Dinner. Now, please.

I love to cook, but I really hate to make anything complicated or too involved after being at work all day.  Even worse is when I go to the gym after work: when I get home, I need food in mouth ASAP!

The past couple weeks I’ve really enjoyed some of our weeknight dinners, and the best part was how fast they came together! 

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

I had a package of chicken tenders, and my new favorite way to cook them is based on Giada’s method.

• 1 package (approx 1 lb) chicken tenders
• buttermilk or an egg
• bread crumbs (and kind you like)
• parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• olive oil cooking spray
• your favorite tomato sauce
• shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

I don’t have set quantities for this dish because it’s one that you just eyeball.

1.  Clean chicken
2.  If using the buttermilk, place in a shallow dish and let chicken sit in the buttermilk for 15-20 min
2a.  If using an egg, crack 1 egg into a shallow bowl and lightly beat with a fork.
3.  Place bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in another shallow bowl.  I use about 2 parts bread crumbs to 1 part parmesan cheese
4.  Brush a baking sheet with olive oil
5.  Take chicken from buttermilk (or dip in egg), then dip in bread crumbs/cheese to coat, and place on baking sheet.
6.  Spray chicken with olive oil spray (or drizzle oil over tenders)
7.  Bake at 500 for about 12 min

Heat up your sauce in a pan or in the microwave.  Assemble cooked chicken in a pan, topped with sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Broil until cheese is melted.

While your chicken is baking, prep your sides!  Pasta, salad, veggies…whatever you want.

We had some steamed asparagus and a few slices of leftover baguette, toasted. 

  

This all took about 30 min from the time I came home, to dinner on the table.

Next: Mediterranean Style Burgers

The inspiration for these burgers came from Whole Foods, and it came to me when I was in Whole Foods!  There were samples of a similar burger sometime last year and I remembered that Brian and I both loved it but hadn’t made them yet!  Essentially it was a mix of ground beef and ground lamb with cumin and lemon juice.

• 1/2 lb ground beef (I used 93%)
• 1/2 lb ground lamb
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• juice from 1 lemon
• lemon zest from about 1/2 of the lemon

Combine all of the above ingredients and form into burgers.  I made 3: 1 big one for Brian and two smaller ones for me so I’d have one for lunch the next day.

We even fired up the outdoor grill!!  First time this year I think, since the snow was preventing us from even getting to the grill. 

While Brian handled the grilling, I cooked up some caramelized onions, made salads, and roasted some thin cut potatoes.

** microwave your potatoes for a few minutes first to soften them up, then brush on olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever seasoning you want.  Bake at 450 for 15-20.  If you cut them thin, and pre-cook them a little they will be ready much faster!

I had picked up a few items from the WF’s antipasto bar for the salads: olives, sundried tomatoes, and marinated artichoke hearts.

Salad was dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Burgers served medium/med-rare, on whole wheat buns, topped with caramelized onions and a spread of some Trader Joes parmesan-artichoke dip (optional).

I had half a bun, and ate my burgers in the same bowl as my salad :)

Grilled anything gets me excited for warmer weather.  I REALLY loved these burgers.  I refrained from using ketchup because I really wanted to taste the lamb/cumin/lemon.  All the flavors are very subtle but everything tasted so fresh.

  
Once again, this dinner came together in about 30 min! 

I have a couple more I want to share, but we’ll save that for another post!

Don’t forget to SPRING forward tomorrow morning!! 

Brian and I are running a 5K tomorrow morning, and I’m pretty sure a whole bunch of other local bloggers will be running it as well…time to get some sleep!!

Real Simple to the Rescue

Such a blog-slacker lately!?  Sorry! 

Not that he’s to blame, but this guy is taking up a bit of the already-sparse free time around here…

But seriously, who could resist that face?!  Esp after being freshly groomed :) 

Bromley and auntie Jocy

And while I feel like I never have enough time to do all the baking and cooking that I would like, at least there are still some great recipes out there that don’t take much time at all!

I have to thank Tina for this one.  I’ve seen it on her blog many times and have been wanting to make it for ages…FINALLY I did.

Real Simple’s Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower

This is delicious.  Not your typical super melty-gooey cheesy pasta dish, but there is some serious flavor going on between the sharp cheddar, sour cream, onion, and Dijon mustard.  They all blend together beautifully and it tastes much more decadent that it really is :)

Brian LOVED this as well…luckily he is a big fan of cauliflower as well.

Make it.

Another dinner that came from my latest Real Simple, was a soup!

Parsnip and Fennel Soup with Dill

I love soup, and am always trying to find new ones to cook aside from the usual chowders or chilies (not that there’s anything wrong with those…CLEARLY)

I’m a big fan of leeks, and potatoes, and dill, and parsnips and fennel and pretty tasty too…so why not!?

Once everything is chopped, this soup comes together pretty quick.

 

I opted to use my stick blender instead of pouring some into a regular blender…the stick blended is so much easier.  I just blend until it’s the desired consistency…thickened up, but still some chunks of veggies inside.

