Some Kinda Crazy Chicken & Rice Thing

Minimal housecleaning was accomplished today. And by minimal, I mean however much would keep it from being "none." I did get dinner accomplished, though, and that makes 3 nights in a row of home-cooking for my family (we had leftovers of Husband's Delight Casserole last night), and lately? That's saying something.

I started with a Spanish Chicken And Rice recipe, sent to me via Twitter by Angella. I started out only intending to change the white rice to brown rice, but that required pre-cooking of the brown rice, which in turn required altering the amount of liquid in the recipe, which I think changed the acid balance of the recipe, requiring lime juice, which made the whole thing cry out for additional spices. To cut to the chase, I'm just going to print what I made, instead of the original plus my changes. You may want to stick with the original. I'm not sure what I'd call this, but it wound up having a much more Mexican flavor to me than Spanish, but it was still good, and while it wasn't a hit with Bella due to the bell peppers and onions, Alex went back for a second helping, and I liked it.

Not-Quite-Spanish Chicken & Rice Skillet

3 cups cooked brown rice, cooked in stock (chicken, turkey, vegetable)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 chicken breast halves
2 Tbsp chopped or minced garlic (I used jarred, pre-chopped)
1 medium onion, chopped coarsely (I used chopped, frozen onions & peppers)
1 bell pepper, sliced (I used a tri-color medley)
1/2 cup white cooking wine
1 14-oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 bag frozen peas & carrots
Kosher salt & coarse-ground pepper to taste
Ground cumin to taste
Paprika to taste
Juice of one lime, or to taste

Got the brown rice cooking first--Alex does NOT like brown rice, so I have to cook the fool out of it for him to accept it. I cooked mine in some gorgeous turkey stock* that I made a couple of months ago out of this guy, and a bit of a new butter blend that I really like. While that was simmering, I started the chicken in the skillet.

I heated the skillet, and then the olive oil, to just a tick over medium heat, and placed the salted and peppered breast halves to sear in the skillet on both sides, then lowered the heat a bit, covered the skillet, and allowed the chicken to cook through a bit more.

I added the onion and peppers, which, I am not at ALL ashamed to admit, came from this frozen package.

I am not much about cleaning and chopping on weeknights, you know? These frozen bags of "recipe starters" are genius, and I'm going to be chopping and freezing some of the sweet Vidalia onions that are in season right now, for just such use in the future. I also cheated on the garlic, using jarred, minced garlic. Sue me. Chopping is for chumps.

Once the onion and peppers had softened up, I added the white cooking wine, diced tomatoes, rice, salt, and pepper. The lid went on that and it continued to simmer for 20 minutes.

Next came the frozen peas and carrots.

While those were steaming and heating through, I used two forks to pull apart the chicken breast halves, then added lime juice, ground cumin, paprika, and stirred it all well and let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so. And it was good.

*Everyone has their own method of making stock, and my way is just one of many, but I must say, I had ZERO issues with this stock turning cloudy or retaining fat in the broth--I have a freezer full of it, and it's just deep golden, clear, and lovely. This is all I did: When Alex was done filleting all the meat off the turkey, I took the frame (back, neck, wings), cut it into pieces small enough to fit in my giant Crock-Pot, and covered it with water. I added onion, celery, and carrots, and left the whole thing to cook very, very slowly all day long. I turned the heat up for the first couple of hours, just to get the frame cooked, but then dialed it down to low for 10 hours or so. When it was done, I rapid-cooled the whole crock in a sinkfull of ice-water, then filtered the liquid through a coffee filter into freezer bags for storage.

The Beginning Of Organization, And...Just YUM.

I've got to start posting here again, because ever since I stopped, things have really gone downhill around the house. Apparently I need some accountability. I've tried, repeatedly, to pin down the cycle of despair, to find a starting point--you know how it goes: You can't get one area, like cooking healthy meals, in order, because the kitchen is a mess, and you don't have time to clean the kitchen because the laundry is backed up, and you can't put the laundry away because the closets are a mess, and you can't deal with the closets because the bedroom is a wreck, etc. What? Oh, that's just me? Well, so be it. It ends here. Or maybe I go down in flames--we shall see what we see.

