Ahhh...Saturday

I've had a hell of a week.

The beginning of the school year is always filled with challenges:  learning students' names and getting them excited about classes, meeting with parents and discovering their expectations for you and their kids,  getting your brain into "school mode," grading, emailing, fundraising, driving, teaching, smiling, working out, cooking, cleaning, ironing, and casting the fall show...which always gives me heartburn as I crush the dreams of aspiring young actors with the posting of a cast list.

I look forward to Saturday.

It's the one day when I drink coffee out of a coffee cup and not a travel mug.  I get to sleep past 6 a.m. I can sit on my butt and watch cooking shows or that America's Next Top Model marathon.  I can go to the gym.  Or not.  I can take a long walk with the pup.  And I can concoct culinary creations.

But sometimes, it's best to keep it simple...so I can take a nap.

Yummy.

Herb Baked Eggs

These eggs are so simple to make and are beyond tasty.  Feel free to mix it up with the herbs.  Rosemary, oregano, cilantro, whatever you have on hand.  Add some toasty bread and a simple salad and you've got a meal!

3 extra large eggs
1 Tbl butter
1 Tbl cream
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp basil, chopped
1 tsp tarragon, chopped
1 green onion, green parts only, minced
a little parm
a little salt 'n pepper

Preheat oven to 450.  In an oven safe dish, place butter and cream and pop in the oven.

Crack eggs into a small bowl and set aside.  Combine herbs, onion, and garlic and set aside.  Once the butter and cream starts to bubble, remove from oven.  Immediately pour in eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle the herb mixture on top.  If'n you feel like it, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.  Pop it back in the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes, until whites are firm yet the yolks are still runny.

If you have a little bit of the herb mixture left over, toss into a salad of fresh spinach and drizzle it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Twirl It Up

So if the whole teaching thing doesn't work out...

Or the whole acting thing...

Or the Next Food Network Star thing...

Or the Being Famous Just For Being Fabulous thing...

J and I will start our catering company.

I will call it Twirl.

Here is some of our handy work from tonight's Dash and Dine event.

Very Dramatique, no?

The Spread.

Shameless Plug

We interrupt our fascinating "Chicken Bonanza" series for this important, late-breaking news.

If'n you are in the Memphis area, like food, and want to support a fantastic theatre company (of which J is the Artistic Director), the check out Voices of the South's Dash and Dine event this Saturday 8/28.  Live music, amazing silent auction items, a groovy Backbeat Bus Tour, and an amazing spread of Southern inspired creations (a few of which will be prepared by yours truly, The Improvised Chef).  

Check out the menu! 

Kale and Mango Salad with honey vinaigrette

Blue Cheese Walnut Terrine with dried fruits

Homemade Pimento Cheese and baguette

Watermelon and Cucumber salad

Roasted Potato Salad with bacon

Black-eyed Pea Hummus with pita *IC creation

Mixed Bean and Corn Salad

with queso fresco and lime vinaigrette

Award-winning Memphis Barbeque on Rosemary Biscuits

with assorted condiments and pickled relishes *IC BBQ Sauce

Barbequed Gravlox with fresh peaches *IC creation

Homemade Strawberry Cake

Homemade Chess Squares

Featured Beverages include

Homemade Lemonade

And

Summer White Wine Sangria

So eat, drink, and be merry (or Mary as the case may be).  It's good and good for you (and tax deductible)!

For more information, check out their website.

Day 3: Lunch with GLOBO

I hear horror stories of working with absolutely insufferable people.  Fortunately, I work in an extremely collegial environment with folks who genuinely make me laugh and want to be a better teacher and person.

Such is the case with A, L, B, and A or, as I like to refer to them, GLOBO:  the Glamorous Ladies of the Business Office.

These ladies are good ol' Southern gals who occupy a tiny corner of the campus far, far away from my room.  In this magical place of business daring do, they deal with mysterious things like numbers and math all day and generally ensure the school keeps on keepin' on.  They are a delightful group of people who tend to travel in a pack and collectively have sunny and cheery dispositions.  Case in point:  they let me call them GLOBO without punching me in the throat.  Now that's sunny.

