Weeknight Dinner #1

Well hello everyone! I am excited to see I have a few followers! very very exciting.

nummmm num

So, for the next foodie foodie entry, it's all about the weeknight dinner. We are all busy, especially those of us down at IMC (all my design-y friends, you know what I mean...) and hot dogs and pizza can only take us so far... once in a while we need something wholesome. I apologize for the terrible lighting in my photos. Flourecent lighting isn't flattering... even to chicken. My iPhone and I are very sorry :P

So here it is: Weeknight dinner #1

Grilled Chicken with Roasted Asparagus
simple? YES! easy? that too.

For the asparagus you'll need:
One bunch of asparagus
Olive oil
Garlic salt
pepper

Really easy guys. Wash the asparagus and snap off the woody parts on the bottom of the stalks. Those get really tough so you won't want to eat them. Set your oven to 325° and let it warm up (very nice for girls like me who's heaters don't work in their apartments and it is very chilly outside!) Place the asparagus onto a cookie sheet or baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Then add the garlic salt and pepper (I like a lot of garlic salt, but that's just me.)

sprinkle with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper

Place those suckers in the oven and let them do their tasty thing for 15-20 minutes. Depending on how hot your oven actually runs, and how mushy or firm you like your roasted veggies, they should be done within that time. I typically let them roast until they're fork-tender and then they're good to go!

doin their thang

Grilled Chicken
I love making this grilled chicken recipe... even though I don't use a real grill outdoors or anything... this is where my friend the cast iron grill pan comes in. Horrah for grilling indoors! The rub on this chicken tastes uber yummy.. and I think the combination of cinnamon and mustard is really good. Just a little note: do not fear the liquid smoke! It is the outdoor summer BBQ in a bottle... utter magic. Don't overdo it though, because the flavor can be a bit overpowering.
Anyway, read on yum-seekers.

You'll need:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (one breast per person)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tps garlic salt
1/2 tps pepper
a dash of dried dill
3 tbs coarse ground dijon mustard
1/2-1tsp liquid smoke

Put the cinnamon, garlic salt, pepper, and dill into a large zip top plastic bag.  Then place the chicken into the bag, seal it, and mush it around to cover all of the dry ingredients onto the chicken breast.

Let that chill out in the fridge for a few minutes. Then, add the mustard and the liquid smoke into the bag. Take our your handy-dandy cast iron grill pan and put it onto the stove over high heat.

Let it get nice and hot so you can get some great grill marks on your chicken. When the grill pan is hot, place the chicken breasts onto it- and don't mess with them. If you keep screwing with them, you'll ruin the grill marks which are very nice and impressive!

flip it!

yummmm

Turn down the heat to medium-high or even down to medium and cook the chicken until it has nice grill marks and is cooked through. Enjoy!

there it is!

So there you have it, a lovely little healthy meal for the weeknight. This normally takes me about 30 minutes if I time everything right and multi-task. I like making this because the asparagus is super healthy, and the chicken has some really interesting flavors going on there (not the boring salt and pepper deal.) Because this is a little skimpy for my calorie-furnace boyfriend, I like to sneak a little buttered brown rice onto his plate if he's eating with me that night (just follow the rice cooking instructions on the bag, then add butter and salt and pepper.) You know... a little carb action. Hope you enjoyed!



Foodie foodie!


ps
If you have ANY comments or questions, don't be shy! Drop me a comment :)

Nom Nom breakfast

The best solution that I have found for Brian's and my differernt eating necessities is simply to make two separate dishes (DUH!!!!!)

This may seem like a lot of work (at times it certainly feels that way) but in all honesty I like making food enough that I don't normally mind too much.

So here is a Saturday breakfast:
His: shallow fried plantains and french toast
Mine: Greek yogurt with honey and fruit


(Plantains)
I've had plantains two ways: One way in Costa Rica which I later learned were called "platanos maduros" and the other Cuban approach which was "twice fried plantains" (not sure how to say that in any other language...) I found that out of the two, I MUCH preferred the Costa Rican "platanos maduros". They are made from plantains that have been given a good long while to ripen. And when i say ripen, I mean RIPEN. If it was a banana, you'd think it was too mushy to eat. But fear not! Plantains are a relative of bananas, but hold up for much longer, even when the peel looks basically black. In fact, when making platanos maduros, you want a plantain that has a very dark or even black peel. I also liked platanos maduros much more because they require less oil. The Cuban twice fried plantains are made from plantains that are not as ripe (and have less of a sweet flavor), are crispy, and are deep fried (which I hardly EVER allow myself to eat out at restaurants and NEVER do at home.)

