Some Recipes and Some Excuses

I'm not avoiding-avoiding, just mildly not posting. It sort of comes down to two factors - 1. I've been taking pictures with my cell phone, and 2. I'm not taking enough pictures to walk you through the whole process. Eventually I'll get the hang of it, but for now, well, take Sunday dinner for example.

I know, I love Sunday dinners too, there's just something nice about ending the week with a sit-down meal. Anyhow, this past Sunday, I had friends B & B over for dinner. The menu was as follows:

Chicken Satay skewers
Steak skewers
Sauted veggies (including those mini corn that I've never really liked)
Brown rice

Somewhat healthy, somewhat not. Also, only somewhat home-made.

It's not that bad, but if you must know the secret to my cooking sucess, it's take the short-cuts where they they taste good. Also, I have an unhealthy fixation with Trader Joe's, as if their snack foods are somehow better for me then what I can buy at cheaper stores, because, you know, they wear Hawaiian shirts and hippies tend to shop there.

I know, I know, but if you've ever tasted their Maple Leaf cookies, you'd understand.

So, I was all about the snapping pictures with my cell phone through the first part of the prep. Slicing up the chicken, getting it into the sauce, prepping the skewers....

And then, not so much. I got caught up. I love to make dinner for other people, especially people like B & B, who always compliment my cooking. I'm kind of a praise-whore, so you know, they're good for my ego.  Anyway, the skewers are pretty simple. Here's the recipe I made up on the fly, because it sounded good to me.

Melissa's Somewhat Homemade Satay (With help from Trader Joe's)
3 Chicken breasts, sliced into roughly quarter inch strips, length-wise.
1 jar Trader Joe's Peanut Satay Sauce (YUM)
3 Tablespoons unsalted Peanut Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
Dash or two of salt
Bamboo Skewers, soaked in water for at least an hour first

Put the Satay sauce in a bowl with the PB, Olive oil, garlic and salt. Mix up until smooth, and a nice, much thicker texture then it comes straight from the jar.

Put the sliced chicken in a bowl, and cover with 2/3rds of the sauce. Let sit in the fridge for a few hours, then take out a half-an-hour beforehand to come to room temperature.

One by one, take the skewers from the water, and guide them through the raw chicken. Place them on a broiling pan, or, if short such a pan, do what I did, line a sheet pan with a foil, then place a baking rack, the kind used to cool cookies, in the pan. Ta-da, make-shift broiler pan.

Spoon (or smear, whatever works) some of the sauce you leave behind on the chicken.

Put the oven on broil and let it heat up. Place the pan on a low rack in the oven, not too close to the burner.

Cook about 10-15 minutes, turning once mid-way. For the last minute, move up closer to the heat.

Serve with the extra third of sauce left from step 2.

It's like a little visit to Yum City.

Okay, that was lame . Don't judge me, I'm hillarious most of the time but my game's a little off, that's all.