My Therapy

People take stress out in different ways. Some exercise. Some paint. Some play video games. Some "insert your activity here". But me? I cook. I don't even like cooking, but when I'm stressed? I become a chef in the kitchen.

The other day my stress-o-meter (yes, I just said that) was at max capacity. There happened to be potatoes in the fridge so I decided to sit and peel them. Stop laughing at me. When I was done peeling, I felt a lot better but then I had another problem to solve. What the heck was I going to cook with four large peeled potatoes? I couldn't make baked potatoes because, lets face it, baked potatoes suck without the skin (in my humble opinion). I don't have a masher, so mashed potatoes were out. Then by chance I saw someone over on the Scary Mommy message boards post this recipe:

4 (omg, perfect!) peeled, cubed potatoes
3 peeled/chopped carrots
1 chopped onion
butter
salt/pepper
1/3 cup EVOO

Put all ingredients in a casserole dish, then bake at 450 for 75 minutes (or until the potatoes and carrots are soft and onions have caramelized).  Note: I put the chopped potatoes into a gallon ziplock bag with one packet of lipton onion soup mix, a little water, and olive oil. I shook the bag up really well to make sure all the potatoes got covered and then let it sit in the fridge over night to absorb flavor.

And voila, a perfectly delicious side dish. I think I should get stressed out more often.

Right before being put in the oven.

But, you can't have a meal of just a side dish, so I had to come up with a main course. I decided on Cumin Chicken:

4 Chicken Breasts
2 tsps ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp EVOO
salt/pepper to taste

Cut chicken breast into 1-2" pieces. Mix all seasoning together in gallon zip lock bag. Add the (uncooked) chicken into the bag and shake until all chicken is covered (I let it sit in the fridge over night also). Then cook with oil in skillet over medium heat.

Ready to cook!

The finished product.

This is probably my favorite meal I've cooked so far. So delicious!!! That's what I tell myself anyway, because lets face it, nobody wants to believe that they spent all that time cooking for it to suck.