A fun tower for dried foods…

Wow… another great meal.  Was supposed to be a lunch, but it clearly worked well as dinner.  For two people, the amount of food from the recipe stretched into a lunch the next day.  Also, we were making these late and were super hungry, so I passed on the fancy searing of the wrap… just ate it open-face style.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-shawarma-with-green-beans-and-zucchini

I am not sure I’ve ever had green beans on a sandwich but really, they worked well and brought a lot of crisp to the dish without taking over.  The party was really all of the wonderful spices rubbed on the chicken… they were the winners.

Just spiced and broiled chickens!

C. actually ate this yogurt sauce… turns out cooking garlic and olive oil into yogurt really mellows out the bite.

All together!  I also substitute yellow squash for zucchini…

Sexy close up…

Thank you C.!  This took some time to chop into the perfect size pieces but it went really well with the Chipotle-Rubbed Salmon Tacos.  Since we had tons of it left, we also found out that it went well with a lot of other things too… Very bright flavors that stayed very well over a couple days in the ‘fridge.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-cucumber-salsa

So good!  Plus, C. cooked them for me. :-)  So it was the best!  I don’t know how involved it was cooking-wise but the taste was all there!  I was not perfect and had 1.5 servings but it was so worth it. 

You should give them a try!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chipotle-rubbed-salmon-tacos

We got the salmon - just 6 oz total - from a wonderful seafood shop nearby.  Their products are damn near perfect.

A small happy chunk of rubbed and seared salmon.

Beautiful pink pieces of salmon heaven…

Taco making station (salsa - see next post, guacamole, cabbage, etc)… Please ignore the pineapple, it was not involved in this dish.

C. helped me out big time this week… I worked super late one night and came home to some light dinner that I didn’t have to think about.  They were on the “schedule” as lunch but it made a great late dinner too.  I really thought the flavors were different than I expected:  sweet but complimentary to savory (and tuna!).  Best new way to whip up a tuna sandwich.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tuna-bocadillos

This was delicious gravy and not like I have ever made gravy before (not that I’ve made it all that much)… The layers of flavor were fun to built and even more delicious to taste.  Pretty easy recipe yielding a complex gravy…

Looks (and tastes) good next to some bulgur wheat and roasted cauliflower!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-smothered-in-gravy

So, not sure how fried food works into a diet but I guess it’s all portion control!  I had just two small pieces and they were wonderful!  Also, I can’t remember if I have ever eaten tofu… this was worth the plunge!  I bought more tofu this week to try it again.  I think it’s all in the sauce…(there’s some bulgur wheat in the background).

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/fried-tofu-with-spicy-ginger-sesame-sauce

This dish had fun color, a small kick of spice, and really more filling than I expected.  We had this for lunch a couple times this week.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chickpeas-with-tomatoes-and-carrots

Was on diet successfully for three days. 

Then we had a co-worker in town who wanted to meet up for dinner.  I asked that we try one of the new places and we decided to try The Roosevelt.

AMAZING!  My dinner was so worth diet busting (and did I ever bust it, see below!)

Had the chicken breast with gnocchi, mushrooms, chicken oysters, foie gras sauce.  The chicken was pretty much the most moist chicken I’ve had in a while.  I NEVER eat chicken skin… and there’s was no way I could pass this up - it was that beautiful.  And I was rewarded with just the lightest salty crunch with each bite of juicy chicken.  I love mushrooms always.  I learned what chicken oysters are.  At the end, I kept trying to get more sauce off my plate, onto my fork, and into my mouth… as lady like as possible, of course.  I realized later that the richness I couldn’t get enough of was foie gras sauce… who knew how good it could be!  My cheery mood was definitely enhanced by my bourbon based Seersucker cocktail and coconut cake.  Yup, I loved every southern minute of it.

Go there.  It’s a great space with nice staff, fun cocktails, and great food.

Hello!  So I’ve been meaning to come back… for months!  I usually try to make a grand re-start with things like this, which means I’ve been trying to think of something witty/smart/cute/etc for a while, further delaying this process (sounds like I’ve done this before, huh?). 

Well anyway, F it.  I’m just back.

AND… on a new “diet”.  I am actually trying to follow the meal plan set up by Food and Wine as an answer to resolving the conflict between new years resolutions and eating good food.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/f-w-four-week-diet?

(I love that there is a ? at the end of that link - doesn’t feel like a diet…)

So far - so good!  I’ve eaten some great food this week, have eaten less food in general, and tried some new flavors.  Whee!

I will be keeping “you” updated… xo