I Can Button My Shorts, But I Can't Breathe!

Ugh.

Just got back from Spring Break.

That followed Winter Break.

That followed Mental Break which = 17 Day Diet Break

I lost my mojo.

Not surprising, I guess. The struggle is never really over.

The difference now is that I gave away all of my bigger clothes. So all I have are shorts and jeans and tops that I bought last year after losing 50 pounds.

I'm glad that I did this...because it would be devastating but easy to slip that bigger size back on. But no...I had to suffer through vacation in muffin-top causing shorts and a limited selection of shirts that didn't make me look like a stuffed sausage.

And now I know...its time to cut the crap.

So bring on the carb-withdrawl headache, the exhaustion of detoxing, the crankiness of having to deal with life head-on rather than shoving something in my mouth.

I'm good to go.

This also means I am back in the kitchen full-time. On deck first is an old favorite:

Balsamic Marinated Grilled Chicken Cutlets

4 chicken cutlets, cut in half if thick

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 T Dijon Mustard

1 T dried fine herbs (I used a mix of rosemary, thyme and garlic) I did not used powdered garlic, but a cube of frozen garlic

1 T salt

1T pepper ( I found this to be a bit much, you may want to cut down)

1/2 cup olive oil

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Put chicken in large ziploc bag and cover with marinade. Keep in refrigerator a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

Grill on BBQ or grill pan.

If It's Good Enough for Oprah...

Ugh, it's been a rough winter.

I've been struggling with the same 10 pounds up and down since the holidays.

I buckle down for a couple of weeks, then go off the rails. I eat perfectly all week, then the weekend rolls around and I turn into the Tasmanian Devil.

I've got to get my shit together A.S.A.P.

So, I pulled out another cookbook with "healthy" in the title.

The Healthy Kitchen by Rosie Daly and Andrew Weil.

Rosie was Oprah's personal chef back in the day, and Andrew Weil is a doctor who has written many books about holistic health...and I have never read any of them.

I think I've barely read this one. I'm sure it was purchased in another one of my "I'm gonna get healthy" phases. There's a Costco sticker on it.

Costco is dangerous. Everything is seemingly a bargain, so aside from purchasing what you need, you end up with a book, DVD, towels, raincoat, fake UGGS, or whatever else is laying around.

So, I must have thrown this book into my cart.

Sticking with my 17 Day Diet, I found a chicken recipe that looked pretty interesting and fit into my plan.

Santa Fe Chicken

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients

• Juice from 3 limes
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 6 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
• 2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts ' '
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

• Mock Sour Cream or low-fat sour cream
• 1 lime , sliced into 6 thin slices
• 6 scallion firecrackers (see Tips below)
• 1/4 cup fresh salsa or Papaya Salsa

Directions

Mix together marinade ingredients in a bowl, stirring thoroughly. Pour into a shallow baking pan and lay the chicken breasts in. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat the broiler.

After one hour, when the chicken has absorbed all the flavors of the marinade, pour in the white wine. Broil the chicken under a medium flame for 8 to 10 minutes, basting it with the juices to keep it moist.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and slice it at an angle. Garnish each piece with a little of the pan juices, a dollop of sour cream, slices of lime and a scallion firecracker, as well as a dollop of salsa.

Tips from Rosie's Kitchen

• The scallion "firecracker" is a lively garnish that gets its name from the way the leaves of the onion curl away from the body of the onion, creating a "firecracker" appearance. Cut 2 inches off the green leafy side of the scallion. Trim the roots at the white bulbous end. Then cut three slits about 1/2-inch down through the white, bulbous end. Fill a bowl with ice water and drop in the freshly cut scallions.
• It is never too much trouble to cook extra chicken breasts. They hold the flavor of the marinade and are wonderful for chicken salad or sandwiches for work or school.

Nutritional Information

212.3 calories, 4.4g fat, 0.8g saturated fat (46.8% of calories from fat), 30.1g protein, 13g carbohydrate, 72mg cholesterol, 0.9g fiber 

I ended up just cooking the chicken in a saute pan. I have bad luck with broiling. I always end up burning things.

After slicing it, I served it fajita-style.

