Get it Together

This has become my mantra over the past two weeks. I'm given three last minute projects....get it together. I have to clean my whole house in under 3 days....get it together. I'm going to be constantly organizing friends and family into 90 day weight-loss and fitness challenges....get it together! :-D
Add into the mix that Pixie was a little sick over the weekend, I need to pack for us all to have a weekend out of town this coming weekend, and our own 90 day challenge....GET IT TOGETHER! <Insert slightly insane laughter here>

And yet...I still have had time to cook a couple things! I'm just that badass (and starving after all the go go going). And I only forgot to take pictures of one of our meals....that's an improvement over no pictures last post. Sorry...I'm getting it together! Maybe I need to take Gingko, or use that brain training website; my memory could use a boost.

This was last night's meal, and while good, there are some changes I would make if I did this again in the future: The chicken was a little bland for me personally. I would probably incorporate some finely chopped mint into the flour mix next time. And definitely more lemon zest on top of the breasts!
The couscous is really great with just a little butter and a smidgeon of cheese mixed into it. The cheese gives it just a little bit of salt, and the butter makes it taste creamy...perfect with such simple chicken.

Lemon Mint Chicken with Couscous
Ingredients:
4 skinless chicken breasts, or 8 skinless thighs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (I would probably zest 2)
1/3 C. Garbanzo flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
4 Tbsp EVOO
2 Tbsp light brown sugar (I used coconut palm sugar as a substitute)
1 lemon, sliced thin
1 C. low sodium chicken broth
1 sprig fresh mint for each piece of chicken

2 C. couscous, prepared as you like.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with non-stick spray.
Place flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne (and chopped mint if you wanna try my experiment) in a gallon ziploc bag.
Drizzle chicken with lemon juice, and place in ziploc bag with flour mix. Toss gently to coat chicken evenly.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-hi heat. Add chicken pieces (in batches if necessary), and sear until golden brown on both sides - about 5 minutes each side. As the chicken browns, arrange it in a single layer in the baking dish.
Sprinkle chicken in dish with lemon zest and brown sugar. Place a slice of lemon on each piece, then pour the broth over. Place one mint spring on each piece of chicken.
Place in the center of the oven and bake 40 minutes, uncovered; juices should run clear. Discard mint sprigs.
Serve over couscous.



Tonight I went to the red meat spectrum. I was reading recently about comfort, or traditional, foods; and how nowadays they are overlooked because the original recipes were pretty well loaded with fat and other tricksy ingredients. In some cases that is true, in others it is just that people don't have (or no longer make) time for proper preparation. One thing I love about cooking is that you can do whatever the heck you want. Whether or not it works out at all is an entirely different matter...but anywho...
I love taking a traditional dish, that may have been 1800 calories per serving at some point, and making it better for you; while maintaining good flavor of course. I make a killer Shepherd's Pie with lamb, and mashed cauliflower on top (instead of potatoes). I'll be sure to post that recipe come fall haha.
Did anyone ever eat TV dinners as a kid? The ones with the penguin on them, and the rock hard brownie that you thought was delicious? We rarely did (my dad being a chef and all); but if my parents went out, or I maybe got to eat at a friends' house, I would get to try these. I am still a firm believer that you can't go wrong with cheese enchiladas...but some of the others weren't/aren't bad either. One of those is Salisbury Steak. I think TV dinners may actually have turned a lot of people off Salisbury Steak, because it can get dry, and somewhat brick-esque in the microwave....but if made right, it is one of the tastiest, simple, traditional dishes out there. Also I am told that kids love it...so if I have leftovers Pixie is getting an experimental lunch tomorrow mwahahahahahaaaaaa! If nothing else I can feed her the mashed cauliflower I'm serving with it...since she loves mashed potatoes so much.

Salisbury Steak
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef chuck (I use 96% lean)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C. ground flax seed (or you can use bread crumbs if you get scared by flax)
1/4 C. minced onion
1 tsp salt
Dash of ground allspice
1 10 oz. can condensed Golden Mushroom soup (Yes you have to use it. I hate using canned soups, but for this it works...trust me!)
1/3 C water (I mixed this about half and half with red wine)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a bowl, combine meat, egg, flax, onion, salt, allspice, and 1/4 C of the soup. Shape into oval patties (any size you like is fine really), and arrange in a single layer in a shallow baking dish or roasting pan.
Place in oven and bake 30 minutes, spooning off the fat, or soaking it up as it cooks.
I used this time to prepare my mashed cauliflower (which you can find in my archive), but you can prep whatever side you feel like having.
In a small bowl, whisk together remaining soup, water (and wine), and some pepper. Pour over the patties, and return them to the oven for 10 minutes more.
Plate your patties with your side. Spoon the sauce over the patties and serve hot!

Disorganized Chaos

"Wait..." You're thinking to yourself, "Isn't the saying 'organized chaos?'" Yes...yes that is the popular saying. But that does not relate to my life currently at all. I am definitely in the midst of disorganized chaos. I feel like I have been going and going and going non-stop since last week. I have even woken myself up in the middle of the night twitching like I'm ready to go, and all tangled in my blankets (Hubby doesn't appreciate that particular behavior, I can tell you). Then my brain says "Oh good, you're awake! Let me kick myself into overdrive and remind you of the bajillion things you need to be doing!" F***  I am far too lazy a person to be kept awake in the middle of the night....really isn't my thing.

