Still Alive... (Chicken Scarpariello Recipe)

Never intended there to be this much of a lull...you'd think we stopped eating! Well, no, we're quited well fed here in our neck of the woods. In fact, I'm thinking I may be a little too well fed ;) So, along with sharing my dinner plans, I've decided to make myself more accountable. I'm going to share my weight!!! Yes, online for anyone to read. I'm going to track my weight here and hopefully we'll all be watching the number shrink, not the other way around. We're shooting for 20 lbs but will settle for 15.

We try to eat pretty healthy in our home but now I'll be focusing on even healthier stuff (or at least healthier versions of some favorites) and most of all...portion control. Aaarrrrrgggg! I hate that part. But, if we all feel better in the long run, it'll be worth it.

To catch up though, I need to post a couple past recipes. Finally made our beloved Chicken Scarpariello. Thanks to my sis, it came out wonderful. Because my sister made it first (and found it didn't come out so good according to the recipe) we altered it a tiny bit. But yay! it was just as we remembered it at Carmines NYC.

Whole chicken cut up into 12 pieces
1 tbsp salt (I used large crystals, and prob 1/2 tbsp)
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 tsp chopped oregano
2 tsp chopped sage
fresh ground pepper
3 lemons
1 c veg oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp coarsely chopped garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
1/4 dry white wine
salt
lemon wedges for garnish

Place chicken pieces in large bowl. Add salt, 1 tsp of rosemary, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp sage, 1/2 tsp black pepper. Squeeze juice of 2 lemons over chicken, toss well, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refridgerate and let marinate for 24 hours.

Preheat to 400

Remove chicken from marinade pat dry. Discard marinade. (now here's the deviation) Recipe calls for cooking chicken in oil in saute pan for about 15 min. But it came out soggy in the end when sis did it. So instead, put chicken in shallow roasting pan with a little oil for about 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp butter in saute pan over med heat. Add shallots, garlic, and remaining rosemary, oregano, and sage. Cook mixture for about 2 minutes till garlic and shallots start to brown.

Increase heat and add wine and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes till most of wine has evaporated. Stir in remaining 1 tbsp of butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Squeeze juice of remaining lemons. ( Here I added some chicken broth to make more sauce. To keep the flavor, I used a little extra lemon.)

After chicken is done, transfer to saute pan and mix well. Place on platter and pour sauce over it and serve with lemon wedges as garnish.

Forgot to take the picture the first night we ate it. Too bad. It was so yummy looking! But remembered when we had the leftovers with beat leaves and mashed potatoes. So there you go.

Made homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese too. Mmmm. Can't have that too often and expect to lose weight. But yum! Gotta work on this recipe. I try to do it like my mom's but I'm not sure I remember all the steps. So I'll post soon, soon as I've got it perfected!

Now for the ugly part.

Today's weigh-in: 151
Currently eating: Chips and salsa, homemade soy latte.
Here we go!

(By the way, anyone out there reading, if you have a goal you're trying to reach and you need some motivation, post it in a comment and we can help each other keep on track!)

What's better than good food & some Dino? Come on! (Ground Turkey Chili Recipe, Steamed Artichokes)

Yes, I said "Dino". As in Dean Martin. Just filled our bellies and put on my iTunes and it just started playing Dean. Happy sigh.

Tonight, although we have a fridge full of leftovers, we opted to have chili.

Ten years of marriage and cooking and I've tried making a few different chilis. Still open to trying more...but this is the one I can make any day and it seems to come out tasty no matter what I do to it!

First I start with some ground turkey but this could just as easily be made vegetarian.

1 lb ground turkey, brown in oil with onion and garlic
2 cans small red beans
1 can Light red kidney beans (found out I like these WAY better than dark red kidneys)
1 can chili beans (these are just beans already seasoned)
1 small can of tomato paste or 1/2 large can
Some chili powder, oregano, and chipotle powder (if you like, otherwise substitute other hot spice)
1 green bell pepper chopped
After browning the meat, add the beans and tomato paste and spices.
Here's where I usually remember "oh yeah, I bought a green pepper for this!" and start chopping it. So I add the pepper when I'm done chopping. :)
Let it all simmer for about 20 minutes.

By the way, rinse the beans (except the chili beans) and it cuts the sodium way down. And the chili beans do have more sodium than I usually would use but I drain half the liquid and then don't need to add ANY salt to the recipe. So there you go. I'd say it ends up about 650mg per serving. Better than a restaurant, I guarantee it!

