Skip to main content

Feeding a Healthy Eater

I love comfort food, I can make just about any dish MORE fattening. I was on vacation this week and had a former co-worker over for lunch. She is uber healthy exercise girl. No fatty english muffin grilled cheese for this one. I decide to make her a grilled chicken salad with grilled potatoes, green beans and a roasted tomato vinaigrette
Last summer, I read an article about oven roasted tomatoes. I bought a bunch of roma tomatoes and gave it a try. I roasted them sliced side up with some salt, pepper and olive oil at 250 degrees for about 4 hours. I had a lot of them! I ate them on BLT’s, pasta and pizza. I then froze a bunch. I had been thinking a lot about making a dressing with the tomatoes. I took 5-6 of the tomatoes, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, honey, cayenne, smoked paprika and garlic in the blender and streamed olive oil in on medium. I also added salt and pepper to taste.
I took 2 chicken breasts and rubbed them with a mixture of salt, pepper, olive oil, cayenne, and smoked paprika. I let them marinate together for about an hour. After the hour, I put them on the grill.
Then, I boiled sliced potatoes to cook those most of the way in salted water. When they were almost done, I dried them off, brushed them with olive oil and seasoned them. I then put the slices on the grill until they had grill marks and a smoky flavor.
While everything was on the grill, I blanched green beans and put arugula on a plate.
I sliced the grilled chicken and placed that, the green beans and the grilled potatoes on the plate. I added some crumbled gorgonzola cheese and then the dressing on top.
I served it with grilled bread rubbed with garlic. It was a big hit! My healthy friend loved every bite, even though she passed on the cheese addition. The dressing was delicious! Sweet and tangy tomato flavor that combined very well with the chicken/potato combo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Favorites from the box and summer salads, part 1

This week in the box we got more lettuce, but there were 2 treats I really enjoyed. 1, strawberries. It is truly amazing how different strawberries straight from the farm taste vs. the grocery store. They were really tart and melt in your mouth. Number 2, fresh dill. It was possibly the best dill I have ever had. The first thing I did with it was add it to the lettuce to make a salad. I blanched asparagus, cut those up and added chopped green onion. I made a quick lemon vinagrette with simply, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper, shallot chopped finely and olive oil. The second thing I did with the dill was roast small yukon gold potatoes with more dill, chopped shallot, olive oil, salt and pepper, and cayenne. Dill and potatoes make some magic connection, I couldn't stop eating them! (this goes back to my long enduring love of potatoes and the statement I have made "I have never met a potato I didn't like". ) I really do love salads in the summer. The abundance o...

Christmas Drink aka Buttered Rum

In our house as kids, my parents were big fans of the traditional "Tom & Jerry" drink mix. I remember them making an alcohol-free version for us that had a light sprinkle of cinnamon on top. It was the epitome of Christmas season for me until I had my first sip of buttered rum. It was like liquid brown sugar with a shot of buttery goodness. I thought though, I think I can do better. I took it on as a personal mission to perfect a recipe. The first time I made it, way too much butter. When I melted it in with hot water and took a sip, my lips were shiny with a buttery sheen and my lips felt like I had Vaseline on them. Then, I made one with too much brown sugar, taste was good and fine, but it didn't mix quite the way I wanted it to with a frothy creamy look. So I did some research online with ingredients. Some of them had vanilla ice cream in them. So I decided to give it a whirl. Take in mind, this is in no way a healthy drink. This holiday season, it was perfected. ...

MORE Summer Salads

I had a friend over for dinner and promised that I would be experimenting on her. I am pretty sure she was a little scared. I had seen on a couple of Food Network shows, grilled romaine salad. I have always been a traditionalist when it comes to lettuce, it should be cold. UNTIL NOW! I purchased a bag of romaine hearts and sliced them in half (keeping the core at the bottom so they don't fall apart on the grill). I brushed them with olive oil and put them right on the grill. They cook very quickly, so move fast. They spent the most time on the cut side, but I moved them around. Then I took them off the grill and went inside. I made a lemon/dijon vinagrette with lemon (juice and zest), a hefty couple of tablespoons of dijon, chopped shallots, some salt and pepper and a little honey. Whisked it together with olive oil and ready... I crumbled some bacon and gorgonzola cheese over the top and yum. Along with the salad, I decided to try grilling pizza dough. I have seen it done a numb...