Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Omelets Save the Day!


Ever come home from work too tired to wiggle?  Yeah, me too.  And, Monday was that kind of day.  I sent out 52 referrals, finished up the newsletter, and, thanks to help from 2 sweet ladies, was also able to get the weekly stats sent in.  Whew!  Anyway, by the time we got home I was beat.  Fortunately, I happened to have the fixin's for a killer omelet in the fridge and an amazing egg chef in the house.  I did the sous chef thing- cut up some ham, red peppers, green onion, and tomatoes and grated some Swiss cheese. I sauted everything but the tomatoes and cheese, and then got out of Bill's way.  He is magic when it comes to eggs. Oh, my.  Wish you could have tasted the results.. the most delicious omelet ever!  I zapped some frozen green beans and in no time we had a meal fit for a king.. or a very tired queen!  LOL  Thanks, Honey!  You're the BEST. 

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Easy Sunday Meal

I hate to fuss in the kitchen on Sunday so I usually try to do something really simple that I can just quickly throw together and then into the oven.  Today  it is Herbed Chicken and Vegetables.  Naturally, I adapted it somewhat;  replacing the potatoes with cauliflower due to my diet restrictions.  I also substituted fresh rosemary and thyme for the ground herbs.  That's one of the joys of having an herb garden.  (Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE my herb garden?  LOL)  Oh, since I didn't have a whole chicken  I just used thighs.  Ya have to be flexible.
       Bill and I both really enjoyed this meal.  It isn't an "Oh, my gosh, this is the best thing I've ever eaten!" type dish, but the chicken and the veggies are really very flavorful.  The herbs aren't over-powering but just give a subtle background flavor.  I was really impressed at how well cauliflower filled in for potatoes.  I never met a potato I didn't love so I was worried I would really miss it in this dish, but, the cauliflower was delish and satisfying.  Serve it with butter or thicken the juice into a sauce.  I will probably  try that next time- when I am allowed a little starch.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Stir Fry Friday

Yesterday I had a RS party so Bill was on his own.  He chose to have his signature green salad with chicken.  You have to see it to believe it.  When he makes a salad, he makes a SALAD!  We're talking HUGE.  And he enjoys every minute of it.  :)  At our party they served all the fixin's for hoagies.  So, I was able to select some sandwich meat and then veggies from the veggie tray.  It was nice to be able to eat something at a social event again.  Its a little awkward to sit there with a glass of water and try not to become the center of the conversation.  "Why aren't you eating?"  "What kind of diet are you on??"  Etc. etc.  UGH
     Anyway, tonight I decided a stir fry would fit the bill.  We love stir fry chicken and veggies around here served with a little soy sauce.. YUM.  But, I decided it would be fun to try a new recipe.  So, I did some surfing and came up with this one from Whisk, a Food Blog that sounded pretty simple.  It turned out to be delicious as well!  (I realized as I was stirring in the the glaze mixture that corn starch was by definition, a starch.  Duh.  So, I kind of blew my no starch rule for this maintenance diet. Rats.  Is stupidity an excuse?)  Anyway, this is really good alone but, of course, it would taste even better with some Chinese noodles!  Bill and I both gave it 4 stars. I didn't follow the recipe exactly.. I think its an easy one to adapt to whatever you have on hand or like.  You can see the real recipe here:  Stir Fry 

My Slant on Stir Fry
                                                          
About 2 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil
3 chicken thighs, diced (about 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken)
Basically I used whatever veggies I had in the fridge.
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup cauliflower, cut into flowerets
2 green onions, chopped
  1/2 red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
2 cups chopped cabbage
handful of sliced almonds

For the Sauce: (I think I would cut this in half next time for the 2 of us)
½ cup water
¼ cup soy sauce
  1 tsp. ginger
  2 cloves garlic, minced

For the Glaze: (again, I would cut in half)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup water

To Prepare and Eat Now:  Mix all sauce ingredients in a jar or bowl and set aside. Dissolve glaze ingredients and set aside.

Heat a wok over medium-high heat and then add the oil. When the oil is hot, sauté chicken until browned and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Add carrots and cook, about 3-5 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook, about 3-5 minutes.

Pour in the sauce ingredients and cook until cauliflower is tender but still firm. Add remaining vegetables and cook, about 3-5 minutes. Stir the glaze ingredients and pour it in. Stir until thick.  Toss in some sliced almonds for crunch.

