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!

Weekend Cooking

My husband has told me on numerous occassions that there is nothing to eat in the house, meanwhile we have cabinets and a pantry full of food. Not to mention a fruit bowl on the table and plenty of things to eat in the fridge. But I finally understand what he is saying, because many times I open the fridge to find something prepared and there is nothing, just stuff that will take a lot of work. So this weekend I cooked and baked and roasted.

Last week I had Sauerbraten for dinner at one of our local favorite pubs, Connolly Station,  and thought it was heavenly so I looked up a recipe and found one by one of my favorite Food Network hosts, Alton Brown. I had a round bottom roast in the freezer so I took it out to defrost and on Thursday night I made the marinade, browned the meat and then set the meat into the marinade to sit for the next 3 days.

On Saturday I peeled a large butternut squash, chopped it up and roasted it. When it was soft, I added it to the blender with chicken stock and salt and pepper and made a roasted butternut squash soup.

On Sunday I got up and began my heavy cooking. I first made blueberry muffins, followed by tuna salad, egg salad, roasted asparagus and baked chicken cutlets. I also chopped up chicken breast into tenderloin size pieces and have them marinating in a hawaiian flavored marinade. I plan to grill these tonight. At about 4pm I took the Sauerbraten out of the fridge and put it in the crockpot to cook. I had it cook for 3 hours on high and it came out so tender and juicy. It really was a great recipe to follow. I posted the link to it above but here it is the way I made it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional for seasoning meat
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) bottom round
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

In a large saucepan over high heat combine the water, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, juniper, and mustard seeds. Cover and bring this to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Pat the bottom round dry and rub with vegetable oil and salt on all sides. Heat a large saute pan over high heat; add the meat and brown on all sides, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side.

When the marinade has cooled to a point where you can stick your finger in it and not be burned, place the meat in a non-reactive vessel and pour over the marinade. Place into the refrigerator for 3 days. If the meat is not completely submerged in the liquid, turn it over once a day.

After 3 days of marinating, place the roast and marinade into the slowcooker and turn it on high.

Add the sugar to the meat and marinade, cover and cook until tender, approximately 3-`4 hours.

Remove the meat from the vessel and keep warm. Strain the liquid to remove the solids. Return the liquid to the pan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk in the cornstarch and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce.  

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.

April Goals and March Recap

Now that we are into our second day of April, I've had a good time to think about what goals I'd like to attain this month. I've come up with quite a few good ones that I feel fit into my new WW lifestyle as well. Before I start on April's goals, I wanted to recap how I did for March:

• Make 3 new recipes this month (I made 2, but I also made a lot of fresh marinades this month so it should count for something!)
• Finish Water for Elephants (Great book! Looking forward to the movie!)
• Go to 5 Spin Classes (I believe I made it to 7 classes!)
• Get a massage (Got this, but only because I was in pain from my shoulder through my neck. Wasn't as enjoyable as I had wanted it to be.)

My goals for April:

• Make 10 dinners without processed food - this will be tough because I use a lot of cans
• Get to the gym 21 times 
• Plant herb seedlings
• Bring my dog to the dog park everyday I have off from work, weather permitting
• Get in touch with paving stone companies for estimates