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!!

Weekend: Food, Fitness, and Dance!

We got a taste of Spring this weekend!  It was nice out Saturday and Sunday and you can tell it just put people in a better mood.

I had two pretty opposite type of days.  One was filled with delicious food, and lots of it!  The other was full of activity and healthy nourishment to go along. 

The Food Day

Saturday was my grandmother’s birthday party at my aunts house.  It was the first family party of the year (since Christmas I think), and it did not disappoint!

Well, the day did start off on a healthy note!

I made myself a singular Oatmeal Pancake based on Kath’s recipe.  I only had one whole egg though.

Oatmeal Pancake for 1

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1 egg
• 2 T skim milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• cinnamon to taste
• pinch of salt

Pre-heat a skillet or small non-stick sauté pan and spray with canola oil or cooking spray.  Pour batter in, cook one side until edges look like they have begun to cook, flip, and continue on other side.  Only takes 2-3 min per side, if that.

I topped half with some Almond Butter and Peanut Butter.  Sliced pear on the side.

And of course my beloved:

I also made myself an iced latte!

I Love Breakfast.

   

Then it was party time.  I arrived at my aunts house and of course it smelt delicious.  I smelt baking cheese (which turned out to be homemade mac & cheese).

But the star of lunch was in the fireplace.  Yes, the fireplace.

In the fireplace, in the living room, she had a LARGE cast iron pot hanging over the fire filled with delicious bbq pork.

I mean a LARGE pot!  That Le Creuset down there is the 9 qt I believe, so use that as reference.

Pork. Pulled.

This was the best mac and cheese I’ve had in a long time!  AND she made it with low-carb pasta!  I thought she was joking, I couldn’t tell at all.  Apparently the Dreamfield’s brand is really good.  My Plate…

• Pulled pork + BBQ sauce
• Cole slaw
• mac & cheese
• baked beans
• corn bread
• slice of fresh bakery bread      

Oh then dessert.  The aunt who hosted was my pastry-chef aunt with the bakery.  You can always count on awesome cakes at my family parties!

White cake.  Filling was a Grand Marnier Cream with fresh berries and Italian buttercream:

Banana’s Foster Cake: White cake, a layer of a roasted banana/rum cream filling, Italian buttercream, all covered in caramel. 

Brian went with banana

O.M.G.  The caramel + cake was to die for. 

I had to go with berries

Amazing. Light and fluffy, yet decadent.  I wish I had some right now!

My plate + cake + snacking/picking at more of the food (esp mac & cheese) = not hungry for the rest of the day pretty much.

I also picked up my maple syrup order.  Yes that’s right.  My uncle was up in VT and they know a place to get a great price on syrup…I put my order in for a gallon…

Yes.  a GALLON!  My family doesn't mess around with syrup.  

$44 for 1 gallon of syrup…not too shabby!  Now what to make…..??

Now that the indulgence is over, lets move on to Sunday!

Fitness Day   

Sunday began with Half-Marathon training, so I will give you my update so far:

Half Marathon Training: Week 1

• Wednesday -  speed work.  I’m new to speed work so I was intimidated, but ended up LOVING it!  Changing the speeds back and forth really made the time go by and I felt great pushing myself.
  
  Workout: 1 mile warm-up (5.0-5.3 mph)
  3 x 800m @ 6.8 mph with
  400m rest (I walked the rest)
  1 mile cool down (5.2 – 5.7 mph)
  
• Friday – 3 mile easy run.  Apparently I thrive on variety (on the treadmill at least), because I found these 3 miles a lot more challenging mentally for me.  I can’t wait until its warm enough and light enough out after work to do this all outside!  
  
• Sunday – long run.  I had 6 miles in my schedule, but since hadn’t had a long run in a LONG time, I decided 5 miles would be a better start
• Brian signed up too!  So we went on our long run together Sunday morning. It wasn’t easy, but felt great to be outside!
• First time using my new GARMIN!!!  It was taking forever to load satellites so it didn't kick in until 0.6 miles into the run, but it was awesome to see my pace instantly!

Sunday Continued:

After our 5-miler.  I had just enough time to make a smoothie and grab the dog to head to an outdoor training class at the beach. 

Even though it was almost 60 degree’s “warm” outside at the house, the beach was cooler and SO SO windy!  The class didn’t last too long, but we got a good walk in.

