Comunidad Health Foods

A few posts back, I let it slip that I have joined the bandwagon of label-scrutinizing folks in hunt of the much-hyped-up phrase, "hydrogenated oil." This has been, for me, a challenge to eliminate trans fat from my diet almost exclusively. If I'm at a restaurant, I make judgement calls - I do not ask for ingredients lists. However, brands - from grocery store amenities to chain food eateries like Dunkin' Donuts alike - I research to the point of exhaustion. So, I may go to Insert-Local-Cafe-Of-Your-Choice and not ask if the peanut butter is the crummy trans fat kind (although you won't see me ordering a pie crust blindly - this is no ignorance is bliss campaign); but I did send an email to corporate Rita's requesting information on trans fat status (for those of you in the area who know what the heck Rita's is, all of their products except cream ices are guaranteed free of hydrogenated oils!) before starting my routine Rita's runs this summer.

All of that wordiness, to say that my next challenge is approaching. Originally, I was planning to cut back on those sugary treats. You see, I eat really well during the day. Really well. And I exercise almost every day. I can afford to eat dessert every day if I feel like it. The problem is that dessert, for me, does not stop at one brownie or even one Very Large Brownie With A Scoop Of Vanilla Ice Cream On Top. No, I have developed the bad habit of inhaling three brownies topped with more ice cream than I definitely should, without even blinking an eye. So, I wanted to take a step back, slow down, and learn to appreciate those cakes and brownies and bowls of ice cream. That's not to say that if I finished my One Modest Brownie with an Equally Acceptable Dollop of Vanilla Ice Cream and my tummy was still a-rumbling, I would deprive myself of anything else saturated, saccharine, or otherwise fully delicious. It was more to just be able to appreciate the flavors and the dessert for what it really was, rather than - pardon the image - snarfing the whole thing down in one fell swoop.

That was to be my next challenge, until I sat down to finally watch the documentary, King Corn. I don't know how many of you have seen it, but it just about made me want to go on the raw food diet, because that's about how much variety avoiding corn products gives you. I soon realized, though, that I am not all that crazy (yet), but am certainly bold enough to swear off non-grassfed beef for good. As a first step. This first step is a big step for me, not because I'm a big red meat eater (did you guess from the mountains and mountains of poultry recipes I dole out to you guys?), because I most certainly am not, but because, well, grassfed beef is expensive. And not, to my knowledge, sold at the local Giant that my family frequents; rather, it is sold at the Way Across Town Whole Foods, which my family sparingly frequents and never ever pays for meat there. And my family definitely will not change just because I decided to, meaning I will watch them eat their non-grassfed steaks and their non-grassfed burgers, and I will look begrudgingly down at my quinoa burgers and black bean burgers and piles of broccoli, wistfully imagining a world where I could eat natural food without selling my soul and entire savings account to the Corporate Food Devil.

So, I am saying goodbye to steak and burgers. Okay, I can't lie, I'm not starting this until after Sunday because I can't celebrate The Hamburger Holiday with a black bean burger. That's called diving into the deep end, folks, and I much prefer the inching into the kiddie pool school of thought. Still, I wanted to share this with you, because I'm kind of into Nutrition and kind of into sustainability and have been entertaining the idea of pseudo-vegetarianism (aka becoming plant-based).

What do you think of processed foods? Cattle and feed lots? King Corn? Food Inc.? Vegetarianism for environmental reasons? For animal rights reasons?

I just want to know, because King Corn made a hell of an argument (whilst the main dudes of the documentary sat eating the Golden Arches Burger Itself, naturally) for giving up grainfed beef. You see, grain kind of kills the cattle, which we would find out for certain if we didn't slaughter them right as they started to get sickly. Also, beef that comes from sad and corn-fed cows has about 6.5x the amount of saturated fat as the stuff that comes from happy grassfed cows! Crazy, right? So not only are we making them sick and killing them, but we're contributing largely to the heart disease rates that are making us sick and killing us. Also, feed lots are tragic and disheartening, and really downright disgusting when you think about it. Aside from the whole cost and convenience aspect of it, I can't find many reasons not to tackle the beef industrial beast, so to speak.

