Food blogging: another chicken dish reconstructed

[rikibeth]

Last week or so, when we were ordering from the pizza place for the second time because I had no energy left for figuring out anything to cook, and we were looking at the not-pizza items to see if there was anything eternaleponine would eat, she reminisced about something she used to order from a place called Cinderella's, that even if Sgt. Pepperoni offered it, she wouldn't be able to get any more because it had chicken in it.

"Well, what was it?" I asked. After all, there are a great many pseudo-chicken products out there, and eternaleponine has declared a number of them edible.

Penne, chicken, broccoli, and pine nuts, she said. In a sauce. "A creamy, cheesy sort of sauce?" I asked. Yes.

So last night, I took one box of Barilla penne, a bag of frozen broccoli pieces, a bag of Quorn chick'n tenders, a jar of Ragu roasted garlic parmesan sauce, and a packet of pine nuts. Toasted the pine nuts in a dry skillet. (Damn they're expensive.) Put the Quorn not-chicken in a pot with the jar of sauce over it and heated it. Boiled the pasta in another pot, and when it was al dente, added the broccoli so it would unfreeze. When it was done, drained it, put it back in the pot, poured the not-chicken and sauce over it and stirred. Served the pine nuts separately as a garnish so maybe I could get more than one meal out of the expensive little packet.

Win. Both eternaleponine and melovechocolate enjoyed it. eternaleponine even said she would eat it without the pine nuts if necessary. And that it wasn't the same sauce she remembered, but it was good, so that was okay.

And the Ragu jar sauce is not loaded with too many scary ingredients. It's mostly what I'd put in such a sauce if I were doing it from scratch, and it meant I didn't have to.

YAY ANOTHER ACCEPTABLE MEAL.

Comments

[ceilidh71.livejournal.com]

yay foodie post!
i was thinking about ya today, and thought, "hmm. riki hasn't posted in a while" - and here you are ! :)

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

get a bulk bag of pine nuts thru sysco.Large initial investment,but worth it. Store in freezer

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

right now I'm not at the large initial investment stage of food budget. I could ask Chef but I am afraid that a bulk bag would take more than a week's food budget for me!

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

I think it's 20ish$ for a 5# bag

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

oh! okay. THAT is affordable. At $4.49 for an eensy package at the grocery store, I was worried that it still might run $100 for a bulk pack.

I will definitely check with Chef.

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

we get those silver packs from sysco,what are they,2# each? I know it's significantly cheaper than the grocers.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

We have a large handled plastic spice jar of them at work. Was strongly considering swiping a handful on Friday just for the test meal at home.

But anyway I'll ask Chef.

[phaid.livejournal.com]

K like, I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but that still sounds really bleepin' nice. We try to be "good" during the week and eat sort of light, so we try to avoid too much meat, and that right there sounds like it would fit the bill.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I would just be cautious about the fat content in the sauce from a jar. I don't worry about it too much because none of us are watching our weight, and melovechocolate is maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, but if you're concerned about eating light the gooey cheesy sauce may not be the way to go.

Sgt. Pepperoni

[number42.livejournal.com]

I hate to be the one to tell you, but...

I've eaten at Sgt. Pepperoni many, many times since I first found it in '92 or so, even after I had a scooter stolen from their parking lot. Even after this past summer, when there was a dead rat in front of the building.

Anyway, a few months ago, when I was ordering some lunch, I saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor. The person behind the counter saw it, saw that I saw it, and went back to preparing a new pie, all while trying to will me to forget I saw it.

I left, but with a heavy heart - I like the pizza, but I keep seeing the mouse when I think of grabbing a slice.

Re: Sgt. Pepperoni

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Well, it hasn't killed us yet.

[battle-of-one.livejournal.com]

That sounds really really good. :D

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of the Seeds of Change offerings for things like that. Their frozen faux chicken dishes are yummy, healthful, and convenient.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

If I bought Seeds of Change dinners for every meal I would go broke. It's bad enough we're keeping Amy's in business with their pockets for take-to-school and take-to-work lunches.