Day 361: Best Deal of the Blog

As this blog comes to a close, I find myself reminiscing about the great things I cooked, ate, and discovered over the course of the past year.  One of my best discoveries by far, is Costco's $4.99 rotisserie chicken.  This bird is juicy, succulent, savory, and cheap!!  And, perfect for a night when you can't/don't want to cook.

Tonight was one of those nights.  I had planned ahead that I would go to the gym after work, which means that the earliest I would get home is 7 or 7:30.  So, my husband and I agreed that he would stop off at Costco on his way home.

When we take the easy way out on one piece of the meal, I like to cook another.  Tonight, I sauteed up some sugar snap peas that we had purchased at the farmer's market over the weekend.  I used a non-stick pan so that I didn't need much oil.  After heating up some olive oil, I sauteed the peas with S&P and a little bit of cayenne - I love the combination of sweet and spicy.  I let them cook over medium-high heat for a good 10 minutes, stirring them often.  This allowed them to soften up but still maintain a little bit of crunch.  Yum.

I find that this kind of dinner is a terrific compromise of easy, cheap, but with a homemade touch.  And for $4.99, you just cannot go wrong! 

Day 345: Proof That I'm Kind of Over It

I'm just 20 days away from wrapping up 365daysofdinner.com and it shows.  For the second time in a week, I forgot to take a picture of my dinner tonight.  Fortunately, we had leftovers that I could capture to help tell the story of this meal.

We had a couple of houseguests leaving late tonight and new ones arrived early in the day so we had a big dinner together.  To satisfy everyone, we grilled up a bunch of different things:  chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and spicy turkey sausage.  I also made a big salad with baby greens, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, and blanched zucchini that was leftover from the tart I made on Friday. 

Everyone enjoyed the meal, which was of course accompanied by lots of wine and a delicious local SF treat, It's-It ice cream sandwiches.  Friends, good wine, and tasty food.  What more do you need in life??

Day 341: Oops, I Did It Again

Dinner was such a rush tonight that I forgot to take a photo of my dish!  When I've made this mistake in the past, I either pulled a photo of the restaurant down from the web or used a photo from my library if we had been to the restaurant before.  Tonight I got nothin'.

We had tickets to a sneak preview of The Taking of Pelham 123 and grabbed a quick dinner beforehand at the food court of the San Francisco Centre mall.  This is no ordinary food court full of fast food joints.  This is San Francisco, so of course the food court is something special with a high end choice to suit every mood:  sushi, Thai, Korean, deli, burgers, soup, Mexican, and the list goes on.

We opted for Thai because we had less than 1/2 hour to eat and get to the theatre and that seemed like the quickest option.  I had a two item combo with steamed rice and chose pineapple chicken curry and sugar snap peas with fried tofu.  Both were yum.

The highlight of the night, however, was the movie.  Humor + suspense + a demented John Travolta = a fun flick.  Check it out at a theatre near you!

Day 334: Fab Fruit Salsa

Dinner tonight was grilled chicken breast with pear & jalapeno salsa with rice.  The rice was a Near East mix - the toasted almond rice pilaf to which I added a cup of defrosted peas for color and added nutrition.  I prepared the mix as suggested on the box, substituting chicken broth for the water, and the stirred the peas in after it was finished cooking.

The chicken was prepared simply.  I hammered it relatively thin and seasoned it on both sides with S&P.  After drizzled olive oil over it, my husband grilled it.

The chicken wasn't marinated because I wanted to serve it with some pear salsa on top.  I love making fruit salsas - the possibilities and combinations are endless.  The recipe for tonight's was:

1/2 bosc pear, finely diced

1/2 anjou pear, finely diced

1 small jalapeno pepper, minced (kept 1/2 the seeds to maintain some heat)

1/4 large shallot, minced

Juice from one lime

S&P to taste

It's great if you can allow the salsa to sit and come together for at least an hour before eating.

This whole meal took only about 1/2 hour to pull together and it was healthy and delicious!

Day 324: Italian Feast

During our weekly visit to Trader Joe's today, I found some beautiful basil and decided that dinner tonight would involve homemade pesto.  Pesto is so easy to make.  The following recipe makes enough to stuff four chicken breasts, but if you want to make it as a pasta sauce, you should probably double it.

