Roasted Artichoke, Red Pepper & Pesto Chicken

Okay, I cook a lot. For those of you who know me this may be an understatement. I LOVE cooking for people, entertaining and especially doing these for and with my friends. So recently I saw a recipe close to the one I'm sharing here, but as I always do I altered it. Guilty. I've had people ask me for recipes over the years and sometimes I just have nothing to say. I cook by instinct and I rarely measure anything. After disappointing people enough I've started to try to pay attention, especially if I'm driven to share a success with others. So here we go, as close as I can remember.
I made this chicken dish a couple of weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it. It was dead easy and it was a taste explosion! I mean, just look at it! The key was the roasted red pepper spread which has a bunch of yummy spices and eggplant in it. (slurp)

Roasted Artichoke, Red Pepper & Pesto Chicken

1 package boneless, skinless chicken thighs. (You know you love them)

1 can artichoke hearts, rough chopped

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 c. chicken stock

1/3 c. roasted red pepper spread aka Avjar (I used Roland brand but Trader Joe's also has one)

3 T. Basil Pesto

Roast at 375 degrees until chicken is almost falling apart. I estimate around 45 minutes. (This gives the yummy goodness time to soak in.) I used a large roasting pan so there was sauce around each piece but the crock pot would work awesome.

Now, a couple of disclaimers here. First, I used a bag of frozen diced onions because I was too lazy to chop my own and it was faster.Second, I used my homemade pesto. This may not make a big difference in overall flavor but if you want to use my pesto recipe I'm including it below.

Leanne's Scrumptious Basil Cashew Pesto

1 bag organic basil (I get this at the store where I work and it's a healthy size bunch. I'd say about 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of basil leaves)

1 good handful of raw cashews

3 T. parmesan cheese (if you're dairy free you could try some nutritional yeast or dairy free parmesan)

salt & pepper -a good pinch of both

Good quality organic olive oil.

2 good sized cloves of garlic

Place all ingredients in a food processor and drizzle in the olive oil s-l-o-w-l-y until you get a smooth paste but not runny. For me the secret to this pesto is the cashews, they really give it a boost but of course feel free to use whatever nut you fancy.

Bon Apetit!

Paris Nights

Tonight I was working the service desk at the grocery store. During the many long and boring intervals between customers I was randomly cleaning, looking in all the drawers and cabinets to take a mental inventory, observing customers and pacing. 

During one of these breaks I had the free time to notice that my hands felt a bit on the dry side and remembered seeing some lotion in one of the drawers so I opened it and selected one from 3 choices. The cute mini bottle of pink lotion was entitled 'Paris Nights'. A quick somewhat distant sniff told me this was okay even though I never go for lotion with much scent to it.

I squeezed out a small pea-sized amount and rubbed it into both hands, and then it hit me. Let it suffice to say that if that is what Paris smells like at night it's coming off my list of places to visit someday.  My hands smelled like a combination of cheap perfume and a flower I could not identify. It naturally followed me everywhere and since I was trapped in the service booth I could not wash my hands.

Looking around desperately for a solution I spied the Purell hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall. Surely this could neutralize the stench on my hands! I applied it with high hopes only to be doubly mortified by the new addition of the Purell smell and rubbing alcohol combo I had added to the original stank. I couldn't believe I had made it worse and now I had to live with it for another hour and a half.

As soon as my shift ended I washed my hands with the foamy hand soap in the kitchen at work. I'm not sure what I was expecting but all I succeeded in doing was adding a layer of that smell to the others. I have no words to describe the aroma which I drove home in my small car with. 

Upon arriving home I had to use the facilities and therefore washed my hands again, this time with my cucumber melon hand soap. You guessed it, layers 5 and 6. I attempted to eat a snack and was overwhelmed each time my hand came near my face. It also made my snack taste funny. By this time my nasal passages began to stuff up and my sinuses tingle. 

At bedtime I went into my daughter's room and she said, "God, mom, your hands stink, go out!" Shunned and contemplating a night without sleep as the stench would surely follow me (I like to have my hands up near my pillow), I finally reached for the baking soda. I have scrubbed with that twice and it abated it slightly but it is still there. I only pray it will diminish further with a couple more baking soda treatments. Perhaps I should wear my gloves to bed tonight in the name of sleep for all concerned? Who knew lotion could be so lasting? And the worst part is...my hands are super dry after all this washing and scrubbing and I'm afraid to put anything else on them!

