My friend Andrea Gee recently told me about this chicken thigh recipe that she made and her family really liked. I was glad she shared the recipe with me as it is easy to make and delicious. I did, of course, halve all of the ingredients with good success. It also freezes and reheats well.
I have been spending some time sorting through the huge pile of recipes that I have clipped from magazines and I came across this orange cranberry loaf recipe. I altered it some and made muffins instead of the two loaves suggested. I also used lemon juice and zest as I didn’t have oranges on hand. My apples were fairly small so I used two of them. I chopped one and shredded the other. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen cranberries, but I only had dried ones so I simply soaked them in warm water for a half hour then drained them well. I mixed together a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and white sugar and sprinkled it over the top before baking them. I baked them at 350 for 20 minutes and let them cool 5 minutes in the pan before moving to a wire rack. I did try one when it was still warm and really liked it. It is definitely a recipe that I would make again. I left it plain without butter, but the recipe suggested that you could toast the loaf slices and spread them with cream cheese or butter.
I also saw this recipe for cinnamon coffee bread and although I haven’t tried it does look good. I recently made chocolate muffins and used brewed coffee instead of the water or milk that was suggested and I thought the flavour was great.
Acts of Kindness: My granddaughter’s friend Colton changed a couple of light bulbs and a high clock for me. A stranger returned both mine and another shopper’s cart to the store for us.
Andrea’s Chicken Thighs
- 8 chicken thighs
- Olive oil
- 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. onion powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. paprika
Preheat oven to 400. Don’t remove the skin from the chicken. Rub both sides of the chicken with olive oil. Stir the seasonings together well and rub some over each side of the thighs. Put onto a lightly sprayed baking pan and bake for 35 minutes or until internal temperature is 165 degrees.
Cinnamon Coffee Bread
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp. finely ground coffee
- 4 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 cans of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 1 Tbsp. milk
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a Bundt pan with oil or coat with butter. Combine the sugar, coffee, and cinnamon in a bowl. Halve the rolls and roll each piece into a ball. Put the melted butter in a dish and roll the balls in it. Then roll into the sugar mixture to coat. Arrange in the Bundt pan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes and then invert onto a plate. Whisk the icing sugar and milk together until smooth and drizzle it over the warm bread.
Cranberry Orange Loaf
- 2 ¾ cups flour
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup orange juice
- 3 Tbsp. oil
- 2 or 3 tsp. grated orange zest
- 2 cups chopped cranberries
- 1 large apple
Preheat oven to 350. Peel and chop the apple. Combine all of the dry ingredients. Whisk the egg, milk, orange juice, oil, and zest until blended. Stir in the dry ingredients until just blended together. Fold in the cranberries and apple.
Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans and putting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
HINT: If your tomato sauce is too spicy, stir a tiny bit of baking soda into it.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Always remember that you are someone’s motivation and inspiration.
