Reality Check-Real recipes

As an avid foodie from way back when, when we used to own our own cafe in San Francisco to now just being the plain mom in the kitchen and loyal Food Network fan, there are many recipes that I have tested and tried out on my unsuspecting family and friends. And it is here that I will try occasionally to share these successful and not so successful dishes. Life would have been so much easier back when with the advent of real cooking shows and food network websites. Last year I was given a cookbook for Christmas. I love it but I was a little baffled by it. Do they still publish cookbooks? It was Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook which I love, but with the proliferation of recipe websites, who needs cookbooks? I have to admit, I love looking at the pictures, but in reality, I still head for the computer for many recipes. I still have my favorite cookbooks in my repertoire, like Martha Stewart's cookbooks and the standard, Fannie Farmer with a couple of Wolfgang Puck's thrown in. Mostly, I have tossed many cookbooks out.

One of my favorite chicken recipes comes from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. You can so tell she loves her food! Lucky husband Jeffery, he comes home on the weekends to her cooking. Ina is my favorite Food Network chef who got her start by being friends with Martha Stewart. Hum, I wonder if they're still friends? Anyway, this is an easy recipe, make the marinade in the morning and let the chicken marinade in it all day, then for dinner cook it up. Everyone will think you slaved all day! Just a small disclaimer-I do tend to just throw the ingredients together-so some times the portions might be a smidgen off, but that's the spontaneous cook in me. For me it's not a science, it's just real cooking.

Indonesian Chicken:

I usually use a 2lb package of chicken thighs (my daughter only likes dark meat)

For the marinade:

Pour 1 cup of honey and 3/4 cup of soy sauce (I use light) into a sauce pan-heat until honey is liquefied-remove from heat

Add 8 to 10 cloves of garlic chopped finely

Grate one or two toes of fresh ginger root (you know how ginger looks like toes in the grocery store?) into pan.

Place chicken in baking pan and pour marinade over chicken. Let marinade for at least 4 hours in fridge.

Preheat oven to 350, pour off some of the marinade in a small bowl for basting, cook chicken until done around 45 minutes brushing sauce over chicken.

The picture of the dish above looks much drier (from Food Network), my chicken usually comes out brown with lots of delicious sauce.

Serve with rice and vegetables-chow bella!

Single D