The One With Chicken Rolled with Prosciutto and Provolone

SH and I sat down today and planned out what we are going to eat for dinner all week. This is a HUGE accomplishment for us. Lately we've either been going to the store - every day after work - or ordering out. Neither option was a very good one. Plus, many times we'd end up without lunches for work the following day. Since we're trying to save money this is one area we both know there is opportunity to cut back!

So here is what we came up with.

Sunday Night/Monday Lunch
Chicken rolled with prosciutto and provolone
Asparagus
Rice

Monday Night/Tuesday Lunch
Tacos/Taco Salad

Tuesday Night/Wednesday Lunch
BBQ Pork Loin (freeze leftovers)
Broccoli
French Fries

Wednesday Night/Thursday Lunch
Balsamic and Honey Glazed Chicken
Green Beans
Rice

Thursday Night/Friday Lunch
The Para Chef's Ziti (yes I know we just made this last week but it is sooooo good!) (freeze leftovers)
Salad
Garlic Bread

Then Friday night we're either going to go out, or come up with a plan B later :o)

Here was tonight's dinner. I got the chicken recipe from SH's Aunt Linda as part of the recipe Tatstebook from my wedding shower.

Take boneless chicken breast and pound it flat to 1/4" (I took two chicken breast halves, sliced them in half and then pounded them flat)

On top layer a thin slice of prosciutto, 1 or 2 thin slices of provolne cheese and then sprinkle with sage, fresh ground pepper and romano cheese. (SH is not a cheese lover so I left the provolone out of his).

Roll chicken and hold together with toothpicks (don't mind the gross chicken vein. Ew. I am glad I didn't see that earlier).

Roll in melted butter and then roll into breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan. Pre-heat oven to 400 - turn back to 350 when you put in the chicken.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Maybe somebody can tell me the purpose of this? It was getting late when I was cooking dinner so I kind of skipped this part - putting the meat in the freezer for 10 minutes and fridge for 5 - I also switched dishes from the regridgerating chicken to placing in oven chicken - the thing is I didn't think I could put a cold glass dish into a hot oven. Is that right or wrong?) and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Then I cut, peeled and washed asparagus, sprayed it with olive oil, added salt, pepper and two cloves of diced garlic. I rolled the tin foil up into a litte "bag" and placed asparagus in the oven along side the chicken.

In reality I would have preferred to cook brown rice with this meal, but I don't think SH would have eaten it and we had white rice on hand.

Yumm. Next time I'll figure out how many points this dish is. I've signed up for Weight Watchers online again. I'm not sure how closely I'll follow it but I DO know that I need to make a change and I need some guidance. I'm hoping to track how much I eat to see where I really need to make changes, as well as get some great healthy recipes.

I've also realized that this blog hasn't exactly turned out the way I wanted it to. I wanted to start this blog as more of an online journal. As a place to vent my fears and frustrations and triumph in my successes. I wanted it to be personal and meaningful and I wanted to be able to look back years from now and remember exactly how I was feeling when I wrote a certain post. The thing is I'm a little afraid to open up on here. Especially since the one time I did, I got some backlash for it. The other thing is certain people now read this blog, who I did not intend to ever see it (be it family, co-workers, etc - this blog has not become the anonymous place I hoped it would be). I'm trying to figure out the balance. I know I want more substance. But I also know I have to be careful, and that kinda sucks.

The One Where I Try and Decide

If I really am a rock, like Simon & Garfunkel say...


Or just a bleeding heart.


Images courtesy of:
http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/97/70/22197097.jpg
http://www.saskphotos.com/single%20bleeding%20heart%20(Custom).jpg

The One Where I Bake Ziti

One of my favorite new blogs is The Paraplegic Chef, written by an amazing and talented woman named Megan (who I look up to because of her courage and ability to take a bad situation and completely turn it around!)

Tonight I wanted to try her mom's baked ziti recipe. Let me tell you it did NOT disappoint. The recipe, as she wrote it is as follows (but I strongly suggest you check it out on her site, along with her other recipes!)

Ingredients:
1 box Ziti noodles
2 jars Basil and herb tomato/spaghetti sauce
12 oz mozzarella cheese (save half to top with)
1 onion
1 lb. hamburger meat (optional)

Prep:
Pre Heat oven to 350*
Cook the Ziti noodles and drain, set aside in large bowl
Shred Mozzarella
Dice Onion
Cook the hamburger meat (optional)
Saute onions until tender and put in large bowl
Add sauce with onion, cheese (half), meat (optional)
Add Ziti noodles mix well and pour into 9 x 13" pan and top with remaining cheese

Bake in oven for 30 minutes

So here goes my shot at replication.

I strayed from the recipe a little bit.

