Well, I got tired of paying WordPress to publish a blog that I could publish myself — for free!
So let’s go to the NEW SITE! (You’ll be able to update your bookmarks once you get there.)
Fine music makes up for substandard plot.
I finally got to see something I’ve been waiting 15 years for… a live performance of La Boheme!
If it doesn’t ring a bell, La Boheme is an opera based in 1830’s Paris. And even if you’ve never heard of it, you’ve probably heard it’s music in movies like Moonstruck. But in the interest of full disclosure, let me be honest with you– the plot is terrible. Here, let me spoil it for you:
1. Four poor guys live in a crappy Paris apartment.
2. One of them meets a beautiful girl, but she’s clearly sick with T.B.
3. After a brief affair, they break-up, fearing the heartbreak of her eminent death.
4. On her deathbed, she asks to be carried to his apartment, where she dies.
The end. Seriously, that’s all of it.
But this is all redeemed by the music. The music is absolute perfection. And the particular singers at the Portland Opera production were some of the best I’ve ever heard. This video doesn’t do it justice, but it’s one of my favorite moments: (This is an actual video from the production I saw yesterday.)
It really was beautiful. Another item scratched from the ‘bucket list’, so to speak. And a special thanks to my dear husband, who endured three hours of opera just to see his wife smile.
Parmesan Chicken & Green Beans
Okay, so there’s been a lot of chicken recipes lately. This is primarily because I’m on a special diet, and as long as there’s chicken in the freezer, nobody’s going hungry.
This recipe has fantastic Italian flavor. The best part is the Parmesan sauce. While only a small amount is used, it’s creamy flavor develops in your mouth as you chew. For a low-calorie dish, it.is.amazing. Enough so that the Hubs has requested it be placed in ‘permanent rotation’.
This recipe is also low carb and low cal. The green beans serve as ‘pasta’ for the cheesy sauce. It’s a great way to use up those green beans in the garden. (We haven’t grown any this year, but friends of the Hubs gave us a HUGE bag of fresh ones yesterday.) Delish!
Like most of my recipes, this calls for a lot of spices. But feel free to use whatever you have available.
Parmesean Chicken & Green Beans
INGREDIENTS:
1 TBS olive oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs – cubed
5 cloves of garlic – minced
1 4 oz can of button mushrooms, drained
12 ounces fresh or frozen green beans
3 TBS freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp grated (powdered) Parmesan cheese
1 TBS (one oz) of reduced-fat cream cheese
3 TBS of 1% milk
One pinch each of: Salt, Pepper, Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Marjoram, Garlice Powder, and Sage
DIRECTIONS:
1. If using fresh green beans, quickly blanch them by boiling for 2 minutes. (Or try the Micro-Blanching method: place the beans in a semi-covered, microwave-safe bowl with 0.5 cup of water. Microwave for 5 – 6 minutes.) Drain, lightly salt, and set aside.
2. Place one pinch each of salt, pepper, basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, sage, garlic powder, and grated (powdered) parmesean into a small, closed container. Shake to combine and sprinkle over raw chicken to lightly coat.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned. Add garlic and mushrooms, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook and stir just until fragrant.
4. Mix in the green beans, cover and cook to your desired doneness, at least 5 minutes.
Uncover, and stir in the cream cheese, milk, and fresh-grated parmesan. Toss just until everything is coated. Remove from the heat and enjoy.
Welcome to ‘Materville!
It’s been six months in the making. But we FINALLY have them!
RIPE TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!
These poor container tomatoes look pitiful after being pruned beyond recognition. But we had to do something — they were taking over the porch! It all worked out, though. Because last weekend we picked our first harvest.
Miso is not impressed.
We picked 14 pounds of tomatoes, total.
Fourteen pounds of tomatoes may not sound like much, but for a tiny apartment without a square foot of garden space, it’s not too shabby. Our prize-winning tomato of the season was this little tubber:
And now for the weigh-in:
Bwaah Haa Haaaa!!
