Monday, September 15, 2008

Some questions for my readers

First a general cooking one: This weekend I roasted a chicken. It turned out really well, but it's the same recipe I've used before so I didn't bother to post about it. I've got a whole lot left and I'm considering what to do with it. The problem is that it's heavily seasoned so I can't just toss it into a casserole or stir fry unless I want the whole thing to taste like Gullah Baked Chicken Seasoning (garlic, paprika and thyme mostly. It tastes like the turkey rub my mom used to use). Any suggestions?

Next, a blogging one: I've gotten a bit ahead and have some draft posts waiting for their day to shine. Updating the Post date and time manually when I'm ready to publish is a minor but real nuisance. Is there any automatic way to update it?

And a Floridian one: I've stockpiled some of those 2.5 gallon Zephyrhills water jugs for my hurricane supplies and I've been having trouble with them. When my air conditioner's off, my pantry gets rather hot and the plastic softens, crumples, cracks and leaks. I know most people are neither buying expensive refillable water containers nor running their air conditioners all day while they're at work so there must be a solution. Or is it just me?

I'd be obliged for your thoughts. Thanks.

5 comments:

kat said...

When we roast a chicken & heavily season it, say with chile seasoning then we make a chicken salad that goes with that type of seasoning.

Sorry I can't Help you with the other two. I've had the same issue with blogger.

Anonymous said...

Chicken salad (add a complementary fruit into it, especially if it's heavily spiced) is a good one. Also, chopped up and served on top of a mixed greens salad. I also thinly slice the chicken, stir fry something and throw in the cooked chicken at the last minute, just to warm it up.
RE: the jugs- they've thinned out the plastic water jugs so they crack waaayy too easily nowadays. Better to save up some of the heavier (and usually opaque) milk and juice jugs, washed out really well. THey don't recommend using bleach jugs for drinking water, but they also make good containers for washing/rinsing/flushing water.
As to the blog problem.... sorry, no clue! Good luck, and keep up the good work.

billjac said...

I suppose salad it is, then. I'm not much of one for fruit with meat, but I like the idea in this case to change up the flavors. Better than just tossing the chicken in some mayo and calling it a day, anyway. I'll have to see if anything clever occurs to me or if I end up with an out-of-season post-Thanksgiving flavor profile.

Madeline said...

If you lived somewhere cold like me, I would suggest chicken pot pie or chicken stew. However, I've been to Florida and it might be a little too hot for that.

billjac said...

I live somewhere air conditioned so I don't limit myself to hot-weather dishes all year round. Pot pie's a great idea. Too late though. I ended up making a hash/pasta hybrid. I fried up some onions, peppers and Spanish chorizo; added the shredded chicken, the roasted yams and onions I cooked with it and the au jus sauce it made (thinned out with a bit of chicken stock); cooked it down a little; tossed with cooked rigatoni and topped with shredded jack cheese and dried cranberries. It worked, sort of. I used too much cheese which overwhelmed the other flavors and congealed the whole thing into an unsightly mess. On the plus side, chorizo and cranberries work unexpectedly well together.