Chicken Paprikash

Chicken was the star of dinner two nights this week, because one of our area supermarkets was having a special on boneless, skinless chicken breasts: buy one package, get one free. For the first chicken dinner of the week, I tried a brand new recipe for Chicken Curry, and the result was delicious.

For the second chicken dinner, I wanted to expand my chicken recipe repertoire, but instead of exploring new culinary territory, I wanted to re-visit an old favorite: a Chicken Paprikash, a Hungarian dish.

The first time I tried Chicken Paprikash was back when I was single. I was preparing for a solo vacation to Eastern Europe, including stops in the Czech Republic and Hungary. When Anne and Ray heard about my upcoming adventure, they invited me to their home for a home-cooked meal of their favorite Hungarian food. Ray’s family immigrated to the United States from Hungary, and Anne learned how to cook Hungarian food from her mother-in-law. She must have learned well, because that meal was delicious – particularly the Chicken Paprikash.

So as I was pondering what to have for the second chicken dinner of the week, I thought back to the taste of Hungary I had years ago courtesy of Anne and Ray. But I knew my new version would have to be modified. Anne spent hours in the kitchen; I wanted dinner on the table in much less time.

While my rendition of Chicken Paprikash is quick to prepare, it is also delicious! You can serve this accompanied by noodles, homemade dumplings, or if you have the time, homemade spaetzle.

Makes 4 servings

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 -inch wide strips
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into half moons
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons flour
1 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
½ cup sour cream

Season the chicken strips with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add chicken to hot oil. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly until the outside of the chicken is white and no pink color is evident. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Cook the onion until tender, about 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Then add the flour and paprika; cook for another minute, continuing to stir often.

Add the chicken broth and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer, cover and stir occasionally until thick and bubbly, another 3-5 minutes. Return the chicken to the mixture and cook for another 3 minutes.

Reduce the heat and add the sour cream to the skillet, stir to combine, and heat through for 2-3 minutes.

Verdict on Last Night's Experiment -- Delicious!

Chicken Curry

This week, one of our area supermarkets was having a special on boneless, skinless chicken breasts: buy one package, get one free. So guess who is having chicken twice this week?

But how would I prepare the chicken? I wanted to do something different, try a brand new recipe, and explore new culinary territory. I’ve enjoyed eating at Indian restaurants, so why not try a chicken dish inspired by the flavors of India? That was the genesis of this quick and delicious Chicken Curry recipe.

Preparing this dish will not only lead to a tasty meal, it will also make your house smell wonderful!

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ¾-inch pieces
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into half moons
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups chopped apple (about 1 medium apple)
¼ cup raisins
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ cup chopped cashews

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add chicken and salt to hot oil. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly until the outside of the chicken is white and no pink color is evident. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet. Cook the onion and curry powder until the onion is tender, about 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Then add the flour and cook for another minute, continuing to stir often.

Add the chopped apple, raisins, ginger and chicken broth; cook, stirring often, until thick and bubbly, another 3-5 minutes. Return the chicken to the mixture and cook for another 3 minutes.

Meanwhile combine the sour cream and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add the sour cream mixture to the skillet, stir to combine, and heat through for 2-3 minutes. Serve over hot rice.

Tonight's Culinary Experiment

One of the local supermarkets has a special on boneless skinless chicken breasts this week. If you buy one package, you get one free. So guess who is having chicken twice this week!

But I'm not in the mood for one of my tried-and-true recipes. Instead, I want to spice things up a bit. So I'm test driving a brand new recipe.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Challenging Week: Second Update

You may remember in a recent post I mentioned that we had a challenging week with baseball games, evening meetings, and late afternoon doctors appointments. Here's how the end of the week turned out.

Wednesday -- I had a dinner meeting, so Kathleen and Peter went to a nearby Chinese restaurant. Peter loves the way they prepare broccoli, so we never worry about whether or not he will have a balanced, nutritious meal.

