Our Easter Feast

So, I am currently working on paring down my food stocks for the summer. So, for Easter, I made a feast. All of these were made up by me on the spot, using what was available in my kitchen.

Main course: Spring Chicken!

Chicken breast, sliced

Marinade:
white vinegar
a dab of olive oil
lemon juice
oregano
basil
salt
lavender
chicken stock

Cooked on stove-top in a pan

How did it turn out? It was really good. But the downside was that I didn't time things well, so this got overcooked waiting for the potatoes.

Jello:

Strawberry jello
frozen strawberries

Make like normal jello, put in the sliced up, frozen strawberries

How did it turn out? Good. There was a strange chemical phenomenon that it started to clump up when I put in the hot water. Never happened to me before, but we kind of got a couple of gummy bear-like clumps at select locations. My roommates said they were good. I hated them.

Green beans:

frozen green beans
lemon juice
lavender
olive oil

Tried to have a vegetable, used up some frozen veggies and also tie it back to the chicken.

How did it turn out? Pretty good. I was fearful that the lavender flavor would be super strong, but it worked.

Au gratin potatoes:

Completely from the box

Dessert---a real experiment.

I made a dough that kind of turned out to be halfway between a tuille and a sugar cookie. Then I got some grapes that were in my fridge, boiled them down, added a touch of vanilla, pureed it all in a blender and then drizzled that on top of the cookie/thing.

How did it turn out? Well, I think the drizzle soaked into the cookie too much. Maybe if I made it a harder cookie next time. My roommates (and roommate's boyfriend) claimed that it was like heaven, but I don't know if I believe them. It seemed normal to me.

But, I have been experimenting in the kitchen a lot lately. It relieves stress and makes me happy. Sometimes it is amazing (my au jus sauce the other day was heavenly, and last night's pesto was pretty good), sometimes it's odd--but strangely appetizing (so the marshmallow-lifesaver glaze/fondant falls into this category), and sometimes it's nasty (I have no idea what happened with that brown-sugar chicken). But it's fun.

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