Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Once Bitten

It started as an innocent conversation with a friend, as these things often do. But somehow, and this seems to be a habit with me, we ended off in the ether on some weird tangent. And ended with a list: what would you never do again?

As I said, it started in a whole other place. I was talking about a new recipe (you're shocked, I know) that I had tried for dinner. Pepper Jack Chicken. The number of days are dwindling where I'm going to have all four of us at the dinner table. College Boy is working locally and PurDude has turned down 2 job offers while still looking for one he feels will be a good fit. He could end up living pretty much anywhere. His first choice is Seattle, about as far away from here as a person could get. I'm trying not to take it personally.

I digress. 

In honor of the boys I wanted to make another recipe using Chipotle Ranch Dressing. They both love it but College Boy uses it on a salad almost daily. PurDude likes anything hot, putting sriracha on sandwiches, fish, anything and everything. So I marinated chicken in the Chipotle Ranch and added a little Tabasco. Mixed cayenne into the breading and oven "fried" it with melted Pepper Jack.

Pepper Jack Chicken: marinated in a spicy dressing, coated in bread crumbs and baked with creamy melted Pepper Jack cheese, a favorite way to serve this dinner is with salsa.| Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dinner

Pepper Jack Chicken
Pepper Jack Chicken: marinated in a spicy dressing, coated in bread crumbs and baked with creamy melted Pepper Jack cheese, a favorite way to serve this dinner is with salsa.| Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dinner



That's when it happened. I very innocently said to Kate "I'd do that again."

"What wouldn't you do again?" she asked. I wasn't sure what she meant, like in the kitchen? 'Cause when it comes to recipe fails, I've had some doozies.

"How about not in the kitchen, just in general. Not what would you not do, we can all come up with a million of those, but what, that you've actually done wouldn't you do again?" she asked. "Ten things."

What wouldn't I do again? 

1) Well, just off the top of my head, high school for one. Not that it was bad, it wasn't. In fact, the parts I remember were pretty fun. But been there, done that, lucky to have survived.

2) Rub plants over myself (with a friend) in the woods because we wanted to see what Poison Ivy felt like. We ended up with Poison Ivy, Poison Oak and Poison Sumac. All over. In our defense, we were very young. And stupid. I, for one, will never ever forget what that feels like. FYI, not good.

3) Say "maybe" to a child. Any child. Ever. If I were to write a book of advice for moms, this little nugget of information would be in it. Because "maybe" means drive me absolutely bonkers until I give in. Something I would love to not have had to learn the hard way.

4) Sign up for "anything you need" for the school Thanksgiving celebration. This is another one I'd put in that book of advice for moms. I thought I was helping the teacher in case too many of the moms signed up to bring in the same things. I figured everyone would be bringing in drinks or paper goods or dessert and maybe she'd need me to make a side dish. Yeah, right. I'm the dumb sucker the teacher called the day before the party asking if I'd make a turkey.  

Once Bitten, ten things I'd never do again | Graphic property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #humor #laugh


5) Join a gym in a strip mall next to a Chinese restaurant. Suffice it to say that I never did lose any weight at that damn place.

6) Speaking of Chinese restaurants, I would never again eat Szechuan for lunch right before a job interview.

7) Call in sick to work and then that night end up on the jumbotron at a (nationally televised, of course) Celtics game. Yeah, that went over well.

8) Park in an 8 level parking garage and not make note of what level I left my car on. Just as an aside, I may as well mention that I lived to regret having worn 4 inch heels that day too. There was a point at which I seriously considered just giving up on the damn car. (Level 6, in case you needed to know).



9) Agree to feed Hubs' boss's dog while he and his wife were on vacation for a week. No, I didn't get bitten. But I got to the house and she'd left me a note. Feed the dog. OK. Let the dog out. No problem. Feed the fish. Unexpected, but I can do that. Skim the aquarium water. Ummm. Feed the cats. Cats? Clean out the cat litter. Oh now wait a second, I don't do cat litter. Apparently they "forgot" to give me a full accounting of the zoo. I had to leave a picture of myself at home on the counter that week so the family could remember what I looked like.

and finally:

10) Drink water in a Mexican restaurant while on vacation. I knew better, hadn't even intended to, I was talking and eating and just not paying attention. Maybe it's safe to do now. Don't know, don't care. 'Nuff said.

TMI? 'Cause from the rolling of her eyes, I'm guessing that what Kate wouldn't do again is ask me a question like that.


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Pepper Jack Chicken         
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup Chipotle Ranch salad dressing
1 tsp Tabasco sauce

3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

10 slices Pepper Jack cheese

OPT: Salsa for serving

Directions:
*Cut each chicken breast into three pieces of fairly even thickness. Place into a gallon sized resealable bag.
*Mix together the salad dressing and the Tabasco sauce. Pour into the bag with the chicken and massage to be sure that all of the pieces of chicken are completely coated. Refrigerate overnight.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking dish.
*Mix together the bread crumbs and the cayenne pepper on a dish. Remove the chicken pieces from the bag and coat completely with the bread crumbs. Place in the prepared dish.
*Cover the chicken pieces with the cheese slices. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked. Serve with salsa if desired.

14 comments:

  1. Too funny and totally relatable!! I did one of those trust building exercises, falling backwards and being caught at a seminar in college. I was dropped because my catchers were not ready. Fast forward 15 years and this big company I worked for had a management trust building exercise, falling backward. I wouldn't do it. The facilitators thought it was a trust issue, a fear issue and I had to explain it was a learned, never do it again, issue! Your recipe, as always, looks delicious.

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    1. Nothing wrong with learning a lesson, especially when it's learned the hard way.

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  2. NEVER say maybe to a child! I could picture every one of these happening...sorry for laughing!

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    1. Laugh away. Glad to say I've put enough distance between myself and some of those times that I'm almost ready to laugh too. Almost.

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  3. This is absolutely priceless! Laughing and wincing! :)
    Me? What wouldn't I do again? Hmmm . . . Date cowboys is pretty high on my list. Ride a horse at full steam up a muddy, slippery slope. Do anything with barbed wire. Yeah. Those are my top three.

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  4. This was definitely too funny!
    But your chicken recipe sounds delicious, Karen.

    www.thepositivewindow.com

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  5. Thank you for making me laugh, it always feels good to laugh but what doesn't feel good is wetting my pants when I laugh.

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  6. I second you on high school, not that we had a choice at the time, did we? White water rafting would be on my list. Once was enough. Let's see. Spending the night in the Albany, New York bus terminal was another "never again" for me. Your recipe has my stomach growling. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. I've never spent a night at a bus terminal but I can certainly guess why you'd never do that one again.

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  7. LOL there are lots of things I would NOT do again but I also have a list of things I would.
    Love the chicken by the way.
    And taking care of the boss' zoo? I can just see that. Isn't it fun when you say yes to one thing and it innocently, most likely not, ends up being a dozen things. Yeah...

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    1. I can't even tell you how angry I was at them. They deliberately lied to me and mislead me and then left town.

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