Mary – Page 6 – Fervent Foodie

Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

December 6, 2011 7 Comments

The process of planning out a dinner for the BF and I usually involves 1-3 hours of research, googling, cookbook flipping, blog reading and a substantial amount of quality time spent on allrecipes.com. This will result in a list of 3-6 options with corresponding website links and/or attached photos, which I will then email to the BF for his consideration. If I’m lucky he’ll rule out 1-2 items on the list that aren’t striking his fancy and then leave the final decision up to me. More often than not, he’ll respond that all the items on the list in question look fabulous and that “everything you cook turns out delicious” (LIES!!!!!) and then leave the final decision up to… you guessed it. Moi. This is a little game I like to call For the Love of God Will You Make a Decision, Man, or FTLOGWYMADM, as we say.

I wouldn’t say I’m indecisive. The problem is my decision making abilities are clouded by my gluttonous desire to eat the world once over. When I do finally reach a decision I stick to it with a supernatural stubbornness, but getting to that point can be a wee bit exhausting. Decision making on an empty stomach is horrid after all, and I’ve mentioned a time or five before that bad things happen when I don’t eat.

All I want is a plate full of deliciousness.

A mound of this, perhaps:

After playing our normal round of FTLOGWYMADM and going through the subsequent mental debate, I decided to go with this recipe for Bruschetta Chicken pasta I saw on Iowa Girl Eats. It’s really not much of a recipe, and that makes me love it all the more.

This pièce de résistance of this dish is the balsamic drizzle. Simply simmer a cup of balsamic vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes. The vinegar will reduce by about half, and once removed from the heat it will continue to thicken as it cools.

While I waited for the balsamic vinegar to reduce, I got to prepping my veggies.

The asparagus was for the pasta and the sprouts were our side dish. Love me some veg.

Jarred bruschetta sauce is the secret behind the simplicity of this pasta dish. Thank you Trader Giotto 🙂

This pasta was so simple, in fact, that I decided to squeeze in a little nap.

Before I fell asleep at the pan, I cut the chicken into big chunks, seasoned with S&P, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and tossed into a saute pan with 2 tsp olive oil. Then I dropped 6 ounces of penne pasta into boiling water.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I sautéed the veggies with garlic salt, black pepper, and 1 tsp olive oil.

When the pasta reached al dente, I combined the chicken, asparagus, jar of bruschetta, and penne in the skillet and sautéed until everything was heated through.

Last but not least, I topped the pasta with a little balsamic drizzzzzzle:

This pasta was DELICIOUS, filling, and balanced, and the tangy balsamic drizzle wowed my tastebuds. I will definitely be adding this recipe to the playbook.

Bruschetta Chicken Pasta Ingredients List (serves 4)

Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

1 cup balsamic vinegar
6 ounces penne pasta
bunch of asparagus, trimmed
1 jar of tomato bruschetta
12 ounces chicken breast
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
Seasonings of your choice (S&P, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder)

Step One: Simply simmer a cup of balsamic vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes. The vinegar will reduce by about half, and once removed from the heat it will continue to thicken as it cools.

Step Two: Cook pasta to al dente as per pasta box instructions. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into chunks, season with S&P, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and saute with 2 tsp olive oil until no longer pink. Remove from pan. In the same pan, saute asparagus until crisp tender.

Step three: Combine cooked pasta, chicken, asparagus, and bruschetta mix in the pan and saute until heated through. Serve with balsamic reduction drizzled over top!

Recipes

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

November 29, 2011 14 Comments

Pumpkin. Whoopie. Pies.

Three things I adore in life—some pumpkin, some whoopie, and some pie—all mashed into one sweet oh-so-fluffy treat.

It’s childish, yet somehow sophisticated and completely perfect. I’ve been drooling over this recipe for AGES. I bookmarked it the moment I laid eyes on it… but I’ve been purposely avoiding making these whoopie pies because I know myself. I KNOW how I am when it comes to sweets. I have no backbone, no will power, no shot in hell of “just saying no.” I knew these pumpkin whoopie pies would be good. Too good. Visions of me double-fisting whoopie pies has haunted my dreams for months.

After all this build up and anticipation, I finally made whoopie last night. It was everything I hoped it would be and so so so much more.