Pesto:

1 packed cup of basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1.5 T pine nuts

1/2 + 1T freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 T butter

S&P to taste

Place basil, oil, garlic, and nuts in a food processor and mix until smoothly, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.  Add cheese and butter and mix again until all ingredients are blended.  Add S&P to taste.

Pre-heat your oven at 375 degrees.  Slice the chicken lengthwise through the middle, being careful not to cut all the way through.  You want to be able to fold the chicken back like a book.  Once folded back, coat the inside of each chicken breast with about 1T pesto.  If you'd like, lay some roasted peppers over the pesto and fold the chicken back up again.  Place the breasts in a greased baking dish and smooth about a teaspoon of pesto over the top of each breast.

Bake the chicken for 25 minutes and then sprinkle some shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of each breast.  Bake for another 5-8 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Add another sprinkling of cheese and place the dish under the broiler until the top is browned.

Our side dish was sauteed baby broccoli (known as broccolini at Trader Joe's).  I first cooked 3 cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for a couple of minutes.  Once they were softened, I added the broccoli, a few splashes of white wine, and cranked the heat up to medium-high.  I added more wine every couple of minutes when the pan got dry to ensure that the garlic didn't burn.

The best part of tonight's dinner?  It's Sunday but there's not work tomorrow!  Enjoy your Memorial Day, everyone!

Day 321: Leftovers Supreme

With lots of tasty things in the house, there was no need to buy anything for dinner tonight.  Instead, I made a warm quinoa salad with the following items that we had on hand:

- vinaigrette made from juice of 1.5 lemons, 2 T olive oil, and S&P

- leftover rotisserie chicken

- corn scraped off a leftover cob

- half a bag of frozen spinach, defrosted (this is easy to do by running it under lukewarm water)

- some chopped up roasted tomatoes

- a handful of sliced almonds

Lots of tasty things could have gone into this dish:  frozen peas, crumbled goat cheese, chopped avocado.  Whatever!!  It felt good to use up some stuff we had on hand and to create such a tasty and healthful dinner.  Leftovers rule!

Day 320: Sometimes Edible is Good Enough

I stayed later than usual at the office so a quick and easy dinner solution was in order for tonight.  Luckily, my hubby was making a stop at Costco on the way home, so he picked up one of their delicious (savory!  juicy!) and cheap ($4.99!!) rotisserie chickens.

Our sides were 3 day old slaw that I made on Sunday and some supposedly spicy frozen Thai string beans from Trader Joe's.  The slaw wasn't super flavorful but it was edible.  The beans were technically edible, but neither my husband nor I actually ate them.  It's rare that we are disappointed with a Trader Joe's product.  In fact, the only other one I can think of that we didn't like was their sea salt, which was too finely ground and therefore difficult to shake out of the canister.

If you are the kind of person who eats to live, this was a great meal for you.  It took next to no time at all to pull together, was relatively well rounded, and was edible.  If you live to eat, like I do, this meal barely cut it.  It wasn't particularly satisfying, but at least I won't die of starvation tonight.  :-)

Day 314: Where is the Undo Button?

I purchased the most beautiful brussels sprouts at the farmers' market today.  Too bad I kind of ruined them!

Everyone knows that brussels sprouts and bacon are a match made in heaven.  I chopped up four strips of applewood smoked bacon and fried it up in a hot pan.  Once they were crisped up, I removed them and set them aside in some paper towel to remove the excess grease.  

After deglazing the pan with some white wine, I tossed in a finely chopped shallot and a few sprigs of fresh thyme and sauteed them for a few minutes.  After throwing in my sprouts, which I had trimmed and sliced in half lengthwise, I made my big mistake.  I shook in some red pepper flakes which wound up providing too much heat, overwhelming the whole dish.  If there was an "undo" button, I would surely have clicked on it!

Just prior to serving, I pulled out the thyme sprigs, added the bacon bits back in, and squeezed the juice of half a lemon over the whole mixture.  Had it not been for the red pepper flakes, this would have been a great side dish.

Our main course was chicken breasts, hammered thin and marinated in the juice of a lemon, olive oil, 3 smashed garlic cloves, fresh thyme, and S&P.  After about 1/2 hour, my hubby took care of grilling them up.

