Bestie does blogging

Hey there…I am currently en route to VA to visit with my in-laws and attend (what I envision to be) a pretty faboosh Indian wedding on Sunday

Not to leave you hanging and without good foods to ogle over, my bestie has stepped up to the plate with a recipe for you all.  Enjoy!

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Hello blogosphere!  Bestie A here.  As Shanna’s bestie, I am privileged to get to sample all her cooking experiments, and I’m often treated to dinner and vino at her place (and our fav shows on DVR or Netflix).  So last week I decided I’d come over and cook S a fancy dinner in her own kitchen.  She told me while I was prepping the food that part of cooking for her is blogging about it, so here I am!

On the menu for the evening was chicken stuffed with smoked gouda and pimientos, sauteed summer squash, and basil pearled couscous.  Let’s just say I was being optimistic about single-handedly putting this dinner together in someone else’s kitchen, but I eventually got everything accomplished… even if it was after S’s 8:00p eating deadline.  Luckily the chicken was yummy enough that she ate it anyway.  Success!  So to recreate my masterpiece, here is a step-by-step.

1) combine ~1cup shredded smoked gouda, 2 chopped scallions, 1-2 tbs diced pimientos, and 1 tbs paprika in a bowl to combine as the stuffing for the chickies.  (see pics below)

The stuffing mixin's

...and after the paprika is added

2) preheat oven to 400 deg.  (This is the important step that was snag number one for me… I selected preheat on S’s oven, but then forgot to press START… doh!)

3) The original recipe said to slice the chickie breasts and then put in the stuffing, but my chickies were pretty think already. So I chose to pound them even thinner, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then wrap them around the filling and secured with toothpics.  This gave the unnecessary consequence of all the chickie breasts looking like human hearts before being cooked… but I digress

Be still my chicky hearts

4) lightly saute the chickies until they’re golden brown, sprinkle with more paprika, and then pop them in the oven (which should be hot at this point, unless you’re following what I did to a T) for 15 minutes.  Our chickies took a little longer, but S likes her poultry well done, and the cheese keeps it all moist, so no biggie.

5) Whilst chickies are cooking, prepare the couscous per instructions on the box, and begin sauteing the sliced squash.  We used the same pan for squash that was used for the chicken, and it added a nice flavor.  The pearled couscous can be found just about anywhere, and is also called Israeli couscous.  I picked a basil flavored box of the pearled couscous, which was super yummy and tasted like pesto… so I think next time I’ll get plain pearled couscous and we’ll make the pesto from scratch.  Yum!!

Yellow squashy goodness

Basil flavored pearl couscous is a new fave!

So along the way I made a bit of a mess, but I was able to clean most of it as I went.  Even though I know the ins and outs of S’s kitchen pretty well, it was still not as quick or clean as if I’d made it at my house.  Let’s just say I’m not a contender that you’ll see on Top Chef anytime soon.   But the meal was a hit.  Even the boys were raving about the great flavor the smoked gouda added to the chicken.  Hurray!

Din-din...some things are worth waiting for

Once dinner was finished, S treated us to a yummy dessert of tofutti ice cream sandwiches topped with chocolate PB2.  Delicious!  Neither of the hubbies picked up on the PB2 being anything but natural peanut butter, and my hubby didn’t even know the ice cream was tofu-based.  Winning.

So tell me blog world… do you get strange-kitchen anxiety when you try to cook somewhere new?  And do you love doing unexpected special things for the one’s you love, even though they don’t always turn out perfect?

That’s all for now!  Until next time ShannaLikeBanana fans. 

A

Manna has made me happy

What is Manna?  Manna is acutally Manna Bread from www.mannaorganicbakery.com .  They claim: “It is a cake-like, sprouted bread, yeast free bread, organic bread, free of salt, no oils, no sweeteners, no leavening agents. Manna is a moist and delicious, high in protein and fiber. Available in 9 delicious flavors in your favorite health food store, and most Whole Foods markets, in the USA and Canada.”  