I had the afternoon to myself and went grocery shopping.  Specifically I “wandered” around Whole Foods for a long time, meandering down the aisles and just browsing and shopping by myself.  It was a lovely time :)

Late lunch:

Sushi!  I haven’t had WF’s sushi in forever!! 

Just what I was craving. 

If a run and a walk with the dog wasn't enough, I had to head up to NH for my first rehearsal for my friend’s Dance Company!! 

My friend started a dance company a couple years ago, but I couldn’t do it back in 2009 as I was busy planning the wedding, but now I have time (I think) and she has a new show planned!

I miss dance so much, and I am thrilled to be able to do this!

Rehearsal was…hard.  Really hard.  The piece we worked on last night was fast and jazzy, but also very contemporary which I don’t have as much experience with.  I also need to do some serious stretching…my flexibility isn't where it used to be! 

I love the choreography but I did struggle to pick it up as fast…which is frustrating for me as I’ve always been able to pick up choreography quickly.  But I’m determined to do this and will just have to practice extra hard :)  The show is in August…I can’t wait!!

I look forward to documenting my journey with my half-marathon and now also this dance company!!

Now I’m just tired and sore.  Good Night!

Pretty Fly for a French Fry

I need this t-shirt.

This was on the back of one of the t-shirts for Saus!

What’s Saus you ask?? Well if your local to the Boston area, you should really check this place out!

Saus is a brand new eatery right in Government Center near Faneuil Hall!

Saus is a Belgian street food cafe and that means two glorious things: Frites & Waffles.

Baskets of hot salty crispy fries (or Frites!) served with a plethora of dipping sauce options!!

I met up with some lovely blogger ladies and we may or may not have devoured 4 baskets of Frites…well there were 9 of us!

They easily have 10-12 (maybe more) sauces on their regular menu, and they will also be offering a few rotating sauces in addition!

They make all of their sauces in-house, even the ketchups and mayos! They were also telling us how each sauce is made to be VERY flavorful, because if your choosing your favorite flavor, then chances are you love that flavor and want lots of it! Nothing bland here!

I definitely can’t remember them all, but I’ll tell you my favorites!

Cheddar and Duvel Ale – this one reminded me of a delicious cheddar/beer fondue! LOVED IT! (it’s in the center, below)

Pegasaus – This was one of the weekly specials, and I hope it comes back. It was a feta based dip and SO so flavorful!

Vampire Slayer – garlic, of course. But roasted garlic (none of their sauces use raw garlic), so it was intensely flavorful but didn’t overwhelm.

Other notables for me were the Samurai Sauce, and Truffle Ketchup!

Another one of their menu items, consists of a small basket of fries with a deep fried egg on top.

Bloggers patiently waiting for a broken-yolk photo…

There it is! I’m sure its amazing, but at this point I was trying to save room for dessert…and boy am I glad I did.

Belgian waffles. Oh my. I love love LOVE waffles, and Belgians just take it to the next level with their yeasted dough and caramelized sugar exterior. Remember, this was the highlight of the Belgian Beer Fest back in November??

We sampled 3 of these beauties, to be sure to cover each sauce (unfortunately we didn’t get to try the Nutella sauce…they are still perfecting the recipe :)

Berry Berry was first…

Berries and waffles. Classic and delicious.

Next…Salted Caramel.

Wow. This was like combining a waffle and a sticky bun…incredible. I even bought one to go for Brian :)

Finally, the Lemon Cream.

I actually think the Lemon was my favorite! Especially when dipped in leftover berry sauce. It wasn’t too tart, just subtle and creamy.

If I had to guess, I bet Nutella would top my list…but I’ll just have to return another day for that!

For a Thursday night, around dinner time, there was a pretty steady flow of customers for a place that just opened 2 days ago. I think the word is out and people are excited.

The best part is that they are located right amongst a strip of some of the most popular bars in Boston (right in line with Bell in Hand, Hennessey’s, Paddy O’s…you know where I’m talking about!), and they will be open until 2AM on Friday and Saturday…genius. I can’t think of a better post-bar food!

Also great to grab tourists in for a quick snack to fuel a day of walking and shopping in the city.

I think Saus will be around for a long time…I really hope so! I’m just psyched to know a place where I can get my Belgian Waffle fix year round! :)