Holy Smokes Artichokes

Jun 302011
 
 Posted by on June 30, 2011 at 7:53 pm in Food, Sweat No Responses »

I know, the post titles just get cheesier and cheesier…

Tomorrow is Friday! Hope everyone’s week is going well… I was just telling a friend today that I’m getting a little too comfy with the live-in girlfriend role and it will be good when my job starts up in a week and a half. I’m definitely enjoying this moment of laziness ;)

Last night was another delish dinner (another benefit of me being home all day!). We had artichokes from Trader Joe’s – they were on sale when we picked up groceries on Sunday – and sweet corn, plus some leftovers. Veggie paradise! I think we’re at 4 pieces of sweet corn each for the summer so far – not bad for June ;) B had never tried artichokes before except in spinach and artichoke dip (ha), and we were both happy to learn he loves them as much as I do. We cooked them by boiling ~3 inches of water with a spoonful of minced garlic and a swirl of olive oil in a big pot, then adding the artichokes and covering the pot to allow them to cook for about 25 minutes. When an inner leaf pulls out easily, you know they’re done! I thought they turned out pretty well:

And pretty soon all that was left was ARTICHOKE DESTRUCTION:

This happened last night too:

All my efforts in working out and eating healthy are definitely wiped out by my decisions like from-the-box cupcakes, but B loves them and I cannot say no to a cupcake that’s sitting in front of me. I used to always make him a batch whenever I came to visit him at his various apartments when we were long distance, so it was kind of fun to have our first cupcake batch in our new apartment together. Wait… is this grossing you guys out? Haha okay… too much cheesiness for one post to handle…

I had another bad indoor run today :( I wanted to take my run outdoors but it was 93* and super humid so I stuck to the treadmill and it was pretty much a repeat of Monday’s run. Warmed up, ran for 15 minutes, knee pain, walked the rest, tried to run again and couldn’t through the pain. 35 minutes total, 3 miles total. Meh.

At least I had another good meal to look forward to… we had grilled herb-turkey and cheddar sandwiches (w/ bacon for B ;) ), green beans and ROASTED POTATOES THAT BLEW MY MIND. We used a “potato medley” from TJ’s that included some interesting but tasty purple potatoes. Cut into wedges, sprinkled with olive oil and Spike seasoning, then roasted at 450* for 25 minutes = potato wedge perfection. We each had like twice as many as there are shown on my plate, but they disappeared before the photoshoot because we were both snacking while I cooked ;)

Have you had any delish home-cooked meals this week? Tomorrow is Friday – whoop! Hope you all have fun plans for the long holiday weekend :) ….I may or may not be off to eat a cupcake. Adios!

Quicky Quick Quick

Jun 292011
 
 Posted by on June 29, 2011 at 5:43 pm in Food, Life No Responses »

I have been reading work-related books and doing a little writing work all day long and didn’t leave myself anytime to blog before dinner and drinks with friends… oops! A couple quicky thoughts -

#1 – I decided I’m not a huge fan of Trader Joe’s Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter. It is somehow…. really sticky? and quite salty. It also makes uninspiring breakfast cookie dough cereal:

#2 – B and I ate at Roat Osha in Uptown last night. If you are ever in Minneapolis and are craving delicious Thai food – this is your place!! We both actually CRAVE the Pad Nam Sriracha “Wok Star” entree sometimes. Last night, B got sriracha fried rice with shrimp:

And I had Pad Pak Sri Kow with shrimp at a “level two” spiciness level. I got a level four (on a different entree) last time and it was so spicy I was in actual pain. I took it easy this time ;)

We also get the Basil Shrimp Rolls EVERYTIME we go – I want to grow my own basil on our new balcony and try to recreate them at home. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for you, we were so starving when the appetizer got to our table the shrimpies were GONE with no chance of a crappy Blackberry pic to share with you ;)

Now I gotta run – I’m cooking artichokes and B is trying to hang mirrors :) It’s my first time cooking artichokes, but they are a childhood fave of mine and a new experience for B so I am pumpeddd for din! Hope you are all having a wonderful hump day and that the weather is as gorgeous outside your window as it is mine!! <3

