Sunday, April 19, 2009

Nothing Says Spring Like Sweet Potatoes and Cornbread Stuffing

Our week started out rainy and cold; yesterday it was 75 degrees and sunny.
Guess what? It's going to rain again starting on Monday.
Wacky.

To celebrate such beautiful weather, Caroline and I washed my car.

I'm a neat person.
I like to clean.
The inside of my car is quite tidy.
And this is where I hang my my head in shame and admit that I haven't washed the outside of my car since last June. Can you believe that?

I'm a little embarrassed.

However, I keep it parked in the garage so it wasn't TERRIBLY filthy. But still, 10 months?
I guess we've found the one area of my life where I'm not a neurotic obsessive freak.

Like I said, it was warm, moderate and comfortable. 75 degrees.
Hardly bathing suit weather.
Yet, I had to spend a great deal of energy trying to convince Caroline that she did not need to put on her bathing suit. If she's complaining about being hot now, what's going to happen when it's 95 degrees in the middle of summer?

She's just showing off anyway.
I wish I looked as cute as she does in a bathing suit. Heck, if I had her long legs and lack of cellulite and stretch marks, I'd wear a bathing suit every chance I could.

Moving on....after washing the car and battling over proper attire for a spring day, I went inside to fix the quintessential spring meal: turkey cutlets, sweet potatoes and cornbread stuffing.

Only, we didn't have any turkey cutlets. I remember looking at them in the commissary and thinking that I should buy some because I hadn't made a mini thanksgiving meal in quite sometime. Fully inspired, I decided they were an item in need of purchasing.

And so I did. Or didn't.
I thought I put them in the cart.

Evidently I didn't.
Hmmmm.

Luckily I had a package of chicken breasts in the freezer and chose to use my wonderful improvisational skills. Because, you know, chicken and turkey are so vastly different.

I spent the majority of my formative years in California. Therefore, I do not fry food. I grew up drinking skim milk and diet pepsi. We ate alfalfa sprouts on our sandwiches and went out for frozen yogurt all the time.
I didn't know what biscuits and gravy were until I moved to Florida. How I still wish I hadn't been introduced to that loveliness on a platter.
With that being said, I will never fry chicken. I don't know how and don't really care to learn. However, we love this stuff.
I coated the chicken in the flour and "fried" it. And by "fried" I don't mean as the package suggests in two inches of melted vegetable shortening (!). I "fried" in two tablespoons of Smart Balance canola oil with added Omega-3s.
I'm living on the edge!

Nevertheless, my turkey, er chicken turned out really well.
Coupled with the stuffing and sweet potatoes, our dinner was reminiscent of Thanksgiving.
Sadly, no parade, no football, no crisp autumn weather BUT best of all, no turkey meltdown.
I am queen of the turkey meltdown. I own it.
However, it's too emotionally draining to participate in more than once a year.

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