Update: Desperate to relieve my sandpaper hands I applied a small tad of my regular lotion. You don't want me to describe it. Maybe some tomato juice?

Wish me luck!

Where did the time go?

Since my last post (a distant memory) quite a bit has happened, as it does for everyone. Here's a catch up post before I move on to the new year starting where I left off .

Dave and I rearranged the flower bed, I transplanted some things in new spots and amped up the herb garden.  We got the Milky Spore down and there was a marked decrease in the Japanese beetle population throughout the rest of the season. Sayonara suckers!

Planter boxes for the porch

In April E and I went to visit friends on the west coast.

Here's the ferry we arrived on.

We had a great visit and celebrated Easter there. I came home to a promotion at work, one which all but eliminated my having to go out and collect grocery carts! Now I get to ask other people to do that but I have a lot of respect now for the job they are doing. After all we know what a jungle it is out there. Emma was in a couple of plays in the spring which were very cool and then her Tap Recital in which she was amazing. I'm not biased at all. 

In May, all other plans for the garden came to a screeching halt when I foolishly bent over to put the fitted sheet on my mattress. Apparently my spine (and the muscles around it) were not up to the task and I came up after some difficulty, the astonished and unwilling recipient of a bulging lumbar disc which had forcefully invaded the previously allotted space for my sciatic nerve which was highly offended and screaming.  Surely this wasn't brought on by hours of weeding and bagging groceries day after day? Nooooo.

True to a family genetic malfunction that prevents us from seeking medical treatment until there is no alternative, I diagnosed and treated this injury myself with ice pack, heat and ibuprofen and continued to weed the garden and work (both of which required walking, bending, twisting and lifting) until the pain was constant and my left leg buckled randomly when I used it.  At this point I astutely surmised I may need the intervention of a qualified physician so in mid-late June I went and she (shaking her head in disbelief) said I should not be working at all. Since my diagnosis clashed with hers (denial gene) she suggested Ice, Ibuprofen,  PT and to swim if at all possible. 
After a couple more weeks working, etc. (while she was on vacation) my left leg went weak then my foot numb and the hot flashing pains that radiated down my leg via my sciatic nerve intensified and I began to randomly fall down if I put my weight on it as if it were paralyzed. So much for my diagnosis and treatment plan. Ironically when PT called that week to set up my appointments I cavalierly chirped that I thought maybe I didn't really need to come, after all I was able to walk. I wasn't as bad off as some people. She almost let it go at that until I mentioned falling down in my daughter's room the day before. Since they couldn't get me in for another 2-3 weeks we decided to head up to our cabin where I could swim every day for free without chlorine. 

Dave put in a driveway this year. Hurray! He did an awesome job, don't you think?

Upon my doctor's return she said absolutely no work for 6 weeks unless I wanted permanent debilitating chronic back pain and gave me these nice little yellow pills called muscle relaxers. The bottle said to take them 3x per day but if I did that I'd be unconscious 24/7. The cautionary label says not to drive or operate machinery while taking these. Yeah, I'm out like a light 10 minutes after taking one of these, never mind driving.  I like them. 

I began PT 3 times a week, which as everyone knows who has been there stands for Physical Torture. My primary therapist was a very nice woman...until we got into the gym where she proceeded to torture me with lunges and squats and trying to get me to stand on this weird rubber ball with an outer ring like Saturn to balance on while simultaneously lifting weights. This combo in my mind could inspire an even greater back wrenching injury, but what do I know? This all took place directly in front of the un-openable picture windows with the heat of the July sun streaming in. She smiled a lot while I was doing this and wrote things on my chart. I was looking pretty.

Primary therapist expectations.

 Athlet On The Rings Vol 2

ID: 224374

© Chronis Chamalidis | Dreamstime Stock Photos

 I hate to be harsh on my own sex but the proof is in the pudding, girls are tougher on other girls. I don't think it helped that she was pregnant at the time either. When you're pregnant you think, hey, if I can do this pregnant then by God you can too. In my defense, and having been pregnant and able to compare the two, I would argue that a baby and an acute spinal injury really are not equal. What she did do for me that I liked was traction because it took the pressure off the injury and I could always walk better afterward.

Secondary therapist expectations. 