I had seen this bread in the blogworld and was drooling over the amazing flavors they offered.  And a bread that is “cake like” to boot?  Um yeah!  Unforunately I haven’t seen this bread populating the shelves of my local grocery stores so Manna Organics was kind enough to send me a HUGE sampler box.  Check out these goodies:  

Manna Bread Motherload

 

I’m a bread girl.  I’m a carb girl.  I love pastries, muffins, scones, donuts, wraps, bagels, breads, buns, etc.  So this was a veritable kid-in-the-candy-store moment!  

The bonus of this bread is its minimal ingredient list.  Some of the breads only have 2 (yes TWO) ingredients.  How is that possible?  Well, folks, it is, and Manna has done it.  

I wanted to get some other opinions so I offered my bestie a loaf to try, put the Fruit and Nut Loaf in my fridge for early consumption, and also the two new samples of Rye and Sourdough also went the fridge.  My bestie commented that the bread tasted really good, but was a bit crumbly and wouldn’t necessarily make for a good sandwich bread.  

First up: Rye
I had the Rye for breakfast pre-Body Pump class and slathered some Chocolate PB2 on each of the 2 sample slices.  I nuked the bread for about 10 seconds in the micro since it had been in the fridge.  This is one dense bread!  The rye flavor is extremely prevalent and tastes very hearty.  I shold have thought my use for this sample a bit better because I’m sure the flavors would have elevated to a whole other level if used as a lunch sandwich with some hummus or perhaps spicy dijon spread.  This bread was slightly crumbly, but the dense rye held up quite well overall.  

Next up: Sourdough
Ding, ding, ding.  We have a winner!  Check out this puppy:  

Manna Organics Sourdough with veggie patty

 

On my Manna Sourdough sample slices went 1 Dr. Pragers Tex Mex veggie patty from Trader Joe’s.  2 small slices of Jarlsberg cheese (newest fave in cheeses btw), slices of Roma tomatoes, and good ol’ yellow mustard.  This sandwich hit the spot.  The subtle taste of sourdough was nice and not too overpowering, but the heftiness of the dense bread helped to keep me full longer.  The ‘crunch’ throughout is an added bonus!  

Most recently: Fruit and Nut Bread
Did someone say cake?  Yes, this bread is as dense as cake and just as tasty, but not as sweet (a good thing!).  There are whole nuts in there along with chewy pieces of fruit.  How to eat it:  

• Lightly warmed up in micro (15 sec) and a wee bit of butter
• A hunk ripped off to eat with a piece of fruit as I’ve been doing for breakfast
• Crumbled up into a Vanilla Chobani (see photo below)

Vanilla Chobani and Manna Fruit and Nut -- great breakfast combo!

 

My dislikes is that the loaves do seem to be quite crumbly and the structure doesn’t hold too well.  That being said, I have not followed the instructions to use a serrated knife when cutting.  So perhaps that will work.  I also wish the bread was slightly lower in calories.  As you know I do count my calories  (you can read that post here), but I also like to eat large quantities of food and if given the chance, I could eat the whole loaf of bread, which would rack in at nearly 1000 cals.  Oye.  So far, I’ve been good and only been eating ‘hunks’ less than  150 cals or so   [Disclaimer: just because I count calories doesn't mean I advocate it for all or am pushing this way of eating/living -- it's just what works for me ]  

Other flavors included Millet Rice, Sunseed, Carrot Raisin, Banana Walnut Hemp, Multigrain, Cinnamon Date, and Fig Fennel Flax — which do you want to try?  

And so I have big plans for the remaining loaves of my Manna bread including a potential bread pudding.  I know some bloggers out there have tasted the Manna, so can you offer me suggestions of how best to eat it, bake with it, etc?  

