Color Me Domestic - Kitchen Jenga

Don't ever say "I can't cook". If you can make a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese you have at least a bare minimum ability to use kitchen appliances. If you know how to cut things (or to you tube how to cut them) then you can pretty much make anything you find in a standard cook book. Yes there are more advance tricks but really most cooking is cutting, moving cut items around in a pan and serving. And with Pinterest posting having the most wonderful foods out there you've got to be inspired to get cookin'!

Here at CMS we are constantly playing "Jenga" with our meal preparations. Usually because an item was forgotten at the store. A recent Jenga was Lemon, Onion, Dijon and Honey sauce when the main ingredient in a peanut sauce was assumed in stock and only had a few scrapes left (someone ate it for breakfast).

This jenga turned out really well and could be used as a marinade for chicken or white fish, a salad dressing or like we used it, a topping for grilled chicken. 

Ingredients (emphasis on using what you have, feel free to experiment a bit and taste as you go)
- Onion- Chopped (about a 1/4 of a cup)
- Butter or Olive Oil (for sauteing the onion)

- Honey
- Dijon Mustard
- Lemon (or orange or lime)
- Worcester sauce
- Chives (or a fresh herb you have on hand, don't use dried, they'll over power the flavors, honestly I don't think they added much)

In a sauce pan (the smallest pot in your set) warm the butter or oil over medium/high heat (7 out of 10) and after a minute or so add the chopped onion. We used a sweet yellow onion, red would work too. Saute the onion for a few minutes until it just starts to get transparent. 

Add two spoonfuls of Honey, two or three squirts of mustard (start with two, you can always add more), squeeze all the lemon juice out (be mindful of seeds, juice it in a small bowl before and then pour it in once you've fished out the seeds). Add the chives or parsley or mint if you have it. Then finally two dashes of Worcester sauce.

Reduce the heat to low (1 out of 10) and stir it occasionally while you prep the rest of your meal. If you are using it as a marinade, let it cool completely before adding it to raw meat. All marinades should be at room temperature or cooler before added to raw meats. Then let it sit overnight or for at least 30 minutes before cooking the protein. 

Jenga dinners are easy. Just think of what you would find at a fancy restaurant and think about their ingredients and try it. At the very least there is that frozen pizza in the freezer or Chinese take-out.