Dueling 30 Minute Suppers...

Is It Time To Wake Everyone Up Yet....?

It's like dueling banjos, but not as cool.  And as far as I know, there wasn't a river trip involved and  dentally challenged folks chasing us around, although getting my boys to brush twice a day can be very challenging.  Almost as challenging as finding time to sit down and have a single thought, much less write a blog entry.  As I am writing this, there is a small person laying on the floor beside me telling me about zombies, asking me what time it is every 2 minutes because he wants to go wake everyone up (God, please don't do that.), and making crazy demands for things such as breakfast.  I thought when summer finally got here, things would slow down...boy was I wrong.  My lists of to-do's and demands multiplied by however many kids I have no longer in school. So, it's really no wonder that I gravitated to the 30 minute supper ideas in my Cook's Country magazines.  Also, I figured since I didn't post a recipe last week, maybe by sliding in a "2 fer" this week, no one would be the wiser.  Well, seeing as I have just plainly laid out my 'diabolical' plan, I am probably fooling no one.  I should just get on with the writing before I have a pack of kids at my feet wanting food, entertainment, and things like clean clothes.

Time and Mess Factor

The two recipes were both from the same issue of Cook's Country. One for Skillet Citrus Chicken Tenders and the other was Oven-Fried Fish Sticks w/ Old Bay Dipping Sauce. You know one would think that if a magazine labeled a dinner as "30 minutes", one could probably be finished in 30 minutes.  One would be wrong, at least in the case of one of the two recipes I made this week.   One would actually be egregiously wrong.  I wonder when they are writing a recipe for a 30 minute meal, they could just assume the people cooking from this section not only wanted fast and easy recipes, but also no muss, no fuss...would it kill them to keep it down to less than 100 dirty dishes just in prep alone?  In this category, the winner is....The chicken recipe (by a landslide)  Chicken needed one pan, one plate (for resting the chicken), a zester, and a couple of measuring devices.  Fish, well it would probably be easier to list what I didn't use.  Any meal that fills up a dishwasher before people have even eaten, does not a 30 minute meal make.

One Pan Chicken

100 Pan Fish (okay maybe I am
exaggerating a little...)

Ingredients

Again, this category goes to the chicken.  I only had to buy the chicken tenderloins, lemons, and oranges.  And none of these items broke the bank.  The fish, on the other hand, there were a few things I had to purchase because I don't have them stocked on a regular basis.  While they were not exorbitantly expensive, they were more expensive than the chicken items.

Fresh and Inexpensive Chicken

Not as Inexpensive Fish

How Did It Taste?

I know it seems like I am picking on the fish, but that chicken was so tasty!  It was a perfect summer dish.  Light and citrusy.  I (maybe) overcooked a couple of the tenders...but nothing putting more of the sauce on them couldn't fix.  The fish, on the other had, was okay.  I don't really prefer fish to start out with, but the XY chromosome people in this house do.  I defer to them in the judgement of the fish because I am biased.  Personally, I think they are a little biased too, but on the opposing side.  They would say they like any seafood that comes out of the kitchen, but since I do the dishes, I know when it's a fish hit or miss.  No one really touched the Old Bay dip.  I am going to go out on a limb and say it was a waste of time.  Not only a waste of time, but it was the majority of the recipe that made it lose in the Ingredients category. Also, one of the plates that were handed over for me to wash, had quite a bit of the breading on it.  I guess they picked it off and ate the fish.  On the other hand, I made quite a bit of the fish and there were only 4-5 fish sticks left over.  The winner of this category is still going to the chicken with no left overs to speak of. 

The chicken was the clear winner and an absolute "Must Try"!  Seeing how everyone is awake now (thanks a lot Mark Henry.), and even my evil cat is laying on the floor meowing at me (she's probably complaining about something too...and doing some, what appears to be, yoga?...).  I guess it's time to hit the ever growing "to do" list....is it happy hour yet? 

Upward Facing Cat?

Cook's Country Skillet Citrus Chicken
April/May 2013

Cook's Country Fish Sticks
w/ Worthless Sauce
April/May 2013

Just in case you are too young to remember or get the dueling banjos comments....