So far so good: Cooking chicken a new way and another look at my stove

This won't be a long one.  I just wanted to give an update on my recent vow to cook things like meat outside of my oven when possible.

For example, when I had squash soup and a BLT sandwich on Tuesday, I cooked the bacon in a skillet on top of my stove for the first time in years.  It's simpler in the oven, but this way I can contain the splatter.

What you see here is my Dash Air Fryer; it's pretty basic, doesn't have any digital settings or displays, just a couple old school knobs.  In that bowl are two bone-in chicken thighs.

The night before, I put these thighs in a Ziploc bag with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt & pepper.  Let them marinate in my fridge overnight.

I set the dial to 375F and cooked the chicken for 12 minutes on one side, then flipped them over and cooked another 15 minutes.

I used a meat thermometer which said the bigger thigh was 170F.  They looked done to me, but...

I still felt a little nervous.  I'm not a great cook and have only cooked thighs one way, in the oven at 400F for an hour (half the time covered with foil, the other half uncovered).  So I slid these back in the air fryer for another 5 minutes.  

Here they are, plated up with some mashed potatoes and green beans.

I have to say, the chicken was delicious.  The skin was crispy perfect and the meat was juicy and tender.  I can't believe I've owned this fryer for 2-3 years and it's my first time cooking raw meat in there.

As long as we're here, I wanted to show what my oven looks like after several days of regular use.  I baked some breadsticks in there the other day, warmed up a couple slices of dinner ham too.  This past weekend I roasted some fingerling potatoes and a pan of broccoli.  Gave the oven a quick wipe down Sunday night and it's still looking shiny and new.

I've been craving a juicy meatloaf, but I think I'll hold off on that awhile longer. 😏