I usually serve my chili over cornbread. Trader Joe's (can you tell it's a favorite place of mine yet?) has a really good, easy mix. But if you're adventurous and want to see all the stuff (ie. butter) that goes into REAL cornbread, go for it. However, of course there was a snag tonight. We were out of eggs!!! Just needed one but since my neighbors up and left for Arizona(you know who you are) and I don't know my new neighbors yet, couldn't just go borrow one. Which may have actually worked out to be a good thing. We had TJs beer bread mix which didn't require eggs...just beer. That, obviously, we had plenty of ;) So, beer bread mix with Stockyard Oatmeal Stout.

A slice of beer bread smothered with chili and topped with shredded cheddar. Mmmm. We're good.

Little tip: Legend has it that green bell peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating raw and 4 bumps are firmer and better for cooking. Hubby test taste agrees. Try it.

Oh and had to cook up some artichokes I got today. They were not quite babies, not quite full size, so adolescent artichokes?? Anyway just trimmed tops, bang em top side down to get them opened up a little, trim stem but save it to cook in the pot (it's as good as eating the heart) and then just steam them with garlic and a little oil for about 30 minutes (longer if you have big ones). Too full to eat a whole one now but tomorrow...a reason to get up in the morning!


It'll have to be leftovers tomorrow for lack of fridge space. But we are a home of leftover fans so no complaining here. Friday...pizza party??

I'm so obviously disorganized! (Penne a la Vodka, Stuffed chicken breast)

Welp, if you didn't know this about me before, it will quickly become apparent. I am disorganized. Can't even get my menu straight! But that's one of the things we're working on here in our house and something this writing is helping me become more tuned in to.

Haven't done any of the foods mentioned already. So...we're doing the Chicken Marsala tonite. But last night, for some reason, I got it into my head I wanted Penne a la Vodka. Usually more of a special company dish but, hey, why save all the good stuff for company? ;) I've made it before so not so complicated. But I did learn a valuable lesson last night ~ USE THE GOOD VODKA. I've heard it said before "if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it" but come on! It's expensive! And it can't matter that much. So I admit to you now...I stand corrected. I had "good" stuff at home but didn't want to use it so I stopped off and bought the bargain stuff, but not even the cheapest $6 bottle, on my way home. It wasn't bad by any means. We tasted it beforehand(of course) and it was decent just kinda missing something. Well, whatever that something was...now my sauce is missin' it. :(

Don't get me wrong we still ate it. I, of course, was extremely disappointed that I wasn't enjoying my longed-for, previously-successful pasta dish. But it was still plenty edible. And even a little better today as a leftover snack. (lunch, snack, pre-dinner app, whatever!) So here's how we made it: (just be sure to put in good stuff on the liquor part)

Oil in the pan, add about 6 cloves fresh garlic (I prefer pressed to chopped.) and some onion powder (hate messing with raw onions unless I have to)

Before it turns brown, add two cans of tomato paste and one can crushed tomatoes then fill cans with water and add those too.

Add parsley while simmering (I only had dried. Sorry to all the fresh-herbivores)

After about 10 minutes add 1/4 to 1/3 Vodka. Simmer another 10-15 minutes. Salt to taste. (That means taste it now and see if the alcohol taste has dissipated)

Meantime, start cooking your pasta (preferably penne, whole wheat if your up for it!)

Add about 1/2 cup heavy cream. Stir in and simmer only about 5 more minutes.

When noodles are done and strained, put in pot or serving bowl and add some sauce to coat. Serve and add additional sauce as desired. Top with Parmesan.

In the past I've added about 1/4 cup Parmesan to the sauce before I finished cooking it. Good either way. Probably healthier if you only add it after.

As a meat...because hubzy can't have just pasta for dinner. I know! What's wrong with him? ;) we had stuffed chicken breast:

Preheat oven to 350.
Add minced garlic, chopped sundried tomatoes, tsp oil, tbsp pesto, handful of spinach leaves and about 3 tbsp water to a bowl. Heat in micro for about 30 seconds. Mix so spinach wilts a little. Add a handful of mozzarella and half a handful of asiago cheese. Mix well.

Split two breasts down the middle and try to make a little pocket inside on both sides. Fill each with half stuffing mixture. Cook in baking dish covered with aluminum foil for 20 minutes. Uncovered for another 15. Check for done. (Cooked mine longer. Was a little dry. sigh.)

You can absolutely substitute whatever you want for the stuffing mixture. I was trying to find stuff to go with my Italian pasta sauce. Got the idea for stuffed chicken from walking around Trader Joe's and they had chicken stuffed with Feta and Mozz and it looked like Kalamata olives. Have to try that one another time.


So...we survived a less than perfect meal. Always have the next meal to look forward to better. Maybe that's what I love about food. Even when I'm disappointed, there's always another food to cheer me up. ?? Hmmm.

On to the Marsala!

