How was everybody’s weekend? It was a long weekend with Monday off, but with all that was happening along Edsa-Shaw (INC rally), we hardly went anywhere to avoid any traffic or inconvenience. I opted to stay home because I was feeling a bit under the weather, too.
EASY, CONVENIENT FOOD FROM S&R HAUL TO THE RESCUE
Fortunately, some of our supermarket hauls from S&R came to the rescue! Remember those Chicken Thighs I had marinating in the refrigerator? Boy, was I happy that I had them! I had mine marinated in some salt & pepper, chopped garlic, soy sauce, calamansi, Sprite, and a packet of Herbs de Provence I had lying around. I was going for Chicken BBQ then suddenly saw that packet of herbs I wanted to use up.
Here they are ready to be cooked using the Turbo Broiler (I set it at 150 Celsius, cooked for 15 minutes, turned the chicken, then cooked for another 15 minutes).
Here they are, cooked and ready to eat! The chicken is very juicy and was a big hit! And really, it was the easiest thing to prepare. Nobody minded that we had this 2 days in a row 
For dessert and all-purpose snacking, I baked this Claim Jumper Peach Lattice Pie – since our oven was not cooperating, I ended up baking this in the Turbo Broiler, too (I cleaned it first, of course!). I set it at 200 C and let it bake until the peach pie was bubbly and smelling yummy! I didn’t follow the exact amount of time stated for oven baking (55 minutes), since in my experience, food tends to cook quicker on the Turbo Broiler compared to an oven.
The lattice peach pie already came with an aluminum pie plate – all I had to do was remove the plastic wrap and bake. During the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the included sugar on the pie.
I could not wait for it to cool down before slicing so I ended up with this broken slice…
But it was peachy and delish! The pie crust was indeed flaky, the peach sauce thick & bubbly! It may be priced a bit on the high side, but worth it for the convenience! I mean, if I were to buy several bottles of peaches and have to make the dough crust myself… I’d rather not, especially since I wanted to enjoy the long weekend. It would also cost more since I would need to buy all the ingredients and do the work myself (it would probably take me 3-5 hours all in all, including grocery time)!
I was excited to try out the box of Gorton’s Grilled Salmon we also got from our last S&R visit.
There are two frozen salmon fish fillets inside:
I baked them in the oven toaster since it seemed like such a waste to fire up the oven, I think I might have overcooked them a bit 
According to package directions, they should be baked in the oven at 400 F, for 14-16 minutes. I should have adjusted and lowered the cooking time since I was using the oven toaster – but yes, it’s more convenient to cook this in the toaster oven. There is no need to thaw the salmon – you can bake this while still frozen.
Inspired by the traditional lox combo, I chopped some green onions and mixed them into some cream cheese:
Of course, nothing beats fresh salmon. However, this is a great thing to have on hand in case you suddenly get a craving for salmon. Quick & convenient! It’s also very easy to bake (seriously, just use the oven toaster). Anytime you have a craving for salmon – just open a box, and then 10-15 minutes later, boom, salmon!
I ended up eating my salmon with the cream cheese spread on crisp bread (crostini or Skyflakes will work) 
Don’t be intimidated by crostini – it’s just a fancy name for toasted French bread slices 
You don’t have to slave over cooking every meal – sometimes you just want fast, easy and convenient, but still delicious food. For times when you’re not feeling up to cooking up a storm, it might be worth splurging a little bit for some convenience.