But what, you may ask, is causing such a disturbance in my much needed beauty sleep? Well.... work has been pretty busy. Keeping up with projects, planning office events, trying to squeeze in that hour workout every day at lunch, and keep pace with my ever-more-active toddler.

The workouts themselves are no joke either. I am up to 2.5 miles in 45 minutes on "cardio" days. And according to my beloved calorie/fitness tracking website, I am burning upwards of 900 calories in an hour on "circuit" days.
To that end...Hubby and I have decided to start a 90 day weight-loss and fitness challenge! Yes...I think I could be insane, but that really is beside the point. The point of this challenge, is to become part of a community that supports the desire to lose weight, get (or stay) fit, and improve overall health. I am SO SO SO excited about this challenge! I have been raving about it to everyone I know (and those I may not, like you beloved readers here). Part of the raving could be due in part to the humongous energy boost I have received in the 10 days I have been drinking Visalus shakes for the challenge! They are seriously amazing (and taste like cake batter ice cream...how could you not love that?!?), and I have way more energy to get me through the day because of them!
This is working really well with my healthy eating habits as well!
If YOU think you might want to join my "team" in this (and hopefully many more) challenge, you can!! Distance does not matter, we have an online community, and you can set whatever goals, drink however many shakes, and go as hard core as you want! You can see info on the challenge here: fineran.bodybyvi.com
It has my seal of approval for sure!

Back to that healthy eating thing I mentioned....due to the recent chaos of life, I haven't posted much...but I have been cooking! And I swear I took pictures. I remember taking pictures!! But now I cannot find them. I don't know where they disappeared to. So sorry :-(

Here's what my family and I have been noshing:

I kinda played around with a Middle Eastern Butter Chicken, and a made-up Garlic Chicken...and what I got was:

Super Garlic Butter Chicken (in the crockpot, woot!)
Ingredients:

1 Tbsp garam masala seasoning
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
3 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, sliced very thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
2 1/2 lb chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs), cut into small fist sized pieces

 

40 whole cloves of peeled garlic

Directions:

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, tomato paste and spices, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The spices will be fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir well.

Place onions on the bottom of crockpot in fairly even layer. Place chicken pieces on top, and scatter whole garlic cloves on top of that.

Pour sauce over whole thing.

Cook on low 7-8 hours, stirring if needed to prevent sticking.

Just before serving, stir in salt and black pepper to taste

Serve over couscous, rice noodles, or a veggie stir fry. Top with a light drizzle of plain yogurt.

Mozzarella Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

3 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic

3/4 C. dry white wine

8 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into 8 slices

4 springs fresh basil

salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and whole garlic clove. 

Saute until chicken is golden on both sides, and almost cooked through (3-5 min each side). Remove chicken to a plate and keep warm.

Add wine to hot pan, stirring to reduce a little. Bring to a low boil for 1-2 minutes.

Add chicken back to pan and cook one more minute. Flip chicken to other side, and place 2 slices of mozzarella and a basil sprig on each breast. Discard the garlic. Cover and remove from heat. let stand 5 minutes to allow chicken to fully cook, and cheese to melt.

Plate chicken, and serve with some of the pan sauce over it.

Broccoli Salad (yes I eat this as a meal)

Ingredients:

2 heads broccoli, chopped into florets

1 C. Craisins

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 medium red onion, chopped small

8 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

1 1/2 C. plain Greek yogurt

3 Tbsp vinegar

1/4 C. Truvia (or sugar if you must)

salt and black pepper

Directions:

In a small bowl combine yogurt, vinegar, Truvia, salt and pepper. Set aside.

In large bowl, combine broccoli, Craisins, bacon, onion and cheese.

Pour dressing over the top and mix thoroughly.

Best served cold.

Hecticity

Again...not a real word. I am aware, I promise. But sometimes made-up words just describe your life better, haha!
If you couldn't tell, my life has been hectic! Summer always involves many get-togethers, barbeques, and in my family's case birthdays. Very little of this involves me cooking things, let alone eating my own creations. And I still have to try to be good when eating elsewhere. Its very tiring!

In an effort to relax, I treated my mama to a spa weekend this last weekend. She'll be 55 this month (sorry Ma)! And she'd never treat herself to anything so impractical...so I must do it for her. We each had a detoxifying jacuzzi bath, a seaweed body treatment, massages, facials, and a hot stone sinus treatment. And that was just Saturday...phew! Sunday we were up bright and early for manicures and pedicures. Should have been super relaxed and rested by Sunday afternoon right? Sadly, no. For one, when you've become accustomed to sleeping next to a man-shaped space heater (AKA Hubby) for 9 years, it is very difficult to sleep in a large King bed all by yourself. And second, it took us 3 hours, THREE HOURS, to go approximately 30 miles from Breckenridge to Idaho Springs Sunday afternoon. We were a little tense by the time we cleared that hurdle. And it meant that I got to sit down for all of 20 minutes when I got home, before I had to whisk off to Hubby's back to back soccer games. By the time we got home, got Pixie bathed and into bed, ate, and had our own shower, it was 11:30 PM! How did that even happen?! So now...all this week I have felt that I am playing sleep catch-up. Not a great feeling.