Currently eating: Nestle mini morsels chocolate chips (guess I needed a chocolate fix to recover from the vodka sauce disappointment)

It's Good! (Tortilla Soup Recipe)

Well, are we any healthier yet? Don't know the answer there but...we ate good!

All Zuppa Toscana leftovers are gone and the beets came out perfect :) Still have one left. But the most surprising thing was the beet leaves. Sauteed them with oil and garlic...OH MY! They were better than any other greens I've had. Very surprised and happy with that. Except that now they are all gone. :(

Made the Tortilla Soup:

Two boxes of low sodium chicken broth
Two boxes of water
Add cumin, chili powder, onion, garlic and oregano to the broth.

While broth is heating up shred chicken. This time I grilled a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts but sometimes I'll just use a roaster chicken already cooked from the store(although that will make it quite a bit saltier so no need to add salt with those)

Add 2 cans of black beans, 1 can of chopped black olives, and about 2 cups of salsa~any kind you like will do, I like a fresh, milder kind. Remember the spicier the salsa, the spicier the soup.

Then add shredded chicken. Let everything simmer for a few minutes till its all hot. Then it's ready!

Serve each bowl topped with shredded cheddar, broken up tortilla chips, anything else you might like (ie. sour cream, cilantro)

Always goes over well in our house...especially with the mexican food-loving hubby.

Next up...chicken marsala, brussell sprouts, chicken scarpariello(had to postpone that one cuz hubby had a cold was going to have friends over for that and didn't want to waste the yummies) and string beans. Hmmm....what else can I do this week?? Laura? Ideas?

Time to head back to the grocery store.

Menu Therapy (Zuppa Toscana Recipe, Beets and Beet leaves)

I never thought I'd be a blogger. But I need to do something that feels productive. And I can type and I like to cook. The actual ability on the cooking may be arguable. However I have had recipe requests...and if nothing else I like my own food. That's all that matters, right?

So anyway, I need a therapeutic exercise for my brain. And since eating is a favorite hobby of mine ;) I figure it would be helpful (and healthful) to document it. If interesting to no one else, perhaps the hubby will at least find my efforts humorous. We'll give it a try.

Tonight, oddly, I found myself home alone on a Wednesday evening. So I started cooking. Here's what's on the menu: My version of "Zuppa Toscana" and beets.

Yeah, I know. Not the most complimentary dishes. But, a little background info for anyone interested, I have to be careful about my sodium intake so I make my personal versions of whatever I like so its safe for me to eat. (I have something called Intracranial Hypertension. Used to be called Pseudo Tumor Cerebri. Long story.)And the hubby is a painter, inhaling all kinds of toxins, and particularly today was feeling a bit queasy. Hence, the beets for his presumably toxic liver. And I like beets anyway. So here we go...

Zuppa Toscana
A little oil and garlic in the bottom of my stockpot, then add 2 links of sweet italian TURKEY sausage (don't like too much red meat anymore cuz it apparently doesn't like me!) out of the casings. Break it up into small bits as it cooks. Once browned, remove it from the pot.
Add 2 boxes low sodium chicken broth (yes I said boxes. The stuff I get 1.99/32oz box is only 70mg sodium. Not only are you not using gross canned stock, you're starting off with the basics. Much healthier for everyone, not just me, to add salt to taste later.)
While the broth is heating, chop the potatoes. All I've got today is the bag of little multi-colored ones I bought at Trader Joe's. That'll do! Sliced into bite size pieces, add to broth.
Clean the kale I bought today...cut off ends and trim leaves from center stems. Add to broth.
Add a little crushed red pepper, some more garlic :) and some black pepper. Salt if you want but the sausage will add some. You can add more at the end before you serve it.
Add the sausage back to the pot. Let it all simmer till potatoes are soft and....You Have Soup! Of course, for all you cheese loving friends of mine, top it with parmesan cheese when you serve it. (but that'll add sodium too so remember that when your deciding to add salt earlier!)

Now the beets..
I didn't know what I was doing when I began. Handy-dandy internet gave me my recipe "outline" so I began.
Wash and trim off stems, but don't throw them away! We're going to eat those tomorrow...with garlic and stuff :)
Boil a pot of water and add beets. Simmer for about 30 minutes...ended up closer to 45 minutes because these were BIG beets.
When they were tender enough to pierce through with a fork, I took them out of the water and let cool.
When cool enough to touch, rinse under cold water and remove skins.
Slice how you like them. I eat them with cider vinegar, a little salt if you want. ...and there you go.

You can save yourself some of the trouble and just buy the already cooked baby beets at Trader Joe's. Really good and cheap when you don't have time or motivation to clean and cook your own.

Next up: Tortilla Soup, Chicken Scarpariello (Carmine's NY Recipe)