• I used whole grain pasta instead of white (+1 for being healthy!)
• I sauteed the onions in butter...because I think that's what you're supposed to do when you saute, but I don't really know (-1 for using salted butter instead of margarine, or something like olive oil. hmmmm would olive oil have worked for sauteing?)
• I asked SH to bring home fresh mozzarella and he did...but it was the kind in a ball, which was not what The Paraplegic Chef had in her pictures, but it tasted fantastic!! (-1 for not using low fat cheese, but honestly...ick.)
• I normally don't like tomato sauce, however the Classico Sweet Basil was really very good. Instead of using 2 jars, like the recipe called for, I used 1 1/4 and left the rest of the sauce on the side for SH to add to his meal (+1 for cutting calories!)

I took the finished product out of the oven 20-25 minutes later because I didn't want the pasta to dry up (due to the decrease in sauce I used.) The result was amazing. I savored every last bite of my dish (although -100 because I made Texas Toast instead of homemade garlic bread and didn't make salad!)

The best part is we can easily get 8 single serving dishes out of this one meal, which makes it completely economical! We're going to have some left overs for lunch tomorrow and freeze the rest.

Next time I make this (because there WILL be a next time) I think I'll use some ground turkey breast (any other type of ground turkey has just as much fat as ground beef) to make it a little healthier (and even with my recent belly issues, I don't think I can skip on the cheese. BTW, my belly feels ok tonight! I'm feeling a few symptoms but nothing like the other night. I ate WAY less cheese tonight, though.)

I'd also like to take a shot at making my own sauce, and adding fresh basil to it. Like I said, the kind this recipe called for was very good, I would just like to learn how to make it on my own.

Also I'll make sure to have a salad, and maybe a little red wine with it. Mmmm...now I'm getting hungry all over again.

The One Where I Write A Letter To My Belly

Dear Stomach,

You and me, we go way back.

I've forgiven you for making me throw up on the bus (in front of all the cool kids) in the 3rd grade. I've forgiven you for making me throw up in the Frankfurt Airport (in front of the 12th grade boys who were part of my exchange) when I was 16. I've even forgiven you for making me throw up ALL OVER (my now) SH's car just a couple of short months after we started dating when he picked me up at the airport after coming home from Hawaii.

I haven't complained (much) about my (ever-growing) pooch. I've learned to blame my ribs for sticking out so that no matter how much I would work out (as if!) I still wouldn't have a model-flat belly. You aren't even my least favorite body part - not close (I'm talking to you thighs and upper arms!)

So why, oh why, dear stomach do you continue to bother me?

I get it. I have a thyroid disease so my digestive track doesn't always function properly. We can work through that. What I don't know if I can work through is this sneaking suspicion that I'm lactose intolerant. Why do I think that? Let's go through the symptoms which usually start about 1/2 hour after eating pizza or grilled cheese(at least this is when I notice this the most):

• Nausea (check)
• Cramps (check)
• Bloating (check)
• Gas (check)
• Diarrhea (check, sorry bloggy readers, TMI)
  

See stomach, here is what you need to understand. Cheese is one of my favorite foods ever. Baked camembert with cranberry relish (heaven on earth), pizza, mozz sticks, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, crackers and cheese, cheese and cheese. Do you get it? I LOVE CHEESE.

Are you just trying to get me to eat healthier? I can work with that. Want to make a deal? If I start to eat better overall will you allow me to indulge in my cheesy favorites every once in a while without giving me problems?

Please let me know as soon as possible because if I have to go to the doctor to get this diagnosed I have a feeling I'm not going to like the answer (I never like their answers) so lets try and be friends, k?

Love,
Soxy

picture borrowed from dumbaaldum.org

The One About Pomegranate Chipotle Pork Roast

This first week back at work, after the holidays, has been kind of rough. I mean work itself has not been that bad (which is a minor miracle after the end of the year I had). What has been really hard is getting back into a schedule, not being able to sleep in, not getting enough cuddle time with SH and Spike, having to go outside in the icy cold weather, having to pay the post-holiday bills, etc. etc. etc.

I hate having to admit I haven't cooked much of anything for lunches/dinners this week. I haven't had the energy. That led to having dinners which consisted of a steak and cheese sub (it was a small - and I only ate half, but I did have a small bag of chips too), chicken soup (which I did make! from scratch!) and pizza. Not the best, eh?

Today I decided I was finally going to finally cook a real meal: Pomegranate Chipotle Pork Loin, Roasted Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus. This is one of the easiest meals I have made in a long time!

The Pork:

• 3 lbs of pork loin (mine came in a package with 2 1 1/2 lb loins)
• 8 Strips of bacon (even though I used 10 strips!)
  
• Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce*
  

Place the pork loin in a roasting pan with a rack and cover the pork with the strips of bacon. Put it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about an hour (until the pork is 140 degrees). Once the pork reaches 140 degrees liberally brush the pomegranate chipotle sauce over the bacon and put back in the oven for about another 10 minutes or so until the pork reaches 150 degrees. Remove from the oven and let stand about 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with additional warmed pomegranate chipotle sauce (although I didnt' use any of this b/c it was too spicy for me).