This blog isn't really about my journey through these random, self-imposed challenges that I think up every couple of months (and just to be clear, moving on to grass-fed cattle doesn't mean that I can now go back to trans fats; I build the new challenge on top of the previous ones, so all of the old rules still apply); so, I won't log on here and tell you all about that juicy burger I turned down and how very hard it was to do so, nor will I wave my hands up in the air and jump and shout about some marvelous restaurant that uses natural beef (I say natural because, hello, cows were made to eat grass). I just wanted to write a post about the next challenge I'll be facing, because maybe Someone will find it mildly interesting, and it would shake things up around these Recipe Parts of the internet.

Speaking of recipes, though, I'll be back with pictures and lists of ingredients very soon. I have two desserts planned that I hope turn out well so that I can continue to be excited to share them with you, and it's getting to be time for me to try to cook dinner again soon.

So you will be hearing from me soon, but until then, I would really love to hear from you - your thoughts, opinions, memories, experiences, anything! Tell me your beef. Or something.

I will branch out, I will branch out, I will branch out: this is what I have been internally chanting all week, ever since my kept-under-wraps chicken burn out. I just can't make it anymore. For a while, that is. I would love to make nice, light quinoa and chickpea salads, tofu and fresh vegetable stir fries, non-beef burgers of any kind, layered salads and chicken salads without mayo (yes, it's possible and delicious!), and...okay, so that last one was chicken, but it's the kind of chicken recipe that half of my family would never eat, so it counts. Regardless, I need new and different, but am met constantly by a big, brick wall called Some-Of-My-Relatives-Have-Limited-Food-Preferences, and until I own my own house and make the rules, I don't get to tell them to suck it up and either eat what I put in front of them, or don't eat.

I'm going to be such a compassionate parent.

So, turkey was my compromise to not-chicken-but-not-wild-and-crazy dinner. It was actually wonderful, and I only have two complaints: (1) my grocery store does not sell turkey cutlets not soaked in what they call "solution to maintain freshness" and I call "salt." (2) I cooked it too long because I was just too darn worried about serving raw turkey, a la my last attempt at turkey cutlets. In other words, the recipe was bursting with flavor and easy as pie to execute, and my complaints have absolutely nothing to do with the recipe itself. Speaking of the recipe...

Grilled Herbed Turkey, courtesy of Cuisine at Home eRecipes
Yield: 2 servings (4 if you follow my changes in parentheses)
The Ingredients: The Marinade
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley leaves (omitted, regretfully: not even a teaspoon of dried could be found in the Floptimism cupboard)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves (3 Tbsp. dried to kind of make up for the lack of parsley)
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and black pepper (omitted the salt - I never salt my meat)
(Added: 1/2 Tbsp. dried Basil, again to try to supplement the parsley a little)
2 turkey tenderloins, about 12oz. each (I'm sorry, but no one person needs 12oz of turkey tenderloin for dinner. I got 4 cutlets, one for each person; you could also buy 2 turkey tenderloins of about 12oz. each and then, you know, cut each one in half to be more realistic on the protein front)
The Ingredients: The Sauce
1 strip bacon, diced (I used turkey bacon, which generates less fat and drippings, but I didn't find that to be a problem)
2 Tbsp. minced shallot (omitted - they couldn't be found in the store, apparently)
2/3 C dry white wine
2/3 C apple juice
3 Tbsp. pure maple syrup (I confess, I used Aunt Jemima - I just used less of it, about 1 Tbsp)
2 tsp. dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon (or, you know, 2 Tbsp. of the bottled stuff)
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened (I used salted)
1 tsp. all-purpose flour (I wound up using more than that - also, I learned with this recipe that you don't add flour to hot liquid without mixing it in with some cold water first.)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives

The Method
1. Wash that turkey! Especially if yours comes in a saline solution as mine did, take the time to really rinse it. I don't know how much salt comes off, but boy did I scrub away in the hopes that it would!
2. Combine all of the marinade ingredients together in a plastic ziplock bag or pie dish (my favorite), and coat the turkey on all sides. Let marinate for 15 minutes (or more).
2. Coat the grill with nonstick spray (or don't, as I didn't), and preheat to medium.
3. Saute the bacon in a small pan over medium heat until crisp, about five minutes; drain on paper towels.
4. Add the shallot to the pan and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the wine and apple juice; simmer 3 minutes. Whisk in syrup, mustard, and lemon juice; bring to a simmer again.
5. Blend the butter and flour and whisk, whisk, whisk! into the sauce. Simmer (again) until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes (yeah, right!); season with (salt and) pepper.*
6. Grill the turkey over direct heat, covered (just realized I forgot that part...) for 8 minutes, and then flip, cover (forgot, again), and cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees (I actually whipped out my meat thermometer for this! And am convinced that it's wrong, because I pulled it off at "150F" and served slightly overcooked meat. Go figure).
7. If you're using tenderloins and not individual cutlets, let the turkey rest 15 minutes before slicing. Otherwise, just serve it as is!
8. Drizzle turkey cutlets or slices with the sauce and sprinkle with bacon and chives.

