slow cooking without the cooker

My Nanny (my mom's mother) used to call hot summer days "a cooker." I can still hear her Long Island accent saying, "it's a cook-uh." It reminds me of days taking the ten minute drive from her brown-shingled house on Wildflower Lane to Jones Beach, where we would toss old bread to the sea gulls, hurry over the hot sand, and play in the surf.

Anyway, it's the sort of day in which one does NOT want to use the oven, even with the luxury of central air. I'm also having a sort of "day off" from housework, as I'm dealing with mastitis, yet again. It seems I'm more prone to that when I'm stressed and busy, which I was this weekend.

All that to say, I'm officially Not Allowed to do housework and I simply must rest every time the baby does. I think blogging probably falls under the resting category, yes?

Tonight's menu is slow-cooked, pulled BBQ chicken...without getting the whole big slow cooker dirty. (Besides, it's in the attic, and I'm not going up there. Not in the heat.)

Be amazed.

I took out one chicken breast for the hubby and myself, and I sliced it into rounds about a half inch thick. I then heated about 2T canola oil in a skillet, and added the chicken. I cooked it until it was no longer pink, and then squirted my favorite barbecue sauce on top of each round. I added a bit of water, turned the heat to low, covered the skillet, and left it.

Three hours later, the chicken is sooo tender, deliciously seasoned, and ready for dinner! Hooray!

Crispy Caesar Chicken

Tonight was the first night this week that I actually had time to cook. Well, besides Sunday night. I guess I only skipped Monday, but it felt like a long time!

I tried something new tonight and I made up a baked chicken dish I wanted to share with you. The chicken came out wonderfully tender and moist - mmm!

I had mine with a fresh green salad and whole wheat toast with plum jam. Delicious!

Crispy Caesar Chicken - a Linnea original

2 chicken breasts, butterflied into 3/4" thick pieces and cut into portions
1/3 c. Marie's Creamy Caesar dressing
1/2 c. Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with cooking spray.

Pour dressing into a shallow bowl, and pour breadcrumbs onto a plate. Coat each piece of chicken in dressing first, and then in breadcrumbs. Place each piece of chicken on the baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, turn each piece of chicken over, and then bake for about 14 minutes more.

Enjoy!!

an hour of super

Last night, I arrived at my house at 5:25pm with a plan: make dinner and go back to school for rehearsal. And the plan actually happened as planned.

This is an account of the hour of super.

I fed the cats and petted them as I walked in. I allowed myself time to actually use the bathroom (it had been a busy day), and then to the kitchen I went. First, I put water on to boil for making rice. I squished a clove of garlic into the water with my garlic press. I preheated my oven to 400 and took the chicken drumsticks out of the fridge. I greased my glass 8"x8" pan and arranged the chicken in it - all to one side. I cut up half an onion and arranged those on top of the chicken. I found the whole carrots and sliced them lengthwise into sticks, and they went on the opposite side. Lesson in quick cooking: use pre-made sauces.

I pulled out the Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, and smothered the chicken and onions in it. Next, I got out the creamy Caesar dressing and drizzled the carrots with it. I topped those with some Italian bread crumbs and put the whole pan into the oven.

Then, I turned around to my boiling pot of water and added brown rice.

Here comes the most super of parts.

I realized that there were two overripe bananas on the counter, and I was immediately inspired to make banana bread. Well, muffins. Out came the Betty Crocker cookbook, and I began. Oil, reduced amount of milk, eggs - wait, there are no eggs in this house because I'm a grad student who doesn't have time to shop for groceries. Literally. No. Time.

Is there a recipe for banana muffins without eggs? (I wondered this to myself, going over to my laptop.) There is!! I found it here. I'll also post for you what I did, because, as you know, I don't follow directions very well in recipes.

Banana Muffins Without Milk or Eggs (amazing, I know!)
1/2 c. shortening (I used Crisco)
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 smashed overripe bananas
1/3 c. chocolate chips (I used Nestle's dark chocolate chips)

First, cream the shortening and sugar. Add the vanilla. Mix in the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. The dough will be rather stiff at this point. Add the smashed bananas - it should look better now! Spoon into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Watch carefully.

The muffins came out dense, moist, and fabulous. I discovered that parchment paper can be used to sub for paper cupcake liners - effective.

Also, my dinner was done in sufficient time for me to eat it. Win.

And I was on time for rehearsal.

Feeling (momentarily) super.

a culinary success day

It's pretty fabulous what a Crock Pot can do...

This morning's festivities began at 8:31am and included cutting up russet potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. These were layered in the bottom of my trusty Crock Pot, followed by a quickly de-giblet-ed and rinsed whole chicken. (Thanks my dear husband who got groceries last night!) I sprinkled on salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence...mmm.... and added 3 cups of water and a can of cream of mushroom soup. The soup was probably unnecessary, but I wasn't really thinking about it at that point, since I had to be out the door at 8:50, firm. I set the cooker for eight hours on low, tossed some salad greens into a tupperware, grabbed salad dressing, and took off for school.

The day at school was rather stressful - we've added another destination to our choir tour, and I'm responsible for contacting people and helping to make all the necessary arrangements. There are a lot of details to figure out! I'm working on a very detailed itinerary, getting hotel quotes, and finding activities for our free day in Florida (celebrate! warm weather sounds amazing right now). I also realized that I had done the wrong reading assignment for my Theory class - it's nice to work ahead, but I certainly didn't mean to, and now I'm scrambling to finish for tomorrow's class. My final task of the day was to finish the entrance counseling for the school loan we're planning to take. The loan process is rather detailed and scary. It's frustrating to have to go into an experience where the "helpers" are only interested in making money off of me. I really hope we get to take the education tax credit again this year...

The hubby has been working extra long hours, too. It's a special challenge to be able to relate well when we're both stressed and tired. I hope tonight is a beautiful, relaxing ten minutes together before we fall asleep.

Anyway, I came home to a house that smelled absolutely delicious. Mmm! Good thing I had a granola bar at school, or I would have been ravenous. I love the way that slow-cooked chicken just falls right off the bone! I separated the chicken, veggies, and broth into separate containers so that I could make sure there were no bone pieces in anything. It sure is an oily job, but I'm glad I did it. I'm hoping to make soup with the broth sometime later this week, and there's enough chicken for all sorts of fabulous meals. Ideas, anyone?

I also took out some frozen pumpkin and made a pie (surprise!). I guess I thought the crust I had made would be big enough, but I ended up having to dump some of the filling into my smallest French White dish. Oh, well. No one minds a bit of pumpkin custard, right? It's a souffle! (a yummy souffle...I couldn't resist.)
Both turned out well...

And here's my cute Oscar-cat to finish the post. Have a good night!