Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

So, there are a couple of things that we cook over and over again. This marinated chicken is one of them. It's our go-to meal of choice. Pair it with some grilled asparagus and potatoes (this time purple potatoes) and it is magnificent. We 1st ate it at our friend's house (Shawn and Jenn) and we begged them for the recipe right there and then. I've made a couple of minor adjustments but its basically the same. We always make twice as much as we need just for the AWESOME leftovers.

Grilled Chicken
The marinade is really simple
You'll need:
4 medium chicken breasts
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
3 tablespoon Ketchup
2+ cloves of Garlic peeled and crushed(I use a couple of shakes of garlic powder if I don't have any fresh)
1/4 cup Oil (canola, vegetable, or olive, I've used them all)
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
All of this is really to taste. When Chris makes it, he uses more soy and garlic. When I make it, I use more ketchup and sugar. Both ways are totally delicious and worth eating.

The night before you plan to grill, clean the chicken and place in a container with the marinade. Swish it around so everything is covered and place it in the fridge. This time I was waiting on the chicken to thaw overnight so I attempted to use the Seal-a-Meal to force marinade into the chicken about 4 hours before we grilled. Don't do this.

While it was still good, it wasn't what it could be. The chicken was flavored on the outside but the inside wasn't as moist and delicious as I wanted it to be. When done correctly, this is the juiciest chicken on the planet.

Bring the chicken to room temp about 10 minutes before you throw it on the grill. Watch the flame on the grill to make sure they breasts don't get black. The sugar in the marinade, from both the ketchup and the brown sugar, will blacken this pretty quickly if you aren't paying attention. Use a thermometer and cook on the grill until the internal temp reaches 160 degrees.

Grilled AsparagusYou'll need:
1 lb Asparagus trimmed and washed
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Couple of shakes of Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Toss the asparagus with the oil, garlic, salt, & pepper. Place on grill pan. Grill until its the tenderness that you like. Chris likes them kind of charred and wrinkly. I like them crisp tender. He controls the grill and outside cooking so you can guess how often I get them nice and green. Usually they are blackened and closer to ash. I suspect he does that so he can eat more of them.

I don't appreciate his ruse.

Yes. It is that simple. It takes about 20 seconds and if you are grilling anyway, just keep an eye on it and take it off when its as black or done as you like them. Its healthy easy food that doesn't come out of a can or a freezer.

I've wanted to try green beans this way too. That sounds totally tasty. I can't wait for farmer's market season.

Purple Smashed Potatoes

I have to hand it to the Winchester Farmers Market. That place has some cool stuff. These were so neat. I'd tasted purple potatoes at Disney's Brown Derby years ago but hadn't ever seen them in Memphis. They're sweeter than white potatoes but not nearly as sweet as sweet potatoes.

These were so small so I didn't bother cutting or peeling them. I just washed them and threw them in a pot with water.

They're done when you can easily stick a fork in them. They lighten up a bit after boiling and the water gets a bit darker than it would with white taters.

Drain them and put them in a smaller pot for the smashing. Add butter, milk and salt and you have one heck of a side dish.
Though they were cool, I wasn't a huge fan of these smashed potatoes. That being said, Chris and the kid LOVED them. They were too sweet for my liking and the skins were tougher than I wanted them to be. I kept salting them and salting them to get them to taste right but, honestly, there is really nothing really right about a purple potato.