I've gotta say, this was pretty damn tasty. I get so caught up in my usual way of making chicken, and I get worried about trying new things with spices that aren't my favorites. I'd hate to waste all the time and ingredients.

But....this was good. I would make it again. The kid ate it without complaining. It's probably good cold, sliced into salad. It makes a mean fajita.

So, even though I'm not completely sold on the holistic teachings of Dr. Weil, I think I may hang onto the book and try some more recipes. 

If it's good enough for Oprah, its good enough for me!

Are You Ready For Some Football? No? How About Some Wings?

I grew up in a family that was completely disinterested in following professional sports. No one watched football or baseball, there was no "big game" or team to root for. It just wasn't something anyone cared about.

There was a brief flirtation on my part with the '86 Mets...because that was the talk of the kids in Junior High.

When I was 22, I was semi-into the Knicks. I remember this because I was at a bar watching the playoffs when they interrupted the game because O.J. Simpson took off in the white Bronco.

I happened to marry a man who also was not a sports fan. There was a nostalgic interest in the Philadelphia Phillies of his youth, but nothing more than that.

Our union resulted in a son who also has zero interest in pro-sports.

So, when the Super Bowl comes around each year, its not the thrill of the game that gathers us around the tv.

It's the food. And the commercials. Sometimes the halftime show.

But mostly the food.

Food that isn't going to win any awards from Dr. Oz.

This is a day where people will construct entire models of football stadiums out of cheese and bread and guacamole and rice krispie treats!

But I needed to at least make an attempt to lessen the crap factor. So I made some adjustments.

We had queso...but it wasn't made from Velveeta and Rotel. I made it from scratch.

We had guacamole that the boys made. We had multigrain tortilla chips.

We had falafel. Not very traditional, but then again we aren't too traditional either. I'll blog that in another post since it was from cookbook #17 of 98.

We also had the ultimate football food. Wings.

I am not a big wing fan at all. Obviously the vegetarian husband isn't either. The kid? LOVES them.

There is only one place where I will eat wings.

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

Every time we go to Florida, we have to go to Anthony's at least once. They have the best pizza and wings.

I could go more often to Anthony's in White Plains, NY or on Long Island...but that would not be very good for my health!

The wings at Anthony's are baked...there is no flour or coating on them. Just some spices, and they are perfection. This is coming from a girl who typically wouldn't touch a chicken wing with a 10 foot pole.

So, with Google leading me...I found an article from a local Florida paper where some old yenta from Delray Beach wrote in asking for the recipe for the wings from Anthony's. Miraculously, they supplied it!

Obviously we aren't all working with coal-fired ovens and it's nearly impossible to replicate the wings entirely...but this recipe came pretty darn close! The only thing I changed was cooking them a bit longer to get them nice and caramelized.

Coal Oven Roasted Chicken Wings

Adapted from Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza.

5 pounds chicken wings

1/4 cup peeled garlic cloves

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon black pepper

Kosher salt, to taste

Caramelized onions and focaccia bread, for serving

1 Place chicken wings in a large nonreactive bowl or roasting pan. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, season with salt, to taste. Pour marinade over wings, tossing to coat. Cover wings and refrigerate for 24 hours. Stir occasionally; do not over-marinate.

2 Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Place wings in a baking dish, single layer, skin side up. Cook for 25 minutes, turning wings over halfway through cooking process to brown both sides. Serve with onions and focaccia, if desired.

Makes 5 servings.

So if you ask me who I'm rooting for?

It's Team Anthony's all the way.

The Blizzard That Wasn't

Last night and this morning, we were supposed to have a massive blizzard here.

Social media was hyped up, all of the meteorologists were calling for 24-36 inches of snow. The electric company called with recorded messages warning of power outages. Our town selectman called with emergency information. The governor imposed a travel ban on all roads. Everything shut down completely in advance of this historic storm.

School was let out absurdly early yesterday, so while I had a window of opportunity I took it. I started at Trader Joe's at 8:00 in the morning. Got provisions like coffee, olive oil, produce and whatever else I saw that added up to $100.

Then I headed to Target. They were completely out of large bottles of water. People were panicking and buying everything. I grabbed a 24 pack of Poland Spring and whatever else that added up to another $100.

