Today is Tuesday?

We spent the past weekend at the lake doing something we never do while there. We did NOTHING but eat, read, hang out in front of the TV watching The Masters and then watching movies at night. We didn't cut a blade of grass or do any of the gozillion projects we need to do.  We actually did what we said we were going to do when we bought the place.  We simply chilled out, watched boats go by, watched tv and did I mention we ate? Too much? Including peach cobbler? And brownies?

As it turned out I stayed an additional day to meet the bug man for the monthly bug service. (Sometimes I wonder if he secretly brings bugs.) I mean the place is at the lake, there wouldn't be spiders and wasps and spiders and beetles and more spiders naturally occurring there, right? And this is before the annual spring Mayfly invasion which is going to happen and nothing can be done to prevent.  Long story shortened, I lost my Monday which is generally my organization day where I ponder the upcoming week, pencil in a rough plan and begin my week with some sort of direction. Now it is Tuesday and I am hopelessly stymied.  For some strange reason I don't function as well planning on a day that has an unnatural planning rhythm to it.

For instance, most Mondays I check the freezer and pull out whatever meats I need to thaw for the coming week.  I also inventory the refrigerator and pantry and see what needs to be used immediately and what, if anything, I need for the coming week. Then I add it to my shopping list for Wednesday when the grocery ads start.

Yesterday I inventoried the pantry and the fridge__at the lake. Then today (a day late) I started my routine of gathering things that need to be processed or cooked. Since I play by the wing and a prayer method of cooking and rarely write a plan down I began gathering the ingredients I remembered I had, tore the freezer apart looking for 2 specific thingsI had recently seen, then remembered they were in the freezer__ at the lake.  Craptastic! I had everything chopped and ready for chicken cacciatore except the 2 cups of frozen marinara in a freezer 45 minutes away. (Which is why a written plan would work so much better than relying on my faulty memory.) Punt!

One day I bought a can of pizza sauce by mistake and instead of picking up tomato sauce. (Who even knew Contadina makes pizza sauce?) It has been in the back of the pantry unused, unthought of and probably lonely so I pulled it out and used it instead.  It will either work or it won't, but for now fake cacciatore is cooked and lives in the fridge. Time will tell if it is a keeper or a coaster. (I am hoping this will be forgettable rather than regrettable)

The second pan of chicken  (Did I mention I found 14 boneless chicken thighs I bought Thursday and had  forgotten about?) was a very simple  chicken with a lemon herb olive oil emulsion poured over it, then baked. It has been sent to the freezer for another day/week/month?

And last of all is the concoction I made for dinner tonight.  Earlier today I was looking for something to do with some of the chicken thighs when I saw this.  Did I bother to actually read the recipe or even see what they put in theirs? No, I just looked at the picture, thought "thats a clever idea" and moved on.  Much later when I decided I would like to actually make it, I couldn't find it. So this is most likely not exactly like the original recipe, but it should be close enough. If you want to find it you can begin by googling "interesting things to do with boneless chicken thighs"  Maybe you will be better at finding it than I was.

               Almost Philly Cheese Steaks Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced in strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion in julienne strips
1 green pepper sliced in strips
1/2 yellow pepper sliced in strips
1 tablespoon water or chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of bread toasted (If I had buns or rolls here I would have used them)
2 tablespoons Durkee's spread
2 slices smoked gouda

Saute' the chicken strips in the olive oil until the chicken loses its color. Toss in the onions, cook and stir until they are well wilted.  Add the peppers and cook until they wilt a little.  Add the chicken broth or water, slap the lid on the pan and turn the heat down.  Let the contents steam for a few minutes.  While the chicken mix is steaming toast the bread.  Put one tablespoon of Durkee's on 2 slices.  Top each with 1/2 of the chicken mixture. Put the smoked gouda on each of the remaining slices of bread.  Run them under the broiler for a minute to melt the cheese.
Put it on top of the chicken and enjoy a nice hot supper sandwich.

It was a very tasty way to eat a sandwich, but to be honest TheHub is not thrilled with anything sandwichy for dinner.  I will do it again because it tasted good, but this will not be in our regular rotation. I say that, but it could very well become a lake house staple since eating rules are completely different and more casual there.  I guess we will see as we move into warmer weather and lake weekends are the norm.

I did have a moment of salvation tonight though.  We do not normally have dessert (except at the lake) but I had tried one tonight.  I made Rachel's (from Living Better One Day At A Time ) Chocolate Lasagne.  I did not want as much as the recipe made so I halved the recipe and it still made a very full 9x9 pan.  I think TheHub had 2 servings, large servings! By the time I thought to snag a picture of it, the dish had been ravaged but there were some serious smiles on faces.  Even Shelby, the dog, grabbed a little ground score! Try it.  It is kind of decadent and delicious all at the same time. And easy, did I mention easy?