Thursday -- I made spaghetti and meatballs, a family favorite (and the recipe is included in an earlier post). The trick was, Peter had a 4 p.m. doctor's appointment, which would last for an hour. And the doctor's office is about 20 minutes away from home. How was I going to pull off this meal with those time constraints? By planning ahead! I made the tomato sauce earlier in the day, refrigerated the amount we would need for dinner and put the rest in the freezer. I also started the meatballs by making the meat mixture, forming the balls, placing them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and then refrigerating them. I even got a head start on pre-heating the oven by using one of our oven's special features. So when we got home, all I had to do was start the pasta water, pop the meatballs into the oven and heat up the sauce. Even with a crazy afternoon, dinner was on the table 5 minutes earlier than usual!

Friday -- Peter had a baseball game starting at 6 p.m., so we needed to eat an early dinner. Once again, planning ahead saved the day. We had a broccoli and potato frittata (the recipe is also included in an earlier post). The potatoes were left over from Monday's dinner and I steamed the broccoli earlier in the day. With all that advanced work already done, getting dinner on the table was a snap: I just needed to complete the fritatta, make a salad and we were ready to go!

What made having everyday celebrations during this challenging week possible was planning ahead. Instead of panicking when at diner time wondering how I was going to get dinner ready in time, I looked at our family calendar over the weekend and planned accordingly.

Crazy days don't have to kill everyday celebrations. It's possible to make it happen!

Update on Challenging Week

In a recent post, I mentioned that this week is very challenging, with Little League games, meetings, and late afternoon doctor's appointments. Then on Monday we found that this already full week became even more challenging with an additional baseball practice tonight! How would I get dinner on the table in time, not just so we could eat, but also we could celebrate with meals nourishing both body and soul?

So far this week:

Monday -- For dinner before a Little League game we had sliders (get the baseball reference? Much cooler than calling them mini-hamburgers), carrot salad and oven-roasted potatoes. (Recipes for all three dishes can be found in earlier posts). To get dinner on the table quickly, I made the carrot salad and the slider patties ahead of time and set the oven to turn on automatically so it was at temperature when I was ready to put in the potatoes. We ate a delicious dinner and made it to the 6 p.m. game on time!

Tuesday -- For dinner before I had an evening meeting out of town, we had chicken salad with apples (the recipe can be found in an earlier post). I roasted the chicken a couple days ago, then earlier in the day I took the chicken off the bone and cut it into bite-sized pieces. I also made the dressing and added it to the chicken. Right before dinner, I chopped the apple and added it to the chicken salad. I served it on a bed of lettuce. We ate a satisfying dinner and I got out the door by 6 p.m. to get to my meeting on time!

Today (Wednesday) -- I have a dinner meeting. Peter has baseball practice. Kathleen has a meeting at 7 p.m. But what about dinner? Well, tonight Peter and Kathleen will have to celebrate without me by dining at Peter's favorite Chinese restaurant. His favorite dish there is chicken with broccoli (he really likes the broccoli!). This is a special treat, plus another opportunity for Peter to learn proper "dining out" behavior. The best way to learn is to do it! Kathleen will then take Peter to practice and I will leave my meeting early so Kathleen can get where she needs to go on time.

Challenging Week

This week promises to be a challenging week: two early evening Little League games, two late afternoon doctor's appoinments, an evening meeting for Kathleen, a dinner-time meeting for me. So how will we manage to celebrate every day this week by gathering together around the table to share a meal to nourish both body and soul?

Stay tuned!

Genghis Khan?

Last night I started reading Genghis Khan: And the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.

You may be wondering: why? Why would a United Methodist pastor who blogs about meals to nourish body and soul be reading a book on Genghis Khan?

One reason I am reading this book is because I was given a gift card to a bookstore. As I looked through the store, this book caught my eye. I thought, "Gee, I don't know a lot about Genghis Khan. This could be interesting."

I never considered how this book would intersect with my life.

Until last night.

Weatherford describes a particularly precarious moment in the life of the great conqueror. His father has been killed, and the young boy's very existence is in jeopardy. His mother was an outsider who depended on the clan -- not only for her own survival, but also for the survival of her young children.