30 Days of Insight: Day 25- Something you would do if no one stopped you or if you knew you wouldn’t fail.  I would hightail it out of the States and move to Europe, perferably Italy or France and stay there for at least 2 years immersing myself 100% in the culture.  If I could transfer my job there, I would in a heartbeat, but I fear I’d have to leave everything behind to make it happen and then would have nothing to come back to when I returned.  

What would you do if you knew you wouldn’t fail?

Sandwich thins — 2 ways

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and inputs on various protein and nutrition bars.  While at TJs today, I picked up a Clif Builders bar per Tanya’s comment on the last post.  I debated on picking up a Think Thin but I couldn’t get over the amount of calories for such a small bar.  I promise I’ll try one sometime or another  

As for the weekend, I saw Inception with the hubby and another couple.  We intended to hit up the 825p show, but by 8p it was sold out!  UGH!  So we went to another theater for the 9p.  Now this girl goes to bed normally before 10p so embarking on a 2.5 hr movie that starts at 9p is asking for a bit of trouble.  Luckily I had a HUGE bucket of popcorn to make me happy (and yes I’m feeling quite guilty about all the damn butter…sigh).  My thoughts on the movie: very well acted; interesting concept; Leo was great ; Ellen Paige didn’t come off as very authentic in her role; some amazing special effects; a little slow; a wee bit too long.  Would I see it again?  Nope.  But if you like Momento and other film’s by the same Director, I’d suggest checking this movie out. 

Saturday morning I worked my arse off at my first ever Body Pump (YAY!).  A quick 25 minute warm-up on the treadmill before hitting the class was perfect.  I am totally going back and cannot wait already!  I’m so bad at lifting weights on my own because I never push myself — this class makes you work.  I feel delightfully sore today.  Woohoo!  And that didn’t stop me from getting 60 minutes on the treadmill while furiously finishing my latest Kindle book   Reading makes exercise so enjoyable! 

And now onto some eats… 

There is something about Saturday mornings that make me crave PB on something, anything, out of the jar!  Since I knew I was headed to Body Pump, I wanted to get something fairly substantial in my belly.  I searched around the cupboards and fun these: 

Breakfast makin's

 

Two kinds of PB?  Why?  Why not, I say!  A perfect marriage between Blizzard Butter (BB) and Chocolate PB2 makes for one heck of a yummy spread over a toasted sandwich thin! 

Layered Peanut Butter goodness

 

I loved that this packed about 250 calories, a great amount of protein and some complex carbs.  In case you haven’t used PB2, it is in powder form and you mix it with water to create the ‘butta’.  I made the PB2 in a little ramekin and decided I should do my civic-PB-duty and lick the ramekin clean upon finishing.  I have no shame  

Next eats were more of the Mexi persusasian.  Shocker!  I sauteed a green bell pepper, small red onion, and lean turkey burger meat on the stovetop and added in a packet of Low Sodium taco seasoning.  After simmering for about an hour, all the flavors were well combined and makin’ the house smell like un barrio in Mexico   Loved it! 

Meat for Mexi eats

 

Throw the ground meat atop a sandwich thin, top with lite mexi cheese and pop in the oven on 400deg for 7-10 min.  Add some salsa and a side of corn on the cob and you have a meal! 

Open faced Mexi burgers on sandwich thins with corn-on-the-cob

 

The main dish reminded me of a healthy, Mexi take on open-faced sloppy joes.  And plenty of leftovers to incorporate in other items throughout the week. 

I also did some prepping of veggies for the week too: 

Veggies

 

Do you do this?  During the hectic workweeks, it’s great to still be able to make a big salad or a stir-fry and be able to simply grab your pre-cut veggies. 

Happy Monday — and for the Bachelorette fans, hope your guy wins   (Ahem, Roberto!) 

Do you prep any food for the week on your Sundays?  

30 Days of Insight: Something that inspires me?  My seriously talented and intelligent group of friends.  I’m the least educated amongst all the PhD’ers … and to boot, they can bake, cook, bike, paint, style, run, etc.  Amazing!