More than Dinner

Well.


It's just too difficult to document every meal I make for Ethan. I DO cook dinner for him most nights, and I enjoy it. But the pressure of photographing the stages of every meal... I can't take it!! I don't know why I thought that would be a good idea. (Yes I do, because I was so shocked by my own domestic skills that I decided to document them.)


Tonight, I didn't cook for Ethan. Earlier this week, I found a little stash of forgotten gift cards, including an Applebee's gift card that Paw gave us for Christmas. And today I called Applebee's take-out, and "got" Ethan a steak/mashed taters/grilled veggies dinner.


He was delighted to have a ready-made dinner waiting for him.


Then after he had finished, I didn't believe what he said...

He said, "Your steaks are a lot better than that one." I know a lot of people consider home-cooked food superior to restaurants, but generally I think that restaurants are experts at what they do, and usually do it really well. So this was a huge compliment! I usually just rub olive oil, salt, & pepper on the steaks and let them sit for a while - half an hour or so - then heat a skillet to "Hi" and sear the steak for 2 minutes on each side. Then I turn it down to medium until the steak looks ready. I'm not very precise about the second stage. When in doubt, I make a cut in the middle to make sure it's not bloody. I also have rubbed French's mustard on both sides of the steak (in addition to the olive oil) before searing it. It is pretty good!

Fresh Basil... and "Basil Cream Chicken"

Here is a picture of my very first fresh cut herb: Basil!

I found this basil plant at Whole Foods last week, on sale from local growers. It looked so pretty (bright green and full!) that I bought it for its sheer beauty and doorstep decorativeness. I told Mom about it, and she said, "Oh good! You can cook with fresh basil now." I thought "Huh? How do you cook with fresh plants?" But then today I found a recipe from allrecipes.com that calls for lots of fresh chopped basil. I cooked it tonight and we loved it!

www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basil-Cream-Chicken/Detail.aspx

part 1 ingredients:

1/4 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 lb or a bit more chicken breasts, butter for pan;

part 2 ingredients:

1/2 cup chicken broth, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 4 oz. jar sliced pimento peppers (drained), 1/4 cup fresh basil (chopped), dash black pepper

Part 1:

Use two bowls - one for milk, one for breadcrumbs. Dip each piece of chicken in milk and then crumbs. Heat pan with butter (I also used olive oil). "Fry" the breasts in a little butter/oil until cooked through. Remove from skillet.

Part 2: Pour the broth into the "used" skillet. Bring to a boil, then add the cream, pimentos, basil, and black pepper. Simmer until ready to serve.

Pour the sauce over the chicken to serve. I also served it with noodles.