Steamer - Chicken with ginger and spring onions

ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts with rib bones and skin on
• minced ginger
• minced spring onions
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• parsley (for garnish)

directions

• boil water in the steamer
• wash chicken breasts
• pat dry and lightly salt the chicken
• place in large bowl with 2 slices of ginger
• steam the chicken for 30 minutes
• while the chicken is steaming, prepare ginger and spring onion mix
• mince the ginger and spring onions
• place in bowl
• heat olive oil in pan (smokes, but doesn't burn)
• pour over ginger and spring onion mix so that it sizzles
• add salt to taste
• when chicken is cooked, transfer from the bowl to cutting board
• use a meat cleaver to chicken across the grain into 1" pieces
• arrange chicken on plate and serve with ginger/spring onion sauce on the side
• place parsley on top for garnish

result

• oh so good, almost restaurant-quality, yummy yummy chicken
• would definitely make this dish again!!

Crockpot - Chicken with gravy and biscuits

ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
• 1 can cream of chicken, low sodium
• 1 can of water
• frozen vegetables
• black pepper

directions

• place vegetables in bottom of crockpot
• place chicken on top of veggies
• rub chicken with black pepper
• top with 1 can cream of chicken and 1 can of water (liquids will cover 70% of the chicken)
• cook on low for 4.5 hours
• (bought biscuits from Popeyes b/c didn't feel like taking the time to bake)

result

• tasted ok. the gravy was tasty and not too salty.
• the chicken was a bit dry though.

next time

• maybe i'll cook for only 4 hours next time.
• either that or i'll use bone-in chicken breast only (they seem to take longer to cook so maybe i won't overcook it?)

Bacon braised green beans (another side for my turkey!)

ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 lb string beans, ends trimmed
• 1 pack of bacon
• olive oil
• low sodium soy sauce
• veg msg
• 1 bag of onion crisps (can find in produce aisle, usually a salad topping)

directions

• cook bacon separately (microwave on plate until bacon is crisp)
• cut up bacon into strips

• heat pan with oil
• toss in string beans and stir fry
• stir in a bit of soy sauce and a pinch of veg msg
• be sure not to burn the string beans
• when almost cooked, add bacon and onion crisps

result

• obviously that was good otherwise it wouldn't make the list!
• just have to make sure the string beans aren't overcooked or burnt, has to be nice and crisp

Classic Mashed Potatoes (a side for my turkey)

ingredients

• 4(?) russet (plain brown) potatoes
• butter
• salt

directions

• peel and boil the potatoes until soft
• drain the water and mash with 1/2 to 1 stick of butter
• add salt to flavor
• add 1 cup hot milk, if desired
• mash until smooth and fluffy

result

• yummy potaters! yum!

Crockpot - turkey breast

ingredients

• (1) 3lb Butterball turkey breast, boneless, no giblets, pack of gravy
• 1/2 can chicken broth
• olive oil
• cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper

directions

• remove plastic packaging on turkey, including removing all the strings, and wash thoroughly
• transfer turkey to crockpot, skin side up
• rub in olive oil, salt, and pepper
• place garlic on turkey, and some digging into the turkey, some under the skin
• pour in half can of chicken broth (broth water level should cover half the turkey, not all of it)
• cook on low for 8 hours
• transfer turkey to another pot to cool down, then refrigerate
• strain remaining turkey juices (to remove fat) and pour into another pan. refrigerate for use later to make gravy using gravy packet that's included

result

• looks juicy from the broth, but not soggy
• haven't tasted it yet! will try when i get home....
• oh no!!! it was TOO SALTY! yikes! my first crockpot failure! oy!
• possibly overcooked? not as juicy as roasting in the oven. meat was still moist in a easily-splits-apart-with-your fork kind of way

next time

• DON'T season with salt. just use pepper only
• probably shouldn't use chicken broth either. using salt and chicken broth was probably overkill. i'll use water next time. it's easier to make it bland and then add salt later.
• maybe cook for shorter period of time. 6 hrs? 7 hrs? def less than 8 hrs...

Crockpot - chinese beef stew with radish

ingredients

• 2 lbs of beef stew meat, pre-cut into 1" cubes
• 1 radish, sliced in half, then into triangles
• slices of ginger
• few cloves of garlic
• 1 T hoisin sauce
• some low sodium soy sauce
• pinch of veg msg
• dash of black pepper

directions

• place beef on the bottom of the crockpot
• place the radish on top of the beef
• mix hoisin sauce and soy sauce with water, pour onto the beef (have enough water to completely cover the beef and veggies)
• cook on low for 8 hours

result

• tasted even better than the american style beef stew.
• still watery, but ok to have it soupy.

next time

• radish was cooked, but could have been softer. next time put radish on bottom and beef on top.

Crockpot - beef stew

ingredients

• 2 lbs of beef stew meat, pre-cut into 1" cubes
• 1 pack of McCormick's beef stew seasoning (the normal one and not the slow cooker one--couldn't find the slow cooker seasoning at the store)
• 1 bag of frozen stew vegetables (includes potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery)

directions

• place beef on the bottom of the crockpot
• place the frozen vegetables on top of the beef
• mix the beef stew seasoning with water and pour onto the beef (have enough water to completely cover the beef and veggies)
• cook on low for 8 hours

result

• tasted good! very tender beef and very well seasoned.
• a bit watery even though i had potatoes in there.

next time

• kim said can make it starchier by adding mashed potato flakes.

