Sesame chicken take two....

Today was probably the most productive day I've had ever.  I literally did not stop moving from 7 am until 7:30 pm.  I moved furniture, hung pictures, vacuumed, mopped, pulled weeds in the garden, walked the dogs... and of course did some cooking to get ready for the week. 

 

On the agenda today was:

Bread

Breadcrumbs

Granola

Cookies

Sesame chicken

 

The bread and the granola is not that exciting so I won't waste too much time on them.  Although I will say that the smell of fresh baked bread is one of the best things in the world. 

 

After that I made some breadcrumbs.  I want to make mashed cauliflower and meatloaf for dinner later this week.  Last time I made meatloaf it was unprocessed except for the breadcrumbs... so this time I want to fix that.  I had half a loaf of Italian herb bread leftover from last week so I cut it up and poured melted butter with pepper over it.  Baked for 15 minutes on 350 and I now have homemade breadcrumbs!!!  Yay.

 

Then onto the yummy part... the cookies.  A coworker emailed out this recipe last week and I was planning to try it on the night of the broken vanilla extract bottle....

 

I did not follow the recipe completely.  I used regular butter instead of vegan, stevia instead of sugar, stevia and molasses instead of brown sugar, milk not water.

 

VEGAN BANANA OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Full Recipe	½ Recipe
1 cup vegan margarine, cold (Earth Balance)	½ cup
1 ½ cup tightly packed brown sugar	¾ cup
1 cup granulated sugar	½ cup
1 ripe, mashed, ripe banana	½ (or slightly more) banana
3-5 teaspoons vanilla (be generous)	2-2 ½ tsp
2 tablespoons water or soy/rice milk	1 tb
2 cups all-purpose or whole-wheat flour	1 cup
1 teaspoon baking powder stirred into flour to guarantee dispersion	½ tsp
2 ½ cups rolled oats (quick oats or regular)	1 ¼ cup
2 ½ cups vegan chocolate chips (Enjoy Life, Chocolate Dream or WF 365 Vegan chips)	1 ¼ cup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and prep cookie sheet with cooking spray or parchment paper.

 Mix together the margarine and sugars.  Add the well-mashed banana and mix well.  Then add the vanilla and the liquid.  Water will try to separate so keep mixing with figure eight motion and then add the dry ingredients, in order, bit by bit.

 The final batter should appear almost too moist to hold the chocolate chips; If it isn’t, then add more flour and/or oats.  If the batter is too wet, the cookies will flatten while baking and turn out too hard and flat.

 Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cook longer if you prefer a harder cookie, but be careful because these can turn out hard as a rock!  Let them cool on the sheet to firm up then transfer to a cooling rack or plate before putting them in an air-tight container for storage.  They taste even better after they sit overnight or in the fridge.

 

 

 

The cookies are good... very moist.  But the weird thing was that the chocolate chips just seem to be sitting on the cookies instead of actually being part of the cookie.  Either way... they are yummy.  Just a little weird to look at.

 

More productivity in the afternoon and then I decided to try the sesame chicken again sans broken glass.  Here's the recipe again:

http://www.food.com/recipe/sesame-chicken-44321 

 

I seriously cannot express to you how delicious this is.  I loved it.  I'm excited about the leftovers already.  Does it taste exactly like a Chinese restaurant... not quite... but still, it is very good! 

 

 

 

 Now I am enjoying a glass of wine... and contemplating going back for another cookie... or two. 

Cooking today

This is my cooking list for today. Giving the sedans chicken another try... keep your fingers  crossed for me! Updates this evening I promise!

Well my intentions were good....

Let's start with yesterday... I had planned on Chipolte for dinner, but when I got there with my neighbor, the line was literally out the door.  My need for a burrito is not that serious.  Instead, we went next door to famous footwear... but I digress.  So we get home and my neighbor offers me some baked chicken she made earlier.  I ran home to get my dogs, and when I got to her house she had a gorgeous salad prepared.




