"Recipe" Time...

OK, I can barely call these recipes. I freely admit that when I get in the kitchen, I look at what I have and bluff. Fortunately, that often results in yummy food. My most recent bluffs:

Last night's Chicken.
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about a pound)*
1 Shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice*
1 tablespoon olive oil*
4 small sprigs fresh rosemary*, chopped

I keep fresh rosemary growing on my window sill. I peeled off 4 little sprigs... about 10-12 leaves, and roughly chopped them with my knife. The liquid measures of lemon juice & olive oil are guesstimates; I swirled in olive oil to go with the butter, and squirted in some prepared lemon juice from one of those plastic lemons. And while I used chicken breasts, you can certainly use tenderloins or thighs or whatever meat works for you. I imagine this would go well with pork or a nice whitefish, too. Shallots are usually near the onions... they're sort of the cousin of garlic & onions... they're more like onions than garlic, but they're small and they've got a little different flavor.

Cook everything BUT the chicken until the butter is melted (you want the flavor of the aromatics (all those herbs and the juice and stuff) to mix before adding the chicken). Add the chicken, cook covered on low heat, turning until chicken is cooked through. (Actually, John did the actual cooking; I'd bought a huge package of chicken and was splitting the boneless breast halves and then separating the big package into sizes we'd actually use.)

This was super easy and took little if any extra seasoning. :D

SOS & Taco Meat.
You get these together because they started together.
I browned a pound of ground sirloin & a pound of turkey breakfast sausage with some fresh cracked black pepper and cumin (maybe a 1/2 tablespoon? each). This was way more meat than I needed for my SOS, so I pulled out a storage bowl. Into the bowl went more cumin, chili powder, some boutique "Trail Dust Seasoning" (himtnjerky.com), and just the barest hint of cayenne, and a little more pepper... just stuff that made it smell "taco-y" When the meat was browned, I drained it off and put half of it in with the seasoning and shook to coat. Will use the taco meat tonight in nachos or tacos or some similar application of tortillas, meat, & cheese. The SOS was continued by adding 3 cups of water to the pan I'd cooked the meat in & bringing to a boil. I mixed 1.5 cups of pioneer country gravy mix with 1 cup of milk until blended and then added this to the boiling water. I peppered to taste (my tastes are less peppered than John's, and more than the gravy comes, so probably a tablespoon or 2) and then added the remaining meat. Mix well & serve over toast. This still left enough SOS to serve over toast (or potatoes) for another meal for the two of us... so John may have that for lunch tomorrow, or maybe I'll take some for lunch.


Cooking is only as hard as you make it. If you can figure out what things will pair well (watching other cooks helps you learn that) then you can add flavor as you subtract fat and make yummy food.

It's worth noting I couldn't give you nutritional values for any of this. Anyone who wants to look them up and report back is welcome to.