Hint of Mint

Well, I was experimenting with food and discovered that-which-cannot-be-named. It looks and tastes like some delicacy you get in a Greek or Italian restaurant and all I used was a pan and a serving bowl. And although the mint ends up being a very subtle flavor, it sure opens up the sinuses! I can breathe! Without further adieu, I introduce the recipe.

FOR THIS RECIPE YOU WILL NEED:
3 pure peppermint tea bags
mint extract
handful of dried cranberries
half a diced onion
minute rice
olive oil
parsley flakes
salt
2 small chicken breasts

Fill a pot about halfway with water, drop in the chicken and the tea bags. Put the stove on high until it starts boiling. Once boiling, lower the heat to halfway and walk away for 20 minutes.

Ok, it's been 20 minutes! Don't turn off the water! Fish out the tea bags (save them)and chicken(save that too) with a spatula and set aside. If you are Chuck Norris, reach in with your bare hands being careful not to melt the pot. Bring the water back up to a boil, add enough minute rice to make the ratio apx 1:1 and turn the heat off.

When the rice is done, dump it into your serving bowl and stick the pan back on the burner at halfway again.  Pour olive oil in along with the contents of one tea bag...Yes I know, I am a mad scientist! After about 5 minutes, add the diced onions and let it sit for 5 minutes.

While your onions start cooking, take this time to shred the chicken which should have cooled down by now. Stir your onions when you are done, toss the chicken in the rice with however much salt you enjoy in rice, and a few pinches of parsley. Stir it all up.

When your onions are about halfway cooked, toss in your cranberries, a pinch or parsley and half a lidful of mint extract. DO NOT ADD MORE THAN THIS!  When the onions are starting to look a little burned throw that mixture into the bowl and mix. If you have a little olive oil that didn't get absorbed or cooked off it is even better, trust me!

Serve on a pretty plate with a sprig of fresh parsley and pretend you are being served during sunset at an outdoor cafe in Europe.

Andrew Cake

Author's Note: I combined a couple recipes I knew in my head to create this delicacy. My husband loved it so much that since it had no name that I knew of, I lovingly knighted it "Andrew Cake".

It's dessert time again! I almost think I need a second blog just to put my easy dessert recipes in but that's a little too much work for this lazy chef. Another thing that is too much work for me is baking an angel-food cake, which is necessary for this recipe. Also you need a pretty trifle dish for the presentation factor. (it looks like a mixing bowl with a wine stem) Luckily neither of those things are very expensive at your local wally world, so in the interest of building your shopping list I present to you the ingredient list! Ta-da!

FOR THIS RECIPE YOU WILL NEED:
1 pre-made, undecorated angel-food cake
1 Packet of Ready-to-Cook Chocolate pudding*
3 cups of whatever kind of milk you use (we use almond)
cool whip (you need it cold but not frozen)
small packet of oreos

Cut your cake in half so that you have top and bottom, not left and right. Place either half in the bottom of your trifle dish with the middle side up. Follow the pudding directions for cooking it. While the pudding is still hot (but not boiling unless you want broken glass), pour it evenly over the cake. Stick that in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

While you are waiting, crush up your packet of oreos(about 10) into a bunch of crumbs. I dont really care how you accomplish this. Food processor works, potato masher in a flat dish, or put them in a plastic bag and stomp on them.

Ok, now that you are done abusing your oreos and the pudding has set, use a spoon to make your pudding layer flat, then dump a bunch of cool whip on top of that. Use your spoon to make that flat. Take your mutilated oreos and evenly distribute them over the top of the cool whip. Take a picture of how elegant your creation looks because your spouse is about to inhale that beast!


*It is important to dirty your pot for pudding cooking for a few reasons. First of all, cold pudding is harder to pour and that just doesn't fit in with our laziness now does it? Secondly, the hot pudding will change the top of the cake and make these yummy caramel like crumbs. Lastly, it makes pretty designs between the cake and glass as it runs down, making you look like a kitchen genius! Cold pudding just cant do that.