Fun with Leftovers

Wednesday night hubby gets home late so it is typically my night to cook dinner just for me. Although, I don't really enjoy eating alone I have to admit that it is nice to be able to feast on things that I don't get to enjoy as much anymore because he wouldn't eat them. Last night was a little different since hubby said he would eat when he got home rather then picking up something on the fly. So, that changed my dinner plans a little bit. Rather than the curry dish I originally planned to make, I made an Italian frittata that I knew he would like. Either way, I used up a bunch of leftovers and that made me happy. I originally saw this recipe on the "The Galley Goumet" website. I prepared mine almost to the letter (I used fewer eggs and added milk to them. I also used tomatoes with italian seasoning in them) and it was delicious. Hubby didn't eat his serving last night (he ate pizza, the big fibber!) and opted to have it reheated for breakfast this morning. He said it was delicious. So, there you go - a dish thats good any time of day! LOL!

Tuscan Frittata Affogata (adapted from The Galley Gourmet)

10 extra large eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

8 ounces (1/2 pound) Italian sausage, casing removed

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 medium cloves of garlic, crushed and minced

1 cup crushed tomatoes

6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

6-8 fresh basil leaves, torn

Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil. Cook the sausage breaking up large pieces until browned, 6-8 minutes. Transfer sausage to a separate bowl. Carefully wipe out the pan with a paper towel. In the same pan over medium high heat, warm the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté onion and pepper until softened, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the sausage to the pan; pour in the egg mixture. 

Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the eggs are just barely set. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Turn the broiler on and move the oven rack to the highest position. Spread crushed tomatoes over the eggs and arrange the mozzarella on top. Broil the frittata for 3-5 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Slide the frittata onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with the torn basil leaves. Enjoy!

Finally!

Check it out! I finally remembered to take a picture, LOL! I consider this a personal triumph to say the least, LOL! I will also add that this meal was DY-NO-MITE!!! Hubby loved it as well and devoured every last bite. It was especially nice that I had all of the ingredients on hand as they are all pretty much standard stock in my house. I only marinaded the chicken for a few hours so an overnight marinade would probably be even better. our chicken breasts were totally mutant things so we only used one and filleted it into two serving. Even doing so, my portion was a good 5 ounces so it was still a healthy serving. The original recipe had this being prepared on the grill and served over pasta but I did it on the stove and finished it in the oven and served it with zucchini ribbons. It worked out just fine. I hope you enjoy it however you prepare it!

Chicken Bruschetta

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 Cups Italian Salad Dressing

1 large tomato, diced (or 1 basket grape/cherry tomatoes, halved)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil (chiffonade), dried will do if it is all you have
1/4 Cup good balsamic vinegar
1 Cup shredded mozzarella
parmesan cheese

Preheat over to 400F

Marinade the chicken breasts in the Italian dressing for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Mix tomato, garlic, basil, and balsamic vinegar in a nonreactive bowl and set aside

Add a little bit of the chicken marinade to an over proof skillet and heat.
Add chicken breast and sear on each side.
Pour tomato mixture over chicken and transfer pan to hot oven
Roast for about 20 minutes until chicken is almost done and tomatoes are softened
Top chicken and tomatoes with shredded mozzarella and continue roasting until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked.
Serve over anger hair pasta and/or zucchini ribbons and top with Parmesan cheese
ENJOY!

Trying New Things

With Memorial Day just ahead and the idea of actually putting a swimsuit on at the forefront of my mind, I have been frantically trying to reduce my calorie intake. I have been pretty good at keeping up with the running - the gym, not so much. Hey, something is better than nothing, right. So, as a final attempt to shed pounds I am going with calorie trimming. I am still trying to avoid simple carbs (the fistfulls of almond joy pieces I shoved in my mouth last night were an epic failure of this) while upping my intake of vegetables and lean proteins and reducing my consumption of dairy. Now, there are things I still will NOT budge on, for instance morning coffee. I like it with Splenda and half and half. Try to mess with that and I WILL kill you. I also love cheese. I will concede to try to eat lower fat varieties but will not give it up entirely. My happiness is more important to me than the size of my ass (for now, lol). My attempts at breakfast did not pan out well either. I am just not hungry when I wake up. I keep spelt cakes in the office with all natural almond and peanut butters to ward of hunger when it rears its head. Occasionally I bring a banana in with me or some fat free yogurt with rolled oats and chia seeds and fruit juice. I put all that in a mason jar and shake it up. After a while the oats soften and its a pretty satisfying snack. I need to experiment with more flavors - cocoa powder, splenda and almonds come to mind, may some coconut too. YUM! Last nights experiment was with Textured Vegetable Protein or TVP. It is used as a meat substitute. Since I am not a vegetarian I reconstituted mine with beef broth. I have to say it wasn't bad. I mean it didn't taste like meat but it didn't taste gross either and gave a little texture to my meal. I have seen it used as taco filling and with an egg to bind I would bet it would be an ok veggie burger ingredient. I had mine with soy noodles and vegetables (snap peas, carrots and cauliflower) in a jarred yellow curry sauce (Thai Kitchen brand) that I spiced up with a generous dose of sriracha. It was surprisingly good and to date this was the most enjoyable meal I have made with the soy noodles. I am not sure if it is because I am developing a taste for them or because the sauce was really spicy and delicious but whatever the reason, it was a darn good meal and I got to eat a generous portion because the calorie count was so low. Win-Win!

