Wednesday, May 14, 2003

 
No apricot dumplings last night...I realized I didn't have any sour cream for the sauce and also re-read the recipe and saw that the dough has to chill for at least a couple of hours or overnight, so that pretty much killed my plans. I did make the dough during commercial breaks while watching American Idol, so I'll have to make it tomorrow night (I have class again tonight). Even so, I was already pretty tired from making dinner, which took a lot longer than I anticipated, so I wasn't too bummed out.

Dinner consisted of grilled chicken breasts (or a thigh for Pop), roasted baby beets and carrots, sauteed beet greens and caramelized spring onions. It all turned out really good, but was kind of a pain to prepare. I had to cut the beet greens off and wash them and spin them in the salad spinner to get all the sand and dirt off them. Then had to trim off the hard skin around the tops of the beets and scrub them with a vegetable brush under cold water. Well, I don't have a veggie brush, so I scraped them with the back of a paring knife and that seemed to work fine. Then trimmed and peeled the baby carrots and put the carrots and beets all in a baking dish and tossed with a little olive oil and salt. Then I had to cover the bottom of the dish with water and cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes at 400. After 20 minutes, I had to take the foil off and bake for another 15 minutes. While all that was happening, I trimmed the spring onions so there was 2 inches of greens and sliced them in half. Then I seasoned the chicken with lemon juice and chili-cumin-salt mix and started up the George Forman. Then I sauteed the onions in a little butter til they started to caramelize and then put them aside and sauteed the beet greens in a little butter and balsamic vinegar and seasoned with a pinch of salt. Finished grilling the chicken as the beets and carrots were finishing in the oven and then served everything. Phew! It took a littler over an hour to prep and make everything.

So, then American Idol was going to start in a half hour and I realized I couldn't make the dumplings, so we had frozen yogurt and the last of the cherries for dessert.


Jacki 5/14/2003