I decided to spend the time “between 2 and 3pm” that I had to wait for the cable guy to come to my apartment to actually try my hand at cooking. “But Jackie!” you’re probably (not) thinking to yourself, “you’re 22 years old, don’t you know how to cook?”
Eh. Not really. Anyone that knows me has tried my Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip (because it’s cheap and easy and my favorite thing ever), but I’ve never really had the opportunity to adventure out into the culinary world. Growing up with a father who teaches culinary also allowed me to tactfully avoid having to work hard for a delicious dinner.
I’ll backtrack slightly and talk about my first real food shopping experience. Granted, it was at 10pm at WalMart, but it was my first food shopping haul for my new place. I grabbed everything I was used to eating; lettuce, salad dressing, (way too many) grapes, some frozen dinners in case I get lazy, and raw chicken, amongst others. (No junk food! Go me!)
I was a little nervous about buying uncooked chicken because I am perpetually afraid of undercooking my dinner. (I’m convinced I partially gave myself food poisoning from undercooked salmon one time…)
But, I decided to invest in 6 chicken breasts despite my fear. my theory on this was twofold; buying is bulk is cheaper, and I am used to having lots of chicken strips readily available to put on salad, mix into stirfry, or make a sandwich of. Mentally, I decided to make half of the chicken into season-less strips for later use.
With my plan set, I lined my baking sheet with aluminum foil, threw some black pepper and lemon pepper (purchased by my father) on top, and threw it in the oven. After the timer went off, I pulled the chicken out of the oven, a little stumped. Google gave me an ideal temperature for a cooked chicken, but I realized I didn’t have a meat thermometer. I cut into the center of each of them, which looked ok, so I crossed my fingers and let the chicken cool down.
I chopped it up into strips, and was pretty pleased. Staring at the rest of the uncooked chicken, I continued down my culinary path and stick them in a marinade of an intriguing “bruschetta” salad dressing. Once I cook it, I’ll let you know how it tastes.
So, I had my chicken strips sitting in a bowl, and because the cable guy had not yet arrived, I did what some would say is impossible: tried a Pinterest recipe.
I KNOW. Scary! I didn’t have all the ingredients (because I wanted to make it a bit more Weight-Watcher-friendly) but I threw together some greek yogurt, grapes, apples and chicken to create a great chicken salad!
Another “adultism” item checked off the list!