Not a bad meal, but it would have been great had it not been for my hot pepper mistake.  I feel horrible for screwing up such beautiful and fresh brussels sprouts but at least I learned my lesson.  Next time, perfect sprouts!!

Day 307: Kebad

When I left the gym at 8pm tonight, I wanted something fast, easy, and healthy for dinner.  So, I decided to try Marina & Kebab, a new restaurant that opened in the neighborhood.  I ordered two skewers - one chicken and one lamb - and took them home and paired them with some raw veggies and Trader Joe's white bean hummus.  

The meal met my three requirements:  fast, easy, and healthy.  But unfortunately, it did not meet the most important requirement of all - taste!  I didn't think the meat was seasoned very well and the lamb was a bit tough.  These kebabs were keBAD!  Somehow, the place gets great ratings and reviews on Yelp, so maybe I didn't order the right things.  Maybe I'll try it again, but probably not.

My veggies were good, though.  And that Trader's Joe's hummus is amazing.  The beans are blended with pesto, pine nuts, and olive oil and it's rich, savory, and so delicious.

Day 305: Super Soup

Dinner tonight was homemade chicken barley soup and some raw veggies dipped in Trader Joe's white bean hummus.

This is an easy soup but it does take awhile to make, so try it next time you're stuck at home due to weather, sick kids, or a seemingly endless wait for the cable guy.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut up into 8 parts

5 quarts (20 cups!!) of water

4 carrots, peeled and cut in half (or thirds if they are large)

4 stalks of celery, cut in half (or thirds if they are large)

3 onions, peeled and quartered

4 large cloves of garlic, peeled

6 sprigs each of dill and parsley

1 cup barley

S&P

Bring water to a boil and add chicken, continuing to boil the soup for 10 minutes.  Add carrots through garlic plus 1 heaping T of salt and reduce heat to low.  Partially cover the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours.  

Remove chicken from pot and set aside.  Remove vegetables and discard.  Continue to simmer the broth for another hour to reduce it and further concentrate the flavor.  

Taste the broth and decide whether it needs more salt (it probably will) and add to meet your desired saltiness.  Add the barley, dill, and parsley and cook the soup uncovered for another 45 minutes or until the barley is tender.  Discard the herbs.

Like most soups, this doesn't need to be made the day of consumption.  In fact, you can make it over the weekend and enjoy it throughout the week, making it well worth the time and effort!

Day 304: Rivers of Cheese

Is there such a thing as too much cheese.  I think not!  

Tonight I made enchiladas using leftover chicken from a soup I made over the weekend.  I shredded the meat and mixed it with 1/2 of a finely minced and sauteed onion and a can of black beans (rinsed).

I heated a can of enchilada sauce over low flame and added a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper to up the spiciness.  Once it was warm, I dipped a corn tortilla in the sauce and then placed some of the chicken mixture across the middle of it.  I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese on top of the filling and rolled the tortilla as tightly as I could without tearing it.  I then laid the enchilada, flap side down, into a baking dish that I had coated with some of the enchilada sauce.

After repeating this exercise with five more tortillas, my dish was packed full.  I sprinkled some more cheese over the top, then poured the remaining enchilada sauce over everything, and then sprinkled what was left of the cheese on top of that.

The dish was baked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and when I pulled it out of the oven, beautiful rivers of cheese flowed between each enchilada, the tortillas were softened, and the filling was warm.  Perfecto!

One of my favorite things about this dish is that it can be made with any filling and cheese you like.  You can also adjust the spice level by buying milder or hotter sauces or by adding cayenne pepper.  It's a great way to use leftovers you have on hand and it's easy to make and comes together quickly.  And...there are the rivers of cheese to consider!!

Day 298: Wrapping Up a Highly Caloric Week

I cannot recall a time in my life, other than possibly during college, when I would have consumed pizza, nachos, a cheeseburger, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, french fries, Doritos, beer, pie, and ice cream all in one week. Well, add tonight's fried chicken to that list and you now have a complete list of the junk that went into my face this week while visiting friends and family back east. It's horrifying really.

