Oh look, chicken and rice!

One of our favorite recipes for chicken actually came from a recipe called "Grilled Marinated Shrimp" on allrecipes.com several years ago. The flavor of this marinade rivals that of shrimp skewers from well-known steakhouses, and is equally delicious on chicken or shrimp.

I had intended to eat shrimp and save the chicken for The H and the little guy, but since the shrimp shrunk more than I had intended, I had some chicken as well. Aren't my shrimps cute? The flavor on them was so concentrated.

When we were using this marinade multiple times a week, I'd shake up a big batch in a Mason jar and keep it in the fridge, pouring out what I needed depending on the meal. Our favorite way to enjoy it used to be on shrimp/veggie skewers that were served over--and eventually mixed with--orzo.

Grilled Marinated Shrimp (marinade only)

from allrecipes.com

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp hot pepper sauce (I use Frank's RedHot)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt (1/2 tsp is more than enough)

1 tsp ground black pepper (I always use less)

2 lbs shrimp, chicken, or a combination

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.

2. Place shrimp or chicken in a resealable container or zip-top bag and pour marinade over, reserving some for basting if desired. Marinate 2-8 hours.

Tonight I served it with a brown rice pilaf made with celery, onion, yellow and orange bell peppers, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and vegetable broth.

The veggie broth made up one-third of the 3 cups of cooking liquid. I added too much water, though, considering the rice wasn't *quite* a full 1.5 cups. Boo to smushy rice. But I did use up the ends of two separate bags of brown rice, so yay for that.

At the last minute, I also decided to use up the broccoli in the fridge and quickly sizzled it in my cast iron skillet with grapeseed oil, crushed red pepper, and lemon zest.

The zest was made possible by my endless freezer stash of really cool stuff. :D

I served a dish of strained plain yogurt--which becomes like sour cream--on the side because the spice level was pretty powerful.

We capped the evening with garbanzo bean brownies and some delicious Gevalia creme brulee decaf.

A funny little lunch

Today's theme seems to be "fridge clean-out" as evidenced by my lunch (and dinner--stay tuned)... two small slices of leftover black-olive pizza with a bulb of fennel roasted with onion and grape tomatoes. Odd, yes. Tasty? For sure!

Pizza alone sounded lonely, and I knew I needed more veg in my life. The onion was a natural choice, and the tomatoes were a last-minute inspiration. Why not? They're so pretty!

The best way to reheat pizza, in my humble opinion, is to bake it at 400* for 10 minutes, then keep it in the oven with the heat off for another 10. This re-crisps the crust, melts the cheese, and heats everything through almost as if it were fresh.

Today I tried something a little different. I stuck the two pans in next to each other for 10 minutes, then shuffled the racks around so the pizza was on the very top and fennel closest to the heating element. After 15 minutes I removed the pizza, added a handful of grape tomatoes to the fennel, and roasted for another 5 minutes.

And then I topped it all off with a garbanzo bean brownie. :)

Garbanzo bean brownies

Brownies from beans, again? YES! And I think I like these better than the black bean avocado version I posted not long ago. The texture is cakier, which is a mystery to me because they are wheat-free. I like the chocolate flavor a bit more in this recipe, too. Using chocolate chips (an allergen-free version from Enjoy Life) instead of cocoa powder is no doubt responsible for that. They are sweeter than the black bean recipe, probably also from the chocolate chips, even though they don't call for more than one type of sweetener.

Chickpea Brownies

from Delicious Wisdom

1 1/2 cups dairy-free, grain-sweetened chocolate chips

4 large eggs

15 oz chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3/4 cup agave nectar or 1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (improvise with a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water). Keep an eye on them--I was surprised how quickly they melted down!

3. Process beans and eggs in blender or food processor until smooth. Add melted chocolate, agave, and baking powder. Blend until smooth.

4. Pour batter into lightly greased 8x8 pan and bake 35-40 minutes.

I had too much batter to feel comfortable leaving it all in the 8x8 pan, so I took out 6 cupcakes' worth, and placed both on a large baking sheet just in case.

The cupcakes/brownie bites took about 30 minutes to cook, and I continued baking the rest of the brownies at least 15 minutes longer.

Perfect with a cup of coffee at my 10:00 snack break! Next time I will add nuts and/or more chocolate chips to the mixed batter, as I prefer my brownies with little extras like that.

Eating out: The Omelette Shoppe

Last Monday, the three of us had a lovely relaxing morning together, kicked off by breakfast at The Omelette Shoppe. It was my first time there.

Sadly (or not really, because I don't feel bad about it), cheap won out over clean and I ordered the Early Bird omelette special--one meat, one veggie, one cheese in a two-egg omelet with a side of toast and coffee or juice--for less than $5.

