Later than usual, but still here. Getting back on track sometimes depends on finding the track first lol

I made Coconut Chicken with Apricot Sauce from Seeded At The Table but changed things up a bit with the recipe AND the method. As written:

1 egg
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 400*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Lightly beat the egg in a medium bowl; set aside. Mix the coconut, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Working with one chicken breast at a time, dip the chicken in the bowl with the beaten egg and then coat with the coconut mixture. Place on the baking sheet. Once all chicken breasts are coated and on the baking sheet, evenly drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, flipping once halfway.

To prepare the apricot sauce, mix the apricot preserves and the Dijon mustard in a small bowl. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Freezer Friendly: After baking the chicken, let cool completely then freeze in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. To reheat, bake in a preheated oven at 400?F for 20 minutes.

And now the changes I made:

boneless/skinless thighs instead of breasts. Thighs are significantly easier on the budget than breasts are, and have more flavor.

butter got melted in the pan while I prepped the thighs, and it was 3/4 stick (and still too much).

duck sauce instead of apricot marmalade. I was hoping the stronger flavor of the duck sauce would hold up to the flavor of the thighs.

As you can see, I didn’t use parchment paper. I was hoping the dark pan would help produce a delightfully crispy crust. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It’s quite tasty without the duck sauce/mustard combo.

As a matter of fact, I’d kinda prefer we never discussed the sauce again. The first few bites were a wonderous flavor explosion. Then THE SWEETNESS started hammering my palate and I very nearly didn’t finish my chicken. Turns out I either need to use unsweetened coconut or make my own (unsweetened) apricot puree – the two together are simply too much for me.

Still, this was a good solid recipe that’s going to be added to the rotation.

Writing exercises are fun things. Except when the assignment is “pick one thing that makes you happy/one thing that peeves you” and you can’t adequately answer.

There’s this thing that makes me happy. It’s a great big blazing yellow ball in the sky, and its presence has made me realize that I need to make myself a full-spectrum light fixture…SOMEwhere in the house. Probably my closet…

No, the irony is not lost on me. Promise.

The sad thing is that I couldn’t really figure out why I was “slumped” and how to “unslump” myself (many many thanks to Dr. Seuss.) The thought never occurred to me until it happened.

The sun came out. It had been behind a cloud for AN ETERNITY.

My spirits lifted. I had energy, I wanted to clean, wash/fold/hang ALL.THE.THINGS. Oh and let’s not forget cook. I wanted to cook THINGS. Not just grilled cheese. Or fish tenders. Curries and salads and crackers.

There’s this thing that peeves me. I love words. ADORE them.

Words with Friends? I will sm00sh you.

Spelling and editing?

Need The Perfect Word to describe something? I’ve got you there too.

Haiku? yep.

Advice? Oh honey I’ve SO got you there.

Need me to produce 500 words on [your topic of choice here]? *record scratch*

And I don’t know why. My brain just takes off and leaves me grasping at distractions.

AND then I wonder if it’s important that I know why. Just write, blurt it out and edit it later.

I get frustrated with myself. So very very frustrated.

I made my own hula hoops, and you can too. EASY PEASY.

First, go to the plumbing aisle and pick up one connector for each hoop you’re going to make. I’m making three hoops, so I now have three freakyweird finger protectors…

Then? forget to take a picture of the coil of polybutylene pipe that you’ll need. If your hardware store doesn’t carry it, see if they carry the tubing used for drip irrigation. Also? Make sure that the connectors you pick up are the same diameter as the tubing.

I made a circle of tubing up to my waist and it was too small. My next hoop will be armpit-high. If *that* isn’t big enough, I CLEARLY need to do something other than hoop…

Insert the connector into one end of the tubing

Pour in your noisemaking weight stuffs

Work the ends together (You may need to warm up the ends to help them flex. You can use a hairdryer or hot water (if you’re REALLY careful!!!) )

[And then when you're editing the pictures for this post, realize that the pants make you look like you've more bits than you really do and chunk them in the "donate" pile]

Ideally, you will have worked both ends of the tubing together before taping. I was in a hurry to get back inside and didn’t bother.

Once you wrap the tape around the connection it’s time to make it purty. Except the purty part didn’t actually happen with this hoop. See also: in a hurry to get back inside.

NOTHING!!!

Except that I had to take the stuffing out of all the sofa pillows and wash each batch of stuffing individually because I tried to wash the pillows and they didn’t get totally clean OR totally dry and stunk to high heavens and now I need to go buy zippers because I’m so totally NOT going to seam-rip every 3-6 months when they need cleaning again.

Except that I made a hula hoop (post coming, pinky sweah) but it’s too small for me and The Youngest decided it’s his.

Except that it’s been really REALLY too cold to get out and play in the dirt, so The Garden is still a concept in my mind.

See? NOTHING.

First, go to the hardware store.

Cooking in the dark is just a bad idea all the way ’round, y’all.

Actually, that’s a bit backwards. First, call the plumber. Then run to the store. Then while you’re AT the store, take a call from your panicked daughter because THE PLUMBER IS HEEEEEERE WHATDOIDOOOOO??!!??

Or maybe that’s just me. Okay, it IS me.

Moving right along…

Assemble together 1 1/2 C mayo, 16 oz of cheese (I mixed 8 oz extra sharp with 8 oz of sharp – I like it tangy), and a 4 oz jar of pimento (drained). Realize the worcestershire sauce didn’t make the photo op (you’ll need 1 tsp), nor did the onion (grated, 1 tsp there too).

Shred the cheese as finely as you like. Plop everything into the bowl and stir. You can most definitely use your stand mixer with paddle attachment to mix this (I really wish I had!)