My secondary therapist was a man and therefore nicer to me in the gym. He was more encouraging and ready to alter an exercise to make it easier to accomplish a goal. When we did water exercises he complimented my choice of bathing suit and my performance of the tricky little balance exercises in the pool. I know, I fell for it all. Once when I was apparently visibly tense during a weight lifting session he gave me a shoulder massage to release the muscles which I carry in a nice knot between my shoulder blades most of the time. It is very difficult to concentrate on your reps while you are receiving an unexpected massage. From then on I wished he was my primary therapist and envisioned spa like treatments such as massages with warm oil, calming music, hot tub therapy, facials and cool cucumber slices on my weary eyelids to relax me. This did not happen.

Eventually I was released from PT for limited return to work and I went back to the doctor who gave me said pass to go back to work up to 4 hours a day, every other day but not before performing her own exam of my spine (Untrusting soul) which included pressing on the priorly improved injury point and making me involuntarily drop to my knees like a repentant sinner from the searing pain. This took some days to recover from. I have not let her examine my spine again.

So, I ended up with a few weeks off from work throughout the summer, which would have been much more sweet if I had been able to do more fun things like garden more, use my kayak at the lake, ride my bike, etc. but alas, maybe next year.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve were all quiet and enjoyable and we were invited to a friend's house for an after Christmas get together which was very nice.

Well, I think that pretty much sums it up for 2014. I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Planning for Spring, (there's still plenty of time....)

Planning for Spring, (there's still plenty of time....)

Don't you just want to climb up and see where these quirky stairs lead?

They may not be the safest staircase I've seen but they sure are fun. 

The colors and bird photos remind me of spring as well, which leads me to this post.

Time to start planning the garden...if there's going to be one or not and if so what will be in it.

Now that I'm working again the task, as much as I normally like it, seems daunting. 

I have so many grand plans in my head and can imagine something like this...

Or this.....

but since I don't have a full time gardening staff I'm pretty sure I should shoot for something like this

Okay, maybe I'll go somewhere in between.

I'm contemplating more container gardens around the yard... 

Apparently you can use about anything that can hold soil. Now where did I put my old guitar???

Maybe I can lash my clementine boxes together into some fabulous array?

I'd also like to eventually have cold frames... 

and a small movable greenhouse...

and I really like the idea of this living succulent wreath....

And let's not forget the herb garden and flower beds...

See what I mean...too many ideas for one season. 

I'll have to see what I can manage since I'll be doing most of it myself. I love digging, planting, weeding, mowing and watching everything come together. It's pretty satisfying. I have friends that are great gardeners (you know who you are Ruth, Glenda, Joyce, Lisa) and I could be envious, but I know they started like me and I have to keep learning, failing, succeeding and enjoying the process.

My birdbath bowl broke last fall because I was working and too darn lazy to bring it in before it was a birdie skating rink, which of course cracked it. So I must find a replacement for that. The birds liked it and it's nice to have them out there eating the unwanted bugs.

Then there's the prep work, like masking off a room before you can paint it....

before I do anything I have to milky spore the whole acreage to kill the Japanese Beetle eggs and larva before they hatch and kill my fruit trees again this year. I ended up with one wizened apple after all the gorgeous blossoms on everything. I picked a thousand of them and some other horrid little brown beetles off my trees and herbs (RIP Basil) and plunged them to their deaths in rubbing alcohol, but let me tell you I'm sooooo not into doing that again, nor do I have the time, so Milky Spore it is!

So, I'm going to go up the quirky stairs of my mind and see what's waiting up there for spring.

Any ideas you want to share, any sage advice or spare containers or mature fruit trees?

What are your plans?

Do tell.

Happy Planning!

Leanne

photos courtesy of Pinterest, the place that inspires you & makes you feel inferior all at the same time.

Remember these?

I didn't think so.

They're flowers. 

A distant memory for me now.

It's March so 6 more weeks of winter, unless we do a repeat of 1978 when I walked home from school at the end of April in a Nor'easter. Can we say frostbite? 

All the way home I regretted my choice of a dress. 

Some of you remember this from my facebook page but: 

I'm at work last month and a customer said to me, 

"Only another month till spring, March will be nice".

To which I asked, "Are you from New England?" 

(already knowing the answer)

"No", he says.

I said, "I have some bad news for you".

He probably thinks I'm just a cranky New England pessimist.