To Freeze:
Undercook the vegetables so that when you re-heat them, they aren't overcooked. Recommended freezing time: 4-6 months.

To Prepare After Freezing:Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Heat and serve.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Wednesday

Tonight we were back to the grill.  Last night I put some frozen chicken thighs in this marinade and they were thawed and ready to cook for dinner tonight.  Unfortunately, we ran out of fuel just as Bill started to heat up the BBQ grill.  So, he had to run to the store to get another bottle of gas. I had just pulled the foccacia out of the oven and popped the broccoli in.  So much for a perfectly timed dinner!  LOL  Anyway, the chicken did get cooked and it was delicious.  Love this recipe!  I think next time I might use a little less cayenne, it was a little intense.  But, oh, so flavorful.  . The broccoli was kind of a mixed review.  Because it was done before the chicken we had to warm it up again in the microwave.  Probably lost a little something in the translation there.  And, the broccoli was a little old and tough to start with so I'm sure with some fresh broccoli it would make a huge difference.  That being said, I think this recipe has real possibilities. Also, next time I will put the oil and  broccoli in a zip loc to get it well coated. Its not as messy and you also use less oil this way.  I will try it again for sure.
     Not sure what tomorrow will bring.. Maybe an omelet?  Its a little tricky trying to cook without dairy.  I don't think I ever realized how much cheese I use normally. 

Menu:
Easy Grilled Lime Chicken
The Best Broccoli of Your Life
Pesto/Sunflower Seed Bread Foccacia (for Bill- I can't have starch till April 19th)
Baby carrots & sliced cucumber

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wingin' it!

Well, dinner tonight started out to be Weight Watchers Zero Points Soup, which is excellent by the way.  But, then I discovered I didn't have any zucchini or tomato paste.  Rats. Time for 'Plan B'.  In digging thru my crisper drawer, I found I did have a little bit of cauliflower that needed to be used up and some celery  and broccoli..  In my pantry I unearthed a can of diced tomatoes.. And, in my freezer, was a pound of ground turkey calling my name.. So, can you see where I'm going with this?  LOL  We're nothing if not flexible around here.  What I did end up with was a big pot of what I'm calling Vegetable Turkey Soup-  which turned out to be not only delicious, but, totally maintenance diet compliant . Hooray!  Love it when that happens.  :)

Vegetable Turkey Soup
-1 medium onion- diced
-4 cloves of garlic- minced
-2 sticks celery- diced
-2-3 carrots- diced
-1 cup cauliflower- roughly cut
-1cup broccoli- roughly cut.  (peel and dice the stems)
-1/2 head cabbage- diced
-1/2 pound frozen green beans
-1 pound ground turkey- browned and seasoned with salt & Bragg Sprinkle Seasoning (good stuff!)
-1 can diced tomatoes
-1 quart beef broth

Spray a large pot with Pam or use 1 tsp of olive oil. Heat pot on medium high and add onion, celery & carrots.  Saute for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic and stems of broccoli- cook for a few more minutes till the vegetables are softened.  Stir in tomatoes, broth, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans and turkey.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer till vegetables are done.  I ended up adding a little  water because the broth wasn't quite enough liquid.  When soup is done, taste for seasoning.  (I put in a bit more Bragg's.)

This was a tasty and filling meal.  Bill topped his off with some homemade bread sticks.  YUM

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Real Food!! :)

Welcome to my new food blog!  I am (finally!) through with my HCG round and am into finding ways to eat according to the pretty rigid maintenance constraints.  Once that is behind me I will be back into cooking in the Zone.  Bill is always complaining that I do a lot of experimenting with recipes but,  then  tend to move on to try something new- managing, in the meantime, to forget which ones we liked so he seldom gets them again.  (short attention span!  LOL)  Hopefully, this will give me a way to document recipes and preserve the keepers.  (See, I love ya, Honey!)
For the first day, I went back to one of our all time favorite grilled chicken recipes.  I did change it up a bit by adding a tsp of sea salt and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary.  Oh, my!  This is sooo good!  I like it even better the next day cold.  Somehow the flavors do marvelous things in the fridge over night.  I had some for lunch with sliced apples, a Cutie orange and a big glass of water.  YUM

Menu:
Lemon Basil Chicken
Steamed Broccoli
Steamed Cauliflower
sliced cucumbers and tomatoes