Ingredients:

• 1 container of baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned ones)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and discard.
3. Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat.  Add in the onions and garlic and cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Add in the butter and allow it to melt fully. Remove from heat.
5. Mix in the bread crumbs, basil and cheese until coated.
6. Distribute the bread crumb mixture evenly across the caps (I used a rounded teaspoon packed the filling in a little).

Bake for about 30 minutes before serving. Portion size varies based on the number of caps in your container. Eat these right away.

All of the Super Bowl snacks I scarfed down may be impeding my progress but that’s ok. Can’t live and die by the scale.

Above you will see my attempt at Smitten Kitchen’s Cheddar, Beer and Mustard Pull-Apart Bread. Next time around, I think I’d avoid following the instruction to jam any remaining pieces into the pan, I think this was a little too compact and took a lot longer to bake than the recipe said. I’m thinking about recreating this recipe with buffalo wings in mind (probably cause I’ve been scarfing down Becca’s wing dip all week). Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do this in the next few weeks. Feel like I haven’t had much time to experiment in my own kitchen lately!

That said, here are a few recipes I’m itching to try out:

• Oh She Glows’ “Battered” Fried Chickpeas
• Spoon Fork Bacon’s Baked Asparagus Fries (with the sun-dried tomato jam in particular!)
• The Treats Truck’s Caramel Creme Sandwich Cookies (once upon a time I used to haunt the truck for these on a weekly basis)
• The Pioneer Woman’s Cauliflower Soup (my boss mentioned cauliflower chowder, must merge ideas and create)
• Some Bran Muffins (sans banana) and these little individual Baked Oatmeals.

Ingredients:

• Mini pretzels, broken into pieces
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips
• sea salt

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.
2. Spread pretzel pieces out over the cookie sheet to form the bottom layer.
3. Combine the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble, let it cook for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and pour over the pretzels.
5. Bake for 5 minutes.
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the baked toffee. Wait two minutes and spread evenly across the top. Sprinkle with sea salt (be conservative).
7. Stick the tray in the fridge to let the toffee cool before breaking into pieces.

This article did NOT make me smile. At all.

Pretty much everything on this site is beautiful.

The Harvard Crimson’s tribute to the dearly departed Professor.

Oh, so many things to do. To a very busy weekend I’m sure.

Now on to today’s recipe. This one breaks down to Panko-Breaded Baked Chicken Cutlets with Caramelized Onions and Cheddar Beer Sauce.

Ingredients:

Chicken

• 2 pounds of chicken cutlets, pounded
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Cheddar Beer Sauce

• 5-6 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed
• 6 ounces beer, any
• 2 tablespoons Wondra flour
• 2 teaspoons dried mustard powder
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Steps:

Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.
2. Soak the cutlets in milk. Mix the breadcrumbs, flour, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
3. Take the soaked cutlets out of the milk and roll in breadcrumbs before putting on the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or longer depending on the thickness of the cutlets.

Cheddar Beer Sauce

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the cheese and Worcestershire stirring constantly.
2. Add in the beer and continue stirring or whisking for a smooth sauce.
3. Stir in the Wondra flour to help thicken up the sauce before adding the mustard powder.
4. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

After taking the chicken cutlets out of the oven, arrange the chicken in a baking dish and layer with caramelized onions and cheese sauce. Slide this dish into the oven for about 10 minutes, remove and serve hot.

In my family, we grew up broccoli rabe cooked with anchovies so here is my recipe (adapted):

Ingredients:

• bunch of broccoli rabe, stems trimmed
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 4-6 anchovy filets, chopped
• salt to taste
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Steps:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add broccoli rabe. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the broccoli rabe is tender when pierced with a fork.
2. Drain thoroughly.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, anchovies and broccoli rabe.
4. Stir frequently and cook for roughly 3-4 minutes or until the garlic and broccoli rabe begin to brown. Salt to taste.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving if desired.

Makes 4-6 servings depending on the size of the bunch. I divided mine up into three health servings to eat over the course of three nights with a cup or two of TVP (textured vegetable protein) and some liquid aminos. An excellent post-workout dinner.

Weight has never been easy for me. Since childhood I have fluctuated between extremes from super chubby to teeny tiny. Right now I am somewhere in between. Last year I dedicated my life to taking off about 30-35 pounds that had crept up on me after college. I packed this weight on for a number of reasons: sedentary lifestyle, general unhappiness in my life and relationships, and a lack of portion control. There is no quick fix for weight loss and my struggle to stay on the smaller side of sizing will  be a lifelong battle.

As I type this I am roughly 15-20 pounds away from my goal weight. The numbers on the scale are what motivate me to run races, try new exercise classes and think long and hard before I order out. I fully intend to take the last few pounds off this year, knowing that this will be the most arduous part of my journey. So this year, I’m taking a note from my fellow bloggers (read the stories of Rachel Wilkerson, Pound Per Pound and Selective Potential) committing myself to talking about the process, the recipes I choose to make, workouts and goals.

April 20, 2010

May 9, 2011

Admittedly, I’ve gained about 5 or 6 pounds (ok, ok, I haven’t been on the scale yet this week) back since that May 2011 picture which is why it’s time to get my butt back into gear. This year I’m taking on another 5k, and challenging myself to a 5 miler and a 10k. Ready, set, go!

Ingredients:

• 2-15 ounce cans of black beans, drained
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes and chiles
• 1 can diced chiles
• 1 bag of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters chicken strips, cooked and shredded
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 4 ounces pepper jack cheese, cubed
• tortilla strips
• salsa (optional)
• sour cream (optional)

Steps:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat before adding in the peppers, onion and garlic. Stir the mixture together and let it cook for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies start to cook down (lower the heat if need be).
2. Add in vegetable broth, tomato paste, tomatoes, chiles and black beans. Bring the soup to a boil and then lower to a simmer for about 45 minutes.
3. Add in the shredded “chicken” strips and let it cook again for about 15 minutes.
4. Serve hot with avocado chunks, cheese, tortilla strips, salsa and sour cream as toppings.

Makes 6-8 serves. Will keep in fridge for 3 or 4 days.