LIFE IS CHAOS

Indeed my life has been chaotic as of late. needless to say the healthy eating aspect of it has had some ups and downs. But I still keep trying. I have made some delicious things lately too that I have neglected to share. As usual, no pictures but I will try to catch up a little. todays recipe is an epiphany for me as my last attempts at making this were so abyssmal that I almost gave up on the idea. What is this recipe of which I speak you ask?? Mashed cauliflower. I know I have posted about this before but I did some homework and realize what I did wrong. 1- do NOT cook the florets in water!!! NO, NO, NO! Cook with no water in the microwave. 2- Ditch the yogurt. If you are worried about fat content use skim milk. 3- Use a good sharp cheddar cheese. this will mask that cauliflower taste. 4- Use a blender not a food processor to produce and silky creamy end product.

Easter Yummy

So this weekend was Easter and we feasted....and feasted..... and feasted. I will admit it was fun and delicious but today I feel like kaka. Boy, you sure do notice when you fall off of the healthy eating wagon. I am hoping i feel a little less sluggish this afternoon and can make It through my scheduled workout because right now I just want to go home and back to bed. For Easter we had roast beef with ALL the fixin's and then some. My contribution was a broccoli casserole. I used a squash casserole recipe that I had for inspiration and made it up from there.

Broccoli Casserole

4 heads broccoli, chopped into florets
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 soup can full of milk
1Tbs garlic powder
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Cups shredded Monteray Jack cheese
1 box stuffing mix

Mix stuffing mix, cheeses and broccoli florets into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl mix soups, garlic powder and milk until well blended
Add soup mixture to broccoli and stir to incorporate
Transfer to a large casserole dish and bake covered, at 350 for 1 hour or until cooked through

More P90X

So, yesterday was my least favorite of all the p90x workouts that I have done so far - Yoga X. Holy shit! One would think that yoga would be a relaxing experience -NOT THE WAY TONY HORTON DOES IT!!! I swear, the man is a masochist! Not only is the workout difficult, strenuous and painful, IT'S AN HOUR AND A HALF LONG!!! Sweet Jesus, have you no mercy! After I suffered through the thing I wasn't about to ruin all my hard work with a fattening meal. I have been doing fairly well with the eating program thus far but I admit overdoing dairy on Wednesday. I HAD to have some cheese. But I still think I hit my calorie target. Even if I didn't tough! I didn't go crazy and I really wanted it. I ran an extra mile yesterday to compensate. Now, back to dinner. Knowing I had a long workout, I planned ahead and thawed a pork tenderloin overnight. Simple preparation, I put the thawed meat in a zip lock and dumped in a package of ranch seasoning mix. You know, the stuff for dips and dressings. I sealed it up and went to work. While I was in yoga hell, hubby popped it in the oven at 350 and it was done when I was. To go with it I quickly sauteed some zucchini and garlic in olive oil and added some parm cheese when it was done (not too much!). I also made potatoes for hubby and for myself, who is is carb counting, I made mashed cauliflower. Now let me say right off the bat that I am not a huge fan of this vegetable. It's OK. It sure as shit is no substitute for potatoes, let me tell you! But, it was the closest I was going to get to them. I added carrots to them to give them a bit more flavor. Here is how I prepared it.

Erika's P90X Cauliflower Mash

1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 C chicken broth
1 Hand full baby carrots
1 Tbs chopped garlic
1 8 oz container non fat plain greek yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

place cauliflower, carrots, broth and garlic in a sauce pan. bring to a boil. put lid on pan and reduce to simmer. cook until veggies are tender. Once cooked mash with a potato masher . Stir in yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I have to say, this took a little getting used to because it is NOT potatoes BUT it did go really well with the pork and zucchini. It is definately a healthier alternative to potatoes for anyone looking to cut the carb intake.

P90X Eating

So yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to jump in to the P90X pool with both feet. At this moment I can feel my muscles locking up and wonder if I am going to be able to walk out of here this afternoon. LOL! If you didn't already know P90X is a fitness and diet program that claims will transform your body in 90 days IF (and that's the catch) you follow the exercise and diet regime. Now, this is not my first go around with P90X. Prior to my wedding I did the fitness portion of it for 60 days and I have to say I felt pretty darn good about myself. I did notice a gain in strength which was pretty cool. At the time I didn't really need to lose any weight so I didn't bother with the diet plan. Well, since getting married I have put on a good 20 pounds and I do not like it so this time around I am going full bore and following BOTH aspects of the program. For the first month the diet is very high in protein and low in fat and carbs. The most difficult part for me is training myself to eat like a normal person instead of coffee for breakfast followed by water and diet soda all day and a giant dinner. I don't mind cutting out certain foods I love because it gives me an opportunity to experiment with new things (I say this on day 2, LOL!). Last nights experiment was with coleslaw and it was not bad. There is still room for improvement but it went well with my chicken breast so I will continue to work with it until I get it juuuust right. In the meantime, here is what I have to start with!

P90X Phase I, Level I Coleslaw

1 Cup coleslaw mix
1/8-1/4 C rice vinegar
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp dill
pinch salt

Mix everything together and let sit a few minutes before serving.

NOTE: I probably would have added more honey to this but I was near the end of the jar and I could only get about 1 tsp out before I had to abandon it to tend to the other things on the stove. The resulting slaw was very tangy but still not too bad. Again, it went well with my chicken breast that I had sauteed in 2 Tbs of Russian dressing.