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Dinner was GREAT

I seasoned the sh*t out of some extra thick chicken breast. I had them seasoned and sitting in plastic in the frig for at least 5 hours. Then I cooked them for about 12 minutes on BROIL in a cast iron skillet with the lid on. They were nice and juicy.

Then I cooked some stuffing. I didn't make it how my mom makes it, with 10 loaves of cornbread and 30 pounds of turkey gizzards. Naw, I cheated or at least did the semi-Martha Stewart way. *chuckle* I started with a package of stuffing mix. Cut up an onion and celery. Then sauted them in TONS of butter and added some chicken broth. Right before I put it all into the oven I stirred in about a cup of dried cranberries. It was yummy.

For my veggies, I made this sweetened carrot dish. I first saw one of my uncles ex wives do it way back in the day. I cut up, length wise, about 4 large carrots. Placed them in a sauce pot with about 1/2 cup water, brown rice syrup, turbinado sugar, and butter. Let them cook until carrots were tender and viola.

Then I topped the whole meal off with some homemade butter milk biscuts. I'm starting to get really good a making biscuts. They're so easy and simple to make. Plus they are so good. Those are probably the BIGGEST hits. *chuckle*

So for dinner I make chicken breast, stuffing with cranberries, sweet carrots and butter milk biscuts. Oh and lets not forget the white cake I made from scratch and the white icing to go with it. The icing was in a box (can't have "from scratch" all the time).

The DOD and the Mr. were totally happy. Tomororw may be a pizza night - it depends on how I feel when I wake up.

Cooking Creativity

Lately I've been having this creative thing going on in my kitchen. I'm totally cooking by "feel" as in, intuitively knowing what spices work together, what things are complementary, etc. It feels so much like artistry. I LOVE it. I had no idea that you could truly be creative when it came to the foods you cooked.

I was always one to follow a recipe, exactly. And if it didn't turn out the right way, I wasn't always sure as to why. Now, if I have a recipe, I can intuit what I can add to it that will work well. I now usually know what went wrong if it didn't quite turn out the way I envisioned. It's a great feeling. I love being creative in the kitchen. I think my family appreciates it as well.

Like the other day, I baked some fillet of sole. I wanted to do something different but I wasn't sure what. I knew what I didn't want to do and that was make Curried Fish, again. And I didn't want to fry it either. So I got this idea (not sure if I saw it somewhere or what) to use the tangerines and oranges that were just sitting in my refrigerator not being eaten. So I thought I'll marinate the fish with the tangerines. So I got about 6 tangerines and the 1 orange that was left. Halved those and squeezed the juice form them, being careful to dump the seeds. I then added a "baby" teaspoon of some raw honey. Since the juice was cold the honey wasn't stirring properly so I had to heat the tangerine/orange juice mix and honey in the oven for about 2 minutes (I was using a glass mixing bowel so it was okay).

Next I added some All Purpose dried herbs, about a palm full, some Mediterranean salt mix, pepper, a pinch of 5 Spice Powder, and Ginger Powder. I mixed it well to incorporate everything. Placed the fish in a plastic bag and added the mixture. Zipped up the bag and placed it in the frig until I was ready to bake it in the oven. It probably sat in the frig for at least 3 hours.

Well I baked it for no more than 20 minutes. And if I tell you I don't even know what that dayum fish tasted like - Why? Because my finicky and picky eater children and my wishy-washy hubby INHALED all of that fish. By the time I came down stairs, it was GONE. *chuckle* So I'm saying all this to say, I had no real idea of how it was going to turn out. It was all instinctual. And the fact that I didn't even get a taste, let's me know how yummy it truly was. Of course I'm going to have to duplicate that sauce and be sure to eat some of the fish hot from the oven.

Next, maybe I'll talk about how I jazzed up an organic chocolate box cake with home made frosting and a new spin on "wet" ingredients. Well at least a new spin for me. I'm telling you, I'm loving this new found creativity I'm having. It's truly wonderful.