Oh how I have missed the joy's of cooking...

     I honestly think one of the hardest parts of recovering from the surgery on my spine is the fact that I have been unable to spend time cooking for my family. While I am blessed with a wife who is an excellent cook the fact is I enjoy cooking food and feeding it to others more than I actually enjoy eating the food myself. Don't get me wrong, I love eating food but my love affair with food tends to be more with the act of preparing it.

     So here I am not quite 3 weeks post surgery and I am starting to endure more time on my feet and decided this weekend would be a good time to start cooking again. Last night I made a new potato recipe which ended up being a big hit with everyone so much so that I never took a picture of the finished product! I will give everyone the details next time I make it and have pictures to post which more than likely will be within the next week because everyone really enjoyed them.

     Earlier this week Rebecca picked me up a fresh pineapple so I decided to make my homemade teriyaki sauce, slice and grill the pineapple along with chicken breasts and slices of vidalia onions for dinner.

Not quite finished but visible is all the fresh garlic and ginger

     I love making teriyaki sauce rather than buying the bottled product in the store. It is not only quick and easy to prepare you can tailor the flavor to whatever you are cooking. In this batch I used fresh ginger, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, organic cider vinegar and a splash of white wine as well as ginger wine. I cooked it over high heat until the sugar melted then I whisked in some corn starch. I placed it back over high heat whisking constantly until it began to boil resulting in a thick shiny sauce. Total time including preparation of the fresh garlic and ginger - less than 10 minutes. Not only did I have plenty of sauce for the 6 plates tonight there was a pint left over for Rebecca to incorporate into meals later this week.

The finished sauce is thick, shiny and deep dark brown in color

     I started by grilling the chicken breasts, I like to pull them off the grill just before they are cooked through and let them finish cooking via their carry over heat by placing them all on a heavy plate covered with foil which results in a moist, perfectly cooked piece of chicken.

Moist, perfectly grilled chicken breast with a nice coating of teriyaki sauce

     While the chicken is resting I begin cooking the onion slices. I drizzle a little vegetable oil over the slices and rub it over both sides with helps prevent the rings from sticking to the grates. I flip the slices over once during the cooking process and like to take them off while they are still a little firm. I put the slices in a metal or heavy bowl and separate the rings before covering with a lid or foil to finish cooking through.

Delicious Sweet Onion rings, cooked through but with a pleasant firm texture for eating enjoyment!

     Once the chicken and onions are off the grill the last item to cook is the pineapple. Some times I will cut the fruit into spears which can be cooked with or without skewers. Tonight I decided to slice into rings and cut out the core. The trick to cooking pineapple is to have the grill really hot and clean. I place them onto the hot grates over direct / high heat. After about a minute I turn the slice to get the beautiful grill marks on one side. After another minute I flip the slices and let them cook until the fruit is heated all the way through before removing from the grill. I like to cook it just long enough to make it dry on the outside but still juicy sweet in the middle!