My new lifesaver -- a crockpot!

ok, i know i haven't been blogging at all. just didn't find the time. either that or facebook took away whatever free time i had. anyhoo. i'm gonna come back on here and write up random recipes i've tried. that way i won't forget how i made something.

i've always been thinking about getting a crockpot, but just never really did it. but then i talked to the paralegal, kim, at my internship and she totally convinced me to get one. she uses it all the time and had a lot of good recipes to share. i was sold!! i even got the same brand she uses so i can't go wrong. she mentioned that she lets it run while she's at work, but i still haven't gotten myself to do that yet. and she mentioned that b/c she has marble counters, she places the crockpot on top of a glass cutting board to be safe. i haven't tried that yet, but will see...

i've only used the crockpot 3 times and it's all been a success! the funny part is that i prep in the evening and let it cook overnight. must be the paranoia in me, b/c i'm worried about letting an appliance run for 8 hours while i'm at work. what if it caused a fire or something?!? so i let it cook at night, usually starting around 9 or 10pm. i set it on low and let it cook for 8 hours. in the morning, i transfer the food from the crockpot to another pot to let it cool down. i usually let it cool down for an hour before i put it in the fridge. then when i come home from work, all i have to do is reheat the food and dinner is served! yum!

the only really weird part is waking up to the smell of beef stew or whatever it is i made the night before. but other than that, it's been working well! :)

ok, so on to the recipes!!!

Alternatives to Incarcerations

First, the race-based disparity in sentencing is not just on race, but really on all other confounding factors that also correlate to race. Poverty is an excellent example. Those living in poverty who cannot afford legal counsel are appointed a public defender. It has been argued that public defenders are overworked and underpaid, therefore the quality of work is not high as compared to legal counsel in private firms.

the coke bandit

alright, my soda is disappearing from the community office fridge and i know i'm not drinking *that* much. granted, i do drink a lot of coke, so it is hard to keep track of how fast i'm going through the case that i leave at work. but when it disappears at this alarming rate, the chunk is muy suspicious.

so being the detective that she is (i have no idea why i switched to the 3rd person here), she decided to label her case of soda and she wrote down how many cans of coke remain (not being cheap, mind you, just wanted to know what's the dealio). 5 cans. ok, home for the weekend. back in on monday. and bam! only 3 cans left. what the @#$%@(*? seriously. it's only soda guys. it's like 60 cents from the vending machine. really. seriously.

i still have no idea who the coke bandit is. but i guess from now on, i'll just have to keep coke in my office. warm coke. yum. and to counter that, i'll just have to bring in ice cube trays. as long as the bandit doesn't take my ice cubes either, i'll be good.

the donut story

ok, alright, i'm a brown noser...i admit it
but i have reason to...sort of

on the first day, i didn't know what to expect for lunch
so i packed a simple lunch: sandwich, chips, soda, and a hostess cupcake
i made the mistake of laying my entire lunch on the table
i finished everything and was too full for the brownie so it just sat there
and then one of the funny judges said, "i don't know why chunky only brought 1 cupcake. i mean, there's 12 of us here."
another judge said, "it's ok, we can just get a knife and cut it into 12 pieces."
etc. etc.
i know they were kidding, but my face turned bright red

so to redeem myself, i brought in donuts the next time
same funny judge: "thanks for bringing in the donuts, you didn't have to"
chunky: "i wanted to redeem myself for last week"
same funny judge turned to someone nearby: "what was she thinking, bringing in only 2 dozen donuts?"
ahahhahhaha
ok, so they like to mess with me

but i figure i should do this occassionally
doesn't hurt to get on their good side
so the brown nosing will continue! :)

Clerkship - Day 2

The second day of my judicial clerkship went something like this:

--I brought in 2 dozen donuts in the AM and that was a hit.

--I talked to my professor briefly and then sat in on his court proceeding. It was a light day though and he was done in 30 minutes.

--So b/c of the light day, we went for a coffee run and then later, out to lunch. My professor treated. I felt kinda bad. But like before, lunch was very interesting. I laughed so hard, my cheeks hurt. They are a funny bunch. They talked about some YouTube videos. One was about a lawyer who shows up drunk in court. I have to remember to watch that one. And let's just say the other video is very interesting...

--In the afternoon, I sat in on another judge's courtroom. She was sentencing. In the few times I sat in court proceedings, I noticed that female judges seem to be more sympathetic. Even still, she sentenced two people to jail. While she kept talking, the bailiff spoke into his walkie-talkie. And soon enough, a police officer came with handcuffs. The two people who were sent to jail did not look surprised or upset. I guess they knew it was coming. Apparently they keep them locked up on the top floor of the courthouse if it's for a short period of time. I've never been up there and don't really have the urge to. I heard it smells bad.

--Then more affidavit judgments. I did a lot of them. And fast too. I'm really starting to get the hang of it. And it seems like plaintiffs keep asking for high attorney fees. No man. You only get 15%! Don't try to sneak a different amount on there!

--Before I knew it, it was 5 and time to go home.