passion for cooking, back pain, Life with Scoliosis and Chronic pain

Being a “Cajun” girl from central Louisiana, I have a passion for cooking, but sadly I cannot do it often because due to Chronic pain, I cannot stay on my feet long or I suffer extreme chronic back pain afterward. 

Today, I was tired of using my crockpot or “baking” meals and David has been cooking for the last few months. I remembered I enjoyed chicken in a mango chutney but the recipe I had eaten last time was with stir-fry and I don’t know how to do stir fry (and don’t have a wok anyway,) so I improvised and made it into a gravy. 
The first thing I did was cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces and seasoned/marinated them in a mixture of Savory, Tony Chachere’s, Cayenne pepper, White pepper, black pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, ground mustard and liquid mustard (Dijon), some squirt of honey, some brown sugar, a tiny little “spill” of cola-soda, and some minced garlic. 

Next, I browned the chicken on the stove. While the chicken was browning, I cut up onions and green bell pepper. Once the chicken was browned, I added in onions, green bell pepper, and some roasted red bell pepper that I had in the fridge, and let it all simmer together. 

Once the onions and bell pepper was softened in with the browned chicken, I added in the mango chutney and let it all simmer together to form a thick gravy; however, it wasn’t thickening to how I wanted, so I added in a little pinch of flour. 

I followed no recipe. I never follow a recipe. When I feel something would be good in a dish, I just follow my gut instincts. It is like I have a “sixth sense” for cooking. I enjoy it and it relaxes me. To me it is an artistic expression, however, I sure could do without the back aching afterward from being on my feet so long. It’s a  whole pain pill kind of night, but the meal was so worth it.