The first thing I've learned, is that I will end up making most of my meals on Saturdays and Sundays, just because I have a wife who is willing (and enjoys) making sure that there is a "dinner" ready when I get home from work each day. I'm thankful that she has enough energy to do this, and am very grateful.
Saturdays and Sundays however, being "mine" to use, motivated me to make dinner this evening, since it is indeed "Saturday."
First off, I went looking for an Apple Crisp Recipe in my chosen bible for cooking ("The Joy ........") and found one on page 692 that looked easy enough. I got all the ingredients on the table and pre-heated the oven at 375ºF as the Recipe said.
Washing, peeling and slicing the apples is something I've done before, so I went at it with gusto, and got them all in a square casserole dish (UN-buttered) and got the dry ingredients all measured out and blended in a separate mixing bowl. I cut the butter stick into thin pieces and used a potato masher to incorporate it. It took some doing but I got it done, and spread it over the apples.
The requirement was 55 minutes for the apple dish, so I set the timer and got a pre-cooked chicken (I know, I cheated) into another casserole dish and covered it with tin foil. I wasn't sure if I needed to add just a light dose of water on the bottom or not, and I confess that I consulted with my mother about that (the wife was sleeping, and unaware).
I decided to cheat yet again, and got a can of corn out of the pantry and got it into a pot with water and a chunk of butter, and got that heating up, and decided I would make two baked potatoes. I scrubbed the potatoes and decided to use the "Baked Potato" setting on the microwave, which wanted to cook them for six and a half minutes for two, waiting until I was six minutes away from the end of the baking of the apple dish.
All went well basically. I set the table, got out all the necessary knives and forks and such, and went up to wake the wife up about 10 minutes before the meal would theoretically be "ready." She came down and asked, "what's this," and "what's that," and seemed genuinely impressed.
When I hit the "six minute mark" for the apple crisp, I started the potatoes, and at the 1 minute mark for everything, I drained the corn and got them into a serving dish with another tab of butter, on the table.
In the end everything was warm at the same time.............well.........almost. Seems the potatoes were not quite cooked yet (I had put holes in them before cooking them, in case you were wondering), and so the wife suggested cutting them in half (they were big potatoes) and putting them in for another 3 minutes.
All in all, the chicken (being pre-cooked) was fine, the corn was fine, and the potatoes, although delayed, were fine (albeit still a bit under cooked, but not bad, and great for hash browns tomorrow morning in that condition.
She and I ate half the chicken and saved the OTHER half for a Chicken Pot Pie I will attempt tomorrow, and then served up the golden brown coated Apple Crisp. It was delicious!!! (If I do say so myself).
What did I learn:
-I could have wrapped the potatoes in aluminum foil and put them into the oven when I put in the Apple Crisp, and they would have been cooked enough when the whole meal was served.
-I need to remember NOT to take the potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil, and put them in the microwave.
-A cold cooked chicken can go into the same 375ºF oven with the Apple Crisp, and be ready to eat
at the same time as the Apple Crisp is ready to come out.
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