Day 26-28

The beginning of January was going so well.  Then life started happening again!  Still...  I'm making some big improvements.

On Wednesday (the 26th), though, I wasn't feeling well.  When I got home all I could stomach was soup.  So I made possibly the worst kind but it's so good when you're sick - Lipton's chicken noodle soup from the packet.

Thursday was a complete right off during the day.  I think I only had a banana and oatmeal.  At night I got a bit of my energy and appetite back so I whipped up some chicken but it wasn't very elaborate.  I basically spread some olive oil and Epicure's Garam Masala spice on chicken breasts that had the skin on and baked them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I paired the chicken with the salad from Tuesday night and dinner was done.

Friday is a day I'm somewhat proud of.  After work I drove up to see R.  I didn't get there until 8 and I still wasn't feeling all that well.  When I arrived we couldn't decide what to eat.  R suggested Subway.  I said pizza so we didn't have to go out.  After resting a bit I decided I felt good enough to cook and scoured the cupboards to see what I could come up with.

We had shrimp... pasta... and garlic so Garlic Shrimp Pasta was an obvious choice. We did not have spaghetti, though, so we had to use macaroni.

The recipe is below.  It was quite tasty.  I thought it was going to be too runny but we added a pile of shredded parmesan in the pot and everything thickened up to coat the pasta.

I will add photos as soon as I find the cable for R's camera.

Enjoy!

Garlic Shrimp Pasta 

• Time 10 minutes
• Serves 4

Ingredients

---

• 1 Pound Spaghetti (or Linguine)
• 1 Pound Medium Shrimp, Cleaned And Deveined, And Coarsely Chopped
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup White Wine
• 3 Cloves Garlic, Finely Chopped
• 1/4 Cup Parsley
• Salt & Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes

• How to make it

  ---

  • Put the pasta on to cook.
  • While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet.
  • Add the shrimp, garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.
  • After a minute or two, as soon as the shrimp are pink and opaque, remove them from the pan.
  • Add butter and wine in the skillet and turn the heat up to medium high.
  • Cook until it has reduced by half.
  • Drain the pasta, reserving a small cup of pasta water.
  • Return the shrimp to the skillet and cook until heated through.
  • Add the parsley and mix.
  • Add the pasta, and cook another minute or two over high heat.
  • If it seems dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water.
  • Serve piping hot, garnishing with additional fresh parsley if desired.
  •    

Day 15 - Beer Can Chicken, Smashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Mmmmm!  I'm so happy we finally made it!

My mom and I started off the day right - with a 1/4 cup of oatmeal and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Then we went shopping for wedding dresses and we kind of lost track of time.  Suddenly it was 4:30 p.m. and we hadn't eaten anything else.  And after all that shopping we were too hungry to even think of taking time to make a proper dinner.

We called R to see what he felt like.  Secretly I hoped he suggested we go to the local pub for dinner.  But he didn't.  So I decided we should stop at Bridgehead on our way home to split a cheddar and tomato sandwich to hold us off for dinner.

It did the trick!  When we got home I started making dinner right away.  We already had everything we needed, I just needed to find the best guide for cooking the bird.

The recipe I decided on is below but, as usual, I did not follow it to a T.  So I'll tell you what I did.

I washed the chicken (there were no giblets inside) and then rubbed it with some oil, salt and pepper.  Then I lifted the skin from the body and put some Montreal Chicken Spice underneat the skin as well.

I have a special beer can chicken holder which I got at Canadian Tire for about $10.

I washed a can of Heineken and put it in the holder (after opening it, of course).  I poured a bit of beer in the bottom and put in slices of onion.

I put the whole thing in the oven which was preheated to 350 degrees and set the timer for 90 minutes.

While that was cooking I cut up some potatoes and put them on to boil.  When they were done I decided to make "smashed" potatoes (skins on).  I chopped up some garlic and tossed it in with butter and milk and mixed it all together.  When it was done I put a plate over the pot to keep it warm.  

Just before the chicken was done I put on some water to boil the green beans.  

