4 Quorn Naked Chik'n cutlets
1 large onion, chopped
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 14.5 oz cam crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 can green chiles
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 creamy non processed unsalted peanut butter
1. In slow cooker, combine all ingredients other than cutlets and mix with a large spoon. Fully submerge cutlets into the sauce.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Serve topped with chopped fresh cilantro on top of Shiratake tofu noodles (only 40 calories for the entire bag) or couscous.
Couple's Retreat is a movie about a married couple looking to reconnect. Through the grind of the every day, they have lost a little of the spark that attracted them to each other in the first place.
The only obvious solution is to jet-set to the Caribbean for a couple's therapy vacation. The writer would love to expound more on the movie, but cannot because I never actually seen it. The cook watched it on the way to a sales conference and said it sucked. Usually I try to avoid watching movies that have been characterized by the word used to describe the action given to a loli-pop. Thus, I think that is what it was about.
Regardless, the cook and the writer embarked on an activity much more suited for couple's therapy, canoeing.
And we did not escape the boundaries of the country for our quest. We traveled to Grove City, or as most 614's would call it, "Grovetucky." Not quite the setting of endless white beaches and swaying palm trees. And the river we navigated was called "Big Darby," or as it should have been called, "The Big Dirty," with water the color of Nesquick, and "Deliverance" style homes lining the banks on either side. We especially liked the creativeness of a planter made from a tub of kitty litter. Not quite the scene of aqua blue water extending to the sun kissed horizon.
See we did it right. Any communication breakdown or lost pilot light could be sparked by the beauty of paradise. We were in the middle of a smelly, overly pH filled river, and surrounded by people living much farther away than the 30 mile drive would leave you to believe.
The first thing that made this a therapy session was the new push for a "family friendly" experience. The writer, cook, and our sister's and their husband's filled up three coolers worth of beer and liquor. We were going on a 6 mile path, and wanted to make sure to have a drink for every mile. Well before we could get a boat, we were audited by a real buzz kill of a man. After a thorough analysis, it was decided that we could only bring about 2/3 of the alcohol we has originally allocated.
The first lesson: sacrifice. Give up a drink or two so that everyone could enjoy the trek equally.
After we got past killjoy, we entered our canoes in couples and began to row. Two paddles left, two paddles right, or one person would paddle left and the other right, at the same time, using the same force to guide the boat straight.
Well, the writer is not known for my finesse, and I tried to muscle us down the river. At times it worked ok, but every time we hit a tricky turn or a tiny rapid, we ended up spinning backward.
The cook is beautiful and talented and great company, but patient she is not! And communicative I am not. It was the cause of tense moments and a lot of backpedaling. I was exerting more effort fixing my mistakes than I was propelling us forward to our goal. At one point as we were going down a trickily rapid and towards a leaning tree, I steered us in the wrong direction and the cook had to "matrix" her way under the tree while keeping the boat afloat. That is when I knew we needed another learning.
Lesson two: communication.
This has always been hard for me, but I knew the only way to make this trip enjoyable and to make us feel accomplished was to communicate each row. Left, left, right, right, being in the back I learned when to take control and also when to give up control and let the cook take the reigns.
I would tell her exactly my plan for navigating a tight path, and she would do the same for me. It gave us the opportunity to adjust our individual strategy to meet our team goal.
But we still had trouble keeping in control during the more challenging segments of the tour. That is, until we encountered our third subject.
Lesson three: anticipation.
When running into a "current", we were going hard with the current, controlling through the rush but always spinning out soon after. It was not until we started to anticipate what would happen if we kept rowing the same direction, and instead of taking one more stroke on that side, switching over to the other for a counter stoke that would keep our momentum balanced forward.
It felt good to charge ahead, knowing we were working as a team and strengthening the belief in our relationship. It was also nice to be able to share our final session.
Lesson four: appreciation.
The writer and cook realized our appreciation for being upright when we looked back after hearing some commotion and seeing my sister and the husband submerged in the chocolate river.
Somehow they lost control...they did not communicate, anticipate, and I especially do not think they could appreciate the muddy dip. They did sacrifice however, as they both took a Big Darby bath. (Serves the sister right for relieving herself in the river before the crash site. You know, your pee travels downstream too!)
Well, after three hours of rowing and roasting in the sun, we finished our learned venture down the might Darby.
On the bus trip back to our starting point, the writer started thinking about the lesson's of the trip and and how they relate to relationships.
We sacrificed some of our beer for the trip, and in some ways, sacrifice in a relationship can be just as hard, but also just as important as staying sober while traveling down a body of water. You do not always get your way, but you always do get to keep your lover by your side.
We communicated to keep our boat forward during our river obstacles, much like it is important to always be open and honest to keep your relationship moving forward under tenuous circumstances.
We anticipated how the boat would react to our movements before it happened, and there is nothing more important than anticipating the needs of a lover. Wink!
And finally, we appreciated being able to work through problems to find solutions together. And there is nothing better than appreciating the love, sacrifice, and communication of a good relationship.
It made me happy to be my cook's writer, and to be surrounded by people I can truly love.
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