Saturday, August 25, 2012

A SMALL MESSAGE AND A NEW RECIPE

Wow, cant believe its been this long since I posted! Alot of things have been going on since March.  My husband and I decided to start jogging as a good form of exercise and do some 5k runs.  everything was going great...we lost weight and ate clean....until..........



If you guessed stress fracture you'd be right!  I had already worked myself up to 5 mile runs and felt awesome, guess parts of my body didn't agree.  Its very slow healing and will be a few weeks yet with the boot on. 

I have gotten my husband to try a lot of different foods and he cant believe he has never eaten them before.  Vegetables of any kind were not one of his favorites and now he cant wait to see which ones we are having every night for supper.  Kale has become one of our staples, and we did try making kale chips but really weren't crazy about them.

We have tried new grains...bulgur wheat, wheat berries, quinoa, and my favorite for breakfast is steel cut oats with greek yogurt and berries.  We also eat alot of beans.  I cant believe the meals you can make out of different types of beans. 

I haven't been able to do much gardening since my injury but I did have a small garden with an abundance of tomatoes, beets, beans, different types of squash and lettuce which really made some tasty new meals for us.  The season was quite dry so the crops weren't that great in the beginning but the later crops and some extra watering seems to help. 
 
With all that said and the reason for such slackness, Ill leave you with a great recipe I come up with to use up some mushrooms and some pinot noir ( which I just couldn't drink...too acidic for me )  Since I do alot of crock pot cooking I adapted it for that too!
 
SEARED CHICKEN WITH WINE-FRUIT SAUCE
 
 
 
6 chicken breasts( I subed a few thighs )
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp evoo
2 cups pinot noir
1/2 cup cherry preserves( I used polaner all fruit )
1 cup water
1/2 tsp orange zest
salt and pepper
olive oil cooking spray
 
Spray crock pot with cooking spray and turn on to low.  Spray a medium saute pan with spray and add 1/2 tbsp of evoo, heat on medium high.  Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper on one side and sear for 2 minutes on each side ( do a few pieces at a time ).  When all the chicken is seared, add to warm crock pot.
 
Saute onions in the last 1/2 tbsp of evoo ( also spray pan again ) for 2 minutes on medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper lightly.  Saute another 2 minutes and add minced garlic and wine, stirring to bring up bits from the bottom of the pan.  Stir in the preserves.  Remove from heat and pour over chicken in the crock pot.  Cook for 8 hours.
 
I served this over butternut squash mash with a side of fresh asparagus