Wednesday

There was light snow on the way to work Wednesday morning. You couldn't even see it, but you could feel it on your face and catch it on your windshield.

I went to Lowe's at lunch and bought most of the tile I will need for the bathroom shower. They didn't have enough of the radius cap tile, so I'll have to go to the other Lowe's and pick that up tomorrow. Man, the stuff is heavy! But, at least I didn't get it all, along with the cement backer board, mortar, grout, etc., in one trip like I did for the countertop. That was brutal!

It was really, really cold at lunch, too, with a stiff wind. Nasty weather for November!

Once home, I gave the cats their treats. Then, I went out back and refilled the bird feeder and the suet cage. Back inside, I emptied the trunk of the 316 tiles, the 28 radius cap tiles, the two shelves and one soap dish (I was going to just put in one shelf, all I really need, but my friend B___ told me that, with having a wife and her "stuff," he installed two, so I thought if I ever have to sell the place, maybe two was a better idea). I put all this in the back room so it could slowly warm up.

I started the Wednesday night laundry after I changed my clothes. Then I started on tonight's dinner. If you are a regular reader of this Blog, you know I can stand only so many leftovers. I had a recipe I've wanted to try for a while now. So, tonight's the night. I did change it up a bit, so I'll try and indicate the differences so you can either make the original one or what I'm having.

So, I am making Chicken Breast stuffed with Spinach, Blue Cheese and Bacon. Until now, whenever I make stuffed chicken breast "anything" I follow the usual method (as this recipe calls for), where you take the boneless chicken breasts, put them between two layers of Saran wrap and pound them to about 1/2 inch thickness. You lay the stuffing in the middle and fold the breast over, securing it with toothpicks.

However, I recently saw a cooking show where, instead, you lay the chicken breast of the cutting board, with the pointy end away from you. Then you insert a long paring knife in the center nearest you (the rounded end). You move the knife around to enlarge the pocket; being careful not to cut through the outside of the breast (I screwed one of them up, BTW). Then you remove the knife and stuff as desired.

Now, to make the stuffing, I mixed one (10-ounce) package of frozen chopped spinach I had thawed and then squeezed dry with one cup of crumbled blue cheese.

I took eight strips of bacon and cut them into 3/8 inch slices (or lardon, as they say in French cuisine) and crisped them in my big cast iron pan. I took them out and put them on a paper towel on top of a paper plate to drain.

When they cooled, I crumbled them and combined them with the spinach and blue cheese. Then I stuffed the chicken breasts. Now there was a problem: the recipe calls for four chicken breasts, but I only had three. So, I regretfully had to pitch some of the stuffing.

Another change-up in the recipe: It called for dredging the breasts in seasoned flour and searing them in olive oil, browning them on the top and bottom and then transferring them to a lightly greased baking dish, covering them with foil and putting them in the oven.

But, I thought, what the hell? I already have a cast iron pan with bacon grease, so I skipped all that and just seared them. When they were browned, I stuck the pan (covered with tin foil) into the preheated (350 degrees) oven. I let them finish off for 30 minutes (just enough time to hang up the laundry) until the juices ran clear and the filling was hot.

I deliberately didn't season any thing, because with cheese, you just never know the salt level. I pulled them out to rest and then steamed a cup of frozen green peas as my side dish. When I plated my dinner, I took a photo for you.

Then I dug in... Excellent! I did have to add a little table salt (I'm guessing I would have got that from the seasoned flour mixture) but otherwise, it was a perfect dish! This one goes into my go-to recipe file!

I had spent so much time making, then eating dinner, I did manage to stay up and watch my beloved Top Chef (with my beloved Padma) and then I went to bed just after 11:00 PM (I watched a little of the news).