Pesto Chicken and Tomatoes

This dish was born because of a long day at work.  Normally I pull out some meat in the morning and combine it with whatever veggies I have on hand to make something delicious.  This work week has been crazy and yesterday I forgot to pull something out of the freezer before I ran out the door.  I know that you're all saying, but Kelly, you can defrost your chicken in the microwave!  Well, I don't like doing that because I am microwave challenged and I always end up cooking the corners of the meat in its own icky juices.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work, racking my brain for what I could make that would be low fuss.  Pesto was on sale for half off so I grabbed 2 containers and then headed for the chicken cutlets.  Some of my tastiest dishes come about when I'm not trying too hard.  This is one of those.

 

Ingredients

4 chicken cutlets

1 container Buitoni Pesto with basil

3 roma tomatoes

1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Remove chicken cutlets from package and rinse.  Pat dry.  
3. Sprinkle half of the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning over the chicken cutlets.  Turn over and repeat with remaining half of all three.  
4. Spray some nonstick cooking spray on a baking sheet and lay the cutlets on the sheet.  
5. Use the back of a large serving spoon to spread the Pesto over the chicken cutlets.  
6. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven.  
7. Cut the tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices.  Layer the tomato slices over the pesto.  
8. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the cutlets and tomatoes.  
9. Switch your oven over to the broiler and set on low.  
10. Return the cutlets to the oven, and cook under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has toasted and started to bubble.  
11. Serve immediately.  Enjoy!  

Notes

• Which tomatoes you use is very important so make sure that you get the right kind.  Regular vine ripened tomatoes are too juicy and you will have a runny pesto mess if you try to use those.  The roma tomatoes are a little bit firmer and great for dishes like this where you want clean slices.  Your local grocery store should have them.  
• Make sure that the chicken cutlets are completely rinsed and dried before you layer the pesto over them.  If they are slimy the ingredients won't stick.  
• There's no exact amount of Pesto that you should be using to cover the chicken.  It will depend on how big your chicken cutlets are.  I used about 2/3 of the container for these.  Just make sure that they are completely covered and you will be fine. 

If your spoon touches raw chicken and then goes back into the pesto jar,
your pesto could become contaminated with bacteria.  Be careful not to
eat that pesto unless it's been heated to at least 165 degrees.  

Beef Jerky in the Dehydrator

Remember how excited I was when my mom got me this awesome food dehydrator?  Well that does not even come close to how excited I am to tell you about the delicious beef jerky that came out of it.

The Nesco dehydrator came with a mini recipe book.  There are only about 20 recipes in there, so I'll need to purchase a more comprehensive book eventually, but we picked one to get started.  The beef jerky recipe in the Nesco book actually calls for some Nesco jerky seasoning that I didn't feel like ordering, so the jerky that we made is close to the original recipe but not exact.  

Ingredients

4 Tbsp soy sauce

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp curry powder

2 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 lb steak

Directions

1. Cut steak into strips.  Strips should be 1/2 inch wide and 3-6 inches long.  
2. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  
3. Add marinade mixture and steak strips to a gallon Ziploc bag.  Steak should rest in marinade, in refrigerator, for 12-24 hours.  
4. Dump entire contents of Ziploc bag into a colander over the sink.  Do not rinse.  Allow steak to drain for 5 minutes.  
5. Lay steak strips on dehydrator trays.  Strips should be close together, but not overlapping.  
6. Set dehydrator to 160 degrees and dry for 4-8 hours.  Rotate trays every 1-2 hours.  
7. Once meat has dried completely, remove from dehydrator and lay on paper towels.  Press to remove any remaining grease or fat.  
8. Beef jerky will be good for 2-4 weeks at home.  Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  

Notes

• Beef jerky is so versatile.  I have to keep an eye on the awesome boyfriend because he likes to experiment by dumping weird things into the marinade, especially spicy ones like Sriracha and chili powder.  The end results have varied in levels of deliciousness, but all have been tasty.  
• My dehydrator will hold 2-3 pounds of steak strips, depending on how thin I cut them.  I just double or triple the marinade recipe accordingly.  
• About 1 pound of steak strips is a good amount for a gallon Ziploc bag.  If you have two pounds of meat, add half the marinade and half the steak to two separate bags.  If you've got too much steak jammed into one bag, the strips will not coat evenly.  
• Any cut of steak will work, but cutting it thin enough to dry can be a hassle.  I've had the best results with skirt steaks or flank steaks.  I tried a top round one time and it was good, but it took forever to dry because the meat was too thick.  You might be able to get your butcher to thin slice your steak for you, especially if you are at a more high end grocery store.  
• Drying the meat is something of an inexact science.  The drying time will vary based on how thick and dense your slices are.  Don't let them get too crispy in there, but wait until they feel completely dry to remove them.  
• Click here for some tips from the USDA on safely drying beef at home.  

