Day 4: Stuffed Chicken

Today was tediously long, and I wanted to make a dinner that might possibly salvage it.

I had two chocolates for breakfast because I spent the whole morning fighting a losing battle with the burgundy carpet from hell. Lunch was delicious--carnitas on flour tortillas, with colby-jack cheese, mashed avocado, and Salsa Verde--but caused a great deal of tummy ache and migraine (possibly unrelated migraine).

So, dinner had to be awesome.

First, I sliced up the mozzarella, prosciutto, and basil roll for an appetizer. Quick, simple, and looked quite nice on the plate. Gabe gobbled them up, but Emerald was not interested. She seems to be wary of everything I hand her now-a-days.

Then, I put the stuffed chicken into the oven--two were stuffed with spinach and artichoke Alfredo, and two were stuffed with a wild rice mixture. I have them set to be done about 20 minutes after six, plenty of time for Mike to come home, shower, sit down with his appetizer, and for me to set up plates.

Next, I brush the garlic tandoori naan with olive oil to be put in the oven and warmed (per the suggestion on the packaging). Since Mike would be trying something so foreign, I went ahead and made broccoli and cheese (a favorite of his) to ease the blow. Finally, some steamed spinach later, and we are ready to go.

That's when I notice my phone has a message--Mike is going to be late home.

Which means all the food is going to get ready at the wrong time, and I have the choice of

1) cooling it all off and warming it up when he gets home;

or 2) trying to keep it warm AND edible, when he may not be home for hours.

Luckily, he was only about 20 minutes late, and that gave me time to improve on a couple of the dishes--

the broccoli cheese got some Parmesan Romano mix sprinkled on top, which gave it a nice diversity of flavors and textures,

and the spinach got a little salt and pepper. After a thought, I added a splash of lime juice--generally, I would be more accepting of lemon juice, but since I am a big fan of Mexican food, lime juice tends to be more readily available in my household.

The end result: the chicken was juicy and flavorful, if just a little cold; the naan was absolutely wonderful, though next time I may allow it to crisp up a bit more; the broccoli and spinach were the best yet...and the appetizer was kind of a big flop. It had a weird texture, and it just didn't wow anyone besides Gabriel. Maybe he is more refined than we are, who knows.

All in all, the meal was tasty, but also quite rich with all the sauces and cheeses and butter and oil. Next time, I may try to add some more contrasting tastes =)