The Working Girl Must Eat

My mom had a knack for old hardback books. Estate sales. Goodwill. Church Rummage Sales. Library sales. You name it. Luckily I inherited many of them. I haven't really taken the time to read them, mostly they are just used a cool old relics as part of my home décor. The Saturday that Mike left, I was up in the guest bedroom toodling around and thinking of rearranging furniture, when I glanced over and saw one book staring back at me. It's called The Working Girl Must Eat by Hazel Young.  Originally published in 1938, but I have the current version, published in 1942.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a hand written menu from my Mom.  (tear)

I thought it was so ironic because one of the first things I told Mike as he was leaving was, 'what am I going to eat while you're gone?' It's a running joke in our house because Mike is the household cook. The question of the day is always--what's for dinner honey?!

Now that he is away for two weeks, I'm left to fend for myself. Quite literally. The first full day he was gone, I had a handful of dry chow mein noodles, one piece of string cheese, 1/2 a cup of leftover couscous, a dill pickle spear and a 1/3 pint of ice cream for dinner. I even considered a store-bought pre-made frozen burrito, until I discovered that it was freezer burnt beyond recognition, and the beans looked moldy. Is it even possible to mold in the freezer? If not, I may have found a new freeze resistant strand of mold.

Egads, I wonder if it is possible for our embryos to get freezer burnt?

Anyway, about 98% of the food concoctions Mike makes I enjoy. The remaining 2% usually involve too much garlic, salt or moisture. I'm not near as adventurous as he is with spices and herbs. I didn't start using regular table pepper until I was almost out of high school. I am Bland Central. But after finishing off random leftovers, to include using milk that was just a moment away from curdling, as well as feasting on expensive pints of Ben & Jerry's, I decided the other day that I was actually going to plan a few meals. After all, I'm fixin' to go through IVF, so I need a healthy, nourished body and plumb baby making eggs.

So, I got a 2lb pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts and marinaded 'em in a white wine and herb McCormick's packet. I grilled all of it and ate one breast with a side of broccoli and a baked/grilled potato. I had the remaining potato and one breast for lunch on Monday. Yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few additive items and came home to create the most fabulous chicken salad I have ever eaten. If I do say so myself. I found the recipe in the pocket sized Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine.  I have been getting those every month for almost a year. I cashed out expiring flyer miles for a free subscription, and never would've considered paying for it until now!

Anyway, I came across a recipe for chicken salad. I l-o-v-e chicken salad.  I reduced the recipe a little since I didn't have the full three cups of chicken it called for. It also called out dried apricots and I'm just not a fan of apricots, so I replaced that with the equivalent of sliced, seedless red California grapes. It also called for low-fat Greek yogurt which I almost skimped on--but so glad I didn't because it made it creamy and not greasy like mayo does! Another ingredient was fresh basil, which I also almost skimped on, thinking that the dried stuff I have in the cupboards would be just as well. But fresh basil was on sale so I thought what the heck, and I'm so glad I did. I put in less than half of the basil the recipe called for and that was a good idea--basil can have a sharp flavor. After a dash of sliced almonds, I finished it off by placing a good few spoonfuls of it on a piece of fancy artisan bread that I rescued from the bottom of the bakery bin for a mere $0.39.

I'm telling you, that was the best chicken salad sandwich I have ever eaten in my whole life! Every single bite was scrumptious--I have to say it tasted like a fancy $15 sandwich from a boutique café in town. I was especially proud of my resourcefulness. Finally putting those recipe magazines to work.  Successful batch cooking where the chicken was used in three successful meals--first grilled for a dinner and a lunch, then into chicken penne alfredo (the almost spoiled milk incident) and now as chicken salad! Relatively little physical work, just mostly planning and follow-thru. I'll be having a sandwich of it for lunch today as well...

Here's the recipe in case I've made you hungry.

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1/3 cup mayo

5 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 diced yellow onion (I used a Walla Walla)
1 chopped celery stalk
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sliced grapes
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

Needless to say, I am quite proud of myself. It has given me some culinary confidence. When I clipped that recipe out of the magazine, I also clipped a few more as ideas for the Gorge campout. Truth be told, I think I was hungry and bored when I clipped them, and I don't really think I even intended on attempting to make any. Until now!

One recipe that I will be trying this afternoon is a grillable pizza dough. I have never made dough in my life. Ever. But the recipe only has a few ingredients and it seems pretty straight forward. I have visions of testing this recipe tonight, then making more dough, freezing it and having gourmet dutch oven pizzas before the DMB show. I'm also thinking of making more chicken so we can have a bbq chicken and pesto and chicken pizzas like California Pizza Kitchen. I also found a recipe for soft pretzels using the same dough recipe. I will be making that as well, and taking it as my food offering at the Beer Tasting this weekend. More on that later.

If you can't already tell, I'm a hungry, hungry hippo. Maybe it's the Pill.  Maybe it's the stress. Or maybe it's just me. Either way, the working girl must eat.