Running like mad to stay in place
Aug. 22nd, 2007 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI enjoy being able to run errands on my bike at lunch. Really I do. I hadn't quite counted on today's lunch hour involving: 1) up to the credit union to make a deposit; 2) over to the grocery store to pick up stuff for tomorrow's picnic dinner before the play; 3) home to drop off the groceries -- more convenient than sticking them in the break room fridge and besides which it's on the way to ... 4) post office to buy stamps and mail stuff. Needless to say, lunch was consumed while working on reports. The groceries should have been fit in after getting home from the gym, but the painter called about getting started and I wanted to get the contract signed and discuss some practical details, and he thought 8pm was pushing too close to his bedtime. (And 7pm was much more convenient for walking around the house discussing bits of pruning and plant rearrangement; locations of electrical outlets; etc.) I reminded him of the unwritten stipulation in the contract that any time I uttered the words "I'll take care of that myself" he was to whap me upside the head until I came to my senses.
The picnic dinner before tomorrow's Cal Shakes play will be ... oops, time to go check on the chicken. Cold roast chicken stuffed with fruit, whole-grain salad, and fruit skewers. More specifically:
Debone a whole roasting-size chicken entirely except for the wings. Chop a handful each of dried figs and dried apricots and add a cup of raisins. Put into a microwaveable container with one cup orange juice and zap until warmed. Add ginger to taste and let sit (better to do this before you start boning the chicken). Stuff the chicken with the plumped fruit, working some into the interior of the legs. Close up the various openings with skewers and pin the legs and wings close against the body with additional skewers. Roast using your favorite chicken-roasting formula until the center of the breast is an acceptable done-poultry temperature. (I've fallen in love with slow-roasting, so I heated the oven to 400F, put the chicken in and reduced it to 300F which is actually a little less in my oven, then left it in for about two hours.) When done, transfer the chicken to your refrigerator container and remove the skewers (it should hold it's shape now without them). The advantage of the deboning process for a picnic chicken is that you can just slice it into portions without much fuss and the diners don't have to worry about greasy fingers and dealing with carcass disposal.
Mix about half a package of Lundgren's brown and wild rice mix and add an equal amount of assorted other whole grains (I added 1/4 cup each millet, black lentils, and toasted buckwheat). Cook in a rice cooker until plump and tender then fluff and let cool. Chop finely the whites of a bunch of green onions and the center of a bunch of celery (including some greens). Peel and grate a smallish daikon radish (i.e., one about the size of a large carrot). Mix in about 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning mix. Add the cooked grains and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar and mix thoroughly. The recipe in my brain includes about a cup of non-fat yogurt but I have a request to serve it on the side so it isn't added yet.
Prepare chunks of fresh pineapple, kiwi fruit, and mango. Thread on skewers. (There were also supposed to be blueberries involved, but it turned out the only skewers I had were on the large side and it just wasn't going to work.)
Intended to serve 6.
The picnic dinner before tomorrow's Cal Shakes play will be ... oops, time to go check on the chicken. Cold roast chicken stuffed with fruit, whole-grain salad, and fruit skewers. More specifically:
Debone a whole roasting-size chicken entirely except for the wings. Chop a handful each of dried figs and dried apricots and add a cup of raisins. Put into a microwaveable container with one cup orange juice and zap until warmed. Add ginger to taste and let sit (better to do this before you start boning the chicken). Stuff the chicken with the plumped fruit, working some into the interior of the legs. Close up the various openings with skewers and pin the legs and wings close against the body with additional skewers. Roast using your favorite chicken-roasting formula until the center of the breast is an acceptable done-poultry temperature. (I've fallen in love with slow-roasting, so I heated the oven to 400F, put the chicken in and reduced it to 300F which is actually a little less in my oven, then left it in for about two hours.) When done, transfer the chicken to your refrigerator container and remove the skewers (it should hold it's shape now without them). The advantage of the deboning process for a picnic chicken is that you can just slice it into portions without much fuss and the diners don't have to worry about greasy fingers and dealing with carcass disposal.
Mix about half a package of Lundgren's brown and wild rice mix and add an equal amount of assorted other whole grains (I added 1/4 cup each millet, black lentils, and toasted buckwheat). Cook in a rice cooker until plump and tender then fluff and let cool. Chop finely the whites of a bunch of green onions and the center of a bunch of celery (including some greens). Peel and grate a smallish daikon radish (i.e., one about the size of a large carrot). Mix in about 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning mix. Add the cooked grains and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar and mix thoroughly. The recipe in my brain includes about a cup of non-fat yogurt but I have a request to serve it on the side so it isn't added yet.
Prepare chunks of fresh pineapple, kiwi fruit, and mango. Thread on skewers. (There were also supposed to be blueberries involved, but it turned out the only skewers I had were on the large side and it just wasn't going to work.)
Intended to serve 6.