The Potatoes:
Hmmm....this is somewhat subjective b/c I didn't measure anything. But here is what I did

• 5 Red Potatoes washed and cut into cubes
• 1/2 an onion diced up
• fresh parsley
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper
• 2 TBS olive oil

Based on the recommendations from The Wife Icon, I placed all of the ingredients in a bag, shook them up and put them in a baking pan. Unlike the Wife Icon I didn't put the potatoes in a 425 oven for 30 minutes. I put them in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. They were finally starting to get browned on the outside but they were very soft.

The Asparagus

• Cut, Wash and Peel
  
• Used a Misto Sprayer to spray olive oil
• Sprinkled Sea Salt
• Sprinkled Pepper
• Wrapped it in tin-foil
  

I placed the Asparagus in the 350 oven for about 15 minutes until it was cooked through.

The results were really good. The pork had a great flavor, but it was MUCH better when you ate the bacon with it. I prefer my potatoes more browned on the outside, but they were cooked to perfection for SH and the asparagus was also good. It was wonderful to have a nice, easy meal - and to have enough leftovers for tomorrow!

I feel somewhat accomplished having cooked a meal tonight. Hopefully I can stay in the habit, because surely eating right can help me work towards my goal of losing some weight.

*UPDATE: You can buy the Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce from my Tastefully Simple Representative.

The One Where I Can Walk Like a Penguin

There really isn't an athletic bone in my body.

Yeah, my first word was "tut-down" (touchdown for those of you who don't speak baby.)

And my nickname in softball was "slugger" (the nickname doesn't account for the fact that even though I could hit the ball long and hard *hee hee* I rarely made it past 2nd because I can't run to save my life.)

Maybe it's true that I could spend countless hours outside with my dad throwing free throws in the hoop - the last one you made had to be a swish! It was the rule! (but that doesn't really tell the story about when I tried out for my middle school basketball team and broke two fingers in the process, delegating me to become "she who manned the time clock" does it?)

Sure I write a sports blog (you know, when I have the time and put in some effort) and have been interviewed on TV to talk about sports, but that does not mean that I'm athletic!

If fact, I am quite the opposite. I. Am. Clumsy.

There. I said it.

Why am I writing about this now? Well it's winter again (I hate how this happens every year!) and we're getting snow/ice storms and I'm terrified of walking outside. (And before you ask I have no interest in moving to Florida or Texas or California to avoid the New England Winters. That's a blog post for another time.)

Our house is on a steep hill, and literally I start to cry a little bit (internally) when I have to get out of my car and walk down the snowy/icy hill, to get to our snowy/icy sidewalk and walk up the 15 or so snowy/icy concrete stairs - without a railing - to get into my nice warm house. Sure SH shovels and puts down pet-friendly salt to help me be more safe, but I'm still scared. I hate it.

Plus, when I get to work our parking lot is literally a skating rink. I swear it's a law-suit waiting to happen. And while I could use the extra dough, I don't want to be the one to fall in the parking lot where my whole company can see and laugh at me. Oh, and I don't want to get hurt.

You might think I'm over-reacting a little bit but let me tell you something totally embarrassing if you don't know me in RL.

Three weeks before my wedding I fell walking down the stairs outside of our house attempting to step on the grass. I had to wear a brace for the wedding and part of the honeymoon!

Not only that, but a few months later (literally three months) my father had open-heart surgery. My brother and I went to stay with him during his recovery. Wouldn't you know it - the day after dad got home from the hospital I went outside to walk the dog, fell in the garage and re-sprained my ankle. Thank goodness my brother was there or I don't know what we would have done that week I couldn't put any weight on my ankle.

Well today the Boston.com decided to give us some tips for walking on the ice - like a penguin (which reminds me of that 80's commercial for New England Aquarium where Karen says "I can walk like a penguin..." remember that? No? Ok then. OH WAIT - Apparently YouTube remembers!!! Watch Karen walk like a penguin for yourself!) Ok - back to the tips:



Honestly, thanks for the tips. But now on top of being clumsy, they want me to walk like an idiot (I mean penguin!) and in the 1.5 seconds I'm falling to the ground remember to tell myself, "Self: try and relax your muscles." I'm in big trouble.

How many days until spring?!?!

The One Where My Dog Is So Human

How freaking cute is Spike? Seriously you can't look at these pictures and honestly say you don't think he is the most adorable thing EVER.

So yes, we let the dog sleep in the bed (I actually love it, don't judge me!) And usually he curls up under the covers and then wriggles himself out during the night because he gets too hot. Well last night he only came half way out and totally laid there on his back, with his little paws sticking out on top of the blanket.

I almost died from the cuteness overload.
I love him so much.
Really.
So. Much.

Congrats to Sarah (@SensiblySassy) from Sensibly Sassy who will be getting her own little bundle of puppy love in just one month!