Wednesday Night Dinner: Rosemary-Garlic Chicken

Yesterday for the weekly Wednesday dinner, it was just Chris, Brad, and me. I made this easy rosemary-garlic chicken dish I found from Real Simple and prepared some instant mashed potatoes and some wilted spinach to go along with it. It made a great lunch today too. After dinner, the three of us went for a ride in my new car. I think we had a pretty pleasant dinner.

This is a nice recipe to prepare because it feel likes you're being fancy, but it actually cooks very quickly. The sherry vinegar's got a nice tang to it.

Recipe for Rosemary-Garlic Chicken from realsimple.com
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half, lengthwise (I just mince the garlic)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Pound the chicken breasts until they are of uniform thickness.
Heat oil and garlic in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden, 3-5 minutes on each side.
Add salt, pepper, vinegar, chicken broth, and rosemary. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 3 minutes longer or until chicken is fork tender. Remove chicken to a platter and keep warm.
Increase heat to high and boil the sauce until thickened or syrupy, 3-5 minutes. Whisk in the butter and pour the sauce over the chicken.

Creamy Gnocchi with Veggies

1 package potato Gnocchi

1 jar Newman's Own Alfredo Sauce

7-8 stalks of Asparagus

1/2 cup frozen Peas

1/2 Yellow Onion (chopped)

EVOO

Garlic Salt

Pepper

1. Trim asparagus. Lay out on a baking sheet, sprinkle with EVOO and garlic salt on both sides. Put in the oven at 350 until softened (? until it's done, Kiddo), about 5-9 minutes.

2. Cook Gnocchi according to package.

3. Heat up peas in microwave, about 1 minute.

4. When Gnocchi begin to rise, sauté chopped onion with some EVOO. 

5. Drain Gnocchi. Heat up alfredo sauce. Cut asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. Mix it all together. Pepper to taste.

---Review---

I've never been able to find a canned alfredo sauce that I like, and this one is ok. It's kind of salty. I really just love Olive Garden's alfredo sauce. Use that if you can get it.

Pretty good and an easy way to sneak some vegetables into your diet.

Banana-Berry Smoothie

I found myself confronted with a problem of overripe strawberries this week. I was overly ambitious and bought too many strawberries, then found myself not eating them. So I threw together a smoothie and had it for breakfast. It was a great idea.

Banana-Berry Smoothie Recipe:
strawberries
banana
blueberries
vanilla yogurt
splash of cranberry-raspberry juice

Blend until desired thickness

Wednesday Night Dinner: Pineapple Chicken

This week, I asked someone else to cook dinner so I could go to the gym after work. Chris offered to test out his slowly expanding cooking skills on us. Chris cooked a chicken and vegetables in a pineapple sauce and served it over steamed rice. It was a small group this week, only three of us, but we still had a lovely Wednesday night dinner.

Penne with Two Tomatoes and Mozzarella

6 oz fresh Mozarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

coarse Salt and ground Pepper

12 oz Penne Rigate

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 pint Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

1/2 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes, sliced

2 Garlic Cloves, sliced

1/4 cup snipped Chives

1. Place cheese in freezer. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta and set aside.

2. In pasta pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and pasta water. Cook until cherry tomatoes soften, 2-4 minutes.

3.  Add pasta, chilled cheese and chives to pot, season with salt and pepper, toss to combine.

---Review---

I used to think that Brandon and I carried all available pastas on our cupboard shelves. I have learned that this is not even a little correct. The closest thing that I had when making this recipe was whole wheat Rotini, which is similar to Penne because... it is also a grain. Not that big of a change, but next time I'll probably use Penne as I think it will better hold onto the garlic.

Speaking of garlic, I would recommend dicing it for this recipe. The slicing really made me feel as if I only got about 3 bites of dinner with garlic in it, which was quite sad for me as I love garlic.

I wasn't really sure what the recipe meant when it said that the tomatoes would soften until the first one popped and squirted it's boiling insides at my face. Keep an eye out, once a couple of the tomatoes start to soften they all do very quickly.

All in all this was a really easy, very tasty recipe. I even enjoyed it cold for lunch today.

Mom's Mac and Cheese

1 box pasta (You can use any type you would like that will catch cheese in crevices)

1/2 large box of Velveeta cheese (1/2 of a box may be a bit modest... look at that cheesy goodness)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/4 (or so) cup of Vitamin D milk 

1. Cook pasta as per box and drain. While cooking noodles, slice cheese into 1/3 inch pieces.

2. Return pasta to pot. Add milk and butter. 

3. Add cheese slowly. Turn heat on low in order to help with melting the cheese.

---Review---

My mom came to California last weekend to spend some time with her favorite (and only) daughter. I took full advantage of the situation by getting her to make my favorite recipe of hers (which may also be the only recipe she ever makes).

Milk, butter and cheese are all approximations, as she does all of her adding by muscle memory. 

Just keep going until your arteries clog.