goop's chicken salad

i cannot grill chicken. seriously, i suck at it. i'm probably using all the wrong pans or oils or something, but i seriously can't get it right. i've used a cuisinart griddler a few times, did alright, but i have no room for that in my apt. i've poached it but only when shredding it to add to chicken casserole b/c the look of it disturbs me. a few people suggested i cook it in the oven instead and for this culinary attempt, i did just that.

ready for the oven

"go super stores!" or "hurray for the not-so-little guy"

a few weeks back i planned an epic battle royale of the grocery options in my life. it turned into, f-it, i'll just walk to trader joe's. just about every sunday at 4pm, i grab my reusable bag, call my mom and walk 7 blocks over and 2 blocks up to my trader joe's. we chat along the way, sometimes in the store, quietly, but never while i'm checking out. if she's not available i'll put in a pod cast and laugh a little too loudly "to myself." i'm totally focused, the ultimate multi-tasker. if the other shoppers would focus more on their shopping and less on looking at me with the "she's one of those ipod people," they wouldn't run into me or the other shoppers. i'm watching where i'm going!

ok, that took a dark turn, back to my original point: to shop at a super store or a smaller grocery store. for a few months i'd been taking one evening every other week and driving out to target. my reasoning was that they had the stuff i don't usually buy at the grocery store: toilet paper, paper towels, the occasional superhero t-shirt. this week, as i made my list of what to get at target, i couldn't really justify the trip. everything i'd put in the "target" column of my excel grocery file (i'll show you in a moment) i realized could be purchased closer to my apt at tj's or albertson's, i was basically just going there b/c i needed toilet paper and it is usually a better deal. totally not worth the drive. i went to tj's instead and i gotta say, i think it's about the same price. not as plush as my cottonelle (the puppy is so cute!) but, it'll do. i'll save the target trips for when i need a prescription refilled or for when they have a really good deal, like this shiny new shelving unit i put in the kitchen.

please ignore the bags of recycling, the day got away from me

roasted chickpeas

you may notice the above title is a little, um, boring. i've been doing a lot of food fixin' lately and there just aren't enough rocky n bullwinkle themed titles to go around. so from now on, unless there's a soap box to stand on, i'm sticking to boring old "name of what i made."

moving along. i've been enjoying my little afternoon snacks. they keep me from going all hulk smash! at the end of the day. the energy bars are awesome but after 2 weeks, i needed a little change up. enter the roasted chickpeas.