SO, for my version of Platanos Maduros:
one large plantain (VERY ripe)
2 tbs butter
3 tbs canola oil
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp white sugar

Cut the plantain into 1/4"-1/2" coins, or if you're feeling fancy, cut them at a diagonal but keeping them roughly 1/4"-1/2" thick (now that I think of it, thinner is better.)
Put the butter into a skillet (preferably nonstick) on medium heat and allow to melt. Then add the oil.
Place the pieces of plantains into the pan. At this point you want to be careful. In my experience it is easy to burn the outside of the plantain while leaving the inside raw and fibrous (... not yummy foodie foodie...) Allow the plantains to cook thoroughly before flipping. Add the sugars. The plantains should be golden brown and soft in the middle.

I burnt some of them just a little :]

(French Toast)
Next comes French Toast. Pretty basic if you ask me but it's a wonderful go-to recipe when you've got some bread sitting around. My mom makes it with whole wheat bread at home since we have that around more than any other type of bread. I made it with a french bread loaf that I had leftover from the night before (for Brian, of course, because I try not to eat TOO much bread!)

You'll need:
1-2 eggs
roughly 1/4c milk (I never really measure)
2-3 tbs granulated or powdered sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
a big sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Sliced bread (french, whole wheat, whatever you like!)
1-2 tbs butter

Crack the egg(s) into a wide bowl or deep plate and use a whisk to beat it. Add the milk, sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl.  Put the butter into a nonstick pan on medium to high heat. While the butter is melting, dip the slices of bread into the egg mixture. Be sure to get both sides. When the butter is melted and pan is fairly hot, (at this point I like to sprinkle a bit more cinnamon and sugar onto each slice of bread to it will caramelize while cooking) put the dipped bread into the pan and let brown on both sides. then TA-DA!!!!! French Toast. VERY basic, but yummy. I like to warm up strawberry or blackberry jam in the absence of maple syrup. Also, a little sprinkle of salt will do wonders.

Sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon

Brown on both sides

Brian's  Breakfast. Happy weekend

My breakfast:
My VERY simple breakfast is delicous, healthy, and serves as great fuel if you have a long day ahead of you. Depending on the season, you may be able to take advantage of your local farmers market (which I fully encourage) but if you find yourself devoid of fresh fruit, you can indeed make this with canned fruit—I prefer pears or peaches.

I use Trader Joe's nonfat plain Greek Yogurt. They have other flavors but I prefer plain because of the lower sugar content.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Greek Yogurt, be aware that it is not entirely the same as regular yogurt. It has a much thicker consistency and has a much stronger flavor (sort of tangy). The reason I REALLY like it is because it has double the protein content of regular yogurt which is great if you need a good breakfast that will really carry you throughout the day.

For an Elise sized portion you'll need:
1/2 C Nonfat plain Greek Yogurt
1 C fresh fruit (in this case I chose strawberries and nectarines)
1-2 tsp honey
or 1 packet of Splenda OR 1-2 tsp sugar

Put the Greek yogurt into a bowl and add the honey, sugar, or spenda. Mix well.
Then add the fruit.

Hah! How easy was that?

Yum!

Well I hope you've enjoyed my first food-post. I'll be back with more yum yums later.

Foodie foodie!

Well hello there

My name is Elise. I'm an aspiring graphic designer, a San Francisco Bay Area native, a total coffee addict, AND I have an extreme and insatiable love for food.

I did, however, have a few obstacles in claiming my foodie status:
1) I have an extreme tendency to become quite chubby
2) I have a boyfriend with a metabolism that EASILY triples mine. Three pounds of pasta? No problem!

You can imagine my dilemma.  How do I make good, yummy, foodie food that is healthy enough for me to eat, and calorie-rich enough for him to eat?

Foodie Foodie!