2 posts tagged “mystery box”
It’s a dark, rainy Monday. The kids have gone to school, I have lots of school work, too – but Monday means other things to me. It means Mystery Box!!
I will admit it. I cheated. This week-end I needed to find a school paper for one of the kids, and in the process of frantically demolishing the house in my search, I upended my mystery box. Never one to claim great concentration powers, I gave immediate attention to a forwarded recipe from my mom. We just had to have it for dinner. And so we did.
Lemon Aparagus & Chicken Pasta
(Kinda/Sorta)
2 14-ounce cans lower sodium chicken broth
12 ounces frozen boneless, skinless chicken
8 ounces uncooked short pasta like rotini
1 9-ounce package frozen cut asparagus
½ cup pesto
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Black pepper
- In a deep skillet bring broth to a boil, add frozen chicken. Return to boil, reduce heat, cover & simmer 22 minutes. Remove chicken from broth, and shred.
- Turn heat to high and bring broth to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook 6 minutes. Add asparagus; boil 2 minutes or until tender
- Drain pasta mixture and return to skillet. Add chicken, pesto, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss. Serves 4. May be be served hot or cold.
AND NOW FOR CAUTION’S CULINARY COMMENTS:
I’ve never had much love for precision, especially in the kitchen. This fact has been witnessed repeatedly by my mother, who when I complain that a recipe didn’t turn out after, “I followed the recipe!” always says, “No, you didn’t.” And so, at least here I have once again been consistent.
What I did right:
1. I could not find any frozen asparagus, but I did find a spring blend that included asparagus, carrots, and seasonings. The seasonings were mild and added nice flavor.
2. I used an asparagus pesto which enhanced the experience.
What I didn’t really do right:
There was just a bit more pasta left in the box after I added the 8 ounces. There was another 8 ounces feeling lonely, bereft, unloved. It got to my maternal side. It needed attention too, so I said it was indeed special and could go with the others. But that extra pasta turned on me. Never believe the leftover pasta when it says it will blend in, cause no problem, and never seek attention. It absorbed all the moisture and this salad was dry. SO, I might not recommend using 16 ounces of pasta.
But Checkered and I ate it and experimented with various ways to swallow the dry pasta. The flavor was light and pleasant and I’ve kept the recipe. I’m just going to wear earplugs the next time the leftover pasta starts begging.
One of our children used to have a teacher who incorporated a mystery box activity. When a child’s name was chosen, he brought home a small container into which he placed a mystery object. The child would write three clues to help the other students guess what was in the mystery box the next day. It was great fun for the guessers and the child in charge. Part of the mystery for me was why my child always chose the same object for the mystery box each time it came home with him…
We have a mystery box in our kitchen, too. This idea was courtesy of my mother who was recruited to help me organize my kitchen a few years ago. After finding places for all the extraneous counter-dwelling items to live, I still had a pile of things which needed to be read or responded to but not necessarily on the day they arrived in our home. My mom suggested I find a container to temporarily hold these items.
What an epiphany for me! I grabbed one of the extraneous “I don’t know what to do with this” items sitting on my counter: a very large open basket. It fit perfectly on top of the microwave. And so began my little habit of “temporarily” using the basket as a holding bin. Periodically, the basket overflows and I am forced to go through the items one by one, all the while secretly hoping to simply fit them back in the basket. The clean-out is both cathartic and terrifying. I usually throw everything out because I still don’t know where to store it all, but sometimes there are hidden gems in there. Here are some things I’ve discovered during previous clean-outs:
Birth certificates
Work info which requiring “Immediate response” from six months earlier
Expired gift cards
Lava rock
And cash!
It’s getting close to time for another clean-out. Come back next Monday, and if I am brave enough, we will together explore Caution’s kitchen mystery box.
But before I work up that courage, join me later this week for "In Defense of Exercise."
