Chicken with sweet potato
peel and dice 1 large sweet potato per person
dice pre-cooked chicken
line pan with foil
425 oven
mix all ingredients with olive oil and tbs curry powder of your choice. I use McCormick’s. Or vindaloo. Or…
Cook semi-covered for 20 min
Chicken mushroom white pasta
6 big crimini mushrooms sliced.
Garlic 1 T.
Pre-done chicken bits
Enough pasta—spaghetti, fettucini, farfalle, take your pick.
in skillet, real butter and olive oil: mushrooms and chicken, with little dusting of nutmeg, very slight.
cook about 10-20 minutes until browning.
Add Classico white alfredo sauce or heavy cream, cook till warm,
serve over pasta with grated parmesan.
Ummm, that looks good.
Use pre-cooked chicken in both. Or cook it til done before starting.
I cut the sweetpotato in squares about .5″ on a side. Be careful! Sweet potato is not easy to cut: use a sharp knife and keep your fingers out of the way, because when it goes, it goes quickly. A cutting board and 8″ chef’s knife are advised. Peel the sweet potato. Slice it in half-inch slices, then safely dice the slices.
On the second, I slice the mushrooms in mushroom-shaped slices, ie, the decorative way, sideview.
When I find mushrooms on sale at the market, I’ll sometime buy them, slice them, and brown them, then stash them in the freezer for future use.
I really like cavatappi pasta. Very nice “chew” and hold sauces well.
We often have big boxes (20#) of chicken legs go on sale here; the price per pound will drop to .75 or less, so into the chest freezer they go. They are great for feeding herds of people, but we frequently have a pound or two of leftover cooked chicken, which will return to the freezer if it doesn’t get eaten in a day or two.
One day I was making a recipe that called for Alfredo sauce, which coincided with the leftover chicken. I shredded the leftover chicken, mixed it with the remaining Alfredo sauce, and portioned it out for 2 people into freezer containers. Bam! instant Chicken Alfredo, just defrost and make the pasta of your choice.
I also make great chicken pot pie from those same blocks of frozen chicken, just boil the chicken and discard the skin and bones. The resultant chicken broth goes back into the pot pie filling along with the chicken, and the skimmed chicken fat is used for the pie crusts.
off the food topic, but nice mention: http://io9.gizmodo.com/feast-your-eyes-on-all-the-science-fiction-and-fantasy-1793874472
Now I wish I’d bought sweet potatoes…. 😀 (However, I need to use the 2 or 3 small potatoes I have, so they, a little garlic, and some celery and bell pepper, may go with the chicken I’d baked the other day. I have a small amount of very nice broth from that to use also. I cooked a small pot of frijoles negros (black beans) yesterday, but I need to fix some veggies, so I think that tells me what I’ll do.
I’m not such a fan of mushrooms, but once in a while, they hit the spot. I’m still replenishing my pantry; former pantry and spices are still stuck in storage, under whatever else. (Grumble.) I might have a can of spinach. Can’t recall if I bought frozen yet. To bad I don’t have something else more leafy that could go with some Alfredo sauce and chicken. (I just got the Alfredo sauce today! 😉 )
I did not get the poké bowl ingredients, but that’s definitely on a future list. I did get sy sauce, a few other spices, and avocados and lime juice. Heh. (I can make a basic guacamole, if I don’t scarf down the avocados first.) — I did not locate the Thai sweet chili sauce, sigh. I like it in moderation with chicken or pork sometimes.
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I got several things done, but ran out of time, so the trip around the complex to get mail and packages is for tomorrow definitely. I’ll find out tomorrow if it takes my new setup (change of address, etc.; the annoyance of first versus middle name) for the rent, utilities, and fees. f not, I’ll fix it fast!
My Spanish textbook and dictionary, my French Lit Survey textbook (in French) and my big Larousse, and several key Cherryh books have made it to my new abode, but other lang ref texts and Cherryh books and other SF&F and novels are, alas, still in storage. Also the BJD crew. — But finding things as I go through is a neat surprise, especially when, “Hey, I haven’t seen that in months, years! Cool!”
A surprise housewarming gift should have arrived in the mail I’ll pick up tomorrow. Looking forward to whatever it is!
Oh, and next Friday, all day long, I have an appointment to do an assessment to get me placed for what refresher mobility and adaptive vision training I need now. This entails a verbal history, personal life, school and professional, work, hobbies, what needs I have, what is difficult for me, emotional and possibly cognitive fitness, and vision aids and work skills. This is something I had long ago in high school or early college, and requested again, along with mobility orientation refresher. This is a very good step toward help and refresher or new training.
I haven’t heard back from my eye doctor, so will call Monday, to get going urgently on retinal specialist appt. and then cataract surgery, as I noe more difficult and frustration lately. It’s getting really in my way, and now I want to do something about it, since I have funds, and worry after about the govt. paperwork. Got to do this before I lose more ability, so they can save my sight.