Weatherford writes: "The message that she was no longer a part of the band came to her, the way Mongols always symbolize relationships, through food. In the spring, when two old crones, the widows of a previous khan, organized the annual ceremonial meal to honor the family's ancestors, they did not inform Hoelun (Ghengis Khan's mother), thereby cutting her off not only from the food itself but from membership in the family. She and her family were therefore left to feed and protect themselves. As the clan prepared to move down the Onon River toward summer grounds, they planned to leave Hoelun and her children behind." (p. 19)

Centuries later, in a very different time and place, we also symbolize relationships through food. We symbolize our relationships with God, with family, with friends, with enemies, with complete strangers, through food. With whom do we eat? Who is seated at table with us? Who is excluded?

Celebrate Every Day Is Back

As you can tell, up to this point I have not posted much in 2010. Why?

It's not because I no longer make it a point to share meals that nourish both body and soul; in fact, as you will see below, this passion to celebrate every day is one of the reasons I have not posted frequently over the last several months.

My lack of posting is also not because I have lost interest in this project. I believe that Celebrate Every Day can make a difference -- it certainly has in my life.

Instead I have posted so rarely this year because life has been busy. Our church recently moved to a new meeting place, with our grand opening on Easter Sunday, April 4. The preparations for the grand opening included:
+ Wading through the process of obtaining the necessary permits from various government agenices on the municipal and state levels. This process was not completed until days before Easter!
+ Working with the landlord for needed improvements to the space that were the landlord's responsibility
+ Working with carpeting, electrical and sign contractors for their work to improve the space
+ Cleaning, painting, moving and arranging along with a host of volunteers. This was a lot of fun; it was also a lot of work.
+ Planning for the grand opening itself, two open houses and the follow up from each.
So, as you can see, life on the church-front has been busy. Very busy.

Life on the home front was busy as well. Don't worry, all is well. We've just been very busy with many appointments that have touched our whole family -- including the dog!

On top of all that we had a lot of snow this winter. And I mean a lot of snow! Three blizzards. Nine snow days from school. Three Sundays when worship was canceled. And a lot of shoveling.

With all of this busy-ness, something had to give. But what?

I have made a commitment as a husband and father that we will sit down to dinner and eat a delicious and soul-satisfying meal every day possible. I decided I would not give this up. And since I've posted about the importance of celebrating every day, shouldn't I practice what I preach?

So what I gave up -- temporarily -- was the Celebrate Every Day project. I knew that when some of the extraordinary busy-ness calmed down, I would return to it. After all, this is a passion.

The good news is the snow has melted, and no more is on the way till next winter. The busy-ness has calmed down. So Celebrate Every Day is back.

During these last several months, I have experienced much that I will share with you, bit by bit.

I hope you will also share with me: your experiences, your observations, your suggestions, your comments.

It is good to be back!

Priorities

This blog is dedicated to giving recipes, hints and tips for everyday celebration, creating that meals can be spiritual, social, succulent, simple and special. This is truly an important goal.

Yet for all of the importance of this blog's purpose, I have added few new posts so far in 2010. What's going on? Do I not understand the importance of everyday celebrations?

Actually, what's been going on is that I do understand the importance of everyday celebrations. The first two months of this year have been filled with church obligations, family obligations, three blizzards and more. I have had many critical, short-term responsibilities that have filled my days.

I had a choice: I could continue to post to this blog, taking the critical time necessary to produce it well. Or I could re-direct that time to make sure that our family continued to have everyday celebrations. Should I write about the importance of everyday celebrations, or actually make sure our family has them?

The choice was obvious. And the lack of new posts in the last two months reveals the choice I made.

I posted a delicious recipe for one of my favorite desserts -- chocolate chip blondies (recipe below). I'll also be trying out some new recipes this week, and if they turn out to taste delicious, I will post them as well. I also plan to devote more time to research and writing, so you should see the fruit of that work in the coming weeks and months.

As important as this blog is, even more important is that I practice what I preach.

Chocolate Chip Blondies

I love blondies. Let me modify that: I love some blondies. Blondies at their best are moist, chewy, sweet-but-not-too-sweet and satisfying. I have eaten blondies at some bakeries, coffee shops and restaurants that just do not measure up. I have tried to choke down bone dry blondies. I have wondered whether my teeth would shatter when I have bitten into some hard-as-rock blondies. I have wondered whether my teeth would develop instant cavities as I munched on some way-too-sweet blondies.

