Here's to a healthy 2013!

Sheesh, it's been a long time since I last posted here. Sorry about that.

 Anyway, my wife and I have decided to live and eat healthier this year than we have in the past. One of the ways we are doing this is by modifying the food we eat. Mostly, this has been accomplished by reducing portion sizes to more reasonable levels - I've been known to eat 16 to 24 ounce steaks, and we had 4 ounce sirloins Sunday night. We've also started eating a large mixed green salad before every meal - start to fill up with healthy stuff before chowing down on the stuff we should eat in moderation.

Most of the meals of the last three days have been like the Sunday night steak dinner - slight modifications to food we normally eat. I made my ranch dip for taco night with low fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, bought frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, had lentils as the "starch" for a Spanish-seasoned meal, had 12 grain light bread with breakfast, things like that.

Tonight was the first night I've tried something completely new and different. One of the local grocery stores has a health market section, and they have a bulk foods aisle - bins of nuts, dried fruit, grains, and things for sale by weight. They're having a 10% off sale right now, so we picked up some milled flax seed, whole flax seed, and organic quinoa. A quick stop in the frozen seafood section netted us a bag of swai fillets. (Swai is the culinary name for the mild-flavored flesh of a Southeast Asian catfish known as the "iridescent shark".)

After doing some online research into how to cook quinoa, I settled on a Mediterranean-inspired meal of broiled swai with quinoa pilaf and a side salad.

I started out by rinsing the quinoa, then putting it in a pot with some water (2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa). I brought it to a boil, then covered it, reduced the heat, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Quinoa trying desperately to come to a boil

Meanwhile, I diced some veggies - red and yellow bell pepper, onion, celery and carrot - to saute for the pilaf.

The chosen victims awaiting their fate.

I heated a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, then added the veggies. I also added a good dose of minced garlic. I sauted them until they were soft but still had a little crunch, then added Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, dried oregano and dried parsley.

Such beautiful veggie cookery, don't you agree?

While that was going on, I toasted some slivered almonds in a dry cast iron skillet, rough cut some black olives, and got the broiler preheated. Once everything was ready, I turned the pilaf over to my wife and turned my attention to the fish. She mixed the veggies, olives, some of the olive brine, toasted almonds, and some additional seasoning into the quinoa.

Here's a shot of the finished pilaf - don't mind the Hercules plate, they're the only ones that weren't way too big.

Just had to make this one bigger - the detail is pretty awesome.

I had already cut the fish into four portions, so I drizzled them with a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, then seasoned them with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano and dried parsley. I cooked them under the broiler until they were nice and flaky, then served them on the plates with the pilaf, and a salad to start.

The salad - mixed lettuces, kale, dry roasted sunflower seeds, a pinch of mozzarella, milled flax seed, light raspberry vinaigrette, all in one of the kids' plastic bowls. Yum.

My daughter's plate.

 I have probably consumed fewer calories in the last three days than I would have in a single day two weeks ago, and I feel great. According to our home scale, I'm five pounds lighter than I was when I was weighed at the doctor's office December 28th. The meals are still satisfying, and still taste great. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with the healthier lifestyle, and keep up with this blog. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful (and healthy!) 2013.

Sweet & Savory Chicken Fingers

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back! My work schedule has been hectic for a while now, and I'm finally starting to get a handle on my schedule again. So, I thought I'd share this recipe for the super-delicious chicken fingers I made for dinner tonight. (Sorry, no pictures. The food didn't last long enough to get any.)

So, I wanted to use buttermilk, but I didn't have any. No worries. I just put three tablespoons of white vinegar into the 4-cup measuring cup, then added milk (1%) up to the 3-cup line. By the time the chicken is cut, presto-chango! Pseudo-buttermilk!

Anyway, I started with four pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast. I trimmed the fat and tendons, then cut it into strips. Threw it all into a bowl, then seasoned liberally with chicken bouillon powder, granulated garlic, Hungarian paprika, celery salt, freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, hot sauce, and about a tablespoon of honey. I tossed the chicken around to coat it with the seasonings and honey, then poured in the pseudo-buttermilk.

I let that sit while I heated up the deep fryer (with peanut oil) and got my flour ready. I used just regular old all-purpose flour, which I seasoned with granulated garlic, onion powder, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, ground marjoram, ground thyme, chicken bouillon powder, and Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt.

Once I had the flour sufficiently seasoned, I started the breading process. I fished pieces of chicken out of the bowl with a fork, and added them to the flour, which was in a large plastic storage bowl with a lid. After I'd added five or six pieces, I put the lid on, then shook the whole thing like mad. Repeated the process until all the chicken was in the bowl and well coated, then let it sit while the fryer finished heating up.