Tomorrow I return to California, thankfully known as the healthy food capital of the USA. It may cause me to go into shock, but I plan to cram as many veggies as I can into the system over the coming week or two. I know I can't undo what I already did but I sure can try to make up for it (and then some!). I hope the farmer's market is ready for me!

Day 297: Pub Grub

Tonight I met up with a bunch of friends at McGee's in NYC. I suppose that I'd say that my main course was beer, with some bits and bites of pub grub including chicken fingers, nachos, mozzarella sticks and thankfully, a veggie plate.

This has been a disaster of a week calorie-wise, but an extraordinary week of catching up with old friends. I'll take that trade off anytime!

Day 288: Zuni Cafe's Famous Chicken

After two and a half years of living in SF, we finally made it to the famous Zuni Cafe.  Zuni Cafe opened 30 years ago and is cheffed by Chez Panisse alum Judy Rogers.  It is a legendary place and it's hard to believe that it took us so long to check it out for ourselves!!

Any time I've heard someone talk about Zuni, it is usually coupled with mention of their chicken for two.  It is a whole chicken (cut into pieces), roasted to order with a bread stuffing with currants and pine nuts.  Mustard greens are tossed over the top.

You know when things are talked up so much that you automatically assume that there's no way that they can live up to the hype?  Well, this was one of those times, only it TOTALLY lived up to the hype.  Perfectly seasoned.  Crispy skin.  Delicious accompaniments.  When can I have it again?

Of course we had a couple of starters before the miracle chicken:  fried cauliflower, onions, and capers (fair), breasola with grilled fava beans (I did not care for this), and polenta with marscapone & parmesan cheese (um, YUM!).

Believe it or not, after all of this, we also had dessert.  I was very intrigued by the caramel and balsamic vinegar ice cream, which was most sweet but also a bit sour-tangy.  

What a meal!  And excellent service, too.  Our waiter was a recently relocated New Yorker, like us, and we enjoyed reminiscing about all the great food offered there.  When we go back to Zuni, we will definitely request Jeff as our server.

Day 286: Buh-Bye, Passover!!

For me, the worst part of Passover is not that I can't eat bread or cereal or pasta.  I don't eat much of any of that stuff.  But no legumes?  No rice?  That was tough.  So, to celebrate the first night in a week without such restrictions, I made an Indian dish tonight.

This was an easy dinner because I used some jarred sauce and only had to saute my chicken and veggies and make some rice.  I cubed two chicken breasts, browned the pieces in olive oil, and set them aside.

I deglazed the pan with some white wine and then tossed in a head of broccoli, a yellow bell pepper, and a couple of handfuls of sugar snap peas.  After a few minutes, I added a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed).  

After a few more minutes, I added the sauce.  The one I chose tonight was a korma sauce, tomato based and spicy.  There are others I like as well - a spinach one and a tangy lemony cilantro one.  

A few minutes before serving, I added the chicken back into the pan and cooked until it was heated through.  Covering the pan speeds that process.  I served the mixture over brown rice and gobbled it up.  Oh, rice and beans, how I have missed you!

Day 283: Chicken x 2

I cooked up some delicious chicken soup and matzoh balls over the weekend and used the leftovers to make a delicious dinner tonight.

The remaining chicken that I hadn't returned to the broth went into a salad with arugula, yellow bell pepper, sliced beets, chopped carrots and celery, and sliced almonds.  My very favorite bottled dressing, Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette brought it all together.

And of course, my yummy matzoh ball soup made a great pairing with the salad.  Sadly, the soup is now finished.  My hubby has requested that we have matzoh balls again soon but I'm torn.  Keep it as a special annual holiday treat or make them more often throughout the year?  Thoughts?

Day 282: Brownie Points from (Someone Else's) Mom

We have a couple of goy friends who really love when I cook up a Jewish feast for them.  So, in celebration of Passover, I invited ourselves to their house with a feast in tow:  matzoh ball soup, brisket, and roasted butternut squash.  One friend's parents were in town so it was a downright Passover party of six.

This was actually my first time making matzoh balls, so I cheated and relied on a mix.  Considering how delicious they turned out, I may cheat every time!

