After a long day of a long science week, I came home Saturday, still caffeinated and with a mind running full speed. The paper was written, the new figures saved, and the machines (yes, Old Boy is fixed!) were running. I made a list of all the things that I needed to accomplish at home, and the list was long. How to best tackle a long list? Multitask! That included getting the slow cooker to work. I found this recipe for honey garlic chicken on A Year of Slow Cooking. I broke out the 5 lbs honey bottle (bought for the original purpose of making mead earlier this year) since the sauce called for 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup honey, and 3 cloves of garlic. I modified the recipe: used chicken breasts instead of thighs, and didn't use all of the sauce. The chicken cooked quicker than 5 hours (I think it was done in about 3 hours) on low. After about 2.5 hours, I added some frozen Asian veggies to the slow cooker. Oh my! This one was a winner! I'm glad I combined the unused sauce with two other chicken breasts and put the whole thing in the freezer. On a busy weekend, I know that I can thaw the whole thing and put it in the slow cooker, and 3 hours later, BAM! Dinner's ready! And I tackled a lot of chores while the slow cooker was making me supper. On a side note, football is also a great time to fold laundry!
On Sunday, I decided to make Mauritian food - unfussy goodness. It's called Kitcheree and is made from lentils and rice. It starts with oil, onions, turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, parsley and thyme. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes (I used canned) and cook for another 5 minutes, then add sliced carrots, and lentils (we call them red lentils). Then water, lots of water. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, and then added uncooked rice and let simmer for another 45 minutes until rice is cooked (checking and adding water if needed). We often add cauliflower along with carrots and serve it with a lettuce and cucumber salad plus a simple vinaigrette. In this picture, I have a tuna "rougaille". The term "rougaille" is basically a dish that's mainly made up of tomatoes. Other ingredients are herbs, onions, garlic, sometimes ginger, salt, pepper, and sugar. Rougaille is one of my favorite foods from home. Vegetarian options include rougaille with peas or soya. Non veg options are tuna, chicken, or sausage (basically any meats, including hot dogs and Spam). While this was simmering, more things got done around the house, including recycling, gardening, and more laundry. After a quick stop by lab to get another set on, trips to Payless Shoes (unfruitful search for beach sandals ) and the recycling center, it was time to watch the Packers.
Earlier today, Tom had his committee meeting (it went really well). He had asked me to make him cookies and we chose oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Joy of Cooking. I was a bit worried because I didn't have the 3.5 cups of oatmeal but had just enough for half the recipe (who needs 48 cookies anyways? lol). It was lighter on the choc chips too. I managed to sneak in a cuteness factor in the cooking process. I had leftover butterscotch chips from Scotcheroos and used them to make initials cookies :)
This was an upgrade from the store-bought brownie mix for his lab meeting on Friday. So, if you find a good deal on cake & brownie mixes, snag a couple - they will come to your rescue!
I've also discovered a new stress symptom - insomnia, even on days when I don't drink my morning cup of coffee. Since I'm a morning person, this is definitely an issue. On my last trip to Publix, I picked up some Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea. We were introduced to this tea when we were in Boulder CO last year, and toured the Celestial Tea factory where they made everyone wear these weird hair nets:
Anyways, the new night ritual is to shut down the laptop and not think of work, dim the lights, turn down the TV volume, and sip on the herbal tea goodness. It has helped, and I'm sleeping much better. Sometimes, simple things work :)Time to shut down the laptop and start winding down.
On Sunday, I decided to make Mauritian food - unfussy goodness. It's called Kitcheree and is made from lentils and rice. It starts with oil, onions, turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, parsley and thyme. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes (I used canned) and cook for another 5 minutes, then add sliced carrots, and lentils (we call them red lentils). Then water, lots of water. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, and then added uncooked rice and let simmer for another 45 minutes until rice is cooked (checking and adding water if needed). We often add cauliflower along with carrots and serve it with a lettuce and cucumber salad plus a simple vinaigrette. In this picture, I have a tuna "rougaille". The term "rougaille" is basically a dish that's mainly made up of tomatoes. Other ingredients are herbs, onions, garlic, sometimes ginger, salt, pepper, and sugar. Rougaille is one of my favorite foods from home. Vegetarian options include rougaille with peas or soya. Non veg options are tuna, chicken, or sausage (basically any meats, including hot dogs and Spam). While this was simmering, more things got done around the house, including recycling, gardening, and more laundry. After a quick stop by lab to get another set on, trips to Payless Shoes (unfruitful search for beach sandals ) and the recycling center, it was time to watch the Packers.
This was an upgrade from the store-bought brownie mix for his lab meeting on Friday. So, if you find a good deal on cake & brownie mixes, snag a couple - they will come to your rescue!
I've also discovered a new stress symptom - insomnia, even on days when I don't drink my morning cup of coffee. Since I'm a morning person, this is definitely an issue. On my last trip to Publix, I picked up some Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea. We were introduced to this tea when we were in Boulder CO last year, and toured the Celestial Tea factory where they made everyone wear these weird hair nets:
Anyways, the new night ritual is to shut down the laptop and not think of work, dim the lights, turn down the TV volume, and sip on the herbal tea goodness. It has helped, and I'm sleeping much better. Sometimes, simple things work :)Time to shut down the laptop and start winding down.
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