I dropped the pieces into the 350 degree peanut oil in batches of about six pieces, cooked them for three minutes (or until GBD - golden brown and delicious), let them drain for a few seconds in the fry basket, then transferred them to a cookie sheet with a cooling rack and some paper towels. Once they were all cooked, the whole lot went into the warm oven while everything else was finishing up. My wife made microwave potatoes (thin sliced potatoes, cooked in the microwave then topped with melted butter, salt, pepper, and chives from the garden) and we cooked some frozen corn.

Good Lord, were those chicken fingers delicious! Savory, rich chicken flavor, with a slight pepper bite and just a hint of sweetness from the honey. No dip needed. YUM!

An apple a day...

This is from a few days ago, but it's been a busy week or so, what with the youngest kid's birthday and work and all. Speaking of, here's his birthday cake, made and decorated by my lovely wife, Cheri. The design is all hers. She also made the platforms and the slingshot (homemade pretzels). My contribution? Finding the figures (pencil toppers) and thinking of Jordan almonds for the eggs.

Anyway, here's the food. First, the cast of characters:

We had thawed some center cut pork chops, but didn't want to do the same old thing (barbecue seasoning and bake, or Southern style breaded and fried). I was wandering around the kitchen, opening cabinets, staring into the fridge, trying to figure something out, when I caught sight of the jug of apple cider I'd bought weeks before and forgot about. Apple and pork goes together....eureka!

First, marinate the chops in the cider, along with some kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, cinnamon, clove, and freshly grated nutmeg, for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I shredded some Russets on the mandoline for potato pancakes. Once the chops had sufficiently marinated, I heated up the big cast iron skillet, added half a stick of butter, and started cooking them. I poured the cider from the marinade into a sauce pan and brought it to a boil for a few minutes, then added some more cider and the can of apple sauce I fortified it with some more nutmeg, cinnamon and clove, and also added a little brown sugar. I let that simmer while the chops cooked.

Isn't the steam awesome, or is it just me?

All that processing, I turned my attention to the taters. To the shredded russets, I added a large egg, a splash of milk, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, Spanish paprika, and some flour. Mixed all that up, buttered up the griddle, and formed out the mixture by generous tablespoonfuls.

When the chops were done, I transferred them to a wire rack on a cookie sheet in the warm oven, then added the rest of the stick of butter to the skillet. Added enough flour to make a roux, then poured in the cider/applesauce mixture. Mixed in some more cider, fortified the spices, and voila! Apple gravy.

Flip the potato pancakes, pop a steamer bag of green beans into the microwave, and it's time for dinner.

Plating: one pancake, a little pile of green beans, one chop. Ladle some of the gravy over the chop, and sprinkle on some shredded colby-jack cheese (sharp chedder would've been better, but you gotta go with what you've got).

Hungry yet?

Late night kitchen improv

So here's photographic evidence of one of my late-night, what-the-hell-do-I-want-to-eat adventures.

I'm a retail supervisor, and I was on the closing shift tonight. I go in at 2, and have to take my meal break no later than 4:30, so I can be back before the day shift management leaves at 5. So by the time I get home around 10, I'm hungry again. I usually have whatever my wife cooked for her and the kids, but on Saturdays, the kids are at grandma's house, so she just eats leftovers for dinner. I got home tonight and needed something to eat, and I felt like cooking something. The only non-frozen meat in the house is a couple of pounds of stew meat (I'm gonna make beef stew tomorrow). I requisitioned a good handful of the meat, tossed it with some tenderizer and let it sit for a few minutes. Then, I tossed it with some fresh ground black pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, and smoked paprika and let it sit for another couple of minutes.

I heated up the little cast iron skillet, then added some leftover bacon grease from this morning's breakfast. I tossed the seasoned beef chunks in some flour, then fried them in the bacon grease.

Once they were GBD (golden, brown and delicious - thanks, Alton Brown), I transferred them to a paper towel lined cooling rack to drain, then sauted half a yellow onion in the remaining grease. Meanwhile, I turned on the griddle to toast a couple of hamburger buns.

Took the onions out to drain, and added some flour to the grease in the skillet to make a nice roux. Hit that with about 2/3 of a can of beef broth and some granulated garlic, fresh ground black pepper and onion powder (the broth has plenty of salt).

I like the steam and gravy bubbles in that shot.

As the gravy was cooking, I buttered the buns and toasted them on the griddle.

Assembled a couple of sandwiches like so: bottom bun, beef nuggets (good a name as any), sauted onions, gravy, top bun. Pretty tasty. (And that's saying something, considering the cold I have - I can barely taste anything.)

Try to ignore the fingers in this shot. There were no surfaces in the kitchen to set the plate and take a picture, so I held it at arm's length. Only problem was that the bottom of the plate was too hot to rest on my arm, so I was stuck holding it rather awkwardly with the fingers and the base of my palm.