2012-01-31: Chicken Andre's

This was another offering from the Ontario Chicken Producers' Marketing Board.  Instead of spinach, I used the leaves from the golden beets used for the Chicken Pot au Feu recipe.  And instead of Sunflower Oil, I used Olive Oil.  And instead of a white onion, I used a yellow onion.  And instead of canned Mandarin Oranges, I used a fresh Naval Orange.  All of this, so that I could use the ingredients I had at hand, instead of buying more from the grocery store.  I'm more accustomed to this method, creatively finding ways to put random ingredients in the kitchen together.  Most of the time it works.  Sometimes, it doesn't.  But it gives a great deal more freedom than sticking slavishly to a recipe.

So today I compromised a little bit with the recipe.  I used it as the foundation and used alternate ingredients that were as close to the list as possible.  It tasted delicious with some rice on the side.

This marks the first month in the first of my floppy resolutions: to cook all of the recipes clipped and collected by my Mom for the past 20+ years.  I have grown to really appreciate this treasure which my Mom gave to me.  I have also grown to really appreciate the decades of dinners prepared by my Mom and Dad.  They made dinner every night, even when they were exhausted by a long and hard day at work.  I was sometimes a picky eater, and sometimes complained about the food.  And they still fed me, all the while telling me the story of how the rice farmers toiled in the rice paddies gathering all of the rice by hand.

So thanks, Mom and Dad, for all the food!