Concocting Dinner....

Concocting Dinner..... did I spell that right?

I suppose I'm the only one who starts making dinner without having a clue what it will end up being.... I wing it as I go... REALLY??? You mean you don't have your menu's planned out a week at a time? Maybe there is hope for me yet.

Today, I took a nap (rare in itself, but sorely needed). But before I did, I had the where-with-all to actually remember to take the chicken out of the freezer to defrost (another rare moment).

So, chicken for dinner tonight. I usually buy frozen, skinned, chicken breasts.... I may cook from scratch, but I would rather not pluck the bird! (done that too!).

When I woke up, it was time to make dinner (yes, a late nap), so I thought, what do I do with this? I'm still half asleep and I have to make dinner now.

So I sleepily went into the kitchen, rinsed the chicken (cause it was now unfrozen and sitting in it's own slimy juices and not looking (or feeling) all that appetizing. Hmmm, so this is what chicken feels like when you actually remember to defrost it first... Okay, back to work....Then I cut it into little cubes. I know, a dangerous thing to do when half asleep and the knives are VERY sharp. Lesson hopefully well learned here, I have already managed to cut off part of my finger about 6 months ago so I was extra careful to keep my fingers well out of the way.

I get out the jar of extra virgin coconut oil, and begin cooking the chicken. Note to self: next time, cut up the chicken after it is cooked, this turned out a bit dry.

Now what? Think....

I put on a pot of water to boil. Will make rice macaroni noodles for a chicken/macaroni salad. That sounds good for a warm summer day.

I raid the fridge for ingredients... wilted celery, green onions, tomatoes, pickles. I read somewhere that if you put wilted celery in a bowl of ice water, it will perk up... testing theory.

My mom once made this really good chicken dinner where it was kinda like haystacks, but included lettuce. She cut the lettuce into thin 1/4 inch strips, then cut them to be about 2 inches long. It was all served like a salad, lettuce, rice, chicken and all the other ingredients in haystacks. That is sounding good to me, but I already put the macaroni in the water.... slight variation.

Sent Danny a text to see if he could get some lettuce on the way home... darn it, need ranch dressing too.

When you wing it you are supposed to use what you have on hand.... I'm not doing such a good job of that today....

The celery perked up enough I think I can use it. Chopping that, next comes the pickles, a tomato, the green onions, olives from the cupboard.

But before that, the timer goes off and the macaroni is done. The phone rings... Rice macaroni overcooks quickly, so I have to get that draining.... what to do? I opt to drain the macaroni so I get to the phone just as the ringing ends... Thank goodness for caller ID, I return the call and take care of that.

So I get back to the kitchen and think "I need an onion". So I peel, slice and begin to chop up the onion into little bits and look over to see the green onions..... dang it, this was supposed to have green onions, and they would taste better.... there is now one medium onion, chopped and ready to go, in a baggie in my freezer. I love convenience.

Back to the chopping board. I begin to chop the pickle then realize... I've changed the menu, and pickle does not go with haystacks... even if it is made with rice macaroni instead of rice. So back into the jar the pickles go.

Send another text to Danny... I'll meet you at FM, (Fred Meyer's) and bring you home. I'll pick up the food myself. I need to get pineapple, cashews, raisins, as well as the lettuce and ranch dressing. So much for winging it...

So finally, after my quick trip to FM and getting Danny, I return home and finish chopping. Everything is spread out in little bowls, build your own plate style. I would have taken a picture if my camera weren't broken.

Dinner turned out pretty good tonight.... now that I have all the ingredients, maybe next time I do this I really will be winging it......