Time will tell. But this week until yesterday it was below zero every morning and in the teens in the afternoons. Yesterday it was 7 above though so things are improving.

See below for accurate March conditions.

So far I'm feeling confident. We'll have some nice days here and there but Winter likes to linger here as long as it can. I can't blame it really, it's a pretty nice place to hang out. 

Maybe it is what makes us so appreciate the spring and the flowers when they finally do arrive for good in May before the blazing heat of summer arrives in June and settles in until September. At least we don't have the sun rising at midnight like in Alaska, heavens, we're crotchety enough already. If you're visiting in pre-spring otherwise known as Mud Season (March and April) think of us as bears coming out of hibernation. By now we're pretty tired of alternately being holed up inside in sub-zero weather, shoveling the driveway, de-icing the car, and calculating the rationing of the rest of the wood supply. 

It is a land of extremes in every respect I can think of. Weather, stark wilderness and populated coastline, wealth and poverty, cranky and kind people, beauty and urbanization, really good and really bad architecture. Opposites co-existing, making each more extreme by the very existence of the other. 

I'm sure New England isn't the only place these things could be said about, but we really do have a lot going for us where I live. Mountains and seaside, lakes and rivers, Outdoor recreation year-round, museums and orchards, National Parks and Major cities (when so desired) are all within an hour's ride. Pretty much all you could ask for.

Hmmm. Perhaps I should consider a job with the tourism marketing dept.? I might feel like a bit of a phony though considering that if someone offered me a sweet little house in Southern California where it's 75 degrees all year I might be on the next plane. But I digress.

I'm reminding myself as winter drags it's heels that there are things to look forward to before we have to 

hunker down and do it all again next year. 

I'm looking forward to the garden...

maybe I can finish filling it in this year

And the baby birds...

Trips to the coast...

Apple blossoms...

That's a good start.

Hope you all have a nice farewell to winter

 and a beautiful spring!

 Bloom where you're planted!

Hello everyone,

Well here I am in the long slumber of a Maine winter. It has been bone chilling, sub-zero cold this year and I've spent lots of time by the fire. I have however been lucky enough to get outside daily at my job. I've been working at the local grocery store since October and it's been eye opening in many respects. I've learned a lot about myself, my patience threshold, and about the public in general. You wouldn't think being a cashier would be all that challenging and from a physical perspective it's not. From a relational one it can be mind boggling. Someone once told me, as we labored together at a restaurant, "Never over-estimate the general public". I remember her comment daily. Overall our customers are pretty good. They seem to be able to handle themselves in the store, most are pretty polite and congenial....then they go outside. Something happens in the vestibule between the store and the parking lot that seems to make them loose their minds and their manners. It is some twilight zone type phenomenon I have yet to figure out but it does lessen my optimism about people sometimes. Prepare yourselves for my grocery cart rant. Any of you who have worked where you have to collect grocery carts will feel me here. Please understand that I know it's my job to collect carts and that there are some of our customers who have disabilities and are not able to do more than they do. I have no problem with either of those things. What I do have a problem with are the following. If you do any of these I still love you but here's the world from the collectors perspective.

1. We have 2 sizes of carts, large and walker style short ones. They look nothing alike and there is no alternate universe I am aware of where they would fit together. Every day people try to jam them together anyway. I find them jumbled together in the corral (the ones that make it to the corral) like a cyclone deposited them there where I must then wade through, re-order, pull apart, push together correctly and then separate and tether them in order to bring them back to the store to start the cycle all over again. Needless to say this takes a lot more time than if people put them in the corral by size and actually pushed their cart into the one in front of it.

2. People who are unable to locate the apparently invisible carriage return corral 12 feet from their parking space. This baffles me. They are enormous, covered in signage and available to the public. No special training is required for use yet people seem to prefer leaving their cart next to their car where during the next soft breeze it will careen into the closest available parked car or, God forbid, me.

3. Snowbanks are not authorized carriage return areas. Ok, just work with me here. Is it really easier to heave your cart up into a snowbank than to roll it across the flat parking area and into the corral? Really?

4. Hanging your cart off the rail of the carriage corral. Ok, I'm pretty strong and agile for a chick my age but come on. It's not a coat rack.

5. Parking at the far reaches of the parking lot and not returning your cart to a corral. Yup, I get that you want the exercise, or maybe you don't want to park near lots of other people but hey, I'm getting plenty of exercise already so I don't need you to strategically plan my next workout routine, okay?

