How Martha Am I?

I have been cooking this year, but tonight I had my first blog-worthy cooking experience of the year 2010. So here I go......

I recently subscribed to "Everyday Cooking", a Martha Stewart publication when my grandson's school had a fundraiser. After all, I still listen to Martha everyday on XM, and really enjoy much of the programming.

Today, Gene brought in the mail around 11:00 AM and by noon I had selected no less than three recipes from my first issue of the magazine, and made a shopping list of items I would need. Let me just say, Gene's favorite foods involve chicken (fried), steak (grilled), hamburgers (with french fries) and vegetables. That's pretty much it. When he recently broadened his culinary horizons, he went to chicken wings. He likes those now. I knew I was taking a huge risk by preparing recipes that include grilled chicken, oregano, toasted almonds, balsamic vinegar, and arugula! I had bought arugula once before, but I had hidden it in a salad with iceberg lettuce, so Gene didn't really notice it.

After Gene and I left the clinic where Gene had an MRI, I offered to drop him off at home before I went to the grocery store, but he said he was fine to go with me. Now this put me in a little bit of an uncomfortable position, since I knew that the items on my list were far from what we usually pick up at the store. But, away we went to Publix. In the produce section, I looked for oregano, garlic and arugula. He seemed slightly confused at this point, when we walked past the potatoes and tomatoes, but it got much worse. On the pasta aisle, I found the orzo. By this time, he was very suspicious, but just sort of shook his head as we moved on. When I picked up a bottle of balsamic vinegar, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know I won't eat anything you cook that includes alcohol!" I told him it would be fine, that this was an alcohol-free meal. I bought chicken cutlets and I think that made him feel a little better, but then I went to the area of the store where "specialty cheeses" are displayed, we had a problem. I found the shaved Parmesan and we were almost through. I picked up a few more items and we were out of there.

When we arrived at home, I made the Strawberry, Mango and Yogurt Smoothie, which we both enjoyed very much. Then for dinner, I made the Grilled Chicken with Oregano and Lemon and Arugula Salad with Almonds and Parmesan. I loved the salad, but I might have overdone the oregano on the chicken in the main dish just a bit. When I removed the chicken cutlets from the marinade of oregano, lemon juice, and garlic they were black with the oregano. I went ahead and grilled them, but then tried to undo the damage by washing them under hot water at the sink. That pretty much worked. Just in case I had washed away all the flavor, I sprinkled more lemon juice over them. I prepared the plates, and tried to prepare Gene by telling him to not expect too much from the meal. The plates looked very pretty when I placed the chicken cutlets next to the orzo (which was cooked perfectly) and the salad on the side. I should have snapped a picture, but I was so hot that I was just ready to eat this meal and get it over with. We enjoyed (well, ate) our meal quietly. The only conversation was when Gene would discover a new ingredient (Hummm, did you put nuts in this too?). I was encouraged until the moment when Gene got up, walked to the refrigerator, and said, "I think I'll have a little ketchup on my chicken".

I read this to Gene before I published it, and we both agree that I might have exaggerated a little, but I really did wash the cooked chicken, and he really did think that balsamic vinegar was wine.

These really are good recipes, so don't let me experience discourage you. If you want to try them you can find them in the June issue of Everyday Foods magazine.

By the way, I do know the difference between moral and morale. If you read my last blog, you'll know what I mean.