using most of the time... It did pretty good.



See?





The turtles love to "sun".



Mom's new camera is REALLY fun to play with!



We like to fish in style... we loved the colors so we decided we needed a picture of them.



Saturday afternoon we all decided to go on a 32 mile bike ride (it sounds much harder than it really is).



This is after the bike ride. You can't tell very well but we were covered in dirt and rain... and my face is a tad flushed. It was a challenging workout I must say.



We had so much fun fishin', relaxing, and eating at the cabin.

Sunday we celebrated Fathers Day and Monday we celebrated Dad's birthday. We missed Julie and Jessica -they are off at camp- but I was glad that he at least had one daughter home for both days. I decided to go to work with Dad and I got to watch one of his many surgeries of the day. I've watched several different ones in the past but I have never seen him do a "total knee" (basically a knee replacement) before. It was fascinating. He's explained it to me several times before but to actually see it in person was quite a thrill. I kept asking myself why I never went into nursing? For some reason, spit grosses me out more than blood, fatty tissue, and the sawing off of bones. I literally saw a fragment of a femur fly across the room... I hope you're not about to eat lunch or supper! :) But anyways, here's a picture with me and the birthday boy.



Also, Mom and I made a delicious supper for Dad. Here we are in action.





We made tuna steaks with lump crab meat and hollandaise on top, roasted asparagus, and tomato pie.



And Julia Child's chocolate cake!



It was delish.



And the little honey bunnies will be glad to finally have "their" bed back. They love to take over my room when I'm not home.



Meet Rocky...



and Rudy... They are sweet brothers.



They looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I needed my bed back.



Rocky told me to talk to his paw because he wasn't listenin.



I love him anyway though :)

This week has been amazing and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The only bad things about being home were that my sisters couldn't be home and 5 days was really not enough time. But I'm so thankful that I even got to come home at all! I didn't get to record everything in pictures but I did my best! Tomorrow I get to fly for FOURTEEN HOURS across the country and it will all be worth it because I get to see this "studmuffin" waiting for me at the airport when I arrive.



Well once again, thank you for hangin' in there with me and my LOONNGG posts.