Since everything is so interconnected, I finally just bit the bullet and chose an arbitrary place to start, and that place is meal planning and preparation. I have a week's worth of dinners and lunches planned and ingredients stocked, and the next natural step is cleaning and organizing the kitchen...again, we'll see. Bella and I have tomorrow to work on that, and I WILL be posting progress here. I'll also be regularly reporting on what we're cooking/eating, and the recipes we use, starting with tonight's dinner, which was SO YUMMY.

Last night, I put out a call on Twitter for "your go-to after-work meal," and got several great responses, most of which were quick, creative one-dish meals. This one came from Jenny (who adapted it from an old cookbook) at We're Not In Kansas Any More, Toto (she totally IS in Kansas), and she calls it "Husband's Delight." I'm printing her recipe as she sent it to me, with my minor modifications in parentheses. My changes in no way made the dish any better than Jenny's version, just slightly different.

Husband's Delight Casserole:
one bag large egg noodles - 12 or 16oz. (I used "dumpling" style noodles)
2lbs ground beef (I used ground venison)
1can tomato sauce
1 tsp. sugar (I forgot this)
salt, pepper, etc.
1 can diced tomatoes, plain or Rotel-style, according to personal taste (I omitted this)
1 bunch chopped green onions--the bulb end

16oz. (2 cups) sour cream (I used reduced-fat)
8oz. (1 cup) cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel)
other end of the green onions, chopped (I whirled the chives in food processor)
shredded cheese (I used about 2 cups of RF sharp cheddar & a sprinkle of parmesan)

Boil pasta. At same time, start the ground meat and chopped onions in a skillet. Brown, drain, return to skillet, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt & pepper, and whatever else you like to season.

Separately, mix up the sour cream, cream cheese, and green onions. When the ground meat mixture is cooked and has simmered for 10 minutes or so, start layering noodles, ground meat, and then cream mixture into two casserole dishes that have been sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. You can probably fit two full layers. As the final layer add the shredded cheese. Pop it into the oven at 350 or so for 15-20 min or until cheese is melted on top. Since it makes two casseroles, you can freeze one for later or give to someone else. If you freeze it, it's best to not add the cheese until read to cook.

My changes: I used ground venison because we had some on hand and it is extremely lean. I left out the diced tomatoes and just used tomato sauce instead, because everyone in my family, myself included, picks out chunks of tomatoes in any dish. I know, we're freaks. I also added garlic to the meat mixture, because venison, being so incredibly lean, does need a little "boost" in flavor.

Bella made the sour cream sauce, and pronounced it "super-delicious," which it totally was. I chose Neufchatel instead of cream cheese because it's softer even when cold, and lower in fat than cream cheese. I whirled the chives in my Magic Bullet for about 2 seconds, so that more of the chive-y goodness would be released into the sour cream sauce.

Instead of making two casseroles (which this recipe absolutely would make), I used my giant deep-dish casserole and just made one big whopping double-decker one, with a layer of shredded cheese in the middle as well as on top. I froze half of it after cooking, and saved the portion we didn't eat tonight for leftovers tomorrow. It's a LOT of food. I served it with green beans, and it was a hearty, hearty meal.

While I do like the lasagna-type presentation of layering the ingredients, it's a little fussy to assemble that way when you're pressed for time, so when I make this dish again (and I WILL make it again, because, as I said: YUM), I will probably mix everything together, including most of the shredded cheese, before putting it into the casserole dish to bake--I'll likely mix the sharp cheddar into the dish, and top it with a sprinkling of shredded Parmesan.

ADDENDUM: Jenny writes to say that she has tried preparing the dish as I describe in the above paragraph, mixing it all together, and that it monkeys with the texture of the sour cream sauce. So you're probably best off making it AS DIRECTED. I'm a hardhead, so will probably try it the other way at least once, and wind up emailing Jenny to say, "Hey, remember when you said not to do that, and I did it anyway? YOU WERE RIGHT." Because that's how I roll.