I enjoy having lunch with them because, for all of us, it's taking a trip somewhere strange.  For me it's interacting with business minded people.  For them, I assume, it's dealing with...well...the strange.  After all, if you whittle it down to its bare essence, I teach teens how to play make believe in front of people.

And I 'm a total spaz.

So we strike up conversations about bowling and Italy, the crazy antics of students and, of course, food laughing and spending our lunch (half) hour with lively chatter and good friends.  A couple of them even follow this blog (Hi, B and A!).  One of GLOBO, who has proclaimed that she "refuses to work with strange produce," has said that because of my blog she would even try jicama.

So, ladies, thanks for the sparkling conversation and company, and enjoy your jicama!

Spicy Slaw Wrap


Spicy Slaw with Jicama (see Feeling Famous)
1 perfectly cooked chicken breast
1 Sun Dried Tomato Flatout Flatbread

Slap on the slaw.  Lay down some sliced chicken.  Roll it up, and chow down!

Day 2: Spinach Love

The salad days of summer are over for this teacher and foodie.

Those bygone days of languishing in the kitchen, concocting delicious creations for friends and family are through.  Now is the time of angst, drama, homework, and stress.

And the kids have issues, too.

So my salad days have now turned into salads for lunch, simply because I have figured out the administration's evil plot to fatten up the faculty with donuts, cookies, and cakes:  one cannot make a break for it if one is schlepping around considerable heft.

Today I offer up a delightful spinach and arugula salad with chicken.  It satisfies and keeps you spry if, in the words of Ally Sheedy, "you gotta jam."

Enjoy.


Spinach and Arugula Salad

ummm...let's see...

Spinach
Arugula
1 delicious chicken breast
some sliced red onion
a few pistachios
some dried pomegranates
crumbled blue cheese
Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette, recipe follows


Dump all of that goodness into a Tupperware container, and toss with the dressing when it's chow time.


Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette


2 Tbl Dijon mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
pinch of crushed red pepper
3/4 cup olive oil
salt/pepper


Combine mustard, vinegar, basil, red pepper, salt, and pepper in a bowl.  While whisking, slowly drizzle in oil.

Day 1: I Love Aarti

As stated earlier, I want to be the next Next Food Network Star.

In the meantime, I am truly thankful that our gal Aarti Sequeira has joined the ranks of the culinary superstars.  Or at least, the ranks of the televised superstars.  Aside from the fact that she makes Indian food sound safe and easy and that she is so gosh darn ah-dor-ah-blay you just want to slap on a sari and chow down on some palak paneer with her, she, like your dear Improvised Chef, is a fellow Northwestern Wildcat.  What's not to love?!

And you would be stupid not to try her Massaged Kale Salad from the debut episode of Aarti Party.  Super easy to make, this simple salad of kale and mangoes is full of flavor and simply screams out summertime goodness.  It's so tasty in fact that I turned my regular batch into a double as soon as I tasted it, serving it with last night's grilled salmon.  The remainder became my lunch with the addition of the grilled chicken.

I apologize for no food photo.  I got so excited about lunch that I forgot to take one.

Spice Up Your Life

One of the easiest ways to add a little flavah to your food is using infused oils.  They are simple to make and have roughly a gazillion uses.  Once you get the method down, have fun experimenting with different flavor infusions.  I make them as gifts during the holidays:  when one is low on resources one must be high in creativity and heart.

Chili Oil

I use a wine bottle to store the oil.  Pour oil into the wine bottle and then add it to the pan to ensure you have the right amount.

Olive Oil
2 Tbl crushed red pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

In a large skillet over low heat, warm up oil, red peppers, and cayenne for roughly ten minutes.  Do not let it boil.  Allow to cool completely and funnel into a cruet or wine bottle.