    (please PLEASE ignore the disaster that is my kitchen in this one, I was trying to cook around the aftermath of Brian’s latest beer brewing adventure)

For an accompaniment, the recipe called for sliced baguette with gruyere cheese broiled on top.

Warm Bread + Melted Cheese = ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA!

The soup was good…not amazing, but good.  It definitely had a nice fresh taste from the veggies.  I think it needs a little somethin’ to kick up the flavor, and a bit more salt. 

I added a dollop of sour cream to the leftovers and that was a nice pairing as well.  Maybe some more herbs next time.

Regardless, it made a nice quick warm dinner.

On a cuter note.  I just have to share the cake from my friend’s Baby Shower this past Sunday…

How adorable is that!!!?

Look at the little bunnies!  All made from marzipan!  The cake was made by our other friend’s bakery…The Danish Pastry House.  Hence the marzipan.  The cake is covered in marzipan as opposed to fondant, which I think is just genius :)  I mean I’ll take deliciously almond marzipan over fondant any day!

Mommy-to-be and Me!  Doesn’t she look amazing!

I need some more soups to make…suggestions???

Mediterranean Ravioli a la TJ’s

When I got home from Hot Yoga last night, it was 7:45, I was super sweaty (which was making me colder by the minute), and STARVING!!! 

Luckily my buddy Joe…Trader Joe, that is, was able to come through like a champ!

I give you:  Mediterranean Ravioli

I grabbed these from the freezer:

And these from the fridge:

Honeymoon Capers!!  Santorini Capers are AMAZING!

 

Good thing I still have 2 more unopened jars :)

Got my water boiling for the ravioli, and cooked as directed.

I sautéed:

• about 1 T olive oil
• 3 small cloves garlic (chopped)
• 3 artichoke hearts (chopped)
• 1-2 T sundried tomatoes (chopped)

After a few minutes of cooking I added:

• some white wine (maybe 1/4 – 1/2 cup)
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• 1/4 can of diced tomatoes (had them leftover from another night)

After simmering for about 5min, I added a few handfuls of baby spinach, and about 2 tsp capers with juice.

Serve over Ravioli and top with some parmesan cheese!

so so so so so good!!!  And only took about 15 min from start to finish!

LOVE Trader Joes :)

Circles

NOTE: Blogger was being super annoying early so I had to wait til I was home to post!! Anyways...on with the post:

Last night when I went over Brian's place, we decided to make dinner with whatever he had in the fridge, because I didn't have time to go out...needed to study. He had a random mix of veggies, so we got them out, then decided on the package of tortellini he had! As I got out the camera to document the cooking, I realized everything in our dinner was round!

Leeks and Parsnips sauteing in some garlic and olive oil

The summer squash and zucchini rounds waiting on deck

Round veggies in a round pan

Round-ish pasta!

Round dinner is served...
To sum up dinner, we had the garlic, leeks, and turnips in the pan for a few minutes before adding the zucchini and summer squash with a little salt and pepper. While the veggies were cooking, we cooked the tortellini's for about half the time then added them into the pan with the veggies. When it was all finished we topped it off with some fresh chopped parsley!

Would of been even better with some Parmesan cheese...but there was none to be found.

Luckily, the boy wanted some brownies enough to go out and buy the yogurt needed for them.

Mmmmm fudgey! I think the key to the No-pudge brownies is to cut 5min off the cooking time so they stay moist and fudgey!

I also like the regular version best...the raspberry was a little over powering, but still good.

Mmmm hot fudgey brownie!!

My coffee this morning was Fantastic!! I got the Maple Cinnamon French Toast flavor with milk and it smelled like warm syrupy buttery french toast in my cup!!

My breakfast was another delectable cereal quad-medley! Below is the cross section of my bowl so you can see all the varieties:

This medley was the same as the last; Autumn Wheat, Go Lean Crunch (honey almond flax), TJ's Frosted Wheat bites, and Annie's Honey Bunnies!

All topped with a banana and skim milk

Lunch was a mish-mosh of the past 2 days. I had about 1/4 of my mug worth left of Autumn Chowder, a half pita with sliced chicken and roasted red pepper hummus...

And another mixed garden salad with Annie's light honey mustard dressing.

This was clearly too much because I couldn't even finish my salad!

I had a juicy orange at some point today, and when I just came home I ate this:

Blogging about my coffee this morning has given me a serious craving for breakfast for dinner...French Toast! I think that may be in order tonight!

Also on the agenda this evening is my LAST study session and getting all my books and references packed in a LARGE SUITCASE (I kid you not), for my PE exam tomorrow :(

This is an 8-hour exam to get my Professional Engineering License, and while I'm going to be SO happy when it's over and I really do want to pass...its a weird feeling because I know I don't want and don't plan on staying in this field for much longer. However, no one at work knows that so on with the exam. Obviously this means no blogging for me tomorrow until I get home later in the evening. Going to need a solid amount of caffeine tomorrow morning :)