I was right. Surprise, surpriiiiiise. These whoopie pies were TOO good. Downright addicting. They make every inch of my body smile. My eyes smile at the sight of the adorable little pies all lined up in perfect rows of four. My finger tips smile beneath a sticky layer of cake crumbs. My lips smile as they feel the softness of the pie against the creaminess of the icing. My heart smiles every time I see or hear or speak the word “whoopie.” I know it’s not just me.

Luckily, I was able to pawn most of the pies off on my fellow Charlotte Food Bloggers at our meet up last night. Isn’t that the purpose of baking after all? To make sinfully delicious treats and force them on friends, family, and coworkers so that you don’t eat them all yourself?

After some debate (there’s always some debate when it comes to me and food) I decided to use this adaptation of the whoopie pie recipe I found on Eat Live Run (with a minor tweak).

Ok then, let’s make whoopie!

Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old. So sorry.

First the mix the following in a large bowl:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil

Then stir in:

1 egg
3/4 cup pumpkin

In another bowl combine the following:

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or just go heavy on all the other spices)

Dump the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and beat to combine.

Next, I used a cookie dough scooper to scoop out 24 cookies onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Slightly flatten the cookies (this will help the cookies get that flat whoopie pie shape… clearly I forgot this step… whoopsie pie, perhaps?):

Into a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes!

Once the cookies are completely cool, it’s time to get your ice on!

Beat the following together in medium bowl:

1 stick softened butter
1.5 cups powdered sugar

Beat for TEN MINUTES. Sorry Sad smile . Then stir in:

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Scrape the icing into a baggie, snip the end, and pipe the butter cream deliciousness onto half of the cookies:

Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to look perfect. Clearly.

Actually, from this angle this does look pretty perfect….

Gently sandwich the cookies together.

You will inevitably be smiling at this point. Just try to eat them one at a time 🙂

Fitness

Recap–the (almost) 14 day fitness challenge

November 28, 2011 No Comments

Whelp, it has been 14 days since I proposed the 14 day fitness challenge and made it my goal to exercise every day for 14 days straight (including the Thanksgiving holiday). The first 7 days went as planned and I exercised each day. Boo. Ya.

Here’s how the second half of the challenge stacked up:

Day #8: Power Pump class at the YMCA
Day #9: Woke up with knee pain, so I decided NOT to exercise.
Day #10: 15 minutes on the elliptical, 1 hour of strength training & free weights
Day #11: Turkey Trot! 5 miles in 43:48!!
Day #12: 30 minutes on the elliptical
Day #13: 3 Mile Leslie Sansone walking video with my mom
Day #14: Stuck in traffic on the drive home from Ohio and got home 2 hours late – AKA no exercise.

So the 14 days fitness challenge was more like the 12 out of 14 day challenge. Even though I missed the challenge goal, I’m happy with what I was able to accomplish. First off, I listened to my body and decided not to run when my knee was bothering me. This is HUGE for me. Normally I am stubborn (and stupid) and try to run despite pains, which is exactly how I hurt myself two summers back. Second, I EXERCISED ON THANKSGIVING. Insane!!!

The Turkey Trot was the first race I have run in, and I’m already searching for my next race.

Half marathon here I come!!!!

Fitness

Fitness Challenge

November 20, 2011 6 Comments

Normally at 11pm on a Sunday night I’d be curled up in the fetal position on the couch swaddled in a big fluffy blanket praying to all that is holy that time could somehow remain still and allow me to savor a few more hours… let’s be honest.. DAYS of weekend. This evening, however, is one from a different tale because I’m in the midst of an extended Thanksgiving holiday back home in the Motherland. There’s still a couch and a big fluffy blanket but that typical Sunday anxiety for the impending workweek is delightedly absent. Instead I’ve got thoughts of plans with friends, family festivities out the wazoo, lasagna, the upcoming Turkey Trot I signed up for (my first race EVER EEK!), MORE lasagna, oh and of course the mental preparations for my annual Black Friday Blitz.

When I started preparing for this long trip home, I knew in my gut that it would involve a ton of food and a ton of exercising… wait…. shopping counts as exercising, right?! Right. So what my gut was REALLY saying was that the trip home would involve a crap ton of food and next to nothing in the physical exercise department.

Ugh.

I came up with the idea to challenge myself to a 14 day fitness challenge to ensure I kept my butt in gear (literally) over the holiday.

14 days of back-to-back fitness.

