Back at it.....

Since I missed yesterday because we had to leave early to go get K2 from the airport, today is a 2 nights in one post.

First up, yesterday I cooked with Robin Miller's "Quick Fix Meals" and made "Apricot-Jalapeno Chicken with Sesame Noodles"

I omitted the Sesame Noodles.

You will need:
12 oz soba or somen noodles or whole wheat spaghetti (I did not make these)
Cooking Spray
1/2 cup sliced pickled jalapenos, drained
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used about 2 tsp of dried-I don't like the fresh stuff)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I used 1 breast and 1 leg quarter)
1 tsp sesame oil (did not use)
1/4 cup chopped scallions (didn't use these either)
2 tbsp minced pickled ginger (this didn't get used either)



-Cook the soba noodles according to the package directions, then drain.

-Coat a shallow baking dish with cooking spray. In a blender or food processor, combine the jalapenos, apricot preserves, cilantro, salt and pepper and process until smooth.

-Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish and top with the jalapeno mixture.




-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the chicken through (approximately 25-30 minutes)

I completely forgot to take a picture of just the chicken; so here is what it ended up looking like plated.

So today, I decided on breakfast for dinner. I made home-made waffles with a recipe from Gale Gand's Brunch. Homemade waffles are something we never make. We always just pick up some sort of mix. After doing them this way, I won't go back to a mix. These are very simple and probably a lot cheaper.

Anyhow, you will need:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (I melted the butter in the microwave and then promptly forgot about it, so of course it was omitted)

Maple syrup, for serving

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Heat a waffle iron. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and melted butter. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients all at once with a wooden spoon, until just combined. Don't over mix the batter; it should look lumpy.

For each waffle, pour 1/2 to 1 cup of the batter onto the waffle iron; bake as directed by the manufacturer. Serve hot off the griddle, with maple syrup.

We have an old timer waffle iron; I bought it for J probably a good 15 years ago, but it still works pretty good.

After cooking (I didn't want to overfill the waffle maker, so it was little off):

We should find out tomorrow when we can get a port call to leave Okinawa. We may have to make a pit stop in Hawaii in order to get Buddy on the plane with us. Going through Hawaii means it would be a commercial flight and the chance of them not having space is pretty non-existent. He would need to be kenneled for the time we were there, but I guess a few days of him suffering some separation anxiety is better than a few months of him not being with his family. I may need to see if they have doggy Prozac to help calm him down if Hawaii is the way we need to go. We'll see....