Thirty Minute Meals?

Yesterday I made Rachael Ray's Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breasts.
They are quite delicious and they are relatively inexpensive to make, but they sure took more than 1/2 an hour.

I sometimes start dinner during commercials on the Food Network in late afternoon. It gets me in the mood.  I  drained the thawed spinach (am I the only one who thinks this is a yucky task?) Peeled and quartered the scallion and smashed the garlic.  Brushed off the mushrooms.  Got out the rest of the ingredients.  Sauteed everything, let it cool a few minutes and dumped it into the food processor.  So far so good.  Had to mix in the spinach and the cheeses, and that took longer than expected.  Messing with the admittedly tasty and healthy spinach IS a pain.

Then came another icky task.  Pounding the chicken. I decided to use waxed paper rather than ruin a zip-locked bag.  Big mistake.  The paper kept tearing and again, I had produced a sticky yucky mess.  I piled big blobs of stuffing on the now pounded breasts and used the toothpicks to seal after rolling.  Again, this was not a slam-dunk procedure. 

Browned the breasts and decided they were so big that they needed a bit of baking, too.   After that was completed, I made the sauce, fairly easy with good browned bits on the bottom.  Added the breasts back to the sauce, debated parsley or no parsley, decided NO, and served em up with garlic bread (home made) and fresh carrots and asparagus.  By now, you are probably thinking: "hmmmm, sounds like more than half and hour, and indeed, it was probably closer to an hour, and with the sides probably an hour and a half.

It was delicious, and I have enough for tonight, except I'll have to cook fresh veggies.  Woman's  work, or better stated, cook's work is never done.   These, by the way, are company worthy.  Just allow more than twenty minutes unless you are unchallenged by frozen spinach and the pounding thin of bulky chicken breasts.  so

Bad Habits of 2008 + My Shabby Little Secret

O.K., so I've been working out during the new year, but not one, but two new habits are gaining ground and it's so annoying.

1) TV Watching

2) Eating after dinner

For years, I barely watched anything. Lost? The Wire? American Idol? Never seen nuthin.'
Last summer I began watching the Glen Close legal series on Fox, Damages, and was hooked. Didn't miss a single one. Fox was pushing Nip/Tuck which I always thought was a reality series. Not so. Loved the ads and the music and started watching Nip/Tuck. It's sick, it's vapid, dammit,it's addictive. I've missed a few, but basically I'm now a Nip/Tuck watcher. Love the Jerry David show, Curb Y0ur Enthusiasm --I laugh like an idiot. It's so weird but I identify with him. My shabby little secret.

What else? The food channel. I read that people hated Rachel Ray, so I had to find out why. Watched her program. Hey, they're wrong! She's fun, she's perky, she cooks dinner in half an hour. What's not to like? I love the Barefoot Contessa, the southern lady, practically homemade or whatever it's called, love Emeril, and Gaia. Have you noticed the cleavage and no one ever wears an apron or splashes or splatters or absentmindedly wipes her hands on her butt, forgetting momentarily she isn't wearing jeans? Love the Food Channel. I watch it while ironing or if I feel like lying down for a nap, which thank god, is one bad habit I haven't adopted.

This eating after dinner. I know where it comes from. Comes from eating a #%^^&**diet dinner, and then about 9:30 the munchies arrive. A substantial solid high cal dinner would never do that. You rub your stomach and groan. First I nip into the cookies, just one, then the chocolate, a small piece, then the nuts--way too many. Hell, I should have had mashed potatoes and gravy.

So I am also watching public TV and the History Channel and the last 30 minutes of whatever movie is on--tonight it was Married To the Mob and always a hoot. In short I am becoming an indiscriminate viewer. Like the Miami Crime Scene Investigation. But then I always liked Miami Vice. Vice is good in Miami, not so good in Boston.

The rains came and the thunder just rolled and Annie the Cat took off out her her rocking chair and ran under something. Today is Friday, remember, Cat Blog Day, and so a mention is O.K. Thisbe has been coming into the home office all week, and Annie chases her out.

Still no bean dip at Roche Bros., but I was vocally lamenting lack and a fellow shopper said, "Stop and Stop" has it, and everyone else has stopped carrying it, so I need to get some before The Big Game. Last night I even watched a Super Bowl program on HBO. I mean, really.

Writers will do anything to avoid writing. But I can't believe I'm watching TV. But now I'm writing. Blog doesn't count. Blogging is what we do to avoid the NOVEL. For shame.

Bye