Here’s what I’ve accomplished in the first 7 days:

Day #1: Ran 3 miles
Day #2: Body Pump!
Day #3: 30 minutes of high intensity interval training
Day #4: Body Pump!
Day #5: Ran 5 miles
Day #6: 1.5 hours of Strength Training & cardio randomness
Day #7: Ran 3 miles

So far so good! This challenge really helped me to stay on track during a rather stressful week that included MANY instances of trying to talk myself out of going to the gym. Too tired. Too much to do. Too far behind… etc. Too, too, too. Blah, blah, blah. Each of these days I’d remind myself of the challenge I posted on this here blog and how extremely disappointed you all would be in me if I did not hold up to my end of the challenge. Am I right? Just the thought of your sad faces has gotten me out there doing SOMETHING physical every day.

To that I say THANK YOU!

Oh by the way, did I mention I have this whole week off of work? Oh… I did?

Hmmm… well I guess there’s nothing else to say then. EXCEPT to announce the winner of the NuGo slim giveaway!

The winner is….

Katie! Congratulations!! Please email me with your mailing address!

Recipes

Sweet Chili Pork Tenderloin

November 16, 2011 9 Comments

When I think of pork, the first word that comes to mind is “BLAH.”

What are we having for dinner?

Pork.

BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Perhaps I was subjected to too many dried out pinky-thin chops as a child. Or perhaps I was too enveloped in my love affair with the other two other-white-meats. Given that my one true love in life is FOOD, it hurts my heart to dislike something. I actually force myself to occasionally eat the hated food(s) in question in hopes of maturing my palate and someday rising above these childish dislikes.

That’s dedication people.

Watch out kidney beans, olives, eggplant, and every species of fish known to man. I’m coming for ya.

In an effort to branch out, I decided to try and cook up some pork tenderloins. I’d never cooked pork tenderloins before, and the ONLY other time I’ve attempted a pork dish was this pork chop flop, which clearly no words can describe.

This Allrecipes.com recipe for Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin was my inspiration, subject to a few mweaks. The result was, well, it definitely ain’t yo’ grandma’s pork.. or your step-mother’s pork as the case may be. Sorry to put you on blast, Sally. Angel

This pork was JUICY and super flavorful with equally balanced sweet and heat. I never thought I’d use “flavor” and “pork” in the same sentence. Just did. Take THAT pork chop flop. TAKE THAT.

These tenderloins were SUPER simple. All you do is mix the following in a large ziploc baggie or large bowl with lid:

2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tbsp chili powder (depending on your heat tolerance)
2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp brown sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)

Plop 2 pork tenderloins (approx 1.25-1.5lbs each) into the bag/bowl and shake the crap out of it to evenly coat the loins with the seasonings. Lay the tenderloins out on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray, then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil across the top:

Cook in a 500 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning half way through.

Let the meat rest for a few minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to slice:

Crazy blurry photo courtesy of my iPhone!

Dare I say I LOVED this pork???

The BF declared “this was the best meat he ever had.” To which I responded with a perfectly timed and completely appropriate “that’s what she said.”

Speaking of appropriate, I cannot type or say the word “loin” without giggling. Apparently, my palate isn’t the only thing I need to work on maturing.

To round out the meal, I made Rachael Ray’s Orzo with Feta and Tomatoes:

This was just OK—a bit on the bland side, so I doubt I will make it again.

Thank god for potatoes. They totally made up for the orzo. Halved baby red potatoes, coated with some EVOO, garlic salt, black pepper, and a touch of cayenne pepper roasted at 500 degrees for 20 minutes:

I can honestly say I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like.

Feel free to leave inappropriate meat jokes for the BF in the comments. I’ll be sure to pass them along 😉

Sweet Chili Pork Tenderloin (serves 6)

2 pork tenderloins (1.25 – 1.5 lbs each)
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tbsp chili powder (depending on your heat tolerance)
2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp brown sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
Extra virgin olive oil

Step one: combine all of the ingredients other than the pork in a large Ziploc baggie or large bowl with lid. Place the 2 pork tenderloins (approx 1.25-1.5lbs each) into the bag/bowl, seal, then shake to evenly coat the loins with the seasonings.

Step two: spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, lay the tenderloins on top, then and drizzle them with a little extra virgin olive oil. Cook in a 500 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning flipping way through.

Step three: Let the meat rest for a few minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to slice.

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