Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Thanks to daughter F, whenever I try a recipe that features broccoli, carrots, squash or cauliflower, my first impulse is to prep and roast in the oven. I enjoy the taste of the caramelization that occurs during the roasting process. She also taught me that chicken is more tender and juicy cooked whole (breasts or thighs) and cut for recipes after a short rest.

Here's what you need:

2 chicken breasts
2+ cups of broccoli (approximately)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp (or more) olive oil
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup cream
1 1/2+ cups of chicken broth
3 cups of Casarecce or Penne pasta

Let's begin:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Prep broccoli by cutting into pieces you feel comfortable eating in a casserole type dish. I like mine fairly small. Place cut broccoli onto a full size (18x26) baking sheet pan, ideally with a silicone mat. Add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil, 1/4 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 of ground pepper, toss together.

Prep chicken breasts with a thin coating of olive oil along with a few grinds of salt and pepper on both sides. Add to a small foil lined baking dish.

Place both the broccoli and chicken breasts into the preheated oven. In my oven, both are usually done after 20 minutes, depending on size of broccoli and whether chicken breasts are completely thawed. I like my broccoli to be a medium golden brown around the edges. Check temperature of chicken after 15 minutes. Once it's up to 100 or so degrees, cooking can be complete within 5 minutes. Be sure not to cook it beyond 155-160 degrees.

While the broccoli and chicken cook, finely shred both the Parmesan and Monterey Jack cheese and mince garlic.

You can begin to make the roux during this time:

Heat a large non-stick skillet or dutch oven over medium low heat. Pre-measure your cream and broth to have ready. Heat large pot of water for pasta.
Add flour to dutch oven/skillet. Stir for approximately 1 minute. Add butter, olive oil and minced garlic. Using a wire whisk, stir constantly for approximately 2 minutes or until you can smell the garlic. Begin to slowly add the cream while stirring constantly. The mixture should begin to thicken. Do the same with the broth. Add more broth if the consistency seems too thick for a white sauce. Turn heat down to low, stir in shredded cheese until melted. Turn off heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook and drain pasta--saving a cup of pasta water in case dish needs more moisture once all the ingredients have been added.

When chicken is done and has rested for 5 minutes, use a sharp knife and fork to slice. I slice each breast in half, lengthwise and then 1/4+ slices crosswise.
Add pasta to cheese sauce, stir to coat. Then add chicken and broccoli. Stir to coat. Be sure to taste. Adjust salt and pepper as needed or add a few dashes of red pepper flakes for a bit of heat.

Bacon Corn Chowder

Usually a search for a recipe becomes having to choose between several versions, because they all sound calorie worthy. This was not the case when I did a search for corn, potato, bacon, chowder.
90% of the recipes that populated my results used 'cream of something' soup, canned potato soup or pre-cooked bacon. I understand that's simply the way some people cook, but 90% of the results? Ugh.

Thankfully, I finally stumbled upon the following recipe after I tweaked my search terms for the 5th time. It's a keeper AND I only made one change--a bay leaf. Almost forgot to add: beer bread was a nice accompaniment.

Bacon Corn Chowder

Author: Dara
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
8 oz smoked bacon, diced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cup frozen yellow corn
1lb white or red potatoes, washed and chopped into 1″ chunks
3 cups low sodium chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 cup half and half
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp fresh thyme, washed
1 tbsp fresh chives, washed and chopped

Instructions
In a large soup pot or dutch oven, saute onion, celery, and bacon in olive oil on medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until softened
Add corn, potatoes, stock, salt, pepper, and paprika
Cover and bring to a boil
Reduce heat and simmer on med-low 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender
In a food processor, puree 1.5 cups of chowder with 1 tbsp of flour
Whisk pureed mixture back into chowder
Add half and half, thyme and chives
Cover and simmer on med-low for another 10 minutes
Serve hot with chives and black pepper

Nelson Park Idea=exercise

Embankment Slide Proposal

(link to printable doc)

One of the natural features of Nelson Park that can be enhanced are its hillsides. Already, people use the hillsides in the center of the park during snowy periods for sleds. During the summer these same hillsides are used to slide by sitting on cardboard sheets that slide over the grassy hillsides. Both of these recreational uses do damage to the hillsides by killing the vegetation and exposing bare dirt and causing ruts in the hillside. This proposal can be used to enhance the sliding experience, repair the damage that has been done to the hillsides, and increase the physical activity of children by encouraging them to climb the hillside in a safe fun environment.