After Target I thought I would hit the local grocery to see if they had any gallon-sized waters.

They did not. But I still managed to spend $25 there.

So, $225 later I went home and unpacked my groceries, feeling like I was completely prepped for the possibility of being housebound for a few days.

We had invited the neighbors over for a "blizzard" dinner. This gave me the opportunity to knock off two more cookbooks and use some of the provisions I had bought.

Here are cookbooks number 13 and 14 of 98.....

I'll tell you right now, this is NOT going to be a diet-friendly post.

We collaborated on dinner, and my neighbor brought a baked ziti and salad. I made Auntie's Parmesan Chicken, garlic bread, and Williams-Sonoma Cherry Hazelnut Biscotti. We also had some very bizarre cookies from a Target impulse buy.

I was suckered into buying this because I see Momofuku referenced all of the time in Bon Appetit magazine and other cooking blogs. It's a famous bakery in New York...and now it's apparently in my local Target as a mix. Of course, I HAD to have it. I really wanted to buy the mix that has you add crushed potato chips and pretzels to the cookies but I think the only ones who would have enjoyed that would have been me and Aunt Flo. And if you don't know what the hell I am talking about, well....go ask someone else.

So, I got the "traditional" cornflake-chocolate chip-marshmallow mix.

Umm, yeah. Save yourself the $6. These things were NOT good. That's all I have to say about that.

What WAS good?

Auntie's chicken of course!

Because I was stressing about the impending storm, and had company coming I did not photograph the cooking process. I did manage to get a shot of the finished product though!

Parmesan Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
2 extra-large eggs 
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs 
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving 
Unsalted butter 
Good olive oil 

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin. 

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly. 

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. 

The biscotti were decidedly more "adult" friendly. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!

Cherry Hazelnut Biscotti

Ingredients:

• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room
    temperature 
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and coarsely
   chopped 
• 1/2 cup dried tart cherries, coarsely chopped 
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest 

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour 1 large baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Have another ungreased baking sheet on hand.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is no longer gritty when rubbed between your finger and thumb. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla until blended.

Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until incorporated. Mix or stir in the hazelnuts, cherries and orange zest until evenly distributed. The batter should be very soft.

Turn the batter out onto a generously floured work surface and divide in half. With well-floured hands, transfer one-half onto the greased baking sheet and shape into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on one side of the sheet. Repeat with the remaining batter, leaving at least 4 inches between the logs. (They will spread as they bake.)

Bake the logs until the edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the logs cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs, still on the pan, on the diagonal into slices 1/2 inch wide. Carefully turn the slices on their sides and return them to the oven. When you run out of room on one baking sheet, start transferring slices to the other sheet.

Bake until the edges are golden, about 10 minutes more. Let the biscotti cool completely on the pans on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4 dozen biscotti.

And that blizzard? 

Well, let's just say we dodged a bullet. I'm actually a little disappointed. I had a romantic notion that we would all be snuggled together for a few days, and want for nothing will all of the storm prep that we did. Oh well. In reality I would probably be stress-eating cookies and wanting to rip my hair out.

In the meantime, I've got quite a stockpile for next time!

Yo, Adrian!

I'm going to interrupt my project of working my way through my 98 cookbooks to share this recipe.

Chicken Philly Cheesesteak in a Cauliflower Wrap

Last week I just made the "insides" of the chicken cheesesteak because I was having a wicked craving. I just caramelized some onions, slivered up some chicken cutlet, and mixed with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light. Ate it just like that out of the glass measuring cup I had heated it up in. It totally hit the spot!

I had also made the BBQ Chicken Pizza with cauliflower crust last week and had a crust left over that I stuck in the fridge. It held its shape and taste for a few days and I found myself eating it as bread one day and thinking how amazing it would be as a wrap for my chicken cheesesteak.

Well, here I am on a snowy day and finding myself with all of the ingredients to make it happen. 

So I did.

I made the crusts....and a huge mess on the counter. That cauliflower gets all over the place when you pulse it in the Cuisinart!

 I sautéed the onions, sliced up the chicken and then browned it on the stove. I am sure peppers can be added to the mix to make it more authentic, but I don't like 'em! Then I tossed in a wedge of Laughing Cow and mixed it up as it melted. That goes on top of the wrap.

