24 Before 24, Day Two

Day two begins with a breakfast of low fat organic vanilla yogurt with sliced fresh strawberries and sprinkled with a bit of Museli. There's also a slice of whole grain toast with black forest ham slices, a small glass of orange/pineapple/carrot juice, and a cup of PG tips breakfast tea. I'm taking baby steps to eating better breakfast...I used to not eat any breakfast at all. Eating breakfast in the morning signals your body's metabolism to wake up and get going.



Lunch is a salad consisting of mixed baby romaine lettuce, chopped grilled chicken, crumbled herbed feta cheese, diced cucumbers, and chopped hardboiled egg. A filling and perfect salad for lunch!

Spicy Chicken and Black Beans

I love having recipes that take me such a minimal time to make and don't end up costing me a fortune. This one I just pulled together this morning before work, and it's so fabulous. Let's discuss. But first, a back story.

I normally do my grocery shopping at Publix or SuperTarget, they always seem to have what I need a pretty reasonable prices. But sometimes I head down to my local Super WalMart. I was walking up the Hispanic Aisle, and I saw a section of products I've never really noticed before. There was an entire section of these sauce bases, bouillons in so many different flavors. Since I'm always looking for more ways to add flavor without adding fat, I picked up a few. I picked up a jar of Sofrito, which is a tomato cooking base with green peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, and olive oil. I also got a box each of onion, garlic, and parsley bouillions. Each little bouillon is equal to 1 TBS of the actual thing.

Okay, back to this morning. I'm wanting to make something to bring for lunch, so I browse through my pantry to find stuff I normally keep on hand... a can of black beans, and a can of chopped tomatoes with green chiles. I'm in a spicy mood, so I take these out, along with 2 chicken breasts, and get to work.

The back of the bottle of the Sofrito says to "Use 2 teaspoons of Softrio per 15 ounce can of black beans", so I opened the beans and dumped them into the sauce pan along with the 2 tsp of the Sofrito. I also throw in one of the onion bouillon cubes for good measure. I then put the lid on and turn the heat down to simmer.

I defrosted my chicken breasts, then cut them into semi-thick slices. Just even enough so they all cook for the same amount of time. I put them in a pan that I had put about a tablespoon of olive oil in, and got them cooking. I added 2 tablespoons of the the Sofrito, along with a teaspoon of dark chile powder, a teaspoon of cumin, and half of the can of chopped tomatoes and green chiles. The other half of the can, I then added to the beans for additional flavor. I let this all cook together until the chicken was done.

You can pretty much add whatever you have on hand, chopped peppers, diced onions, just make it your own dish! I was literally done within 15 minutes, and I had a cheap, low-fat, and delicious meal ready to take for lunch!

Martha Stewart's Perfect Roasted Chicken

Consider this one an essential recipe. Everyone should know how to make a roast chicken. It's such a simple meal, most everyone will love it and the directions couldn't be any easier. And you can make it YOURS just by changing the flavors.

What you'll need:

• A roaster chicken ( these were on sale for 2.99 each at Target a few weeks back!)
• 2 TBS of unsalted butter, softened
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• herbs of your choice ( I used rosemary and thyme)

Once thawed, let your chicken come to room temperature by letting it sit out for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the bird. Pre-heat your oven to 425°. Wash the chicken, and then you will need to dry it. Why dry it? Because meat browns better when it's dry!

Your next step is to remove any of the giblets, etc party favors inside the chicken. Then salt and pepper the cavity. Throw in your lemon wedges, garlic, and herbs. Then you'll need to truss the chicken. (Click here for a video showing you how to do that) Once trussed, grab that softened butter and give the chicken a good rub down all over. Liberally sprinkle the buttered surface with salt and pepper, and place the bird breast side up in a roasting pan.

I like to have some sort of root veggies cooking along with the chicken, so I found some yellow creamy new potatoes, chopped them in quarters, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. I put them in the pan surrounding the chicken, and added a splash of white wine. Sounds weird, but trust me on this, it's a great step not to miss.

Roast the chicken in your 425° until the skin is golden brown and the juices run clear when pierced, and that took me about an hour and a half. If you're not sure, use a thermometer and the breast should read at 180° and the thigh should be 190°.

As tempting as it may seem to cut right into that chicken, WAIT. Let that beautiful bird sit for 10-15 minutes so the juices have time to re-distribute throughout the chicken. This is a mistake many people make after cooking meat and they wonder why it's dry. Remember this step!

Slice and enjoy, and turn your leftover chicken into a delicious chicken salad the next day :)

Recipe was from Martha Stewart's Cooking School, which I HIGHLY recommend if you're a new or semi-pro home cook!

Barefoot Backtracking: Pesto, Peas, and Pasta!

