What I learned one day, when I woke tired and achy, was that I was actually cheating my family of precious time with me. My sister,Kass, whom I love dearly, passed away Feb 21, 2011 from complications of an infection, worsened by out-of-control diabetes. She was only 44 years old. I promised her I would change and live better. I'm finally keeping that promise to her.
Ok, so back to deciding to get healthy. This meant to me, changing the way I ate and adding exercise. Its now March 15 and I have been going strong. I'll discuss exercise later... for now... food.
I am someone who loves food. I love to taste yummy food and I love to create it. I have never had technique or time to develope technique. I am not a "cook". But I do like to invent. Total discloser here: Inventions are not always edible.
But two weeks ago, I modified a stand by (Pesto chicken) when I realized that I was out of pesto! Oh the horror... I had company coming to dinner in 2 hrs and my jar of never-fail-pesto was EMPTY. While panic began to curl my toes, weaken my knees and flip my tummy as it moved upward through my body, my lips allowed an "OH CRAP" to escape my lips.
OK so time to improvise. I couldnt just serve plain, baked chicken. (Eating healthy does not mean that I have to eat bland). So a quick look around my terribly small kitchen, I noticed 2 avocados on the counter. One very nicely ripe (good and mushy) and one, eh... not so much. I decided avocado was a gift from the Gods, so it had to make the chicken better!
I mushed the avocado. Ta da! Eh, no. So I rummaged through my cabinets, feeling very much like Rachel Ray who just seems to always have the PERFECT ingredients at the front of all her cabinets and counters. I grabbed EVOO (see, Im getting savy with the terms... for those of you less experienced inventors - thats Extra Virgin Olive Oil). Then, I got the idea to make a pesto-like sauce. I added EVOO. Then, I grabbed my basil from my garden that had been dried and stored. I crumbled that in the EVOO. I grabbed some parsley to go too. OHHH then I remembered the minced garlic. EVERYTHING is better with Garlic! In went a few spoonfuls. In putting the garlic back, I noticed a jar of capers. For those of you have never experienced capers, I feel for you. If you like savory - this has to be an item you stock in your kitchen. They are olive green in color and the size of a pea. They are very salty. In went a few spoonfuls of capers.
I believe capers were made to go with Feta cheese. MMMM Feta! (As a friend told me, Feta makes it Betta). So in went some Fetta. I cracked some pepper in and mushed away.
As any good cook would do, I first sniffed it (yum-o), then tried a bite. OH WOW! This could seriously be a dip if added to some sour cream. So I layered it on my SAMS Club chicken breast (When I use fresh chicken, almost all of chicken in my house gets a few drips of "Liquid Smoke", a few shakes of sea salt and boiled for a few min.). Ok, ready to bake right? Wait... heated avocado can turn to brown....(failed invention #2343 has taught me that browned avocado looks like baby poop and NO one finds that appetizing at dinner). So I grabbed some Hormel Bacon, pre-cooked strips that I keep on hand from Sams. Emily, my 7 yr old, loves bacon. The Hormel is already cooked so its a time saver, plus its extra thin so if you are gonna eat bacon -this is the way to go - less fat, calories, etc.
My motto should be Bacon makes it Better!
I dropped a few quick pieces on top and baked it at the standard 350 for 40 min.
OOOOMYGOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It was mouth watering.
You know you have invented something great, when your guest do not really talk until their chicken is gone...and they ask if you have more. Yep... conversation was very light and I was worried... but then I realized it was because they were inhaling the food. Even my 5 yr old kept asking for "more green stuff". WHAT?! Little girls should not be asking for GREEN STUFF. Somehow I had, if even for a moment, tipped the scales of justice in the motherhood world.
Oh yes, it really was that good.
Invention # 3253 SUCCESS!
Thank you for viewing my new blog. I hope to occasionally post things here so that I can share with my friends the exerpiments in life that I was brave enough to try.
Oh, by the way, I am down over 10" and 19lbs. Due to the amount of exercise Im doing, I am being told that fat weighs less than muscle. All I know, is that my pants walk off me now :) Yippy. I use Facebook to stay accountable to my workouts, etc... and have told EVERYONE that I am trying to get healthy (and now Im praying the support me if I fail...yikes - in hind sight, what was I THINKING telling everyone). Anyways, I will keep you posted here too. Healthy or bust, right? Well, technically, I guess that's true. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment