Thursday, May 31, 2012

I'm cooking dinner tonight - ARGH

On Thursday and Friday nights I cook dinner. It's only fair as Lloyd has had a long day at work, often not getting home until after 7pm having left around 7.30am.
I want to do this for him, however, I am in a mild panic all day thinking about what we should have. I don't enjoy cooking. I like baking, but cooking just doesn't do it for me.


Every week I get the recipe books out, every week I have a melt down, every week I'd like to take the easy way out and nip to the Chinese take away in Kaikohe (which is actually really rather good!) But mostly I find something I can cook and just get on with it. I have a few things that I feel ok about making, mainly chicken dishes in a sauce or pasta. Poor Lloyd is probably bored rigid with them!

Anyway, after pouring over the recipe books I'm sticking with an old, tried and tested recipe. Chicken Meyer.
I think this is a blast back to the 70's!
But its lovely, simple and I can make it!

Recipe ( for 2)
2 tablespoons fresh  cream 
2 tablespoons of sour cream or creme fresh
2 free range organic skinned boneless chicken breasts 
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets.
10 1/2 fl. oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup (most recipes say cream of chicken but I like it better with mushroom.)
2 rounded tbsp. real mayonnaise
1/2 level tsp. curry powder ( or to taste)
2 oz. sharp cheese, grated
Preheat a moderately hot oven, 190 degrees. Arrange chicken and broccoli in shallow dish. Combine undiluted soup, mayonnaise, sour cream and cream with curry powder. Spoon over chicken and broccoli, sprinkle with cheese. ( if it doesn't quite cover the chicken I add more cream! what's not to like?) Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour -  until the chicken is cooked and the cheese is turning golden brown.
I serve it with rice.

Fail safe boiled rice? Yep, this works every time
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups water
teaspoon salt

Put in pan, and bring to the boil
Cover and simmer for 7 minutes
turn heat off
Leave, covered for 20 mins.

It's really yummy!

So, now I need to make a list and head out to get the ingredients. I'll go to Paihia as I need to go to the chemist there and stock up on Paihia bombs! What on earth are they? I hear you asking! Well I get terribly sea sick - yeah, odd for someone who spends so much time on boats/diving! But yep, without these little babies I would barely last half an hour before I would have my head over the side of the boat. Lovely. The chemist makes up their own seasickness tablets and they are amazing. I'm off on a dive trip all weekend (with a bunch of people I don't even know, which is terribly brave for me as I'll be way out of my comfort zone - the things I do for a dive!) and I reckon spending the majority of the time vomiting wouldn't make a particularly good impression!

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:48 pm

    If you like baking I'd definitely stick with oven recipes...I like baking too so I often do roasts, savoury puddings, "Bakes" like root vegetable bake etc. and pies, lots of pies as I like working with pastry:)

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    1. roasts?! I'm far too scared to try them. Except I think I once made a roast chicken! But I can do pies :) I am just SO lucky that lloyd loves cooking and is very good at it!

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    2. Roast root veg with beans is a standard I-need-an-easy-dinner at our house. Roasting is one of of my all time favored cooking methods. I don't roast meat though, just veg. Maybe you might find that less scary.

      When Matt and I moved in together he cooked 99% of the meals. I didn't know how and was too scared of screwing up to try it much. But our work schedules changed and it became much more convenient for me to cook dinner. And now, years later, I don't find it scary at all even to try a new recipe. In fact, I quite like it and find it satisfying in a way that I'd have never predicted when I was crying over my kitchen stress! So, I don't know what the point of that story was, keep it up, I guess. Practice makes perfect.

      But really, I am sure Lloyd wouldn't mind any warm meal on his table when he gets home from a long day, even if the repertoire is limited. Its the thought and kindness demonstrated by you that counts I think.

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    3. I don't know if I'll ever like it that much. I think it's definitely a fear of it being rubbish and a total lack of confidence in the kitchen.
      Thank you, for the lovely words of encouragement! I do love my bloggy family!

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  2. You know, I went to Cordon Bleu once upon a century ago and love nothing better than good old-fashioned tuna noodle casserole from the 1960's. Your chicken sounds yummy and I’ve jotted down the recipe. I’ll make it tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Ah sometimes the oldies are the best! I hope you like it :)

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  3. Guess what I've just put in the oven? I was feeling the same and figured if it's good enough for Laura it's good enough for me! Nyoman says hi! Great trip, too short, reality is depressing...Alison xxx

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    1. oh wow, can't believe you've been and come back! argh! hope the chicken made up for it in some small way! heehee.

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  4. Don't be afraid to just try things, learn to play with your food, then it gets to be great fun, usually it's edible no matter what it looks like. Just have a nice loaf of bread and some pate and salad as a back up in case it really does go pear shaped!!

    Sue xx

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    1. haha! I would just like to have the bread and pate! that sounds like the perfect dinner to me :)

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  5. That bowl food cookbook has a recipe for pasta in it that my Uncle made for us once...it was amazing! I can't remember what it was called but it had chicken, bacon and green peppercorns in it. Lovely!

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    1. Ooo thanks for that - I'll have a look through it and fins it. Pasta I can do!! :)

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Laura x