Just as I have been disappointed in some blondies I have purchased, I have also been disappointed in every blondie recipe I have come across. Each seemed to be missing something.

And yet, there are times when I absolutely crave a blondie. What to do? I realized that my only option was to develop my own blondie recipe.

But first, a warning: if you are looking for a quick dessert you can whip up in a flash, this blondie recipe is not it. This recipe calls for two different waiting periods that can seem to take forever, but the wait is necessary. Trust me, these blondies are worth the time.

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick) – plus about ½ tablespoon room-temperature butter for greasing the pan
2/3 cups brown sugar – packed (I use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar is fine)
¼ cup sugar
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet chocolate)

Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan. When the butter has melted, increase the heat to medium-high and boil while stirring constantly, until the butter has turned a golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. (Be sure not to let the butter burn.) Remove the butter from heat.

Add the brown sugar and sugar and stir until well incorporated. Cool for at least 10 minutes; this is the first critically important waiting period.*

While the butter and sugars mixture cools, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-3 inch overhang on two opposite sides of the pan (you will use this overhang later as a handle). Grease the foil with the ½ tablespoon of room-temperature butter.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a large sieve or sifter. Sift this dry ingredient combination into a large bowl; set aside.

When the butter and sugars mixture is cool, add the egg, egg yolk, corn syrup and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Then, while stirring, slowly add the flour combination. Finally add the pecans and chocolate chips; mix lightly until well incorporated. Pour the batter into the foil-lined pan, being sure to scrape so you get every drop of batter possible. Spread the batter to the edges of the pan to form an even layer.

Bake for 28-32 minutes, until the top is golden brown. To be sure the blondies are baked through, insert a toothpick in the middle; if it comes out clean, it’s done.

Then for the second critically important waiting period: place the pan on a wire rack for 40 minutes to an hour until the blondies are cooled completely. I know you’ll be tempted to eat right away; the smell is wonderful. But if you do not wait, the blondies will crumble. While they will still taste good, they won’t look their best.

After the blondies have cooled, use the foil overhang “handles” to lift the blondies out of the pan and unto a cutting board. Peel off the foil and cut into bars. I like nice big bars, so I cut the blondies into 9 squares.

Enjoy!

*If you do not let the butter and sugars mixture cool before adding the rest of the ingredients, the eggs may begin to cook resulting in scrambled eggs (not what you’re looking for here!) and/or the chocolate chips may melt. While the resulting chocolate streaked bars look interesting, the taste is not nearly as good. So be patient and let this mixture cool before continuing; your patience will be rewarded!

Getting Dinner on the Table While Fasting

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Every Lent I fast at least for two days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I fast for approximately 24 hours. So for Ash Wednesday, I eat nothing after dinner on Tuesday evening until dinner on Wednesday evening. I will drink water during that time, but no other beverage. Every hunger pang I feel is a call to pray. When my stomach growls, I also remember that as much as I need food, I need God even more.

For years it never seemed to fail that I had to head to the supermarket on a day I was fasting. Talk about poor planning! Not only did I face extreme temptations to break my fast early as I navigated through aisle after aisle of appealing food, I also faced the extreme temptation to buy far more food than I needed because I was so hungry. After a few years, I learned to plan better: make sure to do my grocery shopping before and after fast days, not during them.

Yet I still faced another challenge – getting dinner on the table on a day I fast. Preparing a labor- or time-intensive meal while in the most difficult final hours of a fast is a struggle. Smelling food, seeing food, handling food can make my hunger pangs more intense – and can make me increasingly cranky. Not a good way to end a soul-nourishing fast!

After a few years, I again learned to plan better. Now I plan for an easy-to-prepare or already-prepared meal to break my fast. One of my favorite easy-to-prepare fast-breaking meals is pasta. All I have to do is make sure I have the needed pasta on hand (I normally have a wide assortment of pasta shapes in the pantry and freezer) as well as leftover sauce in the freezer to accompany it. This means, of course, that I need to plan ahead so I make sure to actually have leftover sauce in the freezer, so we will have spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna, baked ziti or some other pasta dinner in the week or two before a fast day. I’ll prepare extra sauce at that time, and stash the planned leftover sauce in the freezer. Then on a fast day, all I need to do is thaw the sauce in the refrigerator that morning, and right before dinner heat the sauce while I cook the pasta. That’s a great way to have a nourishing meal without adding to the struggle of a fast.