My soup took awhile to come together but once it was done, it was SO good.  I followed a recipe from Epicurious.com but found that once it was complete, the broth was thin and rather tasteless.  To solve that problem, I simmered the broth (minus the chicken which I reserved to serve with the soup and the veggies which I threw away) for about 2 additional hours, allowing it to reduce, bringing out much more flavor.  Adding more salt helped as well.

My brisket recipe was also from Epicurious.com.  I prepared this dish for others on Hanukkah to rave reviews and it didn't disappoint this time either.

I roasted the butternut squash simply.  After peeling it and removing the seeds, I cut it up into uniform 1 inch pieces and mixed them with olive oil, about 2 T fresh thyme leaves, and a good dose of S&P.  I lay the pieces out in a single layer on a baking sheet and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 22 minutes, or until very tender.

My friends loved the meal, as did my husband and the visiting parents.  They didn't just clear their plates, they gobbled it all up and handed out lots of compliments.  I'm always happy to earn some Mom love, even from someone who isn't my own mom!

Day 280: Just the Facts

There is no long, drawn out story to accompany tonight's meal.  I was in the mood for chicken and we had some sugar snap peas that I had purchased at the farmer's market earlier in the week...so sauteed chicken and sugar snap peas it was.

I cut 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, seasoned them with S&P, and browned them in a stainless steel pan pre-heated with olive oil.  I removed them from the pan (leaving the oil behind) and tossed them in a bowl with about 1.5 T of peanut oil.  I covered the bowl with foil and set it aside.

I turned the burner down to medium low and deglazed the pan with about 1/4 cup of low sodium chicken broth.  I added four cloves of minced garlic and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and allowed them to soften up in the broth for a couple of minutes.

After removing the tough "string" from the peas, I threw them into the pan and cranked the heat up to medium high.  Whenever the broth had nearly cooked away, I added a few more splashes to keep the garlic from burning.  Once the peas were cooked through (cook them as much or as little as you'd like), I tossed the chicken back into the pan and mixed everything together and cooked until the chicken was heated through again.

I served the mixture over steamed quinoa tossed with lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, toasted sliced almonds, and S&P.  Yum yum good!  

Day 268: Balancing Act

We had a killer lunch today.  We ventured down to Pacifica and had loads of yummy eats at Gorilla BBQ, recently featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.  After pulled pork, BBQ chicken, mac & cheese, cole slaw and cornbread I just knew that the system was going to demand some light, healthy fare tonight.

Fortunately, our friend Julie invited us to her place for dinner and she made a delicious, low fat meal.  She pan fried tilapia filets and served them over steamed spinach with some baby heirloom tomatoes that she had sauteed in olive oil and garlic.

We finished the meal with some tiny assorted fruit tarts and mini eclairs from Emporio Rulli, which has become my de facto source for beautiful and tasty sweet treats.

So the name of the game today was balance.  It's okay to splurge and have some fun - hell, when it's BBQ, it's a must!  

Day 263: Hi, Jeanne's Mom!!

We were very fortunate to have a wonderful house guest tonight, my college friend Jeanne.  Like me, she likes to eat healthy.  Lucky for us, we had a nice sunny day today and with the time change, we can use our grill in the daylight!  Woohoo!  And since Jeanne's mom is a loyal follower of this blog, I am dedicating tonight's entry to her!  Hi, Jeanne's mom!

I pounded three boneless chicken breasts so they would cook more quickly.  I placed them in a Ziploc bag with the following marinade:  1/4 cup orange juice, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 5 smashed cloves of garlic, 2 T olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 onion cut into large chunks.

The chicken marinated for about an hour - certainly, it could have stayed longer, but by then it was after 7pm and we were hungry!  As usual, my husband took care of the grilling, cooking the chicken for 18 or 20 minutes.

I made a quinoa salad as a side dish.  See entry #247 for tips on how to steam quinoa.  I mixed the quinoa into the juice and zest of a large lemon, 1 tsp sugar, and 2 T olive oil.  I also added half a bag of frozen spinach (defrosted with all liquid squeezed out), half a diced yellow bell pepper, and about 1/4  cup of toasted pine nuts.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  If it needs a little more bit or saltiness, try sprinkling in some rice vinegar.

A midweek house guest is a joy, especially one that we love so dearly.  The good food was just icing on the cake tonight!