Sunday Quote notes that it’s the Dalai Lama’s birthday
Read More“If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.”
~Ray Bradbury
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs
I present to you one of my very favorite chicken crock pot recipes, one I previously shared at Novelocity.
Seriously, I’ve been making this about once a month for a few months now. My husband even requests it. This is impressive since he 1) does not like ranch dressing 2) does not eat pesto.
There’s something about the combination in this recipe, though, that is just plain savory and delicious.
This is my go-to meal when I’m on a writing deadline. It mixes up in five minutes and cooks itself over the afternoon, and produces chicken to feed us–quite happily–for days.
Modified from Picky Palate.
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 2-3 pounds, thawed or mostly thawed
- 6-8 ounce pesto jar
- 1 packet ranch dressing dry seasoning mix or 3 Tb ranch dressing mix
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch dressing (dry from the packet) and broth into crock pot. Stir gently to coat chicken and combine everything.
- Place lid on top. Cooking tip: It tends to cook in half the time you set on the crock pot, i.e., a 6-hour high setting means the chicken should be done in about 3 hours, depending on how many thighs are in there and how thawed they were to start. Leave thighs whole or chopped. (If you chop, add them into the pot again on warm for 15 minutes so they can soak up more flavor! It's also a great way to make sure they are cooked through--just chop the meat and cook on high a while more.)
These thighs are great with veggies, or in a salad, or cold out of the fridge. They also freeze wonderfully.
OM NOM NOM.
Churros and Gorgons
Links to mischief elsewhere!
At the Holy Taco Church, I posted my recipe for stuffed churro nuggets. They are fast, delicious, and a total make-ahead-for-a-party snacky dessert.
Meanwhile, I had a new story published at Every Day Fiction. “Bad Snake Day” features your typical gorgon-next-door with a misbehaving head of snakes and a blind date mere hours away.
Read MoreA Shout Out for THE GOLDEN CITY & THE SEAT OF MAGIC
Today my friend J. Kathleen Cheney’s second book is released. The Seat of Magic is pretty awesome (I read an ARC!) but I wanted to draw more attention to her first book, too. That’s where you’d want to start reading, after all! It just came out in mass market paperback, too.
For two years, Oriana Paredes has been a spy among the social elite of the Golden City, reporting back to her people, the sereia, sea folk banned from the city’s shores….
When her employer and only confidante decides to elope, Oriana agrees to accompany her to Paris. But before they can depart, the two women are abducted and left to drown. Trapped beneath the waves, Oriana survives because of her heritage, but she is forced to watch her only friend die.
Vowing vengeance, Oriana crosses paths with Duilio Ferreira—a police consultant who has been investigating the disappearance of a string of servants from the city’s wealthiest homes. Duilio also has a secret: He is a seer and his gifts have led him to Oriana.
Bound by their secrets, not trusting each other completely yet having no choice but to work together, Oriana and Duilio must expose a twisted plot of magic so dark that it could cause the very fabric of history to come undone….
Of course, I have to show the cover of The Seat of Magic as well because it’s so pretty.
If you love historical fiction with a dash of mystery and magic, do seek these books out. I’ve read some 160ish books over the past year and a half, and these are among my favorites.
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