That’s 15.3 ounces — just under one pound. Can you believe it? And this came from a ‘container hybrid’ variety that was only supposed to produce 2 – 3 inch tomatoes.
We decided to can most of them, except for the super large ones. They suffered a special fate:
Git in 'mah belly!
Tamatar Murghi (Indian Tomato Chicken)
If you hate Indian food, this one’s for you.
Trust me on this — I know how you feel. The very smell of an Indian restaurant causes conflicting emotions in me; the food looks soooo good…but the nausea-inducing reaction I have to curry keeps me from enjoying most Indian dishes.
But while searching for healthy chicken ideas, I came across a fantastic recipe for Indian Tomato Chicken. And it has no curry!
And for a chicken dish, it’s packed with exotic flavor. I’ve never cooked a more aromatic dish. This dish has a whopping eight spices, which I loved because I finally used spices that haven’t been touched in months. It is both savory and sweet. Exotic, yet strangely familiar in taste (in an ‘Italian’ sort of way).
The tomatoes are what pull this dish together. Without them, the spices would be overwhelming. But the acidity of the tomatoes cuts through the sweetness and brings the flavor to a glorious, mouth-watering, finish. Enjoy!
Tamatar Murghi (Indian Tomato Chicken)
Tweaked from Allrecipes New Zealand
Serves 4 – 5INGREDIENTS:
1 large onion, finely chopped (approx. 1 cup)
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 TBS olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 bay leaves
Two (2) 14.5 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 LB chicken thighs
DIRECTIONS:1. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Place the chicken into the pan and lightly salt & pepper. Cook until just browned, but not cooked through. Remove chicken from pan.
2. Add olive oil to the pan on medium heat. Add onion and garlic, stirring continuously, for about 8 minutes. (Stirring constantly is key. Burnt garlic is nasty garlic.)
3. Stir in the cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves and nutmeg. Fry, stirring further 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Return chicken pieces to frying pan (along with any juices) and stir them around with the spice mixture until they are well coated. Fry for another 4 minutes.
5. Stir in the tomatoes. Once bubbling, stir in sugar and reduce the heat to low. Allow to simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, uncovered, or until the sauce has thickened. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Serve over rice.
Nutritional Info (not including rice):
Calories: 254, Fat 8.8g, Cholesterol 94 mg, Carbs 21 g, Protein 26 gHealthier Suggestions: Use chicken breast instead of thighs. Use salt to only taste, rather than the full teaspoon called for. Use low-sodium crushed tomatoes.
I think there’s a message here…
For weeks, we’ve been growing ‘Cat Grass’ for the kitties in a large flower-pot.
And for days, they’ve nibbled at it…
…and nibbled at it…
until there was nothing left.
We didn’t immediately plant new grass, because we had run out of seeds. Then, one day, I wake up on the couch to find this:
Do you think she's trying to tell us something?
I immediately jumped off the couch, because I thought she was ‘making business’ in the pot. But she wasn’t. She was just, well, sitting in it. I tried to shoo her off by nudging her, first very gently, then a little firmer. But she didn’t budge!
She just bobbed and weaved like one of those ‘weeble people’ toys. Her butt never left the dirt. It must be her silent protest for lack of cat grass.
~ le sigh ~
I’m basting myself over here!!
Not much to say here, I just wanted to let you know that it was 106 degrees today.
That’s right. One-hundred-and-six-degrees.
All the hippies will be cooking dinner on the sidewalk to save energy tonight! It’s almost 8pm, and it’s still 104!!
And to make matters worse, the air conditioning at work kicked the bucket around 4 pm today.
Low-Calorie Chicken Paprikash
Will you ever forgive me for neglecting to post in two whole weeks? But that’s what summertime is for, right? Lazy days of glorious underachievement. There’s really no excuse, though. Maybe I can convince Hubs to do some ‘Guest Posts’ for me.