Start with steaks that are already thinly sliced.  If your grocery store has
steaks labeled as 'fajita steak' or 'stir fry steak' that is perfect.

A little bit goes a long way.  

I've had the best results so far when I put the steak into the marinade after
work on Friday and then into the dehydrator on Saturday morning.  Then I
can be home all day to keep checking for doneness.  

Make sure to let the steak drain because you don't want the marinade
dripping all over your dehydrator.  It's okay if the strips are a little wet,
but you don't want them to be drippy.  

My kitchen is getting full of gadgets.  I'm going to have to do a
clean and purge soon.  

Peeking.  Not quite ready.  

You can see that the strips are a little bit dryer and smaller here than above.

Perfect.  When the beef strips are small and dark like this they are done.

The awesome boyfriend is a nerd.  He bagged his half into portions.
(Seriously though, portion control is good.)

 

Steak dinner.

One of my favorite things about a low carb diet is steak.  I spent years avoiding red meat because of a fear of fat, and I have been happy to welcome it back into my lower carb life.  It's still important to try to eat beef that is grass fed and free of hormones and antibiotics, but an organic steak for dinner is a tasty part of a low carb plan.

This is a New York strip steak that spent a couple of hours in my famous not-so-secret recipe marinade.  I pan fried it in some cooking spray and topped it with a sliver of butter.  I ended up splitting it with the awesome boyfriend because I decided it was too much food for one person.  

I served the steak alongside a Garlic Roasted Artichoke, one of my most favorite side dishes.  You can see in the picture that I had run out of garlic cloves so I just smeared some minced garlic over the top of the artichoke.  I prefer the whole garlic, but this was fine in a pinch.  

Brunch in the city.

I recently visited an exhibit at the American History Museum called Food: Transforming the American Table.  It was amazing and if you are in the DC area or planning a trip to DC you should add it to your agenda.  The American History Museum is one of my favorite free things to do in DC anyway, so I was double excited for this visit.

The featured display at the Food exhibit is Julia Child's kitchen.  She donated her entire kitchen to the Smithsonian and it has been set up, exactly as it was when she cooked in it.  There is also a lot of Americana to see: old microwaves, the evolution of wine making, historical food pyramids.  I spent about 2 hours in the exhibit and still didn't read everything.  I'm going to try to go back on a week day when the crowds will be smaller and get to everything that I didn't see the first time around.

After leaving the exhibit my friends and I headed over to The Hamilton for brunch.  I had never been there before, but I was familiar with the building because it is kind of a big deal.  It's massive, with multiple floors, and features a restaurant, bar, and a performance venue downstairs where there is often live music.  It's just off the metro and pretty centrally located, so if you are planning a visit to the city this might be a good stop.

A classic brunch conundrum for me is always, coffee or booze?  It's hard to get my day started without coffee, but what's brunch without alcohol?  Enter, the Irish Coffee.  An Irish Coffee is a pretty simple drink.  It's made with coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar.  Some fancy bars will use brown sugar.  You can also order your with Splenda if you don't want the sugar.  The amount of sugar in an Irish coffee is usually pretty small, less than a teaspoon, so I decided to go ahead and get mine with regular sugar, and over ice.

Holy Irish coffee.  This is literally the best alcoholic coffee drink I have ever had in my life.  I had to restrain myself from just chugging the whole thing because it was that good.  As i'm writing this I'm thinking about trekking into DC right now for another one.  

For the meal I ordered a pork belly and egg dish that was also delicious.  The meat was so tender that I was able to break it up with a fork and eat it.  There were two eggs, some kale, and a generous portion of navy beans.  I tried to go easy on the beans (too many carbs), but I gobbled up the pork and the eggs.  The waiter told me that they cook the meat for something crazy, like 12 hours, to get it to fall apart like that. 

After brunch I hopped on the train to head back to the burbs, sleepy and satisfied.  This was a very successful museum and boozy brunch outing.  I'll keep you posted on what we get into next month.  

