No words necessary!
Author: Angelgrrl
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Chicken Masala
I love to make a chickpea masala. This time I added chicken after I pan-fried it. Some garlic naan and saffron jasmine rice accompanied the dish. I wish I could explain how to make this dish in a more helpful way but the truth is that I usually don’t make masala dishes the same way each time. I mean there are the usual suspects such as curry, garlic, turmeric, cumin, and tomato (either paste or fresh or both) but sometimes I’ll add other things, in this case, it was a bit of jarred tikka masala sauce and serrano peppers. I hope that helps.
Meet my new favorite puppy, McCovey, the Bernese Mountain Dog. This picture was taken at 8 weeks of age and he weighed 27lbs. I saw him recently at 15 weeks and he weighed over 40lbs. Love this breed and love him!
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Lake Tahoe
I love seeing new things, and was lucky enough to spend the afternoon traveling around the circumference of Lake Tahoe. The colors of the lake aren’t exactly describable, but the center is generally a deep blue while the shore fluctuates between shades of blue, turquoise, teal and green. My favorite section of the lake was Emerald Bay, from which the first photograph is taken. There is a Scandinavian castle named Vikingsholm in the bay that I look forward to visiting in the future.
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Andersen’s Split Pea Soup
Andersen’s is a very cool place along the central/southern Californian coast. They have a restaurant that is famous for (wait for it…..) split pea soup. I can attest that the food at their restaurant is pretty kick-ass. They also have a handful of random shops that sell anything from German pastries to Christmas ornaments to Elvis memorabilia. One of the last few times I was there, I got their “soup in a bag” kit which just includes a bag of split peas and their recipe on the back.
I knew that their recipe is vegetarian but I had a ham hock in the freezer leftover from Easter that I very happily acquired from my mom. I added the ham hock with all of the ingredients and followed directions but then something else happened. I got incredibly lazy and did not want to get my food mill with the very fine basket out. I decided, “eff it” I am just going to put all of this in a blender. So I did and it was still really, really good. I will say that when you taste Andersen’s soup just by itself, it does not have a sort of distinct mirepoix flavor like mine did (understandably so) but I totally loved it. If you ever see an Andersen’s, pull over… if not for the food then just to stare at some random stuff for a few minutes.
A while ago, Gar and I decided that Freya’s other name is Scrunge. This is the name she is referred to when she is being a bad Chihuahua. For example, when she pees in the house or tries to bite strangers in a very unpredictable evil way… she is Scrunge. I pride myself on training my dogs to be very accepting of other people, medical treatments, grooming, and whatever the hell else I need them to be comfortable with in order to make their lives better but Freya/Scrunge is a lost cause in some ways.
I taught Loki to play pretend dead when I point my finger at him in one day but I have not been able to teach Freya anything but “sit” in two years and that is not from a lack of trying. Granted, Loki is a breeder baby that I’ve had since he was 10 weeks of age. However, I have done everything I can in the way of restricting her access and crate-training to ensure that she doesn’t ever pee in the house but I have not achieved the desired effect.
Scrunge is a dog who will pee outside and then, immediately after, pee in the house… and I’ve ruled out a UTI. When it rains, I have to walk Freya on a leash outside to get her to go to the bathroom. Not only is this the only way she will pee outside when it rains, this is the only way she will pee outside a few days after it rains because, “eet smells deeeferent okeh.” This is what I imagine she says to me in these instances. Sometimes Freya gets to sleep on the bed at night with the other dogs and sometimes Scrunge must sleep in the Scrungeon (the name I use for her crate in our bedroom).
On the bright side, Freya has come a long way. She was surrendered at a shelter by a family who had her living exclusively outside and, when I adopted her, she was flea-ridden, terribly matted, and just terribly terrified in general. Now, I can do pretty much anything to her and she trusts me. If only I could convince her to have more self-esteem and to not treat other people like they are un-trustworthy demons when they try to pick her up… if only.
One night, I decided I was bored of the several ways in which I generally make chicken breast so I decided to butterfly a whole breast and stuff it in a way I hadn’t done before. In the stuffing we have… spinach, caramelized onion, Greek yogurt, Feta cheese, and a little salt. I had never thought to use Greek yogurt for stuffing chicken breast until now but it kicked some major ass. It kept the stuffing moist and creamy yet held together very well after cooking. The texture of the spinach was nice and the feta was a nice salty bite amongst everything else, especially the subtle yogurt flavor. I paired the chicken with a bell pepper stuffed with a simple mushroom and onion (mostly mushroom) sauté topped with a little bit of shredded gouda. The first thing I did for this dish was caramelize some yellow onion and put half in a bowl for the stuffing and left half remaining in the pan which I used to make the mushroom mixture. I added my mushroom-stuffed bell peppers in a 350 degree oven. In the meantime, I heated 1 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. I dusted salt and pepper all over my chicken breast, including the cavity, and stuffed it. Next, I browned the chicken on both sides (this took about 3 minutes on each side) and put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. The most important thing about this dish is not overcooking the chicken… it will not be very forgiving if cooked improperly. I actually checked the temperature of the thickest part of the breast outside of the oven to ensure it was right around 160 and then let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. This was such an enjoyable meal.