Cooking with What's in the House

Prior to the holidays, my husband and I made a commitment to each other that we are going to pay down our debt. Like many other Americans, we have a lot, but we are now working on fixing this. Paying down our debt means we are adjusting our lifestyle a bit. We were never ones to really go out a lot, but we would, and when you tally up the cost per month, it was several hundred dollars. Additionally, since I am the one that does the food shopping, I have to really budget my spending. Many times I would just buy things because they are on sale, not necessarily something we needed because we were out. Well that is stopping and I'm working on creating easy meals based on what is in our home already. 

When I originally thought of this dinner, I was going to do a tomato based chicken and pasta dish (which is what we'd always have), but when I opened the pantry and saw a jar of Classico light alfredo sauce, I came up with something else. I knew I had Boar's Head deli ham in the fridge and half a bag of Trader Joe's frozen peas in the freezer. So I created my own version of chicken carbonara and it was delicious!

I had 2 boneless chicken breasts already defrosted in the fridge. I cut them up into bite size pieces and seasoned them with salt and pepper. (Remember, do not use a wood cutting board when cutting up raw meats!) I had a skillet on the stove on medium heat with some olive oil in the pan and added the chicken to get it cooking.

On a separate burner, I had the water going in a pot to boil so I could add the Barilla fettuccine. Once the chicken had no pink visible on the outside, I added the peas and chopped ham and let that cook for a few minutes. Then I added the jar of sauce.

I lowered the heat on the pan and let the chicken mixture simmer until the pasta was finished. I drained the pasta then added it to the chicken mixture and stirred it together. It was such a tasty dish!

Food for Thought

Changing your diet to eat healthy, is not easy. Ask anyone that's tried. I do think that with support from others, whether it's friends, family, chat forums, you can be successful. What you put in, you can get out. In all that I participate in, I do my best to put in and learn from other people and avenues on ways to improve.

At my Weight Watchers meeting tonight, we talked about being bored with food. This couldn't be more true. I have been so fearful of becoming bored with what I'm eating that I'll stop my great progress and go back to old habits. A lot of people shared foods they enjoy and I was able to offer some of my ideas. One of the big topics was chicken and how it gets so boring, especially if you eat it the same way every time. I love chicken and am happy to have found Cooking Channel (thanks mom!) and watch Food Network a lot which has helped me learn how to season my chicken differently so it tastes delicious and different every time I eat it.

One of my struggles is vegetables. My husband loves the steam vegetables because he can take them to work or just throw them in a dish of pasta (his specialty is spaghetti, steamed brussels sprouts and balsamic). I, on the other hand, get so bored with them! They all end up tasting the same no matter what vegetable I'm eating! One of my favorite ways to eat vegetables is to grill them. I do this a lot, but when you have a small grill pan to work with during the winter (even though we keep our grill out all year, I'm not grilling with a foot of snow on the ground or if the weather is below freezing) I don't always do that. One thing I remember from childhood is having roast chicken with carrots, potatoes and onions. This was something that always tasted great. The other night I decided to change up the vegetables I can grab with my dinner. I took every fresh vegetable in the house, chopped them up and roasted them. Do you know how delicious roasted vegetables taste? If not, you need to do it. It really brings out wonderful flavors and you'll probably end up eating vegetables you didn't like prepared other ways. The vegetables caramelize and become so tasty! I line a cookie sheet with foil, toss the chopped veggies on, spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I've also tried to limit the types of pastas and rice I'm eating and have now incorporate a lot more quinoa into my meals. This is so easy to make, has a lot of protein and fiber and if you're doing Weight Watchers, it's only 3 PointsPlus for a half cup serving. I love to add roasted or grilled vegetables into this and make it a really delicious side. I've also noticed that you can make this ahead of time and it doesn't dry out like rice or pasta.

These were just some of my ideas. I love learning new ones, so please share yours!

Great Meal on a Cold, Rainy Night

One of my non-processed dinners of the month! It's roast chicken with carrots, red potatoes, and sweet onion. I flavored it with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, lemon zest and fresh chopped tarragon.