Taste it, but don’t EAT it. Tomorrow morning you can have it for breakfast. Right now the flavors need to get cozy with each other.

Go back to the hardware store for a ballast, since it’s obvious that just changing out the lightbulbs isn’t enough. Then you can make yourself a fancy plate…

Oh, who am I kidding???

Dig in.

Pimento cheese

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 16oz cheese (shredded)
• 1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon onion (grated)
• 1 jar pimento (4 oz, drained)

Directions

Grate the cheese into a large bowl

Add 1 1/2 C mayo

Add 4 oz jar of pimentos

Add 1 tsp grated onion and 1 tsp worcestershire sauce

Stir to combine.

Stick in the fridge and leave overnight for flavors to meld.

Oh what a glorious afternoon I had yesterday. I played in the dirt and absorbed as much vitamin D as I could.

These lovelies

got emptied into the box and I spread the dirt out into an even layer.

I’ll cover that with newspaper and fill the box with manure, leaves, and compost.

The strawberries got moved to their new home. Hopefully they’ll spread out a bit and I’ll get more than one berry this year!

Believe it or not, there’s more dirt under all that stuff. My next sunny day is going to be spent cutting all those canes back and moving that pile into the other pile.

And then this happened…

I haven’t properly introduced you to herman. Herman’s been hanging out in my fridge for a few days.

He and the gulp cup have become BFFs, I think.

When you open the jar, an interesting aroma tickles your nose. It’s the clean smell of well-fed yeast.

And here’s Herman on my stovetop, rising. It’s a regular yeast party in there!

The “moderate success”. Dense, with a decent enough crumb but not a whole lot of flavor. The recipe didn’t call for a second rise in the pan, but I certainly should’ve done one. Also should’ve lined the pan with something/anything. I’m not used to cooking with stoneware and the bread stuck quite firmly to the pan. I’m letting a second batch rise on the stovetop overnight, and I’ll pan it in the morning. I was going to make rolls with it, but I’m so disappointed with the bread that I want to try it again.

This box is where most of the magic is going to happen. The bottom will be lined with newspaper and maybe some straw to help with drainage. I need to gather the soil I have into one pile and stir some manure into it so they can decompose together into one pile of amazingness. There will be a string “grid” attached after it’s filled with soil. It will help with that whole seed-spacing thing. I do worry that it’s not deep enough soil, but I’m also a chronic overthinker. Since the weather isn’t all that fabulous for working outside, I’ll be getting the wormbox going this coming week. It’s going to live in my laundry room, so I don’t really need to wait until Spring for that.

The seeds I already have are:

Arugula, mesclun lettuce mix, cress (peppergrass), leaf lettuce
Roma and supersweet cherry tomatoes
sugarsnap peas (not planting any more after these are gone)
silver queen corn (ditto)
honeyrock Canteloupe, crimson sweet watermelon
Zucchini, yellow squash
mild jalapeno
sweet spanish, white Lisbon bunching onions
sunflower (mammoth), flat dutch cabbage,
burp free and pickalot hybrid cucumbers

I’m not quite sure where to grow my lettuces right now. The two little dogs will quite happily eat them straight out of the ground – it’s one of the reasons I didn’t get any salad greens this year. [sadface] The good news is I still have thyme and sage in the earthboxes, and my lemon tree has exploded in blossoms.

See? Preeeetttttyyyy..

Things I want to plant (putting it here so it’s all in one place):

Spinach
Edamame (I can’t always find it in the store)
Sweet peppers (red/orange/yellow. Don’t like green all that much.)
cilantro
garlic
carrots
radish
green beans
celery
beets
broccoli
greens (collard, kale, mustard)
Okra (I love pickled okra)
quinoa (especially after reading about how Bolivians can’t afford their staple grain because we’ve increased demand and jacked the price up.)
Parsnips
rutabaga
cauliflower
brussels sprouts
Swiss chard (maybe? I’m not sure yet.)
turnips
pumpkin

dill
tarragon
lavender
calendula
bee balm
marjoram
oregano
parsley
mint (container – I know better than to put mint in the garden)

Holy SuperGardens. I need to sit down with graph paper and work all this out…

This week’s cooking experiments have been in culturing. Thanks to Diane, I’ve got an entire quart of villi yogurt in my fridge waiting for the kids to dig into. I had stopped making yogurt at home because [heat then cool then pitch then let sit at "precisely warm" overnight] is just a pain in the behind when compared to the villi culturing [add culture to milk then leave on counter for a day or two]. Hopefully they’ll like it.

She also sent me kefir grains, but I haven’t been brave enough to get that going just yet. Next week, maybe.

And then I did the unthinkable. The crazy. I brought Herman into my kitchen. Friendship bread. Multiply, divide, share. Bake. Share.

Share share share share. Don’t you want some starter? You know you do!

Once again I’m stuck trying to garden above ground since the DOT is going to be sending us packing “any minute now” (and by “any minute now”, I mean they’ve been working on this project for 20 years). The box and dirt are ready, I just need to decide on a plan.

This year I want to get started with vermicomposting. I absolutely *hate* throwing food away but have had zero success with a compost pile – mostly because the dogs and other woodland creatures get in there for a snack. Speaking of, I should probably go ahead and order my worms…

I also want to increase the amount of vegetables I get from my garden, with the eventual result of me having a full pantry and not needing to buy veg from the store at all. Figuring how much to plant, where, and rotating the crops is fun and interesting and frustrating. I think this year I want to focus on tomatoes. We eat a lot of salsa, ketchup, and tomato bisque – enough that it would make a good dent in our grocery budget if I planted them. And beans. Lots of beans…