Semi-Fine Dining

Well, Sunday is here and that means Monday tomorrow, but hopefully you all had a super weekend! We had Friday off of school for homecoming and such, so I was not complaining of a 3 day weekend =) So what did I do with 3 days? Homework, cleaned, shopped, and cooked a meal for my dad and I! He hasn’t seen my apartment since it was all boxes because he’s a over-the-road trucker, so our schedules usually conflict. This weekend my mom was gone, so it was perfect!

Not seeing my dad for 3 months was extremely crazy—he makes me laugh, and I needed a dose of dad humor and of course a big hug! I already knew what was on the menu for us—he and I are huge seafood fans (my mom doesn’t like it), so here’s our menu! It turned out fabulous!

Dad & Daughter Menu

• Crab Stuffed Chicken (recipe here)
• Homemade Roasted Garlic Wheat Bread (recipe below)
• Sliced Garden Tomatoes
• Brown Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, and Fennel (recipe below)

My dad was so excited—check out when I delivered his plate to him! (don’t mind the hat hair ha ha)

Love him!

With a look at this, could you blame him for his excitement?

Brown Sugar Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, and Fennel

(This was so flavorful, and perfect as a side dish for any fall meal!)

Serves:4

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• 2 fennel bulbs
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp olive or canola oil
• Salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 F.
• Peel sweet potatoes and carrots in to your desired size/shape.
• Slice fennel bulb and cut into four sections.
• Toss all veggies with oil and brown sugar. Add salt and pepper.
• Take a casserole dish or roasting pan and spread veggies in a single layer.
• Cover pan with tinfoil and roast for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15-20 mins. Roast until sweet potatoes and carrots are tender and fennel starts to brown.

Roasted Garlic Wheat Bread (bread machine)

Makes 2 pound loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 c water
• 1/2 sour cream
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 c bread flour
• 2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp wheat germ
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Directions:

• Place ingredients in bread machine in above order.
• Choose wheat bread cycle if available, otherwise just the standard.

If you do not have a bread machine, you could easily make this my prepping yeast, mixing, and letting rise, then baking. I would suggest following another similar oven-baked bread recipe for a basic time guideline.

Picking Your Meal Apart

Don’t you sometimes wonder when your eating a supposed healthy meal, what is really healthy about it, what it can do for your body, and what vitamins and such it provides? I usually just jump at the word healthy, but for today’s meal, I wanted to see what it was really doing for me!

The meal:

Swiss Chicken with Roasted Fruit Compote

(recipe below)

Butternut Squash Fries

(recipe here)

[[Picking It Apart]]

• Chicken (4 oz breast)
• 4 ounces of chicken provide two thirds of your daily protein requirements
• A serving of chicken supplies 72% of the RDA for niacin, a B vitamin that can protect DNA from cell damage and has cancer-preventative properties.
• That 4-ounce serving of chicken also provides nearly half of your RDA of the trace mineral selenium that is essential for manufacturing glutathione, a powerful immune boosting and cancer-fighting enzyme.
• Vitamin B6 in chicken helps process carbohydrates and helps regulate blood sugar.
  • Cheese
• Cheese contains a high concentration of essential nutrients, in particular high quality protein and calcium, as well as other nutrients such as phosphorus, zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin, and vitamin B12.
• Certain cheeses such as Cheddar, Swiss, blue, Monterey Jack, and process American cheese, among others, have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of dental cavities.
• Because cheese is a calcium-rich food, its inclusion in the diet may help reduce the risk for osteoporosis.
  • Apples
• Apples are source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber such as pectin actually helps to prevent cholesterol buildup in the lining of blood vessel walls, thus reducing the incident of arteriosclerosis and heart disease. The insoluble fiber provides bulk in the intestinal tract, holding water to cleanse and move food quickly through the digestive system.
• It is a good idea to eat apples with their skin. Almost half of the vitamin C content is just underneath the skin. Eating the skin also increases insoluble fiber content.
  • Cherries
• Cherries, along with many other berries, are a rich source of antioxidants. They help prevent or repair the damage that is done to the body’s cells by free radicals. This means that antioxidants replace free radicals in your body before they can cause any damage.
• Cherries are rich in two important flavonoids, isoqueritrin and queritrin, which act as antioxidants and work to eliminate byproducts of oxidative stress, therefore slowing down the aging process.
• Melatonin is also found to help the body’s natural sleep patterns. Since the body so rapidly absorbs melatonin, cherries can increase melatonin levels in the blood, therefore improving the way you sleep.
• Butternut Squash
• Low in fat