Artichoke Chicken

A week back V had to go out of town and I was left home alone for three days and two nights.

Two very painful and scary nights.

With V gone all those scary movies, CSI , criminal mind episodes flashed in front of me and I just couldn’t sleep the whole night.

See, I love watching scary movies, and all those crime, murder mystery shows. But then later, I imagine all the different scenarios that they show in horror movies or the crime serials happening with me and every tiny little noise is made out to be a serial killer trying to get in the house and murdering V and me in our sleep.

And because of these fears I take many precautions. Like, if I get up in the middle of the night to pee, I let V know by repeatedly saying his name and as a result waking him up, so that if anything happens to me while on my way to the bathroom, he knows and comes for my rescue. Of course, now he is so used to it, most of the time he sleeps through it, so now I make sure I am little louder while saying his name. Yep, he is really lucky to have me in his life.  🙂

I also lock our bedroom door, because I believe if someone does break into the house and we don’t hear it, we will for sure hear him trying to unlock our bedroom door. I also have been playing with the idea of putting a heavy piece of furniture in front of the bedroom door, just in case the killers do manage to open our door and we do not hear it. V thinks its a little bit too much because we do live in a very safe town. But one can never be too sure, can one?!

And athough I have a terrible time later, I never learn and continue to watch scary movies. I do try to reduce the chill factor by covering my eyes with my fingers, just enough to watch, sbut enough to not get that scared. I remember Rich Hall made a sniglet (snig’ lit: any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should) for watching a scary movie like that- SNARGLE. And to V’s and others’ amusement, and to my embarrassment I snargle a lot!

Besides being sleep deprived during V’s absence, it wasn’t THAT bad being home alone. It was nice to be on your own schedule for once- not rushing through lunch, or thinking of elaborate meal preparations. Not that V is a difficult person to cook for. He never cribs much and I can get away with slacking a lot many times. And even though he doesn’t complain I know that he truly only enjoys Indian food, even though he says that he doesn’t mind eating other non indian dishes. And since I know his true love is for Indian food, that’s what is mostly cooked in our household, and if I do cook other cuisines at the back of my mind I always have this guilt. But with him gone I could make things that he generally does not enjoy and not second guess myself whether anybody else will like it or not. So I made grilled fish for dinner, and this artichoke chicken for lunch. And with enough leftovers of both to carry forward to the next day, I was good.

I found this recipe for artichoke chicken in Taste of Home 100 Best recipes, 2011 issue. It is a winner of one of Taste of Home recipe contests, where home cooks share their most requested recipes. The person who submitted this mentions that it’s always a big hit with her family and now I know why. Its easy to put together and “the rosemary, mushrooms and artichoke give the chicken a satisfying, savory flavor”.

I used only two chicken breasts since I was cooking for one, with the hopes of having leftovers to be used later. I also made a few changes to the original recipe by adding white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce and I loved these changes.

Before leaving you with the recipe, I thought it would be fun to share some more sniglets. Growing up, we had a sniglets dictionary (popularised by Readers’ digest) that  I loved going through and my brother loved drawing from. I don’t have the dictionary with me anymore, but then I have google. I found a few food related sniglets, so thought would share them. Sharing some others as well that I liked and can totally relate to. I am definitely including these in my day to day conversations!

Do check here for more fun sniglets. Also if you remember any that you particularly liked, please share!

Pig slice : the last piece of pizza or pie or cake that no one wants to take for fear it will make them look like a pig.

Askhole – someone who asks very annoying questions

Passhole: The person who has been driving slowly for miles but speeds up the minute you try to get ahead of him. (my personal favorite)

Expresshole- A person who goes through the grocery store’s 12-item express lane with 22 items.

Snackmosphere-  The empty but explosive layer of air at the top of a potato chip bag.

Musquirt- The yellow water that first squirts out of a mustard bottle. ( I always wanted to know that!)

Flopcorn –  The unpopped kernels at the bottom of the cooker.

Elbonics- Two people fighting over an arm rest at a movie with their elbows.

Eufirstics- Two people waiting on the phone for the other to hang up first.

Porchlag: the time between when you say goodbye and the time you actually leave.

Carperpetuation (kar’ pur pet u a shun) – n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance. (been there, done that!)

Scribblics: Trying to get a pen to write again by scribbling funny lines on a paper until you see the ink.

Chalktrauma- The body’s reaction to someone running his fingernails down a chalkboard.

Doork:  A person who always pushes on a door marked “pull” or vice versa. (guilty of doing this always!)

Frust : The line of dust that accumulates when sweeping dust into a dust pan and frustratingly backs you up because you can never get it into the pan.

Some other sources for the sniglets: here, here, and here.