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Tag Archives: Cooking


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Test Kitchen

My sweetheart loves to cook. LOVES it. And he’s very very good at it, too.IMG_0147

The man is a grill guru, a smoker swami, and an oven oracle. Really, he’s good.

He also loves to experiment. He gets ideas in his head for various things he’d like to try out, then he researches his ideas before planning to execute them. This is the man who, before I met him, created his own TurDucKin (turkey, duck, chicken for those of you unfamiliar with this bizarre culinary concept). He tells me it was way more work than it was worth. I could have saved him the time, had I known him.

One of his recent successes was cilantro-lime rice, similar to the rice that’s served at Chipolte. With this recipe, you actually use a lot more water than usual and end up draining the rice at the end. Who knew that would work? It did, though, and it was wonderful.

His new project is cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving. He’s made this recipe for the past two years, and while the flavor is excellent, the texture is problematic. The first year it was sort of blobby. Delicious, but weird on the tongue. Last year he cooked it in a shallower dish, and it turned out more like a casserole. Again, delicious, but not quite right. He’s still at it, puttering away in the kitchen looking for the solution. He will perfect this recipe, it’s just a matter of time.

I dare not go into the kitchen, it might interrupt his flow. There’s a grocery store roast-chicken waiting in the fridge to join this test stuffing (doing both in one day would require an effort similar to Thanksgiving, and we’re not ready for that quite yet). The house is starting to smell good, and I’m starting to get hungry. Cross your fingers that this experiment works out. It would be great to have the “perfect” stuffing on Thanksgiving.


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When Life Gives You Chicken, Make Chicken Salad

skinless-chicken-breast-filletsThe grocery store had a sale on chicken breast, so naturally I stocked up. It didn’t even occur to me that the package weighed roughly the same as a cinder block, it was a good deal, and it looked fresh. I was sold.

I dusted off my go-to cookbook, Saving Dinner, and flipped to the dog-eared, stock-stained page with the garlic lime chicken recipe. I measured and mixed up the spices, then got to work cutting up the chicken breast, my own variation on the original recipe. There sure was a lot of chicken, but no worries, I would simply cook it in two batches.

It wasn’t until the second batch was in the pan that it dawned on me that I should have doubled the spices. Duh. Regardless, it turned out fine, and there were zero complaints at the dinner table. Still, I was disappointed.

The next day at lunch I choked down some leftover chicken, tasting regret with each bite. I silently berated myself for my oversight, taking my penance in the form of bland chicken. It was a bleak moment.

Sadly, the regret only intensified several hours later as I steeled myself to prepare dinner. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t eat that sorry chicken for a third meal in a row, but I couldn’t throw it out either. There was nothing technically wrong with it, it just wasn’t quite right.

kalepesto3That’s when inspiration hit, in the form of a tub of pesto. What if I cut the chicken into very small pieces and added some mayo? What if I mixed some pesto into that? What if I made pesto chicken salad? I didn’t have any bread, but I did have fresh spinach and romaine. Yes!

I mixed up the chicken salad and was surprised by how good it tasted. My teenage son not only devoured it, he asked me to add it to the list of recipes to make again. The combination of the chicken salad and the greens was perfect, and the pesto brought out the best of that formerly sorry on-sale chicken.

Redemption was mine that night, won with the help of a few spoonsful of pesto and a glob of mayo. Who would have thought that condiments would become my heroes, but in this case, they truly did save the day.


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The Pinterest Vortex

imagesI have sort of an on-again, off-again relationship with Pinterest. I mostly love it, but if I’m not careful it can easily get out of hand. Here are my Pinterest pros and cons, in no particular order.

Pros

1. It’s a delight for the eyes. Most of the images are beautifully photographed and just looking at them is a treat.

2. I learn things. Mostly things that I may never ever use, but if someday I need them, I’ll know where to search for the information. It will be on my “clean it, fix it, do it” board, of course. Either that or the “I ought to” board, but that one’s mainly health and fitness.

3. I actually use ideas from Pinterest in my classroom. I especially like the anchor charts that so many teachers labor over for hours and graciously share. I replicate them in my own, streamlined fashion, and use them to teach and reinforce concepts. Thank you Pinterest teachers!

4. I get inspired. After seeing 800 excellent ideas for decorating a yard for Halloween, I’m more likely to get off my duff and actually put out my lights. It may not be Pinterest worthy, but it’s done.

5. I armchair travel. I like that my feed is full of all sorts of things chosen for me by others (with my input). I love seeing beautiful gardens, stunning wild animals, and interesting architecture from around the world. It’s like flipping through a magazine of all my favorite things and never getting to the last page.

6. The quilts! I love quilts but I find myself making fewer of them, as other things have gotten in the way, and there are still only 24 hours to each day. By admiring others quilts I still feel connected to what is going on in the quilting world, without the expense of dozens of magazine subscriptions or regular shopping trips to all the wonderful quilt shops.

7. The blogs! I have found so many excellent blogs as a result of following pins to their origin. This is both a blessing and a curse. Which brings me to…

The cons

1. The blogs! There are too many and I could spend hours and hours reading them. I love them! Well, a lot of them anyway. Too bad I don’t have unlimited free time, or I would devour far more of them than I already do.

2. I get hungry. So many pins are of delicious looking food, so my tummy starts to rumble and my brain tells me I’m hungry, even if I’m not.

3. Pin envy. I try not to do it, but sometimes it happens anyway. Kitchens and bathrooms seem to be the worst offenders for me, but other things can trigger it too. At first my negativity was directed to the crazy PinLadies, who apparently had nothing but unlimited time and budgets on their hands to make everything, then gush about how their perfect family so appreciated their efforts. Really? Screw you. Then I woke up and realized that anyone posting that kind of stuff was either delusional or lying to herself or living the dream and should be congratulated, not envied. Now I just envy pretty rooms that are already done and therefore no longer involve contractors, mess, or money.

4. The time suck factor. It feels like just five minutes have gone by, but really it’s fifty-five. Then it’s hard to stop. I usually tell myself that I’ll just pin 5 more items, then I have to move on. It mostly works.

5. Virtual hoarding. That’s what I’ve heard it called, and I believe it’s true. If anyone were to ask me WHY I gather all those pins, what would I say? So I can make an anchor chart? Well, no, I can search that information in just a few seconds, I don’t need to pin it. So I can cook? As if I actually use the recipes I pin. For all the housekeeping tips? Hardly. I’m happy when I get around to running the vacuum. So why? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just like them. Spoken like a true hoarder.

Still, I stand by my earlier claim. I mostly love Pinterest, and it mostly loves me back. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to search up some dessert pins.