3 posts tagged “recipe”
I’ve mentioned before that we have slowly been trying to greenify our apartment. Well, in the past several months, I decided to tackle a new area: cleaning products.
For years, I had bought the same brand names I used growing up – Windex, Soft Scrub, Dawn, Tide, all those products my mom (and probably your mom) (and maybe your dad?) stocked up on at home. They worked fine, were familiar and easy to find – what more could I want?
Then I happened to read an article about the amount of chemicals in your average laundry detergent (HOLY SHIT) – how they get on your clothes, onto your body and out into the environment. I started to seriously question not only my detergent use, but the use of many other items in our household, from hand soap to toilet cleaner. How could I make my home less chemically-covered? What could I do to better “detoxify” my life? (Besides getting rid of those A*Teens CDs?)
I ended up checking out a book on the subject for guidance. The extreme nature of the author’s cleaning fixation was a bit beyond me (who in their right mind dusts once A WEEK?), but the simple recipes for homemade remedies were not. I was easily able to gather the ingredients and concoct “natural” equivalents for most of the products we normally buy. For our more complex cleaning needs, I turned to Method and Seventh Generation, who both meet the environmentally-safe criteria established in the book. (And have a tendency to come packaged in awesome-looking containers.)
After many months of use, I can report the homemade cleaners not only work surprisingly well, but truly stand the test of time. They are cheap and easy, too (insert prostitution joke here); I highly recommend giving them a shot, if you’re open to this sort of thing. My favorite alternatives are below. (And please send me any suggestions of your own!)
I’ve been dying for some good, old-fashioned, PLAIN popcorn lately. After a horrible experience with a box misleadingly titled “Crispy and White” (which also happened to be “Saturated with Fat”), I got online to see how one would go about popping corn without the aid of an air-popper. Or oil. Because we are not cool enough to keep either in our kitchen.
So here’s how homemade microwave popcorn works:
1) Open a small brown paper bag.
2) Cover the bottom of the bag in popcorn kernels.
3) Close the bag using tiny folds (so it will stay shut.)
4) Place a paper towel in the microwave, and put the bag on top.
5) Heat on high until most of the corn sounds like it has popped.
6) Pour contents into a bowl, season as desired, and enjoy!
It’s just that simple – you can even re-use the bag! Fabulous! I’m never getting that pre-packaged crap again. (Sorry, Orville.)
On Wednesday of last week, I started to get a headache. I didn’t think anything of it at first, as such “visits” often accompany bad days in the never-ending cycle of my fibromyalgia. However, I soon figured out this headache was not so much “dropping by” as it was “SETTING UP PERMANENT RESIDENCE”, as evidenced by the construction sounds that started pounding away in my skull on Thursday evening.
By Saturday, the headache's crib was built, its friends had all arrived and lots of blaring techno music (plus a sub-woofer or two) was gettin' that party started.
Oh, my migraine was ON, baby. You best believe.
Amazingly, Shane and I still managed to both clean the apartment and make a pot of chili for lunch with my family on Saturday afternoon. Whether this was due to our extreme awesomeness, my inability to grasp the concept of “taking it easy” (taking it what? where?) or a 12-hour domesticity side effect to the aforementioned migraine, the world may never know.
All that matters is: a) the apartment is now sparkly clean (also minty fresh) and b) the chili tasted, as usual, fabulous. Everyone – my parents and brother, who was in town for the state high school hockey tournament – enjoyed it immensely, so I decided to share the recipe today, courtesy of Café Latte’s website (with our modifications). Because if I can pull this off while half-drunk on various forms of pain killers, you should totally be able to make it work, too.
Chicken Salsa Chili
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1½ cups chopped yellow onions
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh jalapeno chili pepper
• 1½ cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, undrained and broken up
• 1 can (29 ounces) tomato puree
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) dark red kidney beans, drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) hominy
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
To make chili: Sauté chicken until cooked. Add onions and reduce heat. Cook for three minutes or until onions are tender. Add pepper flakes, jalapeno, chicken stock, chili powder, whole tomatoes and tomato puree, kidney beans, and hominy. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
To serve: Add chopped cilantro and lime juice just prior to serving. Adjust seasoning to taste. Top chili with Sour Lean, 2% grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.
Calories: Makes approximately 16 cups, 120 calories per cup, minus toppings (jumps to 240 with 1 tablespoon Sour Lean, 1/2 serving cheese and 1/2 serving chips).
Yum!
P.S. If anyone has suggestions on how to stave off (1, 2, 3, 4, stave it off!) and/or get rid of a migraine, I would appreciate the input.
