Cheating

I’m supposed to be making new recipes.  I’m supposed to be enthusiastically paging through my cookbooks, getting excited about things I haven’t tried, and then trying them.  But I’m not.  I’m tired, dammit. 

Between not sleeping well because a new character is bothering me (yes, I am awakened by imaginary people with strange agendas in the middle of the night, aren’t you?), and getting up at early o’clock to go walk a mile or two (which, this week, included trying to retrieve Dr. Evil when he flushed a wild turkey out of her nest and absolutely would not listen when we told him to stop), and still being a bit worn out from all of this:

I’m just good old fashioned sleepy in the afternoons this week, when I should be all fired up about making dinner.  Never having been any good at taking naps, I stay tired.  And then I make easy things that I’ve made a million times before, in order to avoid calling for pizza.  But hoping that you might not have made this (at least not a million times) I’m cheating this week and posting a version of an old favorite.

I tend to resort to simple recipes at times like this, and one of my sources, believe it or not, is Everyday Food magazine. Yeah, she’s crazy, but the magazine has done a pretty decent job of developing quick recipes which use real ingredients. 

This is one I normally like to make on the grill.  But this week?  Grilling?  Taking the cover off the grill and starting it and standing there stirring in the grill wok and then shutting down the grill and waiting till it cools off to remember to cover it? 

Not happening.

I have a broiler.  It works.

So, from issue #13, I’ve adapted this recipe for Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Salad.  Not linking it because her website’s wack, too, and I can’t find it.  But it’s there.  Probably.

Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Salad Which Even A Pooped Person Can Make, adapted from Everyday Food magazine

chicken breasts
asparagus
red onion, sliced
olive oil
grainy mustard, the kind with the cool little seeds that pop between your teeth
blue cheese

Amounts?  Easy to figure out.  Eyeball it.

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Toss it in a bowl with about a tablespoon of mustard and a little oil, and let it sit for half an hour while you work on other stuff.

Turn on the broiler.

Cut up asparagus and red onion.  Toss it with olive oil on a foil-covered baking sheet. 

Broil until done, and a little charred.

Dump the vegetables into a bowl and set aside.  Put the foil back on the tray, spread out the chicken pieces on it, and broil until done.

Toss the chicken together with the vegetables, a wee bit more oil, more mustard, and some blue cheese. 

Eat.  No, you don’t get a picture of it on a plate.  This is it.  Try it, on the grill or under the broiler.  It’s really good either way, and even sleepy people can make it.

Comments

[Guinifer]

More and more often we are having two-person meals in our house. I know dh would love this.

I've been sleepy too but mostly because of the Benadryl I've been taking to keep from scratching my allergy itchy eyes out.

[Kitt]

Works for me! The broiler is so handy.

[mary lou]

I've had a week like that, too. Tonight? Dead red on the grill. no stirring.

[kmkat]

Mmmm, that sounds good. I am listening to Stephen King "On Writing" so I can totally imagine a problematic character keeping you awake.

[Carrie K]

It does sound delicious and easy. Go sleep. Tell the characters and Dr Evil that nighttime is a no bother zone. Not that it'll help.

The nap? Probably would have made you feel like a zombie after you woke up.

[bezzie]

Oh man, the asparagus makes that for me--YUM!!!

My broiler scares me though. It's like a gas chamber for mice. I'm not sure if there are corpses in there or not, and I'm not willing to find out--thus the husband and the grill come in handy--ALL year round!

[Chris]

Now this sounds like a salad I would love!