Blizzard Chicken

February of 2010 brought unusually severe weather to our region of the country. During the most stormy week, two blizzards hit, dumping a total of approximately three feet of snow! While it was fun to have off of school and work, build a snowman, and go sledding, it was also a lot of work shoveling.

One day while I was shoveling the driveway and sidewalk yet again, Kathleen decided to create a satisfying dinner. She came up with a winner that warmed my body – and my soul. Blizzard chicken is a great recipe for a cold winter day and when you have some extra time to cook.

3 chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil - divided
5 ½ tablespoons butter – divided
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 medium onion
3 ribs of celery
2 carrots
1 small butternut squash
½ cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 ½ cups milk
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Cut up chicken into 1-inch chunks. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the chicken, salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is fully cooked, and then set it aside.

While the chicken is cooking, dice the onion, cut the celery into ¼-inch slices, peel and cut both the carrots and squash into 1 – 1 ½ - inch chunks. When chicken is cooked, add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and cook the vegetables for 5-7 minutes stirring frequently, until they are slightly tender.

To make the sauce, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk, cooking for at least 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and continue to whisk so there are no lumps, cooking for 4-5 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the milk and nutmeg, then cook (whisking occasionally) until the mixture bubbles around the edges for several minutes.

Butter a large baking dish with the remaining ½ tablespoon of butter. Combine the vegetables and chicken in the baking dish, add chopped parsley and pour the sauce on top. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until bubbly.

Biscuit are a great addition to this delicious casserole.

Gulf Coast Shrimp

This recipe is inspired by the flavors of the Gulf coast of Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi and can be served two ways. It makes a great appetizer for a crowd. Or you can serve it over rice and with a vegetable for a great meal for 6.

As you can tell from the name of the recipe and from the ingredients, Gulf Coast Shrimp packs a bit of a spice wallop. If you are serving this as an appetizer, you may want to serve a cooling sauce on the side. (Look for a suggested recipe in the coming days.)

Note: Be sure not to use fresh herbs; they will burn in the oven.

2 pounds shrimp (26-30 count per pound), shelled, deveined and tails removed.
½ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon Cayenne (red) pepper
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
5-6 drops of hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the shrimp on a large baking sheet. Add the oil, salt, basil, thyme, Cayenne pepper, chopped onion, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce on top of the shrimp. Turn the shrimp to coat thoroughly with the oil and spice mixture. Be sure the shrimp are in a single layer.

Roast for 8-10 minutes until the shrimp are firm, pink and cooked through.

Settling for too little?

A recent article from the Parents magazine website (parents.com) looked promising. I hoped that the article, entitled “Redefining the Family Dinner,” would have some great tips about how families can “celebrate every day,” sharing meals that nourish both body and soul. And some of the tips were good, including the tip: “It doesn't have to be Mom doing it alone” (echoing a tip I posted months ago).

But other tips not only do not seem helpful, they actually seem destructive. The two harmful tips that caught my eye:

“It doesn't have to be every night. Sixty-five percent of families with children under 6 eat dinner together five or more nights a week, but that number drops to 50 percent for families with children 12 to 17. As Dr. Silliman observes, "You get one kid in soccer, another in Scouts, and Mom's in a book club, and that can shoot three or four nights a week right there." The solution? "Eat together as often as you can," says Dr. Silliman, "and make it a pleasant experience." Even one night a week, though not optimal, gives your family an opportunity to connect.”

And:

“It doesn't have to be dinner. Tom Price, coauthor, with his wife, Susan Crites Price, of The Working Parents' Help Book (Peterson's, 1996), suggests variations on the evening meal. "If Dad doesn't get home until 8:00, Mom and the kids can have dessert with him. Or the family meal can be Sunday brunch." Lois Feldman and her husband, Fred Stern, of New York City, often work late, so family dinners are irregular. When their son, Michael, was 8, says Feldman, "we instituted family breakfast. It's amazing how bonding it is, even just 15 minutes a day."