The basic proposal is to add four slide areas to the hillside between the newly renovated play area and the gazebo on top of the hill. Two slides would replace the current sliding area and provide a safe sliding area and stairways to return to the top of the hill. One slide would be added to the short hill immediately adjacent to the new play area. This slide would be targeted toward smaller children and if possible children with physical challenges who currently sit and watch the people sliding down the bigger hill. A fourth slide would be just north of the first two slides. This slide could use natural features of the existing hill to support a longer, less steep slide that has a couple twists and turns for added fun. The final part of this proposal would be to improve the vegetation on the hill. There is a fair amount of poison oak that should be eliminated from the hillside. Trees and shrubs could be added that would provide shade for the slides and help to discourage in-growth of poison oak, black berries, and other unwanted species.

The cost of this project is highly dependent on the materials used for building the slides or even the types of slides used. I have researched a company that makes plastic slides for use on embankments. Their slides would cost about $40,000 for one slide. Other types of slide would change this estimate. The re-vegetation could cost around $2,000 depending on the types of materials used. My suggestion is that we begin with one slide and a set of return stairs as a pilot to gauge cost, interest, and durability. If the project garners the support I think possible, grant support, local donations, neighborhood labor and donations could be used to complete the project.

I have seen on-line examples of other cities that have developed embankment slides in their parks. Each one expresses that these additions have been a valuable addition to their parks system. There are a number of unknowns for Nelson Park  like initial cost, maintenance cost, liability, and developing a need for restrooms.  I would like to work with the city to explore the embankment slide opportunity, and to add a fun, useful new feature to Nelson Park. If the expertise does not exist with Salem Parks staff I would help expand the research on this project to cities who have experience with such a project.

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/a-38-foot-tall-hill-of-slides-is-coming-soon-to-governors-island-park/

http://sfrecpark.org/destination/seward-mini-park/

http://artery.wbur.org/2013/07/16/chuckie-harris-park

https://www.parentmap.com/article/adventure-playgrounds-thrilling-swings-zip-lines-slides-around-seattle

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68q3i9pA3nXSmvK3al-tfZFQrN1MAN74mhhdmdm8TYpGouDPTveVIQXddQ23DZD5-a68HYoRFq9oh175Uk_-oHloEPJpBxHHswN5_dvxVtDEKBthHwW17Jm2g9qsmdSlCFSPTXVgey0M/s1600/image_29.jpg

"When Death Comes"

When Death Comes
- Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,
tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world

- Mary Oliver

Dad's Final Hours from Afar

Yes, okay, it was true, father was 92 and he'd had a roll-over accident during a 4 wheeler ride in the desert with my eldest brother. Anyone else at that age and you'd expect consequences. Long drawn out painful consequences, but Dad was going to live forever. I was confident of this truth.

Hearing details from a distance is much different than being at someone's side. Deep down I knew this, but refused to acknowledge it. My brother sent daily emails--all in the positive, humorous style of the entire family. "Dad has 4 broken ribs and a small puncture in one lung", but here's a photo of him smiling, relaxing on his couch with happy hour lifted to the camera holder.

The undercurrent of the story was that the pain was great and the first hospital doctor insisted on tampering with his meds. Meds that had only recently been brought into a delicate balance to keep the fluid in his lungs at bay. Several days later, brother messaged us that Dad woke up in the morning struggling to breathe. He drove him to a different hospital this time. One that had been either recommended or where Dad had had a previous positive experience.

The first daily message and photo showed Dad hooked up to all possible and necessary machines to keep his oxygen levels up and to drain the fluid from his lungs. Soon the photos showed him walking carefully with assistance down the hallway. My eldest sister had joined brother by this time.

Then December 1 arrived and after work I sat in Karyn's hairstylist chair, keeping up a lively, heartfelt banter about our parents' health. I could feel the constant vibrations of what had to be a text discussion amongst my family members. The knowing/grown-up part of my brain that I'd been trying to tamp down was concerned, but I decided it could wait. Cell phones shouldn't be something we have to always pick-up. Real people should be the priority. Besides, what could I do at that moment that I couldn't do later?

Once I climbed into my car for the drive home, I pulled out my phone before turning the ignition key. My neatly piled heap of denial came tumbling down, as I read my eldest sister's words: Dad was ready and wanted to go. I raged and howled and weeped to no one, as I navigated the car through rush hour traffic. I blamed the desert. I blamed the doctor at the first hospital. I wished I could immediately materialize at his bedside.

Looking back at that moment, what I remember most was how Karyn had delivered a statement that seemingly foreshadowed the whole event, "When our parents are that age, they can handle one or two big medical events, but no more than that. Too much and it's more than their bodies can deal with." And (at that moment) I raged at Karyn the hairstylist.