Cooking, Cleaning, Clearing

Yesterday I was asked why there weren’t any recipes last week. I’d simply blathered on long enough about other things that I’d run out of room. So I hope you’re prepared for a bit of an overload about cooking this week. Or you could skip on down to the last two paragraphs...

Bobby’s Baked Chicken

1 (3 1/2#) chicken, cut up

3 Tbl Dijon mustard

1 Tbl mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, minced

Zest AND juice of 1 lime

3/4 tsp pepper

Salt to taste

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Heat oven to 400°. Rinse chicken pieces, pat dry with paper towels. Whisk together all except salt and parsley. Season the chicken with the salt. Coat chicken pieces in the dressing, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Baked until cooked through (35-40 minutes). Serve with the pan juices drizzled over and garnished with the parsley.

Now for my changes: I used four huge chicken hindquarters. They’d been on sale, and I really prefer those over the white meat. I didn’t have an open jar of mayo in the fridge and didn’t want to open one just for a tablespoon, so I used plain Greek yogurt. Of course I used more garlic, and used a press rather than mince it. I had frozen lime zest in the freezer, and used bottled juice. (I don’t normally have fresh limes on hand unless I’m planning on making margaritas.) Liking freshly ground black pepper, I went heavy on that and really light on the salt. I served it over long-grain red rice, with a side of the following salad, which Dennis didn’t even taste.

Pineapple Slaw

3 Tbl plain yogurt

1 Tbl cider vinegar

1 Tbl honey

2 Tbl lime juice

2 scallions, chopped fine

1/4 head cabbage, shredded (3 C)

1/4 pineapple, cut into 1/2” pieces

1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped

Whisk together the yogurt, vinegar, honey, and lime juice, with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the scallions, cabbage, and pineapple, tossing to coat. Fold in the cilantro just before serving.

I still had a small red cabbage from last summer’s garden, so I used that. (To keep cabbage longer, wrap them in paper towels, then store in a plastic bag in the food crisper, and check fairly often for freshness, pulling outer leaves as needed.) Fresh pineapple had been on sale, so I had one to use. I may try this salad with canned, well-drained pineapple next time. I’ll drink the reserved juice as is. My cilantro was dried (also stored in a baggie in the freezer), so I only used a couple teaspoons of that, and put it in a bit sooner so it could rehydrate. You could skip it altogether if the taste isn’t to your liking. My sprouted onion tops replaced the scallions.

I’d had a roast, with baked potatoes. Since the oven was on anyway, I baked four extra spuds so I could make this soup.

Baked Potato Soup

4-6 slices bacon, diced

5 Tbl butter

1/4 C flour

3-4 C milk

4 baked potatoes, cubed with skins on

1 carrot, shredded

2 green onions, sliced thin

1 C shredded sharp cheddar

1/2 C plain Greek yogurt

Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Brown bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels. Pour off extra grease, then melt the butter in the same pan. Whisk in the flour, then gradually add the milk, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Add the spuds, carrot, and onion. Bring just to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer. Add the rest, reserving some bacon for garnish, adding more milk if needed. Garnish with bacon, more shredded cheese, and chopped green onion.

As alluded to last week, I have managed to clean out the nesting boxes. There are now four squared-off well-constructed twiggy feathery used nests gracing our driveway. I’d also gathered up more downed tree limbs after our very windy start to last week. I was pleasantly surprised there weren’t more limbs ripped off the trees. I snap those smaller branches/limbs into smaller sticks and scatter them on the driveway. Bigger limbs will be shredded into mulch later. And I have the trimmings from my dipladenias in water, but there’s no sign of roots forming yet.

One flowerbed has been cleared of the winters accumulation of dead leaves. As I carted the tub of detritus down to my dump pile, I startled a great horned owl from his nap in the big tree near that pile. He clumsily flapped away, which startled me in turn. The cleared bed is to the north of the house, where I have several bird feeders hung. There were piles of discarded seed casings in that bed, which are mostly cleared off. The grasses alongside the bed had gotten long and shaggy, having escaped mowing and weed whacking during harvest. The dead strands were pulled off and also went into the dump pile. The birds seem to be very appreciative of my efforts and are scouring the bare ground for bugs.

I thought I had a couple of morning doves, but Dennis thinks they’re European doves, which are similar to pigeons but smaller. There was a large flock of robins here. Some will stay while some go father north. And we have a pair of white swans gracing the bird sanctuary up at the main farm. We hope this pair will stay the summer. They usually only appear in the early spring and late fall as they migrate through.