rave: spring has sprung

yards of dirt

the last couple days have been a little crazy.  all this warm weather had b and i scrambling to get our yard and garden prepped and ready. so monday we had yards of dirt dropped on our driveway.  then the hard work of moving all the dirt to where it was needed began.  we composted the front lawn, the front flower bed and the back flower bed with the dillo dirt and filled the two garden beds in the back with gardening soil.  a week ago, we had some guys come out and remove the shrubs in front of the house.  some of them were 50%-80% dead from the bad drought last year.  most were in horrible shape from lack of pruning.  aside from that they were starting to cover up the house.  i could literally walk out and no one would see me because they were 5 inches taller than me!  so new shrubs also went in. to say the least, we were wiped out but everything looks so much better already. so all the hard work was well worth it.  

before & after

found a couple nest of lady bugs in the empty new garden bed

backyard all filled, trimmed and composted.  ready for veggie planting!

today was another home improvement day. our plumber finally came out to repair a leak that we discovered a while back.  it's been the strangest thing and leaking under the weirdest conditions. so we're happy to get some of the problem fixed and one step closer to solving the problem. here's hoping this is the end of it and all we need to do is patch up the drywall in the garage.  

leak fixed

so with all this going on, i haven't been focusing too much on cooking.  but i've been trying to actually use some of the pins i've pinned on pinterest. so monday night i made the commitment to try smitten kitchen's buttermilk roast chicken.  i'm a loyal follower of her blog.  seriously, every recipe i've tried has been fabulous. go check it out. ok, back to the chicken.  if you love the flavor of fried chicken but want to be healthier about it, you need to make this.  and yes, marinating for at least 24 hours is worth it.  just be patient and let it sit in the fridge...you won't be sorry.

ready to back after 24 hours

once i committed to making the chicken, for the life of me i couldn't decide what to serve with the chicken.  i was too excited about the chicken. my initial though was that i should find something to do with the rest of the buttermilk in my fridge. so i started out looking for a scone recipe.  but then i saw the blue cheese scallion drop biscuit and my mouth started watering. i glanced over the recipe and saw that it also baked at the same temp as the chicken and i knew it was the perfect side.  the only problem was i didn't have blue cheese and b doesn't eat it either.  so i used what i had on hand - brie!  i was a little worried at first.  i've never made biscuits from scratch before and i'm subbing ingredients. now that i've made them, i'm not sure why i don't make them more often.  they were so quick and easy! when the oven was preheated, first in went the chicken. then 15 minutes later the biscuits joined them. another 15 minutes, both were done!

ready for baking

done

i ended up serving up a side of veg too to balance out the meal.  if i had collard greens or mustard greens they would have gone great too. it was a perfect dinner after several long days of work.  i will be making both of these recipes again very soon.


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