The chicken looked deee-licious!  I even made gravy with the drippings under the beer can while somebody else was carving the chicken. 

Voila!  Dinner!  

The chicken was unbelievably moist!!!  You should definitely try it!

Again... I'm very happy we decided to take the time and make dinner!  I got to show my mom that I know my way around the kitchen and we had a great meal admittedly in front of the TV while watching the hockey game.

Tomorrow it's the Bridal Show... and then who knows what we'll eat!

Beer Can Chicken

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons of your favorite dry spice rub
1 can beer

For the rub:
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

To make the rub:
In a small bowl combine the rub ingredients. 

Chicken:
Remove the neck and giblets from chicken and discard them. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub chicken lightly with oil then rub inside and out with salt, pepper and the dry rub mix. Set aside.

Open beer can and empty out half of the beer. Place the beer can on a solid surface. Grabbing a chicken leg in each hand, place the bird cavity over the beer can. Straighten it out so it is solidly in place. 

Oven Baking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Carefully place the bird and beer can on a baking pan or roaster that is deep enough to catch all of the juices. Bake chicken for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until juices run clear as indicated above.

Makes 4 to 6 servings. 

Day 10 - Yellow Curry

No roast chicken... again.

They actually had them at the store tonight but I found out I have to go into work really early tomorrow so there just wasn't time to make the chicken, eat it and get a good night's sleep!!

The normal me would have just made more of the pesto pizza with some potato soup.  That is one of my worst habits.  I get groceries and then eat the same thing for every meal until I'm done.

I forgot to mention one thing about the pizzas: you can throw the pitas in the freezer and when you need something last minute just make the pizza on a frozen pita and it heats up while it's in the oven.  Plus you can throw whatever you want on it!

Instead, I decided to make one of the meals I was going to make with the leftover chicken - yellow curry!

It's a recipe I picked up from a good friend and it's one of my favourites.  Plus it's very very easy!

All you need is:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Onion
1 Can Coconut milk
Thai Kitchen Yellow Curry Paste (to taste)
Vegetables
Rice

I am not going to say what vegetables you should put it in because I tend to just use up whatever is in the house.  Tonight I added mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, tomatoes, and cabbage.  I have never put cabbage in it before but it ended up being quite good.  One thing I have used in the past but didn't have tonight is a can of diced tomatoes.  If you put that in you will need to boil it down a little.

Here's what you do:

Chop the chicken breasts into chunks.

In a pan heat some oil and add onions, chicken and mushrooms.  Cook until the chicken is done.

Add vegetables as you see fit in terms of cooking time (I added the snowpeas and cabbage at the very end so they didn't over cook).

Pour in a bit of the coconut milk.  Add curry paste to the coconut milk and whisk with a fork to break up the chunks.  Tonight I added four teaspoons and it wasn't super spicy.  You kind of have to figure out what you like in terms of spice.  Pour the mixture into the pan.  This is also where you would add the tomatoes if you had them.

Boil everything for a few minutes.

When it's done put some rice on your plate and top with the curry.  Don't forget to spoon some of the sauce onto the rice it's the best part!

I love lots of vegetables in my meals so I just pile them in but I'm pretty sure when my friend made the dish initially it was just chicken, onions and maybe snow peas.

Thai Kitchens has a red and green curry past as well but the yellow is by far my favourite.  Don't take my word for it though!  Try them all and find your own fav!

I had a couple of friends (two golden retrievers) at my feet as I cooked so when I was done I gave them a taste of the rice and sauce.  I wasn't sure if it would be spicy but they lapped it up.  I'm not sure they're the best critics though, they tend to eat pretty much anything I put in front of them!!

One thing about all of this cooking ... it creates a lot of dishes!  I have never had so many things to clean.  At the same time there is a lot of time to clean up while dinner is cooking so I suppose there is no excuse.  Have I complained about this already?

I promise I'll start making some more recipes from books, magazines and web sites.  I am just trying to get over the laziness that makes me not want to cook before I start to tackle really big tasks.

One request - does anyone have a good apple pie recipe??