I added some Heinz Low Sugar ketchup.

While it doesn't rival Geno's or Pat's from Philadelphia, it surely satisfies a craving!

Chicken Philly Cheesesteak with Cauliflower Wrap

1 head of cauliflower, cut into chunks

1 egg

1/4 parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fat-free Mozzarella

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic

dash of pepper

2 large chicken cutlets (boneless breasts), sliced into strips

1 T olive oil

1 onion (I prefer Vidalia...no tears!), sliced thin

1 pepper, sliced into strips

1-2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 450

Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it is the consistency of sand. Or couscous. I don't know. Just tiny granules!

Transfer to a microwave-safe container, cover with plastic wrap and cook on high for four minutes.

Dump out onto a clean, dry dishtowel. Let cool for a while or you're going to burn your hands when you squeeze out the water!

After its cool enough, squeeze the living daylights out of that cauliflower. The drier you get it, the better your results will be!

Put in a bowl and add the egg, cheeses, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until blended. Make 2 balls out of the cauliflower. 

Put one ball between 2 pieces of wax or parchment paper. Flatten out with hands or rolling pin. Repeat with the other ball.

Bake on parchment paper for 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool if you aren't using it as a pizza crust.

Caramelize the onions and pepper in the oil. Remove from pan and add chicken. Season with salt and pepper and cook through. I like to cook until they get nice and golden. Add the Laughing Cow and stir until melted.

Put the chicken mixture on the cauliflower and add condiments. Enjoy!!!

BBQ Chicken Pizza Redux

Let's move onto cookbook #10 of 98....

I bought this book sometime around the beginning of the show in 2006. I was easily swayed by the magic that happened on the ranch back then....before I knew that they worked the contestants like animals and that losing that much weight that quickly was a recipe for disaster. 

The Biggest Loser was and still is a big proponent of product placement. Big companies pay a ton of money to have the show pimp their product. Most of these products are full of chemicals, like sugar-free Jello, yogurts with aspartame, Subway, and Extra Sugar-Free Gum. No thanks.

But...the cookbook does have some pretty good ideas. 

I made turkey sausage and it was really good...no funky ingredients.

Then I saw a recipe for Thin-and-Crispy BBQ-Chicken Pizza Snack Wedges.

I love me some BBQ Chicken Pizza!

The best I have ever had is in Moorestown, NJ near my mother-in-law. It comes from Passariello's.

Hello gorgeous!

Well, that's not happening anytime soon.

The Biggest Loser recipe reminded me just how much I love the combination of the barbecue sauce, chicken, cheese, onion and cilantro...and had me wondering how I could make it work.

The base of the "pizza" was a tortilla in the original recipe. I subbed a cauliflower crust. My favorite recipe for that can be found here.

The chicken, onion, and fat-free cheddar were all totally 17 DD compliant. The cilantro is technically not allowed until Cycle 3...but I was going to be a rebel and eat that one teaspoon of it anyway!

Barbecue Sauce...notorious for sugar. What I didn't realize was that there are ZILLIONS of different sauces out there. I wasn't going to go for a sugar-free one because, well, ick. The dietician agreed with me in the Biggest Loser Cookbook and suggested to find a sauce with less than 7 grams of carbs per serving.

So, after squatting all over the condiment aisle at the store, I found this guy:

If you can see the label, there are six carbs and four grams of sugar in two tablespoons. Not bad.

I only used one tablespoon. Even better!

So while this may not be technically compliant, I think it's close enough. Plus, I can understand all of the ingredients.

Once the crust is made, it's super easy to throw together. The chicken can be pulled from an already cooked breast, or you can do what I did and thinly slice a chicken cutlet and cook with salt and pepper.

I made a bunch, so I can add some to other recipes or salad:

I spread the one tablespoon of barbecue sauce on the crust, added the fat-free cheddar, the chicken, the red onion and cilantro:

Threw it in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes and done!

I would have photographed it on a nice white plate, but it was stuck to the damn foil. Guess I should have used some PAM?

Regardless, it was SO GOOD! Totally hit the spot for me.