The suggestion that families settle for dinner together one night a week? The statement that “just 15 minutes a day” together is sufficient? These two tips actually contradict earlier statements in the article:

“Experts confirm that sharing regular meals as a family brings a banquet of benefits. Ben Silliman, Ph.D., a family-life specialist at the University of Wyoming's Cooperative Extension Service, says, "Children of all ages need to know that parents are accessible to them. One of the big messages that family dinner sends is 'You're important enough for me to spend this time with you.' "

"Mealtime is often the only time in the whole day when everybody's in the same room having a conversation," says William Doherty, Ph.D., author of The Intentional Family (Addison Wesley Longman, 1997), "so it's where the family's culture gets created." Even more impressive is the research suggesting that regular family meals can sharpen a child's intellect. Diane Beals, Ed.D., of the University of Tulsa, and Patton Tabors, Ed.D., of Harvard, studied 80 preschoolers and found that mealtime conversation built vocabulary even more effectively than listening to stories or reading aloud. And because gathering for a family meal is an inherently communal exercise, it naturally gives rise to basic courtesies, like saying "Please" and "Thank you," and keeping your mouth (mostly) shut when you chew.”

Yes, I know it can be challenging to eat dinner together as a family every night. Our family is in the midst of one of a challenging week: last night, Kathleen had a work commitment, so Peter and I had dinner together without her. Tonight, Kathleen and I have a commitment, so Peter will have dinner with his grandparents. But if everyday celebrations are important, particularly for families with children, then it is important to keep such challenging schedule conflicts to a minimum.

Keep on the look out for more tips about how to make everyday celebrations happen. And if you have a tip, please share it!

Verdict on Last Night's Culinary Experiment -- Not So Good

I decided to experiment for dinner last night. Earlier in the week I was going through an accordian file of recipes -- some loose, some booklets that came with small appliances, etc. -- and I discovered a recipe booklet from the early 1990s from Kraft. One recipe in particular caught my eye: Orange-Glazed Chicken.

Much has changed in the nearly 20 years since this booklet was published: tastes, availability of ingredients, cooking styles, etc. I knew that I would have to tweak this recipe, but I thought the taste combination was promising.

The verdict: I still have some more tweaking to do! While it wasn't bad (it was, after all, edible), it wasn't "blog-worthy." I still think the taste combination is promising.

Stay tuned. I have a few ideas to make it better. When it's excellent, I'll post it here.

Is There Hope for People Who Can't Cook?

Last night I saw the premiere of a new cooking show Worst Cooks in America (10 p.m. Sunday on the Food Network). The premise of the show is simple: round up some really bad cooks (24 total) and the worst of the worst will then be part of a ten-day culinary boot camp lead by two chefs.

The first thing the 24 contestants did was prepare their signature dishes. What the contestants made was, well, horrible. Of course I couldn't smell or taste them (thank goodness!), but seeing them was less than appealing. As I was watching, I kept wondering, "Oh come on, no one can be that bad a cook!" Apparently, I was wrong.

I was struck with the motivation of the contestants to be on this reality show. After all, they will be exposed as inept in the kitchen. But several of the cooks talked about a desire to learn how to cook for their families, or their friends, or even themselves. Most see this experience as an opportunity to become good cooks.

The show is an inspiration to me to continue with the Celebrate Every Day project. The 24 people who agreed to be on are not the only people who doubt their culinary ability. If even one person overcomes their uncertainty and starts to prepare meals to nourish both body and soul through this blog, it will be worth it!

Some tips to help get started:

Taste what you're cooking -- the chefs on the premiere episode echoed this tip I shared in an earlier blog post.

Don't be a afraid; you can do this -- Really, you can. I will do what I can to help. Browse through past posts for recipes and tips. And keep coming back for more. I promise to post at least twice a week.

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, a year in which I resolve to:

+ Celebrate every day
+ Prepare and enjoy meals can be spiritual, social, succulent, simple and special
and
+ Post tips, hints and recipes to help you do the same!

May this be a blessed New Year, a year to savor God's blessings and to be a blessing for others!