Then the following Monday, the 10th, I have a dental appt to see what’s going on in there, likely clean my teeth, likely medicate, and then later do whatever is needed, which will be extensive, any way you look at it. My left jaw, upper and lower, are bothering me, so it’s a good thing I can start taking care of it again. Looking forward to the results, not the appt. itself. Heh.
Some progress in paying off back debts and setting up for the future, but more to come next week.
Real improvement this week. Very happy about it!
The storage space looks much like that warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Heh. Crowded! Lotsa boxes. No alien stowaways I’m aware of yet!
Found out though, my former vet retired, closed his office. I am going to see if I can locate him personally, to see if he still has their records. I have a recommendation from a new friend for a local vet, to get my two cats’ annual boosters updated. So, good stuff.
May I offer one, that’s dead cheap (less than a buck?), simple, and always puts a (somewhat silly) smile on my face–I love garlic, and have 80′ of rows in the ground. I put a pot of ramen, sometimes with a wiener too, on the stove. I nuke a few (or more) cloves of garlic for 10 seconds to make them easier to peel. Peel and crush them into a largish serving bowl, add a chiffenade of a several leaves of fresh basil from a pot on the patio, or pinch of dried basil from last summer’s, and pour in a generous tablespoon of olive oil, cover with a plate and nuke on half power for 60-70 seconds to flavor the oil. When the ramen is done, pour out all but about 1T of the salty “soup”. Pour the noodles and little bit of hot water into the serving bowl, add 1-2T of grated Parmesan/Romano cheese, and stir vigorously to mix the cheese and hot water making a sauce. Pour a glass of red. Enjoy.
Success! One trip still pending. — I got mail that was left at the office, but my mailbox key (separate) doesn’t work, so now there’s a work order to replace it. This means the housewarming gift and any other envelopes to fit in an apt. mailbox (size of a p.o. box) are not in my hands yet, nor any slip to go by the post office. So, half done, mostly good. It’s been maybe a week or two, so I’m hoping that item is still good to go. Aloha!
But now I have a working (cheap) microphone until I can get to my pro mike, and the Vector Basic Training 2nd Ed. I’ve been looking forward to.
Yay, auto-pay went through fine, but the remaining pet deposit and monthly fee had not yet been posted so…it’s still due when it’s posted. I don’t mind the monthly fee, but the initial deposit is kinda steep: it’s per pet, not one for both cats. So my cats are now just as expensive as they say they are, haha. I’m still new to apt. leasing.
Funny item: You know how online photos don’t show scale very well, and you may not get sizes? I ordered a catnip mouse and some “almost ping pong” rainbow balls for the cats. I knew the balls were the same kind I can’t find locally now. I thought that was the same mousse.
I got the mouse, and…this thing is twice the size. It’s the size of a rat, but, y’know, cloth and cuter, and not so cunning or destructive. Mr. Assertive sat there and, um, drooled over it but didn’t bat it around. Mr. Non-Assertive? He gave it one or two experimental pats, looked at it like he knows it’s a toy, but when I wiggled it closer to see if we’d play? Mr Non-Assertive looked overwhelmed and … bounced out of the way and quick-walked off as if he didn’t want to tangle with that big an opponent. I am going to say he was not in the mood, rather than saying he wimped out. But, y’know…. LOL. So said mouse is sitting within their reach if they want, and I expect to get a medium-sized mouse like they like. The really small toy mice, I worry about them tearing up and eating so I avoid those.
The balls, though, should be a real hit. Goober likes to play catch with me with those, and Smokey will run interference and stab the ball, prompting Goober to steal it back. The living room and hallway floors are not carpeted, so they’ll be ideal for cat soccer.
I did not get to meet neighbors this morning: The police visited to settle a verbal domestic altercation from the last two nights. Seems the mom is tired of the boyfriend/stepdad’s issues; in particular, criticizing her kids, and whatever drinking habits he, she, or they have. Me, I don’t know them, but my sympathy’s with the (very vocal and righteously ticked off) mom on that one.
So this morning, possibly not the best time to meet those neighbors. 😮
I might get to meet other neighbors if I hear anyone again. Missed out on another set, who were around outside, because I was getting up and ready. They were busy doing car repairs, not trying to meet me.
So — Typical, not bad. Families with kids being regular folks. And wow, that pool looks good, but still kinda chilly, probably. — Heavy storms expected tonight, tomorrow, and maybe Monday, so likely no partying around the Apts tonight.
I’m liking it here. 🙂
Go to the sewing ‘notions’ [misc] section of a hobby store and find those small poof-balls that are sometimes sewn onto Christmas sweaters —they come as small as a half-inch and as large as an inch. They’re super light, totally soft, and totally battable. When we move something like a fridge, we often find a trove of them.
I can knit you a mouse-sized mouse that will be washable. (Sock yarn is good for this.)
So today is “Autism Awareness Day”. We all should know the operative word in “Autism Spectrum Disorder” is Spectrum. It runs the gamut from very severely disabled, to people that “pass” and may not even be aware they are Aspies, people with Asperger’s Syndrome.