Earlier in September I went 10 days without a stove. I'd come home from work and was probably mid binge watching Grace and Frankie (highly recommend!) when I decided I should make brownies. Did I need brownies? No. Did I want brownies? Yes. Did the want win out? Yes. I totally broke out the boxed brownie mix, a hand mixer, and some walnuts and got them in the oven, set the microwave timer and went back to my show. (Quick side note - don't love chocolate on it's own but add in another flavor profile and I'm all in - if you want to argue about it, I'm ready). The buzzer goes off, I hit pause, get up and test the center to make sure they are the perfect fudgy to cakey ratio before taking them out and letting them rest on the counter. I shut off the oven and I go back to my girls Grace and Frankie. It isn't more than a minute or two when I hear the oven beeping which is weird because I have an actual memory of turning the stove off and using the microwave timer (this hasn't always been the case - I'm the queen of panicking about whether or not I've turned off the stove, straightener, curling iron; I turn around in my car on the regular). The stove is beeping and the tiny little screen where the time usually glows is flashing "F1". I find this odd, obviously have no idea what that means, so I hit the off button and again return to my besties. 60 seconds later, it happens again. I press the off button again and this time notice that I can see that the coils are still orange inside the stove. I open the stove door and am immediately hit with a wall of heat that's so strong that my eyes start burning and has set off the smoke detector in the hallway. I am now running back and forth between the stove's off button to rapidly fanning the smoke detector with a towel all while trying to figure out how I'm going to keep my house from burning to the ground. This continues for a few minutes and after calling a few people who live close by to troubleshoot this escalating fire hazard, I realize that I can unplug the oven and stop participating in the gym class beep test being conducted in my own home.
Miraculously, the home's previous owners had saved the stove's manual where I find out that it's a control panel issue and that my two options are to either try shutting it off and turning it back on (why is this the universal way to fix any technology issue?) or to get a technician to come fix it. Hard pass on both of those options so we get a new one and I wait ten days to cook. You know me. You know I love to cook and that cooking is a giant stress reliever for me so this is a bit brutal but I survive on a solid amount of take out. It's been just over a week with the new stove and I've made sure to test all its features and have been back in the kitchen in my happy place. And now I'm sharing that happy with you!
Recipe Fourteen: BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Pickled Carrots and Red Cabbage and Cucumber Slaw
Back when I lived in California post college graduation, one of my roommate's fathers taught us how to make pulled pork in a crock pot - actually just put a pork tenderloin and a bottle of BBQ sauce in a crock pot on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours, pull it apart with a fork and there you have it. That lesson, plus a recipe from Blue Apron (which I've tried out periodically and will review for you at a later date) is what inspired today's dinner.
BBQ Chicken in a Crock Pot
2 lbs. chicken breasts
1 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice
I put the chicken and the sauce in the crock pot on low for 4 hours and went about my day. Came home, shredded the chicken with a fork, stirred it all up, and continued cooking on high for an hour. That's it. That's all it takes. Don't hurt yourself trying to make it harder.
Honestly you could google a BBQ sauce recipe and make it yourself but I felt like cutting corners today. Embrace the cheats when you can.
During that last hour, I created the fixings.
Pickled Carrots (Blue Apron)
2-3 carrots
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
Pinch of salt
Peel the carrots and grate on large side of box grater. If you don't have a box grater, use the peeler to keep peeling off layers of carrots (not quite the same but it will work).
In a small pot, combine all ingredients, and heat until boiling on high.
Once boiling, cook, stirring frequently, 30 seconds to 1 minute or until sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally, for at least 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Red Cabbage and Cucumber Slaw
1/2 lb. red cabbage
2 small cucumbers
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut out and discard of cabbage core. Largely dice the leaves. (You can also buy precut cabbage so again, save yourself the trouble if you want).
Cut cucumber into halves the long way then thinly slice into half rounds.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside to marinate, at least 10 minutes. Salt and peper to taste prior to serving. I put the slaw in the fridge to chill/marinate until the chicken was ready.
Once everything was cooked, marinated, and chilled, I put it all on top of a potato bun and devoured it. This will be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few days (not actually breakfast) and I can't wait!
Well, that's all I've got for this first time back. I don't know how frequently I will blog (I'm not putting a time restraint on myself this time around but I know you'll hear from me again). Let me know what you think of the recipe!
Kela
