Right Over Left....Meal Plan

In Ashley's book of Knot tying there is described five thousand knots, all of which relate to eight basic knots. I will try to make daily posts to my blog and present a knot of the day and also a meal of the day I hope you enjoy

REEF KNOT

The reef knot or square knot is said to be the original Knot! An upgrade from the granny knot, or in some circles a thief knot. It is a binding knot used to secure a line around an object, frequently used to attach two seperate lines although this is not the best use for this knot because it is frequently tied incorrectly leaving one with a slip knot which can be quite dangerous on a vessel underway.

A sailor ties a reef knot by using two overhand knots—right over left and left over right leaving two bitter endseither at the top of the knot or the bottom. If you have one end on top and the other on the bottom you have a slip knot. A reef knot leaves the sailor with a Tidy and neat appearance, and is good and tight.

MEAL OF THE DAY

A few ingredients:

The captain's ship seasonings:

1 cup sea salt

¼ cup fresh cracked Black Pepper

¼ cup dried Basil

¼ cup Garlic Powder

I use these as a standard seasoning on all my recipe's even eggs I originally thought that the garlic would be offensive but when is garlic ever offensive? When ever I am doing poultry I always add paprika separately. I can also add onion powder, celery salt, rosemary, and so many other ingredients to the dish but these are always the basics. I just about always add extra virgin olive oil or (EVO) and frequently will add the ingredients to the olive oil and then dip the pieces of meat and vegetables into the seasoned oil. When ever you are baking or grilling either vegetables, meats, or fish you want to coat in oil the heat will sear the item and will cook from the inside out and won't dry out they will be moist and delicious and juicy.

Stuffing usually calls for 2 cups of water but I like to use chicken broth, however since most galleys especially on small boats don't normally have broth always on hand I use chicken noodle soup. When it calls for two cups that is exactly what chicken noodle soup is. Before I put on the soup I dice ½ an onion, ¼ green pepper,1/2 stick of celery a few mushrooms, hit them with a pinch or two of the Captains Seasonings and an once of EVO and sautee 5-10 minutes, add to the soup after at a boil for 2-3 minutes add the stuffing bread—we used a package this time –also works well with iron skillet corn bread or dried out bread heated in the oven until crisp with seasonings typically Italian Seasonings. After the stuffing is moistened coat the iron skillet with olive oil spread the stuffing evenly in the pan season both sides of three chicken breasts with the Captains seasoning and also sprinkle with paprika---one can of mushroom soup and ½ cup of milk stir until consistent you now have mushroom gravy. Spread evenly over the chicken and stuffing. Into a 400 degree preheated oven and bake for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the breasts. At the end of the cook time if they are still dripping moist and pink on the inside put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Goes well with any vegetable with this recipe I frequently serve with a canned vegetable corn or green beans.

If you are on a boat a Coleman camping oven works well. About $100. at Amazon. It takes a cast iron pan very well and while you are on Amazon look for the Lodge Logic cast iron multi cooker which is a pot with a frying pan as a cover and also fits nicely into the Coleman Oven as a Dutch Oven excellent to make pot roasts or stews or any thing you would use a crock pot for. Also excellent to use as a deep fryer on stove top for fish and chips, crab cakes, doughnuts, and plantains. The multi cooker costs about $35.

People ask what you do on a boat all day, in addition to all the things you don't have time to do when your in the rat race we spend a little additional time making nice healthy gourmet meals—enjoy!