Thursday, June 6, 2013

Blogging is Harder Than I Thought

This week I have been cooking, baking, and freezing like crazy. You wouldn't know though, because I can't seem to get a blog post published. I'll offer some, among many, of the reasons:

1.) In the evening, when, theoretically I have some time to write, I sit and stare at the wall instead. This is one of my favorite pastimes. When Tom and I were dating, I bet he thought I just liked sitting with him because, you know, love and stuff. That was probably part of it. But mostly I like to just sit and do not much at all. Maybe have a smackerel of something, maybe not. Basically, I think I am Winnie-the-Pooh.

2.) I started reading this month's book for book group. We are reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Nearly every chapter I read makes me cry. It is definitely a page-turner and is the thing I am doing besides wall-staring when I get a free minute. I think a big topic of our discussion this month might be this - because a story is horribly sad and horribly horrible, does that automatically make it a good story? That's what I've been mulling over while reading, but there is no denying that this book almost forces me to keep going.

3.) Unexpected things happen. For instance, this morning about 5 minutes before I had to take the girls to school, I couldn't find EITHER set of keys to my car. I ransacked my own house. I didn't even need any help from my little friends. Here is a visual for you:


I swear, it doesn't always look like this.

For about 40 minutes I searched and searched. I had a crying melt-down. I had a full-blown adult temper tantrum complete with many f-bombs (if you know me - let's face it, all of you do - you know this is BIG). Thank goodness for a wonderful neighbor who took Laurel to school. I finally did find a set - on the floor next to my son's dresser. When I got back from taking Alice to preschool, I found the other set. "Someone" placed them in my dutch oven. I am currently obsessed with my pedometer and I was pleased to find that all of the key-searching netted me about a half mile of walking - just in my house. Sweet.

Because it's been such a challenging morning, (okay, I'm reading a book about the plight of women in Afghanistan over the past 50 years, so this is my parenthetical statement where I tell you I'm being sarcastic) today's recipe is super easy.

Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken

3-4 pounds boneless-skinless chicken breast
3-4 cups tomatillo salsa (salsa verde)

Place chicken in your slow cooker. Cover completely with salsa. Cook on low for about 8 hours. Shred the chicken with two forks. Season to taste with salt. Serve. 

We ate this with some brown rice, taco toppings, and lots of chips. I froze a quart in a freezer bag for use later as either taco/burrito filling or maybe a zesty pulled-chicken sandwich. I will probably set it in the fridge the night before we plan to eat it, and then warm it up on the stovetop for a quick dinner. Easy to slow-cook. Easy to freeze. Now you will have time to search for you keys for forty minutes. Win. Win. Win.


Nutrition Info for 1/2 cup serving based on using Trader Joe's salsa verde:
Calories - 141.5; Fat - 2g; Sodium - 320.8g; Protein - 26g; Vitamin C - 19.4%

3 comments:

  1. one memorable morning i couldn't find my keys before work/preschool. i looked everywhere and then finally called zach in tears and asked him come home to give me his keys. just before he got home i found my keys inside the tissue box. at which time zady remembered that she had put the keys in there. that was not a happy morning in our house.

    i always buy tomatillos when i see them in the market. i think they are the coolest little green vegetable. this recipe is actually really easy if you have a food processor/blender. i've done both ways, both are yummy!

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  2. sorry, this is the recipe: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillo_salsa_verde/

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  3. Thanks, Jen! I'll have to try it. I hardly ever buy them - I've only cooked with fresh tomatillos when forced to by my CSA.
    I also called Tom, although there was no reason to because I knew he didn't have them or know where they were.

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