They suggest serving it alongside their Pattypan Squash & Pea recipe, but that's just way too out there for my family, so I gave them regular 'ole baked potatoes and, for the adventurous ones, green beans.

This is a very robustly flavored meal. It's sweet but savory, and maybe a little too herby if you take the dried route. I'm imagining it with apple cider instead of some or all of the juice, or adding stuffing and baking the turkey for a more autumn-themed dish. Regardless, this grilled turkey recipe is dirt easy to make and it pleased (most of) my family. I couldn't really ask for more.

I know, I know, you must be looking at this picture and thinking, "Jess, I'm sorry, but you've lost your mind. What do you mean S'mores? Where are the graham crackers? And why in the name of sacrilege is there a banana on that plate?!" These, my friends, are Israeli S'mores, also known affectionately by me as, The-Dessert-That-Allowed-Me-To-Eat-S'mores-Even-After-I-Gave-Up-Trans-Fats-And-Therefore-Can-No-Longer-Eat-Graham-Crackers.

It was a sad day in my life when I discovered that, although the Graham products have such a nutritious and well-intentioned history of whole grains, recent times have added the lovely ingredient called partially hydrogenated oil, trans fat's sneaky alter ego. You see, the FDA decided it was a good idea to let companies claim that their products have 0g trans fat, just so long as the actual amount is less than .5g. The problem with that is that we're not supposed to eat more than 2g of trans fat all day, and these companies can get their bad fat count down to .49g per serving (talk about incentive for portion distortion!) and still brag about how they have 0g of trans fat and therefore must be super-duper healthy. So, say you go and buy graham crackers, and the serving is 3 squares. And let's just say that their actual trans fat count is .49g. And let's just say that you don't eat 3 of them. Let's say you eat 6. Suddenly, you're at .98g, half of your day's allowance, and you still think you're at o!

Okay, enough of my soap box. It's good enough to know that I gave up non-naturally occurring trans fats (re: I still drink milk), which is a shame because my family just bought a fire pit for the mountain house we were just at for Father's Day weekend, and the only thing I think about when I hear the words "fire" and "pit" together is S'mores. Can you blame me? Needless to say, I was dejected and sitting there mulling over in my head how I could enjoy S'more-like treats without the graham cracker - that is, until my sister told me about these Israeli S'mores. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to tell you that these are a S'mores substitute, per se, unless you're crazy like me. Bananas are just not the same as Graham Crackers: in case you hadn't noticed, bananas do not tend to be thin and crunchy with a flavor reminiscent of cinnamon. Still, it was a way for me to have something chocolatey and marshmallowy with my family over the fire pit, so I set about making them.

My first attempt was a delectable, gooey, melty....disaster. I decided to freeze the bananas first. This meant that when they heated up over the flames, moisture came out and turned my chocolate squares into syrup and marshmallows into fluff. And it was very finger-licking-good messy to eat.

My second attempt, which I am sharing with you now, did not go much better. No, I didn't freeze the bananas this time. I did learn that lesson. But you see, you're supposed to slit the banana without halving it, and then somehow pry that sucker open and insert both marshmallows and chocolate into the center without cracking, bending, splitting, or otherwise massacring the banana. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to do this. Because of this, my second Israeli S'more was essentially just as finger-licking good messy as the first, but more delicious because of the whole banana-defrosting-and-melting-everything-in-its-path avoidance thing.

