It's Better Than Cereal Again : A Quick Meal for a Busy Tuesday - Roast Chicken, Gnocchi, Broccoli and Alfredo Sauce

My role as a corporate cog reaches a fever pace at the end of each month. I end up working 11 hour days that are full to the brim so my brain meats are mush and the only thing I want to do at the end of them is drink wine, put my feet up and watch @midnight.

9 times out of 10 we play The Dinner Game. The game play is simple and repetitive:

Player One: "Dinner?"
Player Two: "Yeah."
Player One: "Whatca want?"
Player Two: "Meh. I dunno."
Player One: "We have to eat something."
Player Two: "Take out?"
Player One: "Meh."

You only have the chance to 'win' this game if at least one of the players is motivated to go above and beyond a stomach-growling stale mate of cereal, or a ham sandwich. So.Many.Sandwiches.

I try to keep our house stocked with cereal and lunch meat, but also some easy to throw together items, staples that are shelf stable or happy in the freezer but that aren't box meals full of preservatives, sugar and salt.

I'm never happy with a decision to eat crap food after a long and stressful day. My body wants something easy, but tasty, that leaves me pleased with my food choice.

Last night I walked out of my office near 8pm and headed home. We won the "Dinner" game because I decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the local green-themed big box grocer, a bottle of the store-brand Alfredo sauce and some greens for salad.

I already had frozen broccoli bits, the cheapest ends and pieces you can get for a buck or so. The stalk ends are my favorite and they hold up better in this application. Additionally, I had a package of gnocchi in the pantry. It's nothing like making your own, but on a terrible Tuesday there is no way I am making them from scratch.

Substituting any tube pasta will also work. It's too chunky of a mix to use a long pasta like spaghetti or linguine.

For a gluten free option -use day old rice, even brown rice, but add more moisture to the sauce.

** It should be noted that what follows is less of a recipe and more of a food plan. I would suggest you read all the way through it and grasp what happens start to finish. **

Step One: Read package of gnocchi and follow the cooking instructions. While you are waiting for the water to boil, do Step 2.

Step Two: Put the Alfredo sauce into a pan over the lowest heat possible. As it gets warmer, taste it. It's not likely to need salt,  but try adding some fresh pepper or lemon juice or garlic. Using a little butter or milk will help take the 'bottled' taste out and make is less starchy.

Step Three: Take the chicken apart and off the bone. I use a half a chicken for the 2 of us. A full chicken would be enough for a family, but you might want another package of gnocchi.

Step Four: Cook the gnocchi. This takes about 3 minutes, so have a bowl and a hand strainer standing by. Your goal here is to keep the water. If you don't have a hand strainer or if you are making tube pasta, you are going to need 2 pots of water.

Step Five:  Drop the broccoli into the gnocchi water. It's only going to be in there until it's warm, so no reason not to use the old water.

Step Six:  Put the chicken in the bowl with the gnocchi, add the broccoli as it gets warm and add ladles of the Alfredo sauce until it all comes together. The chicken will break down a little and it will dry up rapidly. Don't over mix it. Toss it together and serve while it's still hot.

Add a tossed salad and you have a less than 30 minute meal that doesn't suck.

Photolog : Portal of Evolution - Burning Man 2009

There is nothing that compares to the spectacle and scale of Burning Man. I don't care who you are, if you find you possess both the inclination and means to go to Burning Man. Do it. It's truly an unmatched experience of art and people and expression.

My last visit to Burning Man was in 2009. This is the Portal of Evolution. You can now see it in downtown Reno, although rusted it  loses some of its organic grandeur.

Photolog { Throw-Back Thursday } Alchemy Temple 2009

Taken at the Alchemy Festival, the Burning Man style event in North Georgia that until recently was my whole life, in October 2009 at the Temple on top of Effigy Hill.

Geocache Project: Bessie B Is My Homegirl 5/100

The weather is finally on the upswing here in Atlanta and the last week has seen this llama out soaking up the sunshine in a number of ways. Activity the first : Geocaching!

Bessie Branham Park is in Kirkwood and the Geocache description calls it "the jewel of Kirkwood" and it's a pretty spot-on. It's a big, open field that serves as a baseball field, a nice playground and a grove of large gorgeous oak trees. They call the big wooden platforms the "Urban Tree House" but I was hoping for more tree house and less deck. Still, if you are in the Kirkwood area and need a place for a picnic or to run the kids around, it's a great little spot.

The cache itself if well hidden and it was a blast trying to find it without catching the eye of the two geriatric walkers who thought I was crazy. There is a bench nearby that gave me a chance to look through the very damp and moldy container, but it was nice just to soak up the sunshine.

Photolog : Queen's Day Roses

Photolog { Throw-Back Thursday } A Long Walk

In October 2006, I took a very very long walk with some really awesome women. Regardless of my current political feelings about the Komen Foundation, the experience of the 3 Day is something that left a lasting impression on who I am.

That is the Llama on the left, along with a dear friend who did the walk with us. 

Geocache 100: Freedom Park 4/100

The weather here in Atlanta has been cold and wet and terrible the last several days. I'm a big wimp when it comes to long walks in the rain when it's below 50 degrees - that temperature takes it from ennui or romance to "this is the dumbest thing I have done in awhile". The weather is putting me further and further behind in my goal, but the weather is supposed to clear up this weekend and I'm certainly headed outside!

I found the "Don't Shoot the Messenger" geocache on the last good warm day we have seen in a week.

Freedom Park is a favorite of mine. It's a good size open grassy area with some amazing oaks topping the hill and large, wide pathways that feed you directly into Candler Park, which is just to the east.

This is Kai's favorite park in all of Atlanta. Technically, it's not a dog park and technically she is supposed to be on a leash, but there is a little area on the downside of the hill with a couple little trees in a good flat spot that becomes a gathering area for local 'dog park people' who have pooches you can trust not to run off into traffic (mostly).

This cache is amazingly hidden and I had a GREAT time trying to find it and look nonchalant.