Tend it like Beckham

This is Victoria Beckham (the former "Posh Spice"). Posh has trouble. While I was at the gym yesterday (my radio is out of batteries so I was reading the closed captioning on all the screens) I read that poor Posh panics at the thought of Christmas dinner. No, not at the thought of entertaining/cleaning for lots of people (she has staff) or cooking it (Gordon Ramsey from TV's Hell's Kitchen will be preparing their meal) but at the thought of eating it!

Poor little Posh only eats 700-900 calories a day and works out like a crazy thing to maintain her size zero figure. Her solution to the frightening idea of good food is the "three bite rule". She will only eat three bites of anything to maintain the size zero. THAT'S what I've been doing wrong! I've been having FOUR bites! The next time I go to the gym, I'm going to entertain myself (if I forget the new batteries again) with the image of Gordon Ramsey having a meltdown when the hostess refuses to eat his dinner. Maybe he'll throw stuff.

Did you ever see the movie "Bend it like Beckham"? It's pretty good. The main character (played by the same actress that played ER's Neela) is torn between playing soccer and being an obedient daughter.( In one scene her relatives compare breasts to "juicy, juicy mangoes". Mr. Ose has never forgotten this phrase.) One of her soccer buddies is played by Keira Knightly (as a blonde!) The title is about playing soccer as well as Posh's hubby, David Beckham.


Today's recipe is not posh. It's a redneck version of the posh french classic, "Coq au Vin"(chicken in wine). In that, chicken is braised with shallots, red wine and cognac to make a yummy sauce. It's good, I'll throw a recipe for that on the ol' blog someday, but today we're having a redneck holiday. My sister-in-law once said I should make a redneck/dirtball cookbook, featuring lots of hotdish. I'm not really sure she meant it as a compliment.

Redneck Coq au Vin

1 envelope dry spaghetti sauce mix
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 Tbls flour
1 Tbls lemon pepper
1 cut-up chicken (I like to use just thighs, 8-10 of them)
1 can beer (drink the rest of the 6-pack with dinner)

Combine dry ingredients and coat chicken with them. You can shake them in a bag together. (I remove the skin from the chicken, because I, too, have a figure to maintain, but suit yourself.) Place chicken in a 9x13 pan and pour the beer around it. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 15 minutes to reduce sauce.