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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!

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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.

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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: herehere, and here.

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5.0 from 1 reviews
Artichoke Chicken
 
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 8 boneless chicken breast halves
  • 2 tbsp butter ( I used herb and garlic butter)
  • 2 jars ( 6 oz each) marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained
  • 8 ounce packet mushrooms, sliced
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • ⅓ cup all purpose flour
  • 1½ tsp rosemary, dried (crushed)
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups chicken broth or 1 cup broth and 1 cup dr white wine ( I used just the chicken broth and instead added balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and liked these additions a lot)
  • minced fresh parsley
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. In a large skillet, brown chicken in butter. Remove chicken to an ungreased 13 by 9 inch baking dish.
  3. In the same pan, heat a little more butter and saute the mushrooms a bit.
  4. Arrange the mushrooms and artichokes on top of the chicken and set aside.
  5. In the same pan, saute the onions in the pan juices until crisp-tender. Combine the flour, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add to the pan and mix until blended.
  6. Add the chicken broth, the vinegars, worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and spoon over chicken.
  7. Cover and bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with hot cooked noodles.
  8. (If halving the recipe, do make sure you reduce the cooking time. For 2 chicken breasts, it just took me 20 minutes of baking time for the chicken to cook)

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13 Thoughts on “Artichoke Chicken

  1. Thank you. This looks to good and fairly easy too. Have a wonderful weekend and make it a safe one.

  2. Love it! Thanks for recipe 🙂

  3. Wow, this chicken looks really awesome! Yummy!
    Looking FANCY recently posted..Polka Dot Bra NailsMy Profile

  4. Lauren on 25 May, 2013 at 6:36 am said:

    Oh this looks really good! I’ve been looking for a way to use up artichokes I recently bought. Your photos look better than the book- seriously.

  5. HI Shumalia! I am new to your site, and I must say this post made me laugh so much that I can’t wait to get to know you and V a lil bit more. My Hungryman also was out of town this past week, and I felt lonely and frightened as well. I placed his pjs right where he normally sleeps on the bed for some much needed comfort. Is that a kinda creepy? Oh wells, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? I don’t do scary movies after being traumatized by Chucky. Hungryman, on the other hand, LOVES the thrill (I don’t get it) and watches when I’m not around.
    When he is out of town, I just eat whatever. H isn’t hard to cook for either, but I do try a lot harder when he is around. Unlike me, he refuses to eat kimchi, rice, and seaweed combo.
    I had never heard of sniglets until now. It must be the fobbiness in me ;). Your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I look forward to following you! Thank goodness for us that V and Hungryman are back!

    • Haha…no not creepy at all. I totally get it ;)!
      Thanks for appreciating the post. Heading over to your blog now :)!

  6. Your sniglets are very funny. My favorite has to be Snackmosphere. I am sorry I have not been by in a very long time, now I have signed up to receive e-mail alert so that should sort that problem all out. I missed your recipes very much. I also have moved to my own self hosted site so please stop by if you get a moment. I love your simple but delightful chicken recipe and love that tiny pan just as much. How cute it that! Wishing you a super week. Take Care, BAM
    Bam’s Kitchen recently posted..Veggies in a Blanket with Red Pepper PestoMy Profile

    • Aww. Bobbi, so good to have you back. I too have been pretty bad myself with catching up on the blogs I like, yours included! Great news on switching to a self hosted site. Will be more regular now! 🙂

  7. Such a fun post! This recipe sounds amazing too, can’t wait to try it myself!!

    -Shannon
    Mushrooms Canada recently posted..Grow Me, Blog Me | Giveaway #2My Profile

  8. Supriya on 3 July, 2013 at 11:34 am said:

    What a funny post… my fav sniglets have to be Carperpetuation and Porchlag- something I experience a LOT when leaving from good friends’ places.

    Will try some of your recipes soon, had been busy last few months, but all of a sudden all I wanna do is cook great tasting stuff. I actually try to leave early from work or work from home sometimes just to cook something tasty for dinner. (Ain’t my boss lucky to have me??)
    Things I can make do with ready made masalas are getting created/ground/added from scratch nowadays and suddenly I remembered how long its been since I checked your site ! 🙂

    Hope you are doing well. I know all about being alone, when I first moved to US I frequently imagined someone breaking into the living room window, only to remember I was on the eighth floor ! :-/
    Next time you’re alone try checking off some of the movies on your list or catching up with new music. Keeps me so engaged that I dont even realize when I finally slip into blissful sleep 🙂

    Take care, Have fun ! 🙂
    – Supriya

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