My omelette was made with ham, green peppers, and cheddar. A classic and delicious combo! The H and the little guy each had some as well, so I really only ate about 1/3 of what you see on the plate. I had one of the wheat toast halves, with some of the strawberry jam (it's not ketchup) you see on the left, and then most of the little guy's pancake. It came out looking like Mickey Mouse--I ate the "face" portion while he picked at the "ears" and ate the fruit that came with it. The H made short work of his hash browns and over-medium eggs (no toast, of course) and coffee.

The prices here were more reasonable than our other local breakfast go-to place, and I felt the food wasn't quite as butter-laden. I'd love to go back, especially considering the sizable menu and lots of tasty-sounding options.

The koi pond in the attached mall held the little guy's attention more than his Disney-inspired breakfast did. I know where we're going next time the weather doesn't allow us to be outside!

My breakfast kept me full until after the little guy was down for a nap--lunch was leftover lentil soup and a fresh mango. Nice and light!

A meaty month

Apparently May is "meat month" here in our household. The H has been asking for beef burgers lately, but I keep holding him off by making burgers out of beans and/or ground chicken. We've been filling in our menu with co-op bacon/pancetta, Canadian turkey bacon, the dregs of meat I've frozen from other meals, and protein alternatives like eggs or the quinoa in our stuffed peppers last night.

The last time I cooked actual chicken breasts is when I made these beauties more than two weeks ago. I have been wanting to hit up a local farm retail store, which I finally did with the little guy on Monday. There we stocked up with five packages of 1/3 pound beef burgers (a total of 5 pounds, or 15 pre-made patties), two pounds of ground turkey breast, and about 4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Tomorrow is co-op pickup night, so I just logged in to remind myself what I ordered this time--and there I saw one package of 1/4lb beef burgers (oops), a pound of stew beef, and two pounds of flank steak. Looks like lots of grilling in our future!

Speaking of which, I grilled up a package of the 1/3lb patties tonight after running. Oh.My.Goodness. I wanted to keep eating long after my patty--topped with cheddar, mustard, ketchup, and sliced pickle on an HFCS-free wheat bun--was gone. On the side, we polished off a personal watermelon and some tomato-feta-balsamic vin salad. Fantastic!

Gluten free pizza rocks

This was probably one of my better pizzas to date. And to think I wasn't even planning on this until two days prior, AND had everything I needed in the house already! Even better.

Base: Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust mix

Sauce: Jarred marinara sauce, to which I added dried basil and dried oregano

Toppings: mozzarella, pancetta from the co-op, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, baby Portobello mushrooms, green onion

Outcome: Zero leftovers. The little guy ate almost as much as I did.

I made two smaller crusts out of the remaining dough, then topped and froze them (covered with foil) so we'd have a quick dinner for later in the week. They were dressed with nitrate-free turkey Canadian bacon, sundried tomatoes, pepperoncini, and kalamatas... and we ate them the next day. Yum!

Burn-the-house-down tofu

My poor baking sheets will never be the same. This is the first Clean Eating Magazine recipe in a long time that I can recall not enjoying. Did I choose the wrong tofu again? Have the wrong kind of broiler? Either way--it was passable but not a keeper. And since I'm not about only showing you the good/pretty/successful recipes, here's how it turned out.

Broiled Tofu

from Clean Eating Magazine, March/April 2010

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/4 cup low sodium chicken or vegetable broth

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

4 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 lb mushrooms (white, cremini, shiitake, or a combination of your choice), halved (remove stems if using shiitake)

Olive oil cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat broiler. Position one rack 4 inches below heating element, and another rack in the bottom third of the oven.

2. In a small bowl, whisk broth, vinegar, mustard, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside 3 tablespoons of the sauce. In a large bowl, toss mushrooms with remaining sauce. Arrange mushrooms on a large rimmed baking sheet and set aside.

3. Cut tofu lengthwise into 6 slices and pat dry with paper towels. Cut each slice in half diagonally, making 12 triangles. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange tofu on baking sheet and brush the top with half of the reserved 3 tablespoons of sauce.

4. Place sheet with mushrooms on bottom oven rack, and sheet with tofu on the upper oven rack. Cook for 6 minutes. Remove tofu (leaving mushrooms in the oven), turn pieces over, and brush with the last of the reserved sauce. Return tofu to top rack and continue cooking until tofu is dry and browned and mushrooms are tender, about 6 more minutes.

5. Divide tofu among plates and top with mushrooms. Drizzle with juices from baking sheet, and serve.

Umm, as you will observe, my sheet(s) have next to no juices with which to drizzle. I did the best I could.

Had the pieces not been partially charred, I imagine they would have tasted all right, but there was an odd *crunch* to every other bite that I couldn't place and didn't want to continue enduring. So I pitched the rest of my serving.

Please note, I thoroughly enjoyed my side of fresh mango. :)

Nutrition information per serving (3 triangles tofu, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1 Tbsp sauce):

Calories - 180

Total fat - 7g

Sat. fat - 1g

Carbs - 11g

Fiber - 3g

Sugars - 4g

Protein - 18g

Sodium - 230mg

Cholesterol - 0mg