Thursday, March 21, 2013

You can bake it!!

A co-worker of mine asked me a simple question that got me to thinking, "Are you going to bake it or fry it?" This was a question about not just any food, but the all time favorite American staple: bacon!
"We are talking about the same type of bacon right? The one that comes from pigs?"
She wasn't lying. "Sure! Just pop it into the oven at 400*F for about ten to twenty minutes. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, place a cooling rack on it and place your bacon on the cooling rack."

Now why didn't I think of that before? No flipping the bacon either! And if you spray the cooling rack before putting the bacon on it, it will slide off easy when finished baking.

Now who is up for baked bacon? I've tried and tested this two times now with success on both occasions.


Before


and after! 

And here is a shot of Nathan's cat wanting attention. It was the only empty chair in the kitchen. 


As you can see, Nathan was reaching over to get a piece of bacon off my plate while I snapped this one.  

Monday, March 4, 2013

How to Make Chicken Soup when You Are Sick


And your husband does not cook and you know you would rather eat soup all week than something that comes out of a fast food restaurant when your leftovers are all gone.

This morning I slept in (8:00). Nathan made me coffee and called the library to tell them I was in bed and very sick. What a sweetie. He told me he wanted to go to Fatz and buy me enough soup to last me a week. I had made him a huge stockpot full of soup two weeks ago when he was sick and miserable. He told me it had been a lifesaver for his poor and swollen throat. So now I am the one sick and I would rather not spend money on Fatz soup even though I know it would be a big help. This is my method of making soup while I am still miserable and it helps every now and then to get up out of the recliner; at least it reduces the amounts of aching I feel than when I am inactive for too long.

Ingredients:
*A package each of boneless skinless chicken thighs and breasts
*Two pots
*2 boxes of Chicken broth
*Carrots
*Noodles
*2 garlic cloves
*Salt & Pepper to flavor
*Olive Oil

First, start with a huge stockpot and fill it halfway with water. Get this pot ready to boil and in another smaller pot, boil your chicken.

Go rest. Yes, that is right. It will take a while for both pots to boil, so take a timer and set it for 15  to 20 minutes and go rest! When it dings, go check the pots. For the chicken pot you will want to lower the temperature so that it does not boil over.

Second, while you are in the kitchen, cut up just two or three carrots, because you will not have the energy to do any more.

Now go rest again for 20 minutes more.

Third, when the timer is done, go chop some chicken.

Now rest again.

Chop some more chicken and a carrot if you are nearly done with the chicken. Hopefully the chicken will be so tender that you can just slice each piece against the grain in two or three slices each and then pull apart shreds with the grain. This is how I usually chop BL/SL chicken breasts and thighs anyway.

When you have had all you can handle at this point, go rest some more. The timer is only to help you not fall asleep, creating a disaster in the kitchen (like having the pots boils down and then burn everything in the pot and ruin dinner).

You are almost done! Chop the rest of the chicken, if there are any left, or the rest of the carrots, and pour in a package of noodles, the boxes of chicken broth, and bash two garlic cloves with the flat of your carrot chopping knife (I use a chef's knife). Just plop those cloves into the pot. You can extract them when you see them later or eat them whole because you know they are really good for the flu/cold.

Last step, I promise! Stir in a splash of olive oil. It helps keep the bottom sinkers from sticking to the pot and burning. This seems to work well for my stainless steel pots.

Now cover the pot, reduce to lowest heat setting, and go rest as long as you want. When you have finished eating your dinner portions, simply put the entire pot in your fridge (if it is a large enough fridge) and scoop out portions from this pot all week until you get the volume down to the size of your largest storage container.

Enjoy!