3 Day Weekend

I was looking forward to Columbus Day weekend and doing a little extra cooking.  I find it relaxing. 

I poached some salmon.  I love cold poached salmon over salad.  Since I don't poach salmon often, I often look up a few poaching recipes on the internet.  I then adapt it based on what I have in the refrigerator.    On this particular day, the poaching liquid included water, hard apple cider in place of white wine, lemon, pepper, dried basil leaves, allspice and a little Old Bay seasoning because I'm from Maryland.   I made a salad with mixed field greens, sliced almonds, mandarin oranges and raisins.  The only thing missing was a little blue cheese or feta cheese.   The salmon in the picture below looks more like chicken. 

I made some chicken soup.  I buy the chicken breasts with the bone in and the skin on as these tend to be very moist when boiled.  It also produces better stock.  The breasts in this package were so big that I decided to cook one and freeze the other two.  I add the chicken breast to a large pot of water.  I boil it until the breast is fork tender or falling off of the bone.  After cooling, I leave the stock in the pot.  I take out the chicken, remove the skin and bones and cut the chicken up into small chunks.  I bring the stock back up to boil, throw the chicken back in add a small package of frozen mixed vegetables.  I add a can of cream of mushroom soup.  For seasoning I add, salt, pepper and of course...Old Bay.  I also add a little sugar.  I allow this to boil moderately for about half an hour.   I remembered that I had some Mary Hill frozen dumplings in the freezer.  I cut them in half and drop them in one at a time.  I allow the pot to simmer for another 30 minutes. 

A couple of years ago, I was in the produce section of the grocery store.  This cute little old lady with a head of white hair started talking to me.  This is what happens if you linger in the produce section too long.   I know we were hovering over the fresh corn.  I mentioned that I probably would make some creamed corn.  She mentioned that she was going to bake it in the oven.  What?  How do you do that?  Lil ole lady breaks up the ear of corn in half or thirds.  She also cuts up other veggies such as asparagus and tomatoes.  She places her veggies on a pan and adds balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  She mixes it up and sticks it in the oven for about 15 or 20 minutes.  This is my version below which has eggplant, tomatoes, red onions, okra and zucchini.  I also add fresh garlic and season it with salt, pepper and dried basil.  But this time, no Old Bay seasoning.  I bake it on 400 for about 20-30 minutes.