Saturday, March 17, 2012

A nutritious and delicious dinner

My BFFs and long time friends Erin and Amalia came over for dinner last night.  We get together for a 'girl's night in' at least once a month and have been doing so for years now.  Last night Amalia brought her two awesomely well behaved sons Elias and Joshua since her husband Robert had a last minute opportunity to go skiing at Mammoth.  We were going to order out (or is it order in?) but I told them  that I had lots of food in my frig and that I'd make dinner.  

So without going to any trouble at all, I made a nutritious and delicious dinner for us girls while Amalia heated up mini frozen pizzas for the boys. 

Dinner - Quinoa with fresh kale & cranberries, chicken, grilled tomatoes, beets, carrots & yams.

Grilled tomatoes are so delicious and so easy.  These are Trader Joe's mixed cherry tomatoes.  Just add a bit of olive oil and some coarse salt.  I added some fresh rosemary too.  Grill in a hot 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Trader Joe's now carries these thinly sliced fresh chicken breasts which is such a better size than those "honkin" big ones.  I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and then dipped each one in a lightly beaten egg white and then in a bread crumb mixture that I made by:   combining in my Cuisinart about 1 cup bread crumbs with about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and handful of the nuts that I made the other day.   I grilled these in a bit of olive oil on a high heat.  It just takes a few minutes on each side and then voila...!  You can tent them in foil until the rest of the dinner is ready.

Ok, this doesn't look all that appetizing in the pan but it really was delicious and oh so healthy.  First I made some quinoa - I buy that black and white version from Trader Joe's.  In the meantime, I soaked some dried cranberries in a mixture that came to mind of tamari, rice vinegar and agave.  The tamari was a little too salty so next time I'd use less or maybe add some orange juice.  I sauteed some fresh, chopped kale that my friend Antoinette dropped off the other day fresh from her garden (she has the greenest thumb of anyone I've ever met).  Then I added the quinoa and the sauce to the sauteed kale.  Antoinette brought me a fresh beet too so I roasted that along with a yam and some carrots at 400 degrees.  I put these veggies in at the same time as the cherry tomatoes but the beet took the most time at almost an hour.

Amalia enjoying dinner
Beth and Erin
After all that healthy stuff how about a delicious tiramisu cake that Erin picked up at Whole Foods.  Joshua and Elisa look pretty happy about it...heck, so do Erin and Amalia!!
Elias relaxing with Oliver and Juma
Erin and her Chewwy



10 comments:

  1. Looks so delicious Beth! I'll check out those new chicken breast at TJ's. Hi Erin and Amalia!
    xo

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    1. Hi Cathey - thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Yes, definitely check out those chicken breasts, much better size than the big ones.

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  2. Wow Beth the way you are cooking and all those beautiful recipes and pictures of your food, I don't need to look up a recipe on the Food Network, I will just use yours when I am looking for something new and delicious. Thanks for the tip about the chicken at Trader Joes. I love that store.

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  3. Looks delicious! I recognize the Pottery the tomatoes were in. Was that from San Felipe?

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  4. Hi, actually a friend of mine gave me the pottery that the tomatoes were in but I sure have a lot of similar stuff from all over Mexico.

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  5. Looks so so delicious! I made the chocolate biscotti again for todays outing to Santa Barbara Orchid Festival. A bus of us went up for the day. Everyone loved the biscotti. Thx for the recipe. I too will try the smaller chicken breasts. Your entire meal looks so incredible , and yes, there are always greens here for you.

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    1. Hi Antoinette,

      Did you see what I did with your kale and beets? That beet was about the best I ever had and all I did was roast it. Glad you had a good time at the Orchid Festival and hope you didn't get too rained on.

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  6. Because my boys are teenager I need the honkin big chicken breasts but they cook faster and sta moister if I slice them into 2 thinner fillets. I tried the heavily advertised Best Food Parmesan crusted chicken last week. It really is good. You coat chickinn breasts with light mayo and then a mixture of Italian seasoned pinko bread crumbs and grated parm.

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    1. Thanks for checking it and your comments which are so appreciated... I love using panko bread crumbs and I'm sure the mayo keeps the chicken really moist.

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