Cheese Steak Pizza

Some of you will remember my post about the almost religious experience I had discovering Steak-Umms a last year.  I've been trying to choose unprocessed meats as much as possible lately, but I do still have a box of them in the freezer at my office for emergencies.  By emergency I mean, of course, that I was too lazy to make time to go to the grocery store.  

Yesterday I woke up and realized I did not have any food so I threw a bunch of stuff into a grocery bag and hoped for the best.  I ended up with half of a green bell pepper, a couple slices of cheese, a flax pita, and some other odds and ends.  I cooked the Steak-Umms and peppers in a pan, then layered the whole thing over the pita and cooked it in the toaster oven for a few minutes.  

The results were good, for a last minute work lunch.  The gourmet Tortilla Pizzas that I make at home are better, and I wish that I had though to add some pizza sauce to the mix, but this was a perfect meal in a pinch.  I love how versatile and easy to work with the Steak-Umms are.  They are a great product to keep on hand because they make a good last minute addition to lots of dishes.  

  

Mini Mart Snacks

I love to stop by 7-Eleven on Wednesdays because all coffee is $1.   If you've never experienced the coffee bar at 7-Eleven you should really go and check it out.  There are generally about a dozen different brews to choose from, as well as a multitude of flavored creamers and syrups.  There are also toppings like mini marshmallows and cinnamon sticks, which I think is weird but someone must be using them if they are out there.

My perfect cup of coffee is pretty simple.  I like a dark roast, no fancy flavors, and cream but no sugar.  I don't need the fancy coffee bar for this, but it makes me feel good to know that it's there if I ever change my mind.

I was at the checkout when I stumbled over this cute little mini version of the Green & Black's dark chocolate that I have been loving lately.  You'll remember from my Dark Chocolate Love post that this chocolate is super rich and low in calories.  It's dangerous that I now have access to it within walking distance from my office.  The mini pack was so cute and tempting that I impulse bought it along with my coffee.

A word about this mini chocolate bar for all you choc-aholics out there.  This package has more than one serving!  Don't be fooled into eating the whole thing in one sitting because it's smaller than the original version.  This should be broken down into at least two servings; three is better.  When I was ready to eat mine I had to cut off the portion that I wanted and then wrap the rest back up, tape it closed, and hide it in the recesses of my desk drawer.  

After I finished my usual one egg and flax pita breakfast I enjoyed the rest of my coffee with a serving of chocolate.  It was the perfect way to start my day.  

Happy Hour Wings

The awesome boyfriend and I moved from Greensboro, North Carolina to Ellicott City, Maryland almost 2 years ago.  Moving from one suburb to another doesn't sound like it will be too tough, but it is.  The actual move isn't so hard, and getting adjusted to new jobs isn't so hard.  The hard part is re-establishing your day to day life.  What dentist should you use?  How do you find an honest mechanic?  And for the love of God, why are 25 cent wings not a thing up here?!  Once you've calmed down you'll start to ask around and eventually you will fill all those holes.

When we first moved we found a couple of bars that we liked and pretty much stuck to them.  We got to know the bartenders and the other regulars; life was good.  But the hole in my heart still burned for the ability to order enough wings for a meal (plus some to take home) and not feel bad about the tab because it's only $6.  I eventually let it go, but I always kept an eye out for the next big happy hour.

One fateful day about six months ago we decided that we wanted to try something new and so we made our way to T-Bonz Grille and Taphouse.  Shame on us for not going sooner because this place is about 2 miles from the house.  The bartender handed me a menu and told me that all appetizers with a star were half price during happy hour.  My thought process went something like this: 'Oh, they have wings.  I wonder if the Cajun is any good?  I wonder if they make the blue cheese in house?  Wings are an appetizer with a star.  Wings are $11 so half of that is...wait a minute...wings are $5.50!  Ten wings for $5.50, that's almost like 50 cent wings!  Where the eff is the awesome boyfriend?  We need to order these right now...'

I know that 50 cent wings are not as good as 25 cent wings, but it is definitely a start.  As soon as the awesome boyfriend came back from the bathroom we picked three kinds and dug in.  The wings at T-Bonz are super crunchy.  The Cajun, garlic buffalo, and Old Bay flavors were all the perfect blend of salty and spicy.  The blue cheese dressing was lack-luster, but the wings were so good that I forgave them.  We each had a happy hour beer which brought our total tab to about $20.  Balance was restored to the world.

We also ordered some happy hour shrimp that came out topped with onions and lots of Old Bay.  They were so filling
that we ended up taking about 15 wings home.  Next time we order we will try to show a little restraint.