Friday, January 25, 2008

Friday Florida Food Fest: TV Dinners and A Fresh Squeeze


My version of a TV dinner.
I'm not sure if this week's Food Fest is too inspiring.
Home first last night (as usual), it fell to me to create a healthy supper for my crew, but I was not in a cooking mood after spending a good hour trying to weigh Chewie the pig.
(More on that in a later post)

I opted for a quick TV dinner so I could alternately blog and watch "Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets".
There was no box, or aluminum tray (dates me, I know), but it didn't take much longer to make than an old fashioned TV dinner.
I dusted some boneless chicken breasts with thyme, Tony C., salt and pepper and grilled them quick in the oven.
The pasta was tossed with a quick mix of olive oil, oregano, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper.
The salad is of course, our family recipe "Selmo's Salad".
Search this blog for that recipe.

Fresh, healthy,tasty, and it took all of 30 minutes.

Definitely faster than a frozen chicken pot pie.
Those things are torture, you wait forever for it to cook and then you burn your tongue on it, because by the time it's done you're starving.
Admit it ... you've done that before.


Fresh Parson Brown oranges from Dad's tree in St. Augustine.

Florida oranges are not pretty, but they taste amazing. A western grown orange, say from California, will have a brilliant orange thick skin, but a Florida orange is usually thin skinned and often greenish or blotchy like these beauties.

I don't eat the skin.

Beauty (flavor) is on the inside and I'll take a sweet Florida orange any day over a watery western one. The Parson Brown is a great juicing orange and that was the fate of these little orangey orbs.



This hand me down juicer from Mom and Dad made short work of the oranges. The result was about 3 quarts of thick, sweet, murky orange juice.

It won't last long, and the store bought Tropicana juice in the fridge will sit alone and unloved until this fresh essence is gone.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's "Tony C"?

Looks yummy. Definitely better than the frozen pizza I burned my tongue on last night.

roger said...

chicken pot pies...oh my. must be 40 years since or more i've had one but the memory of the burnt tongue is still there.

real food freshly cooked is ever so much better. the prep and cooking is, for me anyway, a sorta meditation that is very calming.

Anonymous said...

I've had your dad's orange juice a couple of times. The only juice better was my grandmothers squeezed from her own oranges from her backyard. Of course there may be a little bias there.

As old as you are you should be eating as healthy as possible.

threecollie said...

Multi-tasking with the best of them. It all looks wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Does that mug have a picture of your darlings on it?

Good oranges out here in the Midwest are hard to find. They certainly don't grown on trees around here, but the store-bought ones are always iffy.

Deb said...

Have you ever read the label on a frozen pot pie? Pretty scary.

I agree with Pablo, you never know what you're getting with store bought oranges.

swamp4me said...

I'm starving...can I have a bite? It's been a lllooonnnngggg workday and I didn't get any lunch :(

R.Powers said...

Wren,
Tony Cachere's Cajun Seasoning.
Good stuff!
Frozen pizza ranks right up there with Chicken Pot Pie for tongue trama.

roger,
me too, the prep is soothing.

Kevin,
More gruel wench!
I understand grandma bias, but am glad Dad's OJ came in second.

3C,
Sorry I can't mail some juice up there.

Pablo,
Yes, a Father's day gift a few years ago. I start each day with it.
Sorry about the midwest orange situation.

Deb,
Yup, pretty scary. I guess I take good oranges for granted.

Swampy,
You're always welcome here.

Paintsmh said...

Yum! That stuff looks so good.

R.Powers said...

Paint,
Twas!

Sharon said...

Mmmm...my mouth is watering. And yes, I have burned my mouth on a pot pie. (and had a TV dinner in a metal tray!) :)

R.Powers said...

Sharon,
It's a rite of passage.
:)