Fried Rice

This spicy fried rice with side of mangoes was made with leftover chicken tenders and sweet ginger chili sauce.

Baked Chicken Tenders
Small strips of chicken
1/4 C. flour
salt, pepper, paprika
1 egg beaten with 1 Tb. water
panko bread crumbs

Make seasoned flour. Dip chicken in flour, then in egg, then in panko. Bake tenders at 425* for 20 minutes until they are crispy. They get a little soggy if leftovers are refrigerated, but perk right back up if you fry them in a pan.

Basic Chicken Tender Fired Rice
chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces
1 green onion, diced
2 rings of sweet white onion, diced
1 medium sized carrot, diced
1 Tb. butter
small amount of cooking oil
1 C. cooked rice (preferably cold and leftover)
1 egg
soy sauce

Saute onions and carrots in butter until tender. Remove from pan. (A large dinner plate is my go to.) Reheat chicken tenders in pan and then remove them from pan (this time I added the chili garlic sauce. Wash the pan. While it is reheating, add the small amount of cooking oil. I like to use sesame oil and rub in in with a paper towel. There is not a pool of oil in the pan when I am done. So I suppose a cooking spray would work too. When the pan gets hot, crack the egg in there and stir it with a wooden spoon so it gets a little scrambled. Add onions, carrots, and cold rice. Fry ingredients together. When it gets a little crispy you can add the soy sauce. If you add it too soon it just absorbs and turns into hot mush. Plate your fried rice and top with crispy hot chicken pieces.

Baked Avocado

This super easy recipe is quick and tasty and low in carbs. The downside is that the avocados are only good while they are still warm, and then go bad quickly. They would be good served in a taco. We ate ours as a tempura appetizer.

Baked Avocado
Start with very very firm avocados. Peel the skin off and remove the seed. Slice avocado into 12 pieces(In half, in half, in thirds). Coat each slice in a olive oil (easiest using a bowl with a little oil in it) and then dunk into a bowl of panko crumbs. If you wanted to salt them, this would be the time.  The crumbs don't really stick, but don't worry about it. Bake at 375* for 12 minutes. Serve immediately. They turn brown tasting as soon as they get cold.

Herb Harvest

The summer heat is starting to damage the tender herbs, so I decided to harvest early. I have four varieties of basil and parsley. I washed and chopped my herbs, then transferred them to my green silicone ice cube trays with lids. As a bonus, I cleaned out the freezer and found several cubes of herbed butter.

Origins Convention

To celebrate D's birthday, we drove to Columbus and spent four nights in a downtown hotel.  We attended the Origins gaming Convention and had lots of fun.  We demoed a few new games in the unpublished gaming room, painted our free miniatures, got our collectable dice, played a LARP, and did a 'locked room' mystery.  I purchased two t-shirts, a mouse mat, and a soap the shape of a d20.  Lots of fun was had.

cactus bloom

This tiny pink flower is from my hens and chicks succulent. It looks like there will be about three flowers total, right now.

Ya ha ha

Dave and I have been playing the newest Zelda, Breath of the Wild. One of the fun challenges in the game is finding all the Koroks and collecting the korok seeds. They are sneak little hidden tree spirits (similar to Kodama). Dave and I each made our own tree spirits, and have been hiding them around the house for the other to find. As a bonus, there is less clutter hiding about the house as we tidy up trying to look for the spirits.

Super Burger

Hamburger with lettuce, feta cheese, tomato, avocado, jalapeno, sauteed mushrooms, barbecue sauce, and a fried egg.