Really?  Has it really been a full week since I last posted?  Damn. 

Things have been super crazy at work.  Not that I would ever post my blog at work, you know, because that would be wrong.  WRONG.  Totally inappropriate, and I certainly would not engage in time theft.  Because, again, wrong. 

That is why I need my own cooking show.  I mean, come on... if Nadia G can have a cooking show, why the hell can't I?  Just because I don't have an obnoxious accent?  I can fake one.  I can fake one at least as well as she does...

Let's start a petition.  Get Kate her own show on Food Network.  Or Cooking Channel.  Or, heck, Travel Network.  Marc Summers... Help me out!

But, back to the real world, work has been stressful.  True, that has no reflection on my posting, but it does reflect on my cooking.  The past week's meals have been kind of "meh."  Not bad, per say, just not impressive, either.  Not anything that I'd tell you to make. 

Slow Cooked Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew?  Okay.  Filling.  Hearty.  Not very pretty and not really a good use of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which are kind of expensive.

Apple Sauce Baked French Toast?  Bad.  Barely edible.  Really the only thing that saved the meal was that I also made bacon and it's hard to be mad about anything when you're having bacon for dinner.  Brinner (Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch; Breakfast + Dinner = Brinner) is my favorite meal.  I enjoy very little in life more than eggs, salty meat, and a glass of red wine.  This meal did not live up to the promise of all that Brinner has to offer.

I did, however, make a mean baked chicken.  Butterflied, with a spicy rub of fresh garlic, shallots and oregano,  smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and a chunk of candied ginger (one of my favorite foods.  I'm going to go eat one right now!)  I used a modified Alton Brown method - I broiled the whole thing skin side down for 10 minutes, flipped it, broiled it skin side up for another 10 minutes, then baked at 350 until it was 160 degrees in the chicken breast (yes, I got a meat thermometer for Christmas.  Double yes, I'd been living without one before that!)  Almost perfect.  Still a little pink in the thigh.  Next time I will take it up to 165.  But the skin was nice and crispy, and the white meat was perfect...

The best part, though, was the vegetables.  Vegetables not generally being the awesomeist thing in the winter, I was happy to whip up some good greans. I got some fresh turnips at the market with their greens attached, and I was very excited to cook them up.  Unfortunately, having never made turnip greens before, I trusted the websites over my better judgement.  I like my greens barely cooked.  Lightly sauteed, wilted, that sort of thing.  But, I know that turnip greens are a hardier green than a spinach, so I believed the website when it told me to boil it for 10-15 minutes.  I think, though, that my turnips were a little younger than what was expected because when I checked after about 5 minuets, they were goo.  Gross.  So I'll try again and just saute them down like I would spinach.

My favorite part of the greens, though, was that I had to chop everything up in advance.  Jeff was out at a band function, and I wanted to quick make them as soon as he got home.  So I chopped everything up and put it into little bowls like a TV chef.  Mise en Place, BITCHES!

This is, circling around from top left: onion, bacon, turnips, bok choy, garlic, and the stem of the bok choy.  Fry up the bacon over medium heat until it's starting to render but not yet crispy.  Add the onions and cook about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, turnips, and bok choy stems and cook about 5 minutes more.  Add the bok choy leaves, season with salt and pepper.  Squeeze a lemon over the whole thing, turn the heat off, and cover.   Delicious!  And all local except the lemon...