Grilled chicken with a rub, carrots, onions, apple crisps, almonds, cheese, honey balsamic dressing.  All I can say is yummm. 

Other than the Ritz crackers I ate with my salad, it was an unprocessed meal.  I even skipped on the Rita's I knew she had in the freezer.  Go me!

Now lets talk about today.... I was supposed to go to happy hour at Gordon Biersch with some lovely ladies from my grad school classes.  I ended up bailing (even though I was looking forward to their company, as well as chicken and shrimp pot stickers) because it was sunny out and my grass desperately needs to get cut.  Halfway home... the skies opened up and it started to pour.  So much for cutting the grass.  Meanwhile, in the car I had run over a tire that was in the middle of 95 North,d and its stuck under my car.  I had to pull to the shoulder to back up and get it unstuck.  Ugh.  So amid all of this nonsense, I decide I wanted Chinese food for dinner.  Then, I decided that I should make my own.  I made a trip to Aldi for some chicken and found a 25 minute sesame chicken recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/sesame-chicken-44321
Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pat dry with paper towels

1/2 cuphoney

1/2 cupsoy sauce

1 cupwater

2 tablespoonscornstarch

1/2-1 teaspoonground ginger (fresh is better)

1/2-1 teaspoonred pepper flakes (optional)

1 tablespoontoasted sesame seeds

 

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breast into 1 inch strips or bite size pieces.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet that has been sprayed with Pam, over medium-high heat.
3. Cook chicken for about 6 minutes or until no longer pink.
4. Mix together honey, soy sauce, water, corn starch, ginger and red pepper flakes.
5. Whisk until no corn starch lumps appear.
6. Pour sauce mixture into skillet with chicken.
7. Cook until sauce thickens slightly.
8. You can add more water if sauce is too thick.
9. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
10. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken starts to soak up the sauce.

 

Sounds delicious.  So I got started. 

 

I cooked brown rice to go with the chicken and also got some hard boiled eggs going so that I have some afternoon snacks for the rest of the week.  Eggs done.  Rice done.  Chicken smelling delicious. 

 

AND THEN.....

 

Broken vanilla extract bottle!!!!  Glass all over the kitchen.  Luckily all the things I was cooking were covered.  However, UNLUCKILY, the wooden spatula I was using was out and I totally forgot to wash it before I stirred the chicken.  SOOOOOO..... into the trash went all the hard work I had spent the last hour doing. 

 

And I cried... and cried... and called my mom... and cried.  Ugh.  Some of the crying might be because I'm on fertility drugs but a lot of it was because I was really looking forward to the sesame chicken. 

 

So instead I had leftover ground turkey with taco seasoning and Doritos.  Yes I know, Doritos are not unprocessed but desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

Typing this blog post has been pretty theraputic... however, I will warn you that if anyone asks me how my sesame chicken turned out I might punch them in the face (not really but I might cry). 

Teacher appreciation week does not appreciate my diet

Don't get me wrong here... I AM DEFINITELY NOT COMPLAINING.... but teacher appreciation week is doing nothing for this unprocessed diet. 

 

Monday: Show up at work and there is a Snickers bar in my mailbox with a note "You're the best bar-none."  Too stinking cute.  Didn't eat it though bc I have a coworker who is terribly allergic to peanuts.

 

 

Tuesday: Coffee cup in mailbox with a note saying there is coffee and doughnuts in the staff lounge.  Now I wanted the coffee... but ended up with two half doughnuts too. 

Then at lunch there were still goodies left over, so I had half a blueberry muffin with my salad.... woops.  Cut to after school... snickers bar is still sitting on my desk staring at me and the teacher who is allergic was out today.  I had to eat it.  It was a no brainer.  AND NOW... I am typing this as I wait for my neighbor to walk her dogs so that we can go get Chipolte for dinner.  Who doesn't love a BOGO?  I don't feel too bad about the chipolte.  Other than the soft shell, everything else there is probably unprocessed.