If I Can Cook You Can: Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Jun 282011
 
 Posted by on June 28, 2011 at 6:02 pm in Food 2 Responses »

Hi friends, it’s Tueeessdayyyyy. It’s a good thing I’m getting back on a schedule ASAP – I keep forgetting what day it is! I’ve actually received a couple new job-related emails this week so I’m definitely starting to get excited :)

The meal last night was a success! I’ve made chicken parmesan at B’s old apartment several times, but we wanted to try a casserole so it would be more leftover-friendly for his lunches at work. He eats McDonald’s several times a week so I’m trying to encourage healthier lunch options ;)

Chicken Parmesan Casserole
You will need:
1 large chicken breast
1 jar of your favorite marinara (we used Trader Joe’s)
~ 1 package of pasta (we used 2/3 box of cavatappi – I love those freakin’ curly noodles for some reason! But I bet ziti or rotini would work great too, and I want to use whole wheat next time :) )
Breadcrumbs (We used regular Italian-seasoned – I would like to try whole wheat in the future)
1 package of mozzarella or Italian blend cheese
1 egg
A little milk
Garlic powder
Olive oil

1. Heat 1-2 tbsp (I eyeball enough to completely coat the bottom of a sauté pan) over medium heat. Preheat the oven to 350*.
2. Put a pot of water on to boil. Once it is boiling, put the pasta on to cook for 8 minutes.
3. Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces.
4. Crack the egg into a bowl, and whisk with a generous pour of milk – basically make a little bowl of scrambled eggs. Put enough breadcrumbs for the chicken in another bowl, mixed with a BUNCH of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic ;) ).
5. Coat each piece of chicken in the egg mixture, then cover with breadcrumbs in the breadcrumb bowl. Place the breaded pieces into the hot oil and fry for 4 minutes on each side.
6. Hopefully you didn’t forget about the pasta – make sure to drain it! :) When the pasta and chicken are both cooked, place them in a casserole dish (we actually used a little 8×8 baking dish) and mix the two together. I sprinkled some crushed red pepper on the mixture – B likes a little spice, but this is optional. Then add enough marinara to completely cover the mixture, plus ~ 3/4 cup of cheese. Mix this all together to combine evenly, then cover with aluminum foil.
7. Put the dish in the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes.
8. When the timer goes off, sprinkle another 3/4 cup of cheese on top of the casserole and put back in the oven, uncovered. Let cook until the cheese is bubbly and browned – up to another 30 minutes.


9. Serve with your favorite veggies and enjoy! This is definitely a heavy Italian dish, so I filled half my (small) plate with salad and a quarter with sautéed mushrooms leaving enough room to have a healthy portion of the pasta.

It was DELISH!!! B confirmed that it is even better than traditional chicken parm – the noodles get sauce baked into them and it’s a good thing. Try it out and let me know if you like it :)

Today was another busy-ish day of kinda running around like a crazy person. I squeezed in my Jillian strength-training fix amongst the junk:

The TV is a little high but it’s actually perfect for moves where you are down on the mat – I don’t hate it! (P.S. A comparison of my Jillian and Jackie DVD’s is coming soon :) ) Afterward I had a yummy lunch of some organic black bean soup that was on *clearance* at the grocery store this week (bonus!) and a PLUOT – which, after some googling, is a combination of a plum and an apricot.

Funny thing is – I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a plum *or* an apricot, so I guess I have to try those now, too :P The pluot was pretty delicious – very juicy inside with a slightly sour skin. I know some people don’t eat genetically modified foods – is it bad/weird to eat genetically created fruits like this? I guess I need to do some more research… The rest of the day I spent showering off my Jillian-induced sweat and running to the suburbs to get a bathroom rug (the bathroom is done now! Whoop!) and potting soil for B’s bonsai.. We bought it from Ikea when he moved into his last apt (the icky one) and *finally* found a new pot for it last week. I think he likes having something alive around the place that isn’t too hard to take care of, and it’s pretty cute to see him move it around into the sunlight and worry about the water level ;) I’ll leave you with a pic of his little pride and joy…


How is your week going?? Do you keep any houseplants?

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