I definitely need to perfect my method more, so I will leave you with the instructions that I was told rather than my own tips for making these unforgettable. Maybe you will have better luck interpreting the instructions than I did. If you do, please help me! The flavor combination is really wonderful, and I would love to be able to figure out the perfect ratio and set up method to make it really work. In the meantime, even if you fail royally as I have, you're left with a creamy, filling banana stuffed with gooey marshmallow and melty, pure chocolate. And even if your fingers get all messy and the banana falls to pieces and you need a napkin or two or five in the end, it's worth it.
Israeli S'mores
Yield: 1
The Ingredients
1 very very very just barely ripe banana (my sister originally told me one very very very ripe banana, but I'm convinced that she's mistaken)
2 marshmallows, halved (or, you know, stuff them in to your heart's content - who am I to say what the correct number is?)
4ish squares of Hershey's chocolate (again, these amounts are totally meaningless - put however much chocolate you'd like into them. This is just what I did, and found that's how much I could fit easily.)

The Method (subject to change upon further investigation)
1. Slit the banana hot-dog style without totally cutting it in half. Think hot dog buns.
2. Arrange the marshmallow(s) and chocolate square(s) in between the banana bun you just created, so to speak.
3. Wrap in aluminum foil. This is about to get messy.
4. Heat in your heating machine of choice (just please, please not a microwave): oven, toaster oven, grill, fire pit, you know, anything to get it hot.
5. Unwrap (Careful: it's hot!) and enjoy! (Fork recommended, but not required).

So, I really have no idea how to make this perfectly. I am no Israeli S'more professional. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed both attempts at it, even if they don't photograph well or fully embody the livelihood of a true S'more. They're still darn good, and you should try them.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Summer is here, and it slammed into us full force as soon as the 21st rolled around. I don't know about where you are, but here, it is bordering on sweltering. Now, I mostly love this weather. I'm that person who's always cold. Always. So, humidity? Heat warnings? Bring it on! That is, until you stick me in a kitchen and demand that I put food on the table. Who wants to cook when it's like this? Who wants to eat when it's like this, much less heavy casseroles and meat-based dishes? So, that's where the Pizza Muffins came in yesterday.

Now, I couldn't just serve little pizza bites for dinner. I also cut up some fresh fruit and would have tossed together a salad, were it not for the fact that my vegetable crisper now holds just a measly half a carrot. Seriously. Well, okay, last night there was a measly full carrot, some pepper remains, and one lettuce leaf. And this: a beautiful (okay, slightly old and hinting at smooshy) zucchini. What to do with them, except make zucchini chips? Nothing. Nothing but make zucchini chips is the answer, in this context.

One zucchini does not produce many chips, nor did I even use all of my zucchini slices because, frankly, they didn't all fit on one baking sheet and I just did not feel like making another. I didn't love how these turned out, which I think is partially or mostly or entirely my fault and not at all to do with the recipe. I forgot the parmesan cheese and, of course, the salt (really, I swear, I was planning to sprinkle some on before baking!), and some burned and some didn't bake enough because I really don't know how to slice evenly, and I didn't make any of them as thick as I should've, and the coating really didn't stick all that well because I probably didn't have enough crumbs in the dish to begin with.

I still liked eating them, so you should try them, too. And hopefully you will be more successful in following directions than I apparently am. Can I blame it on the heat? Please say yes.

Zucchini Chips, courtesy of Power Meals
Yield: I halved the recipe and got enough for maybe two serious servings, so I'd say roughly 4 servings with the original (shown below). Definitely no more than that.
The Ingredients
1/4 C dry breadcrumbs (I used half whole grain matzo meal - what I had, apparently - and half panko)
1/4 C (1 oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. fat-free milk (I had 1%; the recipe also says you can substitute 2 egg whites instead)
2 1/2 C (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
Olive Oil Cooking spray
The Method
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl.
3. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp (flip once halfway through). Serve immediately.

Despite my forgetfulness and carelessness with this recipe, I really enjoyed them. They were light but tasty, and I can only imagine what a sprinkling of salt and parmesan would do to them. Definitely a keeper for when you're in need of a lighter side dish.

I did not want to make pizza tonight. It felt boring and standard, and something I just did at the start of the summer. However, with the heat settling into the neighborhood and the ensuing thoughts of heavy dishes and prolonged times with the oven cranked up to 350+ degrees, I found myself scrambling for a light-but-filling, relatively quick cooking dish. All my family could talk about was pizza. Go figure. So, determined to acquiesce to their requests without sacrificing my integrity, so to speak, I went on a recipe hunt. My Blackle search (google for those of us energy-conscious enough to use efficiently colored web pages but not so hard core that we actually stop using our beloved technology), turned up a wonderful little recipe for pizza cupcakes. Ah ha! Perfect: undoubtedly pizza-y, but with a little twist to keep me on my toes.