Anywho....I have managed to cook a couple of times this week, and I think you'll like it!!

Monday night I experimented, and came up with a Quesadilla Casserole. It was quick, easy, and cheap to buy ingredients for!! If you are feeling lazy, or don't care about Paleo, you can substitute the homemade tortillas for regular store-bought ones.

Quesadilla Casserole
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
16 oz tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (4 1/2 oz) green chilies, undrained
6 tortillas (in my Archive...or the lazy way as noted above)
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Brown beef and onion in a large skillet on medium-high. Add tomato sauce, beans, and green chilies.  Mix well.  
Stir in all of the spices except the red pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat low and simmer 5 minutes.  Add red pepper to taste if desired.
Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 9x13 pan (sprayed with non-stick spray). Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed.  Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese.  Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef and cheese. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until heated through.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

 


Then tonight, I made an old favorite - that was once an experiment itself. I call it Cheesy Stuffed Chicken. It is not always the prettiest thing, but it tastes so so good...and you can tweak it all sorts of ways too!

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (or 1 breast per person)
8 oz. flavored cream cheese of choice (I used Garden Vegetable)
1 1/2 cup fresh spinach, loosely packed
1/2 medium white onion, thinly sliced
1/3 C. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slit chicken down the middle longways, making a pocket. Careful not to cut all the way through.
In a medium oven-proof skillet, over medium heat, cook chicken until about half done, 5-6 minutes each side (depending on thickness).
In the meantime, heat milk in a pot over medium-low heat. When warm, add the cream cheese in pieces, letting each bit melt before adding another. Once all cheese is melted in, add spinach and onion and cook, until spinach is sufficiantly wilted. Make sure veggies are mixed in really well.
Separate 2/3 of this cheese sauce from the rest. Stuff into chicken breasts.
Return chicken to pan, and place in oven to cook the remainder of the way; again, about 5-6 minutes each side.
When chicken is fully cooked, place on plate and top with 1/2 remaining cheese sauce.
I serve with steamed veggies of choice (whatever I have hanging around), maybe topped with more of the sauce.

FYI...really zoomed in pics is what you get when Hubby takes them...lol

It is Summer!

So why the bloody hell am I getting sick?!
Seriously...this year has been just terrible as far as illnesses. I have been sick more in the past 7 months, than in the past 4 years....its ridiculous! I think Pixie, and all her snotty nosed little friends at school are the culprits. They're cute kids, but dirty....kids are just little germ factories.
So....I have been sick for about 5 days now. I mean, curl up in the smallest ball physically possible, so you can hopefully avoid coughing up your lungs sick. Living off of soup, and crackers, and gatorade sick. Pixie started it, and is almost fully recovered; good news is that today I feel a bit more human myself. Drugs help...I've just discovered Mucinex, its delightful.
You have my apologies for not posting during that time, but what I did cook was simple; and I didn't feel like putting forth the effort (mostly because it requires being in an upright position) to put posts together. I am making up for that today.

Below you will find 2 recipes for things I made while I was sick.
Then tonight, I was looking for simplicity again, so I've done a simple frittata. I love to make these because a) they're super duper easy, b) you can toss whatever you want on there, and c) they're really pretty healthy!
I tossed some olives, tomato, onion and feta on mine. Hubby got beef and cheddar on his.


7/29
Chicken Alambre
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 ounces 1/3-inch-diced slab bacon
12 ounces fresh chorizo, (do not get the "loose" chorizo, it is much greasier)
12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
8 ounces Oaxaca cheese or mozzarella cheese, torn
 
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Remove chorizo from casings and crumble into pan, add the bacon and cook over high heat, stirring, until browned in spots, 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until cooked through. Add the peppers and onion and cook until softened. Scatter the cheese on top and stir until it just starts to melt, then serve.
Serve with tortillas, avocado, cilantro, salsa and lime wedges.





7/30 
Ratatouille Tart
Ingredients:
2 frozen pie crusts
1 1/2 medium zucchini (and/or yellow squash)
1 medium sweet potato
3 medium tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp onion powder
8 oz. cream cheese
3 large eggs
salt and pepper
1/2 C. shredded colby or cheddar cheese


Directions:
Pre-bake crusts empty according to package directions.
In the meantime, slice zucchini, sweet potato, and tomatoes into very thin slices (I used a mandolin). Drain tomatoes on paper towels as long as possible (you want to remove as much liquid as you can).
Saute zucchini and sweet potato in a skillet over medium heat, until just starting to soften, about 5 minutes.
Mix veggies, garlic, eggs and spices in a large bowl. Mix cream cheese in in pieces (I used a block of cream cheese and cut it into chunks).
Pour this into pie crusts and bake at 400 degrees 15 minutes.
Top with shredded cheddar cheese and return to oven an additional 20- 25 minutes.