While uploading my pic for my last post I found pics for the last few meals leading up to the my cold (back when I was still cooking but lacking the energy to blog about it).
I shall do my best to recall how I prepared these meals from Feb 5, 6 and 7.
First up was some chicken and shell pasta stuff: dice some chicken breasts, season with S&P , garlic and onion, saute with a little olive oil, then add some rough chopped tomatoes and half a bag of frozen spinach and a can of olives, and about 2 Tbs basil, and about 1lb cooked shell pasta. It was quick and easy and made the perfect meal to eat while watching "Nanny McPhee". The kids liked it enough to want the left overs the next day for lunch.
Next up herb poached Talapia, glazed carrots, steamed peas, and mashed potatoes. I know it sounds like a lot but it goes fast. If you have everything ready that is, and can multi task. I like to make my mashed potatoes with the aid of my trusty microwave. First Scrub them clean, then chop them and put them in a large bowl with an inch or two of water and cover with a plate, use the baked potato setting on your microwave for the appropriate number of potatoes, add 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, milk to thin (you just have to eye ball this) Salt and garlic powder to taste and a nice dollop of sour cream at the end. I also use my stick (immersion) blender to do the mashing/creaming in the same bowl they were cooked in. While the potatoes were cooking in a small pot combine your carrots and a lil butter (maybe a Tbs?) a heavy dash of ground ginger, and several heafty sprinkles of dark brown sugar, and and inch or so of water for steaming. Put a lid on this and let the carrots cook till tender. I also steam the peas in the microwave when the potatoes come out, just put them in a microwave steamer or a bowl with a lil water in the bottom for a few min if thawed or up to 5 if frozen. Now for the most complicated part of the meal. In a large pan on Med-low heat fill about 1/2 way with veg oil and add what ever herbs you like (I added Marjoram, thyme, oregano, garlic and pepper) to flavor the oil. When the oil is hot you can poach the fish (just like when you poach an egg in water. This is rather delicate work and you will have to babysit the fish (which is why most everything else tonight was done in the microwave). When the fish is flaky pull out of oil and place on a towel to drain.
Last on the list of forgotten in the camera dishes is Chicken strips, saute`d mushrooms with rice and some failed fried tomatoes and spinach. I'll start with the failure and work my way up to well there really was no up for me in this meal. By this night my cough was pretty bad, supplies low, and I was pretty light headed and out of breath. DH and the kids will want to interject here with how much they like the food that came out at the end of this, but when you're wanting one thing and end up with, well MUSH it's not good. Start by slicing tomatoes that have just turned red (because you missed your window for fried green tomatoes by hours) and coat them in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, a dash of cyan) then attempt to fry them, watch them dissolve in the pan, and try to scoop them out. Repeat, because the kids think this will "taste just fine mom, it smells wonderful". Dredge chicken breast strips in same flour and fry in oil. They turn out just fine. Heat up some frozen spinach with that Ham flavor (that stuff never fails, thank goodness for small favors). Saute mushrooms in a tsp of bacon drippings from the fridge (cause you're out of butter), turns out that this actually tastes better! Steam rice in rice cooker (this was actually step one, but it does it's thing on it's own). At the last second remember that Spinach and Tomatoes taste good together and hope that when you add them together (even with the seasoned flour mush stuck onto the dissolved tomato bits) it will be edible. Put mushrooms on top of rice, slop the veg onto plat (it actually makes that kind of sound, *shudder*) and add on the chicken. Now if you don't look at it, it's not bad, with your eyes closed.
OK that's it, I feel caught up, so with that and the random finger food and take out, that's how you get through a cold at my house. Now it's off to the store for me. I hate the store, a lot. Which prolly means take out or some sort of something easy for supper tonight since I will hate my kitchen and all of it's contents in about 5 hrs.
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