Of course, this means that I have not altered my pizza dough recipe to take into account my previous attempt's criticisms/thoughts/musings, so you will likely be seeing pizza again this summer. In normal form. Still, the recipe turned out well, particularly considering how much improvising I did and when taking into account the all-out war I waged with the dough trying to get it into the muffin tins. More on that later.

You can find the recipe for the pizza dough over here, and the inspiration for these wonderful cupcakes at The Cupcake Project. Feel free to follow the dough and filling recipes there, take a look at mine (filling and tomato sauce "recipes" below), or think up your own! Mine was more of a bruschetta pizza pocket, while the one at The Cupcake Project was a squash and feta combo that sounds delicious (but, unfortunately, wildly unpopular with the rest of ma famille). I had enough trepidation over the - oh my goodness - tiny dices of tomatoes as the filling to dare putting in such a frighteningly different veggie.

Here's the general gist of how to put these together (though really, you should check out the link above for the real instructions):
1. Take the pizza dough and wrestle them into muffin tins. If you come out of it unscathed (re: without smudges of flour on your clothes and dried bits of dough on the backs of your arms, forehead, etc.), I commend you, and must know your secrets. I have no method for this. In the end, I got so frustrated with the dough clinging to me, sinking down, puffing up, and letting holes form in itself that I took balls of it, shoved it down into the bottom of the pans, and punched it with my fingers until it stuck to the sides. If that's a method, go for it. I somehow imagine that there is a simpler, more peaceful way of going about it, though.
2. Put some cheese on the bottom of each cupcake/muffin/thing.
3. Add the filling.
4. Put some more cheese on top.
5. If you're me and used your dough inefficiently due to aforementioned war, and therefore have little left over to top the little buggers with, do your best to work the dough up and over the tops, and use the little bits you have on your rolling mat to patch it up. Really, getting it to mostly close is fine.
6. Pop in a 425-450 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
7. Here, you were supposed to take them out, remove them from the tins, place on parchment lined baking sheets and top with the sauce (recipe below) and more cheese. I forgot to do this, and left them in the pans. I think the only thing mine missed was a little 360 browning action.
8. Cook for another minute or so, just until the cheese is melted, and serve!

Bruschetta (ish) Filling
Yield: enough for approximately a dozen pizza cupcakes?? I shall get better at this recipe-generating-and-sharing business. I'd guess it made around a cup. Ish.
The Ingredients
1 1/3 large tomatoes
1/2 - 3/4 white onion
1 segment orange bell pepper
1 tsp. minced garlic (ish) (really, normal garlic would probably be ideal - again, in a household slightly more conventional than mine)
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. basil (dried, what I had on hand)
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

The Method
1. Chunk the onion and bell pepper and combine in a food processor, chopping until as fine as you can stand it (I attempted to make mine as pureed as possible in the hopes of slipping it into my dinner recipients' mouths unnoticed).
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, taking care to also chunk the tomatoes. Process until a desired chopped-ness. The mixture will look fairly watery at this point.
3. Strain the mixture through a sieve, reserving the liquid. Set the bruschetta mixture aside.

Quick Imitation Tomato Sauce
Yield: Maybe 1/2 cup. It's exactly enough to "frost" the cupcakes.
The Ingredients
All of the reserved tomato juice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic (again, real garlic would be ideal)
1 1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 tsp. corn starch (desperate non-sodium attempt at thickening it before relenting and adding the paste)
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. basil (dried)
fresh ground black pepper to taste
scraps of hand-peeled tomatoes (you don't have to be crazy like me and do this: I had some scraps of tomato left so I sliced them like I would a cantaloupe to get it off of the rind, and then chopped them a little and stuck them in.)

The Method
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce slightly to thicken.
2. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for roughly 10 minutes, or until it looks like the right consistency. Be sure to mash the chunks of tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon if you are crazy like me and chose to use them.

