Say hello!

Archives
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
March/April 2006
January/February 2006
November/December 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005

www.flickr.com

We spent the weekend at the beach, and it was perfect. Lots of napping, walking by the shore and watching the sky (no clouds to watch, but plenty of birds- a hawk landed in the tree not 50 feet from me). I also broke out of my book funk and read three library books (no TV and no Internet are amazing reading motivators), all of which I enjoyed- The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith, Walking the Labyrinth by Lisa Goldstein and Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn.

As a counterpoint to the summery weather of the weekend, my mother-in-law sent us a wonderful sign of fall back East

Gorgeous apples by express mail (yay! thank you!)! And I know they grow apples out here, but I'm telling you these ones from Massachusetts are better. Do you see how some of them still have the leaves on? Beautiful, but also perfectly tart and sweet and crunchy. Yum. That centerpiece has been seriously depleted since I took the picture.

I have heard tell that not one but two of my near-and-dears have made or plan to make the Lentil Stew recipe I posted a little while back. Yay! Since I know one of my other favorite people will be making a roast chicken soon, I'll share a recipe for chicken in mustard sauce that I used for the dark meat leftovers of my recent roast chicken. I do not like the dark meat, and neither does Moondoggie, but put it in a tasty sauce over rice and I'll slurp it right down. This sauce is based entirely on my mother's creamed chicken and chicken curry recipes. Here goes!

Chicken in Mustard Sauce
Leftover roast chicken, chopped into bite-size chunks (I used the thighs and drumsticks of one chicken)
3 shallots (small or medium), diced
2T dry white wine (vermouth is fine)
2T grainy mustard
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
Can of chicken broth
Cup of 2% or whole milk

Melt butter over medium heat in large pot (dutch oven would work, so would a soup pot). Add shallots and cook, stirring, until they soften a bit (3-5 mins). Add white wine and allow to reduce for about 2 minutes. Add mustard and stir everything together for about 1 minute. Add flour and stir (or whisk) until everything is blended and smooth. Add chicken broth a bit at a time (about 1/4 cup for each addition), stirring well between additions to incorporate. When all of the chicken broth is in the pot, bring mixture to a low boil. Allow it to thicken slightly (stirring often), then add milk, also a bit at a time, stirring between additions. Keep stirring until the sauce reaches a moderate thickness (this takes longer than you'd think! i didn't time it, but you want the sauce to coat your spoon and for your spoon to leave a trail when you scrape the bottom of the pan). When you are almost satisfied with the thickness of the sauce, add the chicken and continue to stir until the chicken is heated through, 7-10 minutes. Serve over noodles or rice-- yum!

Daily Blogs
Loobylu
Wee World
Posie Gets Cozy
Yarnstorm
angry chicken
boy girl party
bara+design
Love Forever
inside a black apple
Coquette
disdressed
sunberst
bits and bobbins
Lemon Tree Tales
Penelope
Theo Design
Pookie&Fig
Wise Craft
Twelve22
Craft Log
Wee Wonderfuls
abby try again
little birds
thimble
not martha
shim and sons
buzzville
simple sparrow
needle book
inspire co.
Bella Dia
Bluepoppy
La Coquette

Shopping
My Etsy Shop
Crafty Planet!
Meg
Studiogems
Tiny Showcase

Hilarity
Miss Doxie
Crazy Aunt Purl
Otter
The Manolo
Pink is the New Blog