Quick Chicken Saute with Bacon and Scallions (In My Cast Iron Skillet)

Here's another quick and easy recipe using those Chick-zilla boneless skinless breasts.  They generally run close to a pound EACH.  For this recipe, I use two of those huge chicken breasts.  I have to use my large 12-inch cast iron skillet because my largest Revere Ware skillet is only a 10-incher, and it just isn't big enough for those bad boys.

This is a pretty quick recipe, and it doesn't have a lot of ingredients, but it is super tasty!  I serve it over either spinach egg noodles or regular ol' egg noodles, and add a vegetable on the side.


Quick Chicken Saute with Bacon and Scallions

8 slices bacon, chopped
2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced
6 scallions (green onion), chopped
1/4 c chicken stock or broth
1/4 c white wine (if you don't have any wine, you can replace it with more chicken stock or broth)

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add bacon and brown.  After the bacon is cooked, add chicken and brown on both sides.  Chicken is done when the juices run clear.  Add the liquids and stir in the scallions.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Serve with the liquid over noodles.

Kitchen Window Hydroponics

The celery after 4 days.

The scallions after 4 days.

Remember setting a stalk of celery in a glass with some water and a little food coloring and watching the daily progress of the color rising up the stalk?  How about putting the very top of a carrot in a little pan (usually from a frozen pot pie!) of shallow water and growing feathery carrot tops?  Or growing the seeds from lemons, oranges, and grapefruit in little paper cups of dirt?  Or suspending an avocado seed in a glass of water and seeing it sprout?  Those were some of the fun things Mom used to allow us to do in "her" kitchen!

Well, while I was waiting for the weather to dry out and warm up so I could dig up the garden and start planting my little seeds, I indulged in what I like to call "kitchen window hydroponics."

I've seen some pictures people have posted online of celery and scallions (green onions) growing on their kitchen counters and I decided to give it a try.  I had celery and scallions, so when I cut up the celery (I'd made Buffalo wings and needed celery and bleu cheese dressing, natch!), I saved the bottom, stuck in some toothpicks, and suspended it in some water in a tiny bowl.  When I needed some scallions for a recipe, I cut off all the green and some of the white, left them bundled in their rubber band, and put them in a coffee cup with a little water.  I change the container and water at least every other day to keep things from getting slimy and gross.

The celery, 3 days later!

The scallions, 3 days later!

It's amazing how quickly growth starts.  I mean, I could see things starting the very next day!  It's kind of exciting, watching these vegetables regenerate.  When the scallions get a few inches taller, I'll cut them off again and use those new tops.  I'm reserving plans for the celery, but it actually has stalks already.  We'll see how big it gets and what I'll be able to use it for.  FUN!!!

My Third Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

Another CSA box from Teter Organic Farm!

This week we received zucchini or yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red onions, carrots, and scallions!

There were actually two containers of cherry tomatoes, but I traded them for some zucchini.  I haven't had a chance to do much with them yet because I left to visit my sister a few days after picking up the box.

However, I DID make zucchini bread (again) and refrigerator pickles - watch for recipes on Wednesdays!  I also ate some steamed zucchini with butter - simple, but oh, so tasty!  It's easy to overcook, though. 

I've been trying to eat up the cherry tomatoes, but there are SO MANY.  That's the way cherry tomatoes are - prolific.  I haven't grown them in years because there was a year I had ONE plant, and for the following several years I had volunteers all over the garden.  It doesn't take a green thumb to grow cherry tomatoes!

When I return from Kentucky, I'll start feasting!