I served these alongside zucchini chips (coming soon!) and some fresh fruit. It wasn't the most wowing meal ever, but it was a fun and new way to use pizza dough. I love all of these insert-filling-of-your-choosing-here recipes, that can be substituted and mixed and matched to your heart's content. It makes me feel like I'm developing an arsenal of chameleon recipes that will give the illusion that I am constantly concocting new and exciting and impressive things. And you can achieve this illusion, too - no one has to know the truth. Your secret's safe with me.

This past week, I was introduced to a red chimichurri sauce. This recipe has no limits. It has no boundaries. I can think of so many different guises that such a recipe could take. Forget that this is another recipe attempting to take the always-forsaken chicken breast from bland and boring to flavorful and fantastic - this is a recipe for a sauce, a spread, a condiment. Think: burger condiments, vamped up salsa, pasta dressing - hey, why not a salad dressing for a santa-fe type of salad? I won't say that this was the most earth-shattering amalgamation of tastes to ever hit my mouth, and I certainly have some suggestions (what would an entry in this blog be without my opinionated nose butting into every tried-and-true recipe known to man?) but it certainly is flexible, and I think a good recipe to keep in your back pocket. And to think, I never meant to make this recipe at all!

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm not always the most organized, well-planned and scheduled person in the kitchen (the ironic thing, is that you could not find a more anal person in any other aspect of life). So, it should come as no surprise to you that I walked out of the house the day that my mom was set to go food shopping, without having looked at the recipe I was making that night. We needed ingredients. Luckily, I had the pages bookmarked in a cookbook and asked my sister to go into them and tell my mom the ingredients. She agreed.

I got home, opened the fridge, and saw an odd array of food that isn't normally there: a whole head of garlic (have you noticed we often use minced over here at Floptimism?), hot peppers, and fresh thyme. I panicked. I scurried over to my cookbook and there, sitting on the opposite page of my lemon chicken skewers (remember those?) was a concoction known something to the effect of "Rachael's Chimichurri Chicken Bites." I scanned the recipe - it was hot. Spicy. Different. Would my family eat it? It didn't matter, I decided - I was making it. I wasn't letting these ingredients go to waste. I had enough ingredients to make the lemon chicken skewers that night, and reserved this crazy alternate one for a few days later. So, there I was, with a recipe that I never would have picked for my family, but was forging on anyway.

This trepidation led to a slightly-on-edge cook, nervous already that no one would eat my food and annoyed that my sister put me in the situation of having to make it (alright, alright: she held no gun to my head, but I did tell her to look for "chicken skewers," and I was feeling a little bitter about what I would assume was an honest mistake on her part). Then, I may have not taken the "constructive" criticism as well as I should have. I'm not saying I'm the most resilient character out there - I tend to take things personally and negatively, and read into every suggestion as meaning, "this isn't perfect. You could've done better. Here's how I would change things to do it even better than you did." I understand that's not the case, but when it's happening, that's how I take it. I'll work on it. You see, I haven't cured my Floptimism just yet. Or, you know, much at all.

As it turned out, I enjoyed the recipe. I thought it was a little too one-dimensional with its heat, and could have used a little sweetening up - maybe from a tomato (of course only my own suggestions are constructive and not a sign of my shortcomings). It wasn't burn-your-mouth spicy, but delivered a nice enough kick to keep it flavorful. The recipe, like most of Rachael Ray's, could not be easier to put together at the drop of a hat. I paired it with some more bulgur in an attempt to use more of it from said chicken skewers the other week, but I imagine that in a less-stubbornly-nutritious kitchen, white rice would be just about perfect with it (or, in a moderately-stubbornly-nutritious kitchen, brown rice).

Rachael's Chimichurri Chicken Bites, courtesy of Classic Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals Cookbook
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
2 serrano or jalapeno peppers
1 rounded Tbsp. sweet paprika
1/2 C fresh flat leaf parsley leaves (I used approx. 2 Tbsp. dried)
4 sprigs oregano, leaves stripped (I used approx. 2 Tbsp. dried)
5 or 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and chopped (omitted: by the time I got to make this, the fresh thyme we had bought had vanished, and the dried container was hiding)
2 bay leaves, crumbled (I used dried)
1/2 small white onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 C extra virgin olive oil (I put in 1/4 C and it was plenty)
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (We didn't have any so I used a different vinegar)
1 tsp. coarse salt (omitted)
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lb. chicken tenders (I used cubed boneless, skinless breasts)
(added: 1/2 red bell pepper for color and substance)

The Method
1. Preheat a grill pan over high heat

2. Char peppers by holding over a gas flame or placing under the broiler for 1-2 minutes to blister them all over (mine were under there for three times that long without a single blister, but they started to make popping sounds that scared this amateur cook into removing them sans char).

