Day 20-I hate admitting this, but my kitchen anxiety is back. Let’s try not to confuse the kitchen anxiety with the kitchen depression. Kitchen anxiety manifested itself again last night in the form of fear, lack of confidence, and feeling very overwhelmed. I had to cook 3 separate things last night, salmon, kale chips, and Rice-a-Roni. The minute I realized I had to cook 3 separate things all at once (even one as easy as Rice-a-Roni), I flipped out. Seriously there was a moment there where I thought I was going to have a complete meltdown. I was annoying myself, so I have no idea how Anthony tolerated me. I took a few deep breathes and berated myself a little before I started to cook. Tonight’s meal is Grilled Salmon, Bacon& Feta Packets and Kale Chips. The salmon is from an issue of EveryDay with Rachel Ray, it’s a 5 ingredient recipe.
I started with the kale chips. I have become very fascinated by these things. They have been featured on everyone’s blog except for mine. That’s why I had to try them out. I’ve used kale in a few recipes before and use to feed it to my rabbit. Kale is great for you and everyone should add it to their diet, as long as you can handle the bitter taste of it. The first thing you need to do is rinse the kale and tear it into chip sized pieces. Then you need to dry it, I used a salad spinner and I still couldn’t get it completely dry. Then you put it in a large bowl, sprinkle olive oil on it and massage the oil in the leaves. Then you make a spice mix of whatever you want. I used salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. You sprinkle the kale with the spice mixture and toss. Next put the kale in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet. I had to do two batches. Your oven should be set to 350 degrees and you leave the kale in there for about 12 minutes or until it’s crispy.
Next I started the Rice-a-Roni, I was trying my best to time everything. The box says that this takes about 22 minutes to cook, plus time for boiling and sautéing. I figured if I start this while the first batch of kale is cooking that should work out okay. The first batch of kale finished and I prepped the next tray of kale. I needed some cooked and crumbled bacon (for the salmon) so I threw two pieces in the microwave. Then I got the salmon together. Take a square of foil and place the salmon on it. On top of each salmon fillet put 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing. Then you add the crumbled bacon, feta cheese and pepper to the top of the salmon. Fold the sides of the foil up and leave the top open. This recipe calls for putting the foil packets on the grill, but since the oven was already on and in use Anthony suggested I put it in there. So I popped the salmon and the kale chips in the oven with 10 minutes left on the timer for the Rice-a-Roni.
Things seemed to be going well, but after the 10 minutes were up, nothing was finished. The Rice-a-Roni was watery, the salmon was raw, and I knew the kale still needed a few minutes. After 2 more minutes I pulled the kale out. I raised the temperature to 400 degrees for the salmon. The Rice-a-Roni looked better so I turned the heat off of that. Anthony and I checked the salmon after a few minutes and it still wasn’t done, so we left it in about 5 minutes more. Finally dinner was ready and it really wasn’t as stressful as I thought it was going to be. I need to realize nothing bad is going to happen if not everything finishes at the same time.
Final Product: 
Okay now I know why people rave about kale chips all the time. They are addictive! We almost ate the whole bowl! The mixture I made was way too salty, but since the kale chips are as addictive as regular chips we couldn’t stop eating them. Next time I think I’m going to do a cumin and curry mixture for them. I’m already planning on making another batch this weekend. Love them! Anthony has made the salmon recipe before on the grill. He said he has no idea why I had problems cooking it in the oven. Overall the taste was the same. Anthony said it could have used more bacon. But of course he would say that! One thing that really annoyed me (this is another Wegman’s rant) was that we both found some bones in the fish. That has never happened before and it confirms in my mind that Wegman’s is slipping.
I’m going to do some deep breathing exercises this afternoon at work. So that when I get home I don’t get another bout of kitchen anxiety. I hate feeling useless and overwhelmed! Next up BBQ Tacos!
Cooking quote of the day:
Cooking Rule... If at first you don't succeed, order pizza.
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