 

 

 

It's only Tuesday?????  How am I doing so horribly?????  I just got back from NY on Sunday and vowed that now that I was back home I was going to get back to business.... 

 

More thoughts on sticking to this in a seperate post later... Chipolte awaits :) 

Sweet bread

I came home to warm bread in the bread maker. Awesome. Enjoying it with a glass of wine as I type this. Delicious.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Those of you who know me know that buffalo chicken dip is my go to meal.  When Tom is on night shift its one of my favorite things to make.  It's also my go to for when I need to bring a dish to a party.  So when Tom posted this recipe on my facebook wall I couldn't wait to make it.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake

1 16 oz. box Penne pasta, cooked and drained
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cubed and cooked
1/2-1 C. Franks Hot Sauce
1 C. Ranch dressing
... 1-2 C. Shredded cheese (Colby Jack or Cheddar)

1. Preheat oven to 350* and prepare a deep baking dish.

2. Mix together hot sauce and ranch. In separate bowl, mix chicken, pasta and cheese. Pour sauce over all and mix well.

3. Pour everything into prepared baking dish, sprinkle with cheese (if desired) and bake for 20-25 min.

Like these tips and ideas? Click the "share" button and share with your friends!http://www.facebook.com/letseat2 because I have lots more recipes there!

Check out my website too, where you can purchase the tools with which to prepare and serve these wonderful recipes - at http://www.pamperedchef.biz/Amandacooks4u

 

Here it is in all its cheesy deliciousness:

 

I seriously can't wait for lunch time tomorrow so I can eat this again.  Yummmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well I lied...

So as soon as I say “Oh I’m doing so great.  Who needs a food diary???”  I fall off the bandwagon and start eating like crap.  There was a whole array of reasons/excuses for this… its report card time at school so I’ve been more stressed than usual.  Then we went to Mexico for a week for spring break.  The resort was all inclusive so we drank and ate all week long (banana mojito… delicious!  Crepe with nutella for breakfast everyday… sure, why not!).  Needless to say we did not stick to unprocessed foods on vacation.  Even before vacation, we ate a lot of fast food because we were trying not to buy too much food and then have it go bad while we were gone.  On top of all this I started taking fertility drugs and they made me gain back all the weight I had lost so it encouraged me to eat things like m and ms and cookies (if I’m going to gain weight on the medicine… might as well enjoy it!).  Oh yeah, and then we had a 3D shape party at school so I ate crap at that too:

Wait... thats actually from snack at class the night before the 3D shape party.  So not only did I eat this plate of food but then the next day I had baked lays (hexagon), cookies (circle) , and ice cream (sphere)... (yes I know... you want to be in my kindergaten class.  3D shape parties are awesome). 

 

On the trip home from Mexico I said at least 5 times to Tom that when we get home we need to get back on track.  The night after we got home we went to the movies, and although Tom made snide comments… I insisted on cookie dough bites and a blue Icee.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???? (Although in my defense I only ate half the cookie dough bites and threw the rest away).

I have been a little better since the movies… I thought I took pictures of some meals from the past 24 hours but apparently my phone decided not to save them…

Yesterday for lunch I had a whole wheat wrap with tuna, spicy mustard, spinach, and cheddar cheese.  It was quick and easy and also DELICIOUS!!!  I will probably have the same thing tonight for dinner since Tom is at work.

This morning for breakfast Tom made scrambled eggs with peppers and spinach and cheddar cheese.  Yummm.  Eating healthy is delicious… and these past two meals have reminded me of that.  Time to get back in gear.  I think part of the problem is not taking the time to prep things for the week (but our weekends have been so jam packed it’s been impossible).  Tonight I’m going to make granola, hard boil some eggs and hopefully make chocolate chip cookies (I just need to look up how to substitute molasses for brown sugar).  I think having snacks on hand and easy to access will help get me back on track. Time will tell….