Despite my bad feelings about The Biggest Loser show, I am keeping this book. There were quite a few recipes that may not be great as they are written, but gave me some wonderful ideas.

Here's my take on the recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

1 cauliflower crust (about the size of a large tortilla)
1 Tablespoon Stubbs BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheddar
handful of grilled or shredded chicken
1 teaspoon of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons slivered red onion

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray before putting crust on it. Spread BBQ sauce on, then cheese, chicken, onion and cilantro. Heat for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Cooking with Kids (The PG-13 Edition)

If you give a kid some carrots, and tell him to peel them...he'll want to chat while doing so.

He'll ask lots of questions.

Among them?

"Hey, Mom?" "What's that called when a word or sentence is spelled the same forward and backwards?" "Is it a mammogram?"

Then you'll have to explain that its actually called a palindrome, and a mammogram is a special x-ray for boobs that helps to detect cancer.

Then you'll have to explain how they do a mammogram.

Then you'll have to explain how there is no test like that for a penis, so stop worrying about it.

Then you'll realize that the recipe you were working on has taken a wrong turn.

While the kiddo was peeling, I was onto my next recipe from cookbook number 8 of 99....

Back to the Table by Art Smith.

Art was Oprah's personal chef. I must have seen him on her show at some point and liked what he was making. I don't remember it at all, but something must have made me want to buy his cookbook.

It is a beautiful book full of fabulous looking recipes. Only problem is, I don't recall ever making any! I think I have some sort of problem. Is there a 12-step program for cookbook addicts?

Anyway....

I chose Herb Roasted Chicken, another recipe that fits into the 17 Day Diet.

It is a fairly simple recipe, but when you have a child peppering you with questions about anatomy and medical procedures, its easy to mess it up.

Things started off well. I had enough sense to gather my ingredients and take a photo:

There was a lot of chopping involved. This recipe called for a mixture of fresh herbs, so I was getting some practice with my new knife, fielding questions from the kid, feeling like a rock star in the kitchen. I got the herb paste all ready to go, showed the kiddo the raw chicken and all of the nastiness I pulled out from inside of it,  and then proceeded to follow the recipe and rub all of that herby goodness underneath the skin and all over the chicken. It was looking fabulous.

Until I realized that the bird was upside down.

And I had rubbed all of the good stuff on the underside of the chicken. Not the breast.

Oops.

Looks good here, right?

You do NOT want to see what it looked like when I turned it over to carve it. Ick. So much ick.

The good news is that it tasted great! I would imagine it is even more delicious with all of those herbs in the right place instead of the wrong one. But that's what you get when you're explaining mammograms to a pre-teen boy.

Here is the recipe. Hopefully you won't be as distracted as I was if you choose to make it!

Herb Roasted Chicken
Back to the Table by Art Smith

One 4 pound chicken
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh marjoram, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon of oregano, chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lemon
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400

Position a rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 400°. Clean chicken inside and out with cold water and pat dry. Arrange on rack in a roasting pan.

Chop garlic, then mash with salt to make a paste. Transfer to small bowl. Add oil, tarragon, basil, thyme, marjoram, oregano and pepper, and mix. Slip your fingers under the skin of each breast to loosen; rub as much herb paste as you can under skin. Rub remaining paste in body cavity, then place a lemon half inside. If desired, tie chicken legs together with kitchen twine.

Place chicken, breast side up, on rack in a roasting pan. Roast 30 minutes, basting twice. Scatter onions, carrots and celery in pan. Roast about 20 to 30 minutes longer, basting once or twice, or until a meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh, without touching a bone, reads 180°.

Transfer chicken to a platter. Pour pan juices into a small glass measuring cup. (Discard vegetables in roasting pan.) Let juices stand 5 minutes, then skim off any fat from surface. Place pan over high heat on stove. When pan is sizzling, pour in degreased juices and broth. Bring to a boil, stirring up browned bits on bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Strain into a sauceboat. Carve chicken and serve with pan juices.

Hello, Neighbor!

The big news in my area is that a (very) minor celebrity has arrived this week to serve time at the local federal prison.

Yes, it is table-flipping Teresa Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Which brings us to #3 of my 98 cookbooks.