Slow-Cooked Venison With Cheesey Polenta

We have a freezer full of venison from the deer Alex got last November, and I was not much looking forward to consuming any of it, my past experience with venison being less than wonderful. But all day long today, the crock-pot was bubbling away, filling the house with delicious aromas, so I couldn't help but give it a try. Also? MY husband made polenta. CHEESY polenta. Which worked with this roast so well, I couldn't believe it. Here's how he did it.

The first key, I think, was the cut of meat--what I ate was a small filet of tenderloin. Imagine the leanest filet mignon you've ever seen. Alex also prepared some other cut, which I did not like nearly as well, though he thought it was pretty good (bear in mind, he also likes foie gras), in the same manner. He started by marinating the steaks and the roast overnight in dark beer. The next morning, he layered carrots and onions in the bottom of the Crock-Pot. Then he salted and peppered the meat, and seared each cut in olive oil on a hot skillet 'til browned on each side. The roast and steaks went into the Crock-Pot over the chopped vegetables.

Over the top of the meat, he poured equal parts red cooking wine and beef broth, to which diced tomatoes and minced garlic were added. This cooked for a little over 5 hours on the high setting of the Crock-Pot.

When the meat was done cooking, he whipped up a batch of fresh polenta (which we should totally do more often, because a serving of polenta has about 70 calories, NO fat, and 1 gram of fiber), and doctored it up with just a little parm/reggiano cheese. Our roast and veggies were served on a bed of the cheesy polenta, with sauce from the roast spooned over the top.

IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. I highly recommend this for those of you who've had negative venison experiences. There was zero gamey flavor, and if I say that, you can believe me. Again, I preferred the filet, but the other cuts weren't so bad, either. Just not DELICIOUS, like what I had. Yum. I may let him go hunting again next year, after all.

Just Ticked Off

Would that I were comfortable with stronger language, because it's warranted. I'm just angry. Sick, tired, and pissed off.

I'm angry that my home is a shambles, once again...and apparently until the end of time. That my young daughter already notices the differences between this home and others, and knows that THIS is wrong. I'm royally pissed off at myself for not pulling my head out and FIXING it, and at everyone else for not caring enough to HELP. I don't understand how the rest of the world can get up, take care of family, go to work, come home, take care of family, clean the entire freaking house so that it's at least in some kind of order, go to bed, then get up the next morning after too little sleep and do it all over again. I don't understand why I CAN'T KEEP UP. I don't understand why I seem to be expected to do it by myself, either, but that's a personal thing I'm pissed off about right now.

I'm sad and disappointed about my weight and health and how out of shape I am, and discouraged at how very long it's going to take me to get THAT mess straightened out. At least I'm making some progress in that arena, at least so far. I just finished my third week of Weight Watchers. Again. Woo-HOO, right? Right. I've done well (I know, for this WHOLE THREE WEEKS), but I'd be more pumped if it wasn't a dang life sentence. I had my baby just over 5 years ago, and I weigh what I weighed at that point, which is the last time I started WW.

Yeah, not much with the stick-to-it-iveness. I couldn't even keep this project going, could I? And obviously, I need to, because when I was journaling here, and reading comments here, I felt less alone, and I WAS getting things done, albeit tiny things. Right now, even the tiny things feel beyond me.

So, I don't know what's next. I may share some recipes and things, but I don't want this to turn into a weight-loss blog, because jumpin' cats, those are boring. But if I find ways to turn out good meals that are actually healthy, I'll share.

I'll have to tell you about the powdered peanut butter I discovered, at the very least.

The "Stuff" of Dressing

Also? Gordon Ramsay TOTALLY validated my approach to cooking a turkey on FOX-NY News tonight, which is to cook it in pieces, rest the meat before carving, and do the carving "backstage" and serve with sauce made from deglazing the roasting pan. We're going to be eating elsewhere, and the turkey is already cooked, but I have a lovely breast/rib turkey roast thawing that I'm going to roast here this weekend.

Anyway, here's the components of the dressing we made this year. Finished product won't be baked until tomorrow. If it's a hit, I'll dig up a link to the recipe. Click the picture for more.