So much has been happening. For one, we have GIAGANTIC tomatoes on the vine, currently in the process of ripening. These tomatoes are far larger than expected, since the seeds I purchased were for smaller container-type tomatoes. These suckers are huge.
Even Hubs' Tough-Love Plant is putting on fruit!
Our bell peppers have finally started to put on fruit. They’re currently the size of large jalapenos.
Our cayenne peppers have turned a beautiful shade of red. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ‘red’ so pretty.
In other news, the family is fine. The cats are still crazy. The tiny/crazy one (Miso) has taken a liking to me, and regularly sits on my arm of the couch for pettings.
I’m back on the healthy-train after a 4-year hiatus. It’s been about 2 weeks, and 7 pounds down. Not to shabby considering I spend my entire day moving nothing but my fingers.
On that note, I’ve been scouring the interwebs for healthy recipes that are not gross or bland. Low-calorie recipes are a dime-a-dozen, but one that doesn’t taste like something’s missing… that’s hard to come by. I found a recipe online for Healthy Chicken Paprikash, and made some additional tweaks to add flavor. It was a HIT. The hubs loved it. Spicy, creamy, and rich-in-flavor – this grown-up Hungarian dish is great over pasta or rice. Enjoy!
Low-Calorie Chicken Paprikash
Serves 3 – 4 (1 1/2 cup servings)INGREDIENTS:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 or 2 large green bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoons cayeene pepper
1/4 teaspoons cumin
1/2 cup dry white wine (or chicken broth)
1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsleyINSTRUCTIONS:
1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Spray non-fay cooking spray in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until slightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
2. Add bell peppers and onion to the pan and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Lightly salt and pepper.
3. Add paprika, cayenne pepper, and cumin. Continue to cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Add wine; increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, until mostly evaporated, about 2 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan; reduce heat to a lively simmer. Spoon sauce over the chicken as it cooks, turning occasionally, until the sauce is reduced and the chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream. Sprinkle with parsley.
NUTRITIONAL INFO:
Per serving: 263 calories; 7 g fat; 72 mg cholesterol; 16 g carbohydrate; 30 g protein; 4 g fiber; 294 mg sodium; 804 mg potassium.
Serve over pasta or rice. YUMS!
Happy Independence Day 2009!
What better way to pay respect to the awesomeness that is America, than by listening to an inspirational speech from our greatest fictional president. ROLL IT!
Mushroom Rigatoni Alfredo
Ahhhh, Rigatoni. How I love thee. Let me count the ways.
What’s not to love about a pasta where each noodleis an entire, chewy bite? Rigatoni is no doubt, comfort food, and probably better suited for wintertime. But I’ve never been one who ate things in ‘seasons.’ If it’s tasty, and available, then bring me a fork and let’s get down to business!
This is one of my favorite recipes. It’s super-easy and deliciously rich. I highly recommend using fresh parsely, if it’s available. But if not, no biggie. Enjoy!!
Mushroom Rigatoni Alfredo
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz of fresh mushrooms (baby bellas or creminis preferred)
12 oz of Rigatoni pasta
(1) 16 oz can of Alfredo sauce
1/3 cup of grated parmesean cheese
1 small bunch of fresh Italian or flat-leaf parsley (approx. 3 tablespoons when chopped)
saltDIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Bring water to a boil for pasta. Really salt the water. (This is your once chance to flavor the pasta from the inside-out.) Let pasta cook to al dente in boiling water — approximately one minute less than the recommended time.
- While pasta is boiling, roughly chop parsley to produce about 3 tablespoons worth.
- Saute mushrooms and parsley until the veggies soften. Lightly salt.
- Rinse cooked pasta in cool water. Place pasta, sauce, and sauteed mushroom & parsley mixture into a 9 x 9″ pan. Carefully combine the mixture with your hands.
- Sprinkle the top with parmesean cheese.
- Cover with foil and place in 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, removing foil for the last 10 minutes.
- Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.
GreenCouch 