3. Seed and coarsely chop the ppers and place in a food processor. (And remember, never touch your face without washing your hands - that is, unless you'd like to spend ten minutes with your face under your sink's faucet. Seriously, it's not fun, but it certainly teaches you a lesson!) Add paprika, herbs, onion, and garlic. Pulse until finely chopped.

4. Transfer to a bowl and stir in oil, vinegar, and salt. Taste to adjust seasonings.

5. Cut chicken tenders into thirds (or, if using breasts, chunks), and place in a shallow dish. Spoon half of the chimichurri over the chicken and coat completely and evenly.

Note: I did everything up to this step in advance, and refrigerated the chicken and extra sauce until later. If you choose to do this, just don't preheat the pan in the beginning.

6. Using tongs, transfer the chicken bites to the hot grill and cook, 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer bites to a serving plate. Serve with party picks and reserved chimichurri sauce for dipping (or, if you're using it as a meal as opposed to a party treat, serve over grain of your choosing).

Father's Day this year, for my family, has turned into a weekend affair in the mountains. My dad asked for a quiet weekend with all of us, just relaxing and spending time together. So, here I am, sitting in a little house, with no recipe or pictures with which to please you. No banana bread. No dinners. Not even a special Father's Day Weekend Breakfast or Brunch.

I considered not updating this weekend. I'd like to spend my time outside, trudging through my copy of Anna Karenina that has been weighing down my bedside table since the beginning of the semester, and forgetting all about trying to draw attention to this blog, trying out new recipes, and combating family members who have wildly different ideas of meal composition than I do. However, I wanted to ask all of you a question:

What are your thoughts on restaurants?

You see, I'm growing to severely dislike them. Maybe it's because I'm a control freak, a frugal spender, and a nutrition & dietetics major. Maybe it's because I enjoy cooking my own food and sharing it. Most likely, it's all of these things combining and preventing me from appreciating a much-loved American past-time. We went out to breakfast this morning, and I ordered an English Muffin. An English Muffin! That's it! You see, I was going to get their french toast and ask for it with blueberries. There's this amazing blueberry farm near the restaurant and I was convinced they would get their blueberries fresh from there. However, being the perpetual pessimist that I am, and highly skeptical of the quality and nutrition of all prepared foods, asked if the fruit was fresh. It was drenched in syrup. The toast comes buttered. There is not a fruit cup on the menu. Egg whites are $1.50 more than regular eggs - do you know how much of a mark up that is?

So, I ordered an english muffin, and figured I'd get some fruit when I got back to the house. Of course, the english muffin came slathered in butter. I ate it anyway, since I refuse to send food back to be thrown away. I'm not so much of a health-food snob that I can't bear to eat a pre-buttered piece of bread, right? Right?? But all I tasted was the butter, and it just got to me, you know? It was the icing on the most disappointing, mood-tipping piece of cake.

Where did simplicity go? Where did fresh food go? Why do restaurants rob you blind for wanting to be healthy? I don't want syrupy blueberries or english muffins drowned in butter. I don't want to have to choose between a defrosted veggie burger patty with no flavor, and a regular specialty burger with spices that sound new and exciting. Health food does not have to be boring or bland, and it certainly should not be so difficult to find on a menu.

So, because my family so evidently finds me insane and unrelated to them as a result of my opinions on this matter, I turn to you. I'd like to know what other people think of the issue. Maybe you don't think it's an issue at all, and that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill in the eyes of many people. That's okay. Agree with me, disagree with me. Sit on the fence! I'd just like to hear the opinions of other people. Sitting in this small house surrounded by the people who raised me, I could use a little shake up.

And when I get back to civilization, I promise you a recipe, complete with pictures. And, in the spirit of shaking things up, let's make it a fantastic new...chicken recipe! I know, I know, my ingenuity surprises even me sometimes.

Happy Father's Day to everyone! I hope that you find a spare moment to spend with your family - whether it be in your own kitchen, or someone else's.