Surely I Can Accomplish This In One Day

Planning My Onslaught On The Grocery Store

What, you're not? Listen, you need to. Tomorrow is THE day. Even if you're not a coupon-clipper (and just don't tell me, if you're not, because it would cause me to weep), the grocery sales right now, they are fierce, and include probably the widest variety and largest number of items than at any other time of the year. And the beauty part is that much of what you can get on sale now can be stored for some time, and used later. The rest of my life may be in a shambles (yes, STILL), but this? This, I can do. Here are some things you can be on the lookout for good deals on between now and Thanksgiving--I have coupons for all of them, but even if you don't (*sob*), they're still on store sale most places:

*Frozen or fresh turkeys and chickens. Who says you can only cook a turkey at Thanksgiving? If you follow Barbara Kafka's roasting directions, you can do a big bird in two hours. Now is also a great time to buy roasting/baking hens, and turkey breast roasts (those are fantastic--they're still on the bone, with skin, but it's just the breast and rib meat). Buy them fresh and freeze them, or buy them frozen. Or, heck, buy them fresh, take them home, roast 'em, and debone and freeze all that great cooked meat, then boil up the bones for a rich stock, and freeze it, too!
*Fruit. Fresh, frozen, and canned. Some fruit freezes, some doesn't, but lots of flash-frozen fruit is on sale right now because people use it in pies and chutneys/sauces. Stock up. You'll wish you had some cranberries in late February, and think, "Why didn't I listen to Belinda?"
*Nuts. No, I'm not calling you names. Nuts of all kinds are on sale right now, both pre-packaged, and in bulk in the produce section. And they're normally pretty expensive, so why not get them now, even if you don't need them? They freeze VERY well--in fact, I store nuts in the freezer as a matter of course, to keep the oils in them fresh.
*Dairy products. Milk and cheese freeze, people.
*Canned broth and cream soups. These are on SERIOUS markdown right now, and armed with my coupons, if I don't bring home a sackful for free, I'll be disappointed. Like canned tomatoes, you just can't have too much canned broth or "cream of" soups, especially now that cream soups are available in low-fat, low-sodium varieties.
*Baking supplies. ALL baking supplies. Think big, here. I'm not talking about just flour and sugar, but spices, vegetable oil, pie filling (canned fruit), frozen pie crusts, chocolate, condensed milk, EVERYTHING. The whole aisle is on sale NOW. If you have room, store flour in an airtight container in your freezer.
*Bread. Again, bread freezes well.
*Root/bulb vegetables, i.e. sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, etc. Store these just right, and you can keep quite a few on hand.
*Dried grains/legumes, i.e. all kind of rice, dehydrated potato flakes, beans, barley, lentils.
*Cereals, especially the ones used for snacks like Chex Mix and Rice-Krispie Treats.
*Snacks. Not that YOU will eat them, but you know, your guests might be wanting to graze on dips and chips and crackers and cheese-balls and stuff.
*Sodas. But don't drink sodas. They're bad. Evil. I don't even know why I said sodas. Forget I did that.
*Dish detergent and cleaning supplies. Because, you know, people (ahem--SOME people) will be doing a lot of house-cleaning in preparation for houseguests.
*Kitchen supplies, i.e. paper towels, garbage bags, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, parchment paper, wax paper, etc.
*Toilet paper. Really.
*And in what I consider a stroke of marketing genius, ANTACIDS. Pepcid, TUMS, Pepto-Bismol, Mylanta, everything. See also: Immodium.

So yeah, hit the store for whatever's on your Thanksgiving list, but for stuff that keeps a while, freezes, or can be stored indefinitely, STOCK UP, Baby!

I'll report back with what I hope will be my tale of cutting a wide swath through the stores, leaving checkout clerks exhausted and store managers weeping. I also have some recipes I need to post that are based on using leftovers from roasted chicken or turkey.

Meanwhile, my home? A wreck. Thank you.

By the way, do we need to have The Coupon Talk? You should really only be paying for about half of your groceries, if that.