Since I seemed to be lacking the ingredients for the Curried Cous Cous chosen by Ellyn of Recipe Collector and Tester, I decided to utilize the "Barefoot Backtracking" option and go for a recipe that I wasn't able to particapte in since I just joined in March! I scanned the past recipes page and I heard the "DING!" go off in my head when I saw the Pesto and Peas Pasta salad.

Being that I live in Florida, I enjoy going to the beach on my days off. I normally go with a group of friends, and we take turns making lunch. I made this recipe so that it can withstand being in a cooler all day at the beach or outside at a summer picnic. Since I was making this for an entree, I roasted some chicken in the oven Ina style, with rib-in chicken breasts. It really does give the chicken great flavor and keeps the moisture in!

Making this dish was very simple, and easy enough for kids to assist with! You can make it with the pasta of your choice. I went for the swirly noodles because they are so whimisical and fun to look at. Cook and drain the pasta and toss in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Set aside until cool.

I had some frozen peas stashed in the freezer, so I took them and boiled them in salted water for 2 minutes, and drained and shocked in an ice bath to retain the vivid green color. Put your cooled pasta and peas into a mixing bowl and add 5-6 tablespoons of prepared pesto (I find it in a jar in the refridgerated pasta section!), and about 1/2 cup of grated parmesean, and 2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts. Toss until combined, add more pesto as needed! This would also be the time to add the chopped chicken breasts. Serve and enjoy!

Barefoot Blogging : Chicken Piccata

My friend Tia has a great blog called Southern, Eh? and I noticed while surfing her blog, that she is a member of the Barefoot Bloggers group. Well knowing my love for Ina Garten and her recipes, I had no choice but to sign up!

So the first recipe for this month is Chicken Piccata. I've actually have the episode that Ina makes this on, so I was lucky to be able to refer to that while I was making this. Ina went all out and served it with buttermilk mashed potatoes, roasted onions, and an apple-pear crisp. I just served it by it's lonesome little self, but it'd be great with a mixed salad. Let's see how to make it....

Ingredients

• 2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 extra-large egg
  
• 1/2 tablespoon water
  
• 3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
  
• Good olive oil
  
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
  
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
• Sliced lemon, for serving
  
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving
  

First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This is so we can keep the chicken warm while you're fixing the sauce.

Since we want the chicken to cook evenly and much faster, we're going to pound the breasts. Give them a mammogram! Place the breast in between sheets of wax or parchment paper. Grab your rolling pin, or whatever you've got on hand and get mashing! You're going to want them to be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Next up it's time for a breading bath. Please don't judge me for using my Chinese takeout plastic wear. They are so handy. And I'm cheap. In seprate bowls, I've put 1/2 cup of flour seasoned w/ salt and pepper, an egg whisked with 1/2 TBS of water, and the 3/4 cup of bread crumbs. Look how lovely.

Pick up the breast and dip on both sides in each of the containers. The flour makes sure it's dry enough, and the egg helps the bread crumbs to bind to it while cooking. Make sure you shake off any excess... that's right... SHAKE YOUR BREASTS! WOO HOO! *shimmies*

Next up, you're going to want to pour about 2 TBS of your olive oil into a pan.

Then place your chicken in the heated oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side.

Once throughly cooked, remove and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put in your pre-heated oven to keep warm while preparing the delicious lemony sauce that will get poured on this crispy chicken.

I love that this is a one-pan dish! Simply wipe out the same pan you just cooked the chicken in and add 1TBS of butter, the lemon juice, and wine. Then add in the salt and pepper. While you're at it.... toss in those lemon halves you saved while juicing those lemons. ( For those that cheated and used bottled juice... I won't tell) Cook this until it's reduced by half, which should be about 2-3 minutes.

And since this IS an Ina recipe, we're going to make this sauce extra delicious by adding an additional 2TBS of butter once the sauce has reduced. When adding, make sure you swirl it in the pan to combine.

Discard those lemons, for they've done all the flavoring they can do. Remove your chicken from the oven, and plate it. Scoop up some of that scrumptious sauce you just made and drizzle it over your chicken....mmmmm...

Garnish with chopped parsley and slices of lemon!

Now you can honestly make all kinds of variations of this.... I for one next time would only use 1 lemon for the sauce, as when I tasted it, it was VERY strong. If you want to cut through the sourness, you could also add a TBS or two of drained capers. A handful of Parmesan cheese would be extra delicious in this as well!

If you'd like to check out a printable version of this recipe, here is is.



Check back this month... I've got 3 more recipes to try this month. Sauteed Broccolini, Brownie Pudding, and Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts. I guess that means I need to go sweat at the gym some more, don't I?