I will admit to watching the show, but I plead the fifth as to why I own this cookbook. I would blame it on the alcohol, but I don't drink. I really am not sure what the heck I was thinking when I bought this back in 2010. It probably had something to do with liking the show and being on a diet. Who knows? Maybe I was all hopped up on carbs when I ordered it.

Teresa has sat on my shelf for years now without a passing thought. With all of the attention she's been getting in the local news, I thought I would take her down and try her out.

Being a "healthy" cookbook, it was easy to find a few choices that fit into the 17 Day Diet. I had to bypass the pastas and beans because there's none of that in Cycle 1, but I found some chicken that was compliant. Best of all, I didn't have to go to the grocery store for any ingredients since I had them all in the kitchen already.

I was all set to try out Chicken Breasts with Lemony Thyme Marinade.

It was easy enough to prep...

1/1 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

4 9-ounce chicken breasts halves with bones (skin removed) -- *I just used cutlets

Just mix everything together and pour it over the chicken:

I let it sit in the fridge while we went to swim team practice...at least two hours.

When I came home I threw it into a grill pan. Teresa cooks hers in the oven under the broiler but I just didn't want to play around with that. I have bad luck with broiling.

It looks pretty good, right?

Well, I'll tell ya.

It was just meh.

Aside from the fact that I smoked out the kitchen with burning marinade residue in the grill pan, the chicken couldn't compare to the almighty Balsamic Chicken or the scrumptious Chicken Souvlaki that I've made before.

Edible. Acceptable. Passable. Those are the words that come to mind after making and eating this chicken. The kiddo ate two pieces without complaint, and I had two cut up into a salad for dinner. I can't say I would ever make it again. Or anything else from the book, really.

So much like Teresa Guidice in real life, I am sending Skinny Italian up the river.....

Arrivederci!

There's Fancy, and There's Funny

The fancy name for this next recipe would be something like Chicken and Eggplant Bolognese.

The funny name, which I use in my house and amongst my 17 Day Diet local crew is Eggplant Plop.

It isn't the first time I've deigned something "plop." I believe back in February of this year I wrote about Mexi-Plop.

Not a pretty word, I know. But this recipe isn't particularly pretty. But is is one of the ultimate comfort foods for me.

Bolognese is traditionally a sauce over pasta, and this certainly can be eaten with pasta or spaghetti squash. I prefer it as is, in a bowl or a mug. Hot or cold. It is my go-to recipe that continues to evolve every time I make it. Over the course of a year I must have made a variation of it practically every week. I just can't seem to go without it!

There aren't many ingredients involved….

1 pound of ground chicken breast
1 eggplant, peeled and diced
1 8 ounce package of mushrooms, chopped
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
Fat-free mozzarella
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt & pepper

Veggies ready to prep

Ground chicken in the pan

Almost ready for sauce

Sauce added

First half of sauce with cheese

Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in pan, sauté ground chicken. Break into pieces. After chicken seems cooked at least halfway through, add the eggplant and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. 

Saute until eggplant and mushrooms have softened and browned. Then add the jar of sauce.

In an 8 or 9 inch square dish, add half of the bolognese. Then sprinkle with cheese. Add rest of sauce on top and top with some more of the shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

And there ya have it. Ground chicken and eggplant bolognese. Or eggplant plop. You choose! I'm sticking with this:

Cooking With Friends

My mother likes to tell me about when she was young, and how her parents never cooked because they owned a restaurant. My grandmother couldn't boil water, and my grandfather was working six days a week. They either ate food from the restaurant or something from a can.

A good friend of mine is in a situation better than my mother's, but still pretty regimented. Her family owns a local restaurant, and her husband is there six days a week in the kitchen. She does cook at home, but has a fairly limited repertoire. We were having a playdate last week and she mentioned that I was always cooking different things and she needed to get more creative in the kitchen. I suggested we make an evening out of trying out some new recipes, and we got together the following week to experiment!

It was remarkably easy to find something that fit the bill for a dieter (me), allergies including wheat, eggs, nuts and dairy (her kiddos) and vegetarian (my husband).

Apparently my friend had been dreaming of ratatouille since her daughter's christening almost seven years ago. She ate some at the party and hasn't had it since. Seeing that this is the perfect season for all of the ingredients, we went for it!

