Ever Ready: Weekend Round-Up

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Weekend Round-Up

A Little of This and a Little of That

The following poem comes from A.A. Milne's book of poetry. It was written in 1924. You can just imagine Winnie the Pooh reciting these words as he walked through the woods on a very fine spring morning.
Spring Morning
by A. A. Milne

Where am I going? I don’t quite know.
Down to the stream where the king-cups grow-
Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.
Where am I going? The clouds sail by,
Little ones, baby ones, over the sky.
Where am I going? The shadows pass,
Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.
If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,
You’d sail on water as blue as air,
And you’d see me here in the fields and say:
“Doesn’t the sky look green today?”
Where am I going? The high rooks call:
“It’s awful fun to be born at all.”
Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:
“We do have beautiful things to do.”
If you were a bird, and lived on high,
You’d lean on the wind when the wind came by,
You’d say to the wind when it took you away:
“That’s where I wanted to go today!”
Where am I going? I don’t quite know.
What does it matter where people go?
Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow-
Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.

Spring for Sheet Pan Dinners

Sheet Pan Asian Stir Fry

Cook's notes: No wok is needed for this recipe. Get the same stir fry flavor but using a sheet pan and ingredients are oven roasted. The chicken, peppers and carrots requires a 10 minute head start. Recipe adapted from dammdelicious.net and serves three.
Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup each diced red and yellow pepper
1 cup Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup sugar snap peas (stringless)
1 tsp. sesame seeds
1/4 cup green onions, diced
1/2 orange slices quartered

Sauce Ingredients:

3 TB. reduced sodium soy sauce

2 TB. oyster sauce

1 TB. rice wine vinegar

1 TB. brown sugar, packed

1 TB. freshly grated ginger or 1/2 tsp. dried ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. Sriracha, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone pad.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, cornstarch and Sriracha, if using; set aside.

Place chicken, carrots and bell peppers in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Stir in 1/2 of the soy sauce mixture and gently toss to combine.

Place sheet pan into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Stir in broccoli, tomatoes, snow peas and remaining soy sauce mixture in with the chicken mixture. Bake 10 minutes more or until chicken is cooked through. Do not overbake or chicken will be too dry.

Serve immediately, garnish with sesame seeds.