6. I'm pushing a huge line of carts that took me 20 minutes to collect from all non-corral areas of the lot. It's freezing out. The lot is slippery. I'm on a roll. You make me stop on the incline so you can pass and I have to practically get a running start to get them going again on the hill. Thank you.

7. Your cart is not a trash receptacle. Please use designated cans for your trash. I really don't want or have the means to collect your beer cans, fast-food lunch leftovers, shopping lists, used sanitary wipes, leftover bakery cookies half slimed by your toddler or your wet shopping flyers. Nope, I'm good.

8. You're done shopping at our store. You spot the mall next door. You think, hey, I'll go over there. Hey, I think I'll bring my cart with me. No. The cart is not available for road trips, especially since no one ever brings them back and I get to go to said mall to rescue them. It's still freezing (or raining, or snowing) and I'm too busy with 1 through 7 anyway.

9. Motorized scooters. These are available for in the store for customers who have a hard time walking. They have a huge sign on them, facing the rider that says IN STORE USE ONLY in red. This is apparently indecipherable because they always take them out to the parking lot and leave them there where the battery dies and I have to manually haul them in backwards to charge them up. FYI, they are not light. They also will not run without sitting on them so if it's raining or snowing I get a nice wet seat for a couple of hours. Also it takes forever (think Dr. Nefario from Despicable Me).

10. Leaving your cart right outside the entrance or exit door. No. Ok, last week I was going out to get carts and the woman in front of me with her service dog could not leave the store because some stooge decided to leave their cart in front of the door as they were leaving. Really? You couldn't have left it in the hall 5 feet behind you?

11. I hadn't planned to go to 11 but I just remembered this and it didn't fit anywhere else. Scenario: you have a shopping cart. You have one light to medium weight bag in it. You're not disabled. You're not carrying anything else. Do you really need to wheel the bag to your car half-way to timbucktwo and leave it there? Could you not just take the bag and leave the cart in the store? Seriously.

Ok, For anyone I have offended I am sorry. I will not say I have never left my cart near my car during horrific weather or when I had an infant in the car and the corral was out of sight of said babe. I have been guilty for reasons of my own. But now that I've been on the other side I am much more aware and try to do what the store is silently but politely asking of me by putting the corrals and signs there for me to use.

 And please, no one write to me and tell me that if people didn't leave their carts teens all over the land would be out of work. That's just not true. Collecting them from the corrals and the handicapped spaces takes plenty of time, especially when the store is busy. 1-11 is just telling us you don't care. Also, there are plenty of us older women out there as well, so if you're way younger than me and just being lazy, I'm gonna notice.

OK, that was a big rant. Next time maybe I will give you a cashier perspective just for fun. I like my job and like I said most people are nice. It's nice to know the regular customers and I've had a lot of good laughs with them as well. Also, I've had a lot of laughs without them, which is part of the ongoing charm and mystery of people everywhere. I am grateful to have my job and to have great co-workers.

Happy grocery shopping!

Hey everyone,

It's been a nice extended fall season here in Maine this year. Still no significant snowfall at the end of November and we've had pretty good temps up until this weekend. Today we stand at 20 degrees with freezing high winds. Yeah. Here are a few snapshots from the fall. Now we're scurrying to tighten up the outside landscape and button up the house for the winds of change that will bring Old Man Winter knocking soon.

Here are a few things we did this fall:

A visit to the Merrick Country Doctor Museum in Tamworth, NH. Beautiful day in early September. The grounds were beautiful and we learned alot about the responsibilities of the country doctor back then. He was quite the entrepreneur! People depended on him for so many things.

Apple picking day at a local organic orchard in Limerick, ME, topped off with apple cider donuts.

Off to the pumpkin farm (MacDougal Orchards) on the way home. We got 4 big pumpkins, 2 big bunches of cornstalks and some gourds for our fall wreath.

 Carving them up

Harvestfest in York Beach, ME. 

Horse Drawn Wagon rides

 Beanhole Baked Beans

 Artisan Tents

I also had a great day at the Willbrook 18th century Museum with one of me best friends and we went to a very nice tea house for lunch. It was a gorgeous and scrumptious day but I don't have pictures.

Also went on a nice hike with Dave up Mount Blue Job with great views in every direction at the top, ditto on the pics.

Hope you all enjoyed your fall too!