Ratatouille is remarkably simple. The only real labor is cutting up the veggies. It consists of just seven main ingredients and a couple of added spices! No dairy, no sugar, no gluten, no carbs.

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree
¼ tsp. oregano
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 long red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, one tablespoon of the olive oil, and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. Trim the top of the red pepper and remove the core.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Recipe courtesy of The Comfort of Cooking

Ready for the oven

After we've all attacked it! So good!

Knowing that the four children would need more than just ratatouille for dinner, I introduced my friend to two previous favorites here on Cooking With Auntie Ina. Balsamic Chicken and Chicken Souvlaki. Both are a big hit with my son, so I figured her kids would get on board. Again, healthy and allergy-friendly.

Let's just say it was a success…

Cooking with a friend can be so much fun! Especially one who has a gorgeous kitchen and fabulous oregano AND olive oil imported from Greece! The kids got to try some new foods, the adults had a delicious and healthy dinner and we got to catch up and have some laughs while we prepped it all. Followed it up with watching the kids play in the pool, it was a great night that we plan to do again. 

I can't wait to see what we come up with next!

I Came, I Slaw, I Conquered

Pinterest is a veritable treasure trove of ideas.

Whenever I need to find something to make for dinner, Pinterest has become my go-to for new ideas. I try to dodge the ridiculously delicious looking unhealthy recipes and go for ones that will fit into the 17 Day Diet. Of course there are the few occasions where I will concoct some crazy Rolo S'mores or bake something with lots of butter and sugar, but for the most part I keep it clean.

A friend pinned a salad called Grilled Ginger Sesame Chicken Salad a few days ago. There were quite a few ingredients in it that I had in the house already, including a big head of cabbage that came from the farm share this week. She had texted me that it was a must-make, so that sealed the deal for me.

I decided to just make the salad on it's own to accommodate my non-chicken eating husband. I made the chicken on the side, and then also made some salmon that was flavored with the marinade in the recipe.

First of all…it was ridiculously delicious. I woke up this morning wanting to eat a bowl of it for breakfast.

Secondly…it really doesn't seem like a salad to me. It's more of a slaw. Raw cabbage and shredded carrots = slaw in my book.

It is mostly 17 Day Diet compliant…the small amount of Hoisin shouldn't be too destructive. Try it out, recipe is in the link above. Let me know how you like it!

It's Bal-samatic!

Wow, I did not realize how long it has been since my last post! Unfortunately, life gets in the way and I can't manage to get it all done. Fortunately, I have kept up with my cooking and healthy recipes! Sure, there have been some days and nights of indulgence but for the majority of the time I am eating clean and am 53 pounds down!

Mondays are a day to get back into the weekly grind. As much as most people (including myself) dislike Mondays, there is a big part of me that craves the routine after a busy but fun weekend of friends, family and food!

This morning I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest. I had a package of chicken breasts that needed to be cooked and I was craving a big salad with some grilled chicken for dinner. This recipe looked very easy and something that could be made ahead of time with ingredients that I already have around the house.

What's with the title of this post, you might ask? Well, years ago I was on my first cruise. We had a table mate who went on and on about balsamatic vinegar, she just LOVED balsamatic! It took everything we had not to giggle every time she said balsamatic. Fourteen years later we still refer to the vinegar as Balsamatic. Just not in public. Until now.

It took five minutes to throw together, plus a few more to cut up my cutlets. I did halve them because I prefer them thinly sliced, but it isn't necessary.

Just a few minutes in the grill pan and I had this:

Oh, Lordy. This is some GOOOD chicken. You know it's good when my 11 year old son took a taste and asked for the leftovers to go into his lunch bag for tomorrow!

Balsamic Marinated Grilled Chicken Cutlets

4 chicken cutlets, cut in half if thick

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 T Dijon Mustard

1 T dried fine herbs (I used a mix of rosemary, thyme and garlic) I did not used powdered garlic, but a cube of frozen garlic

1 T salt

1T pepper ( I found this to be a bit much, you may want to cut down)

1/2 cup olive oil

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Put chicken in large ziploc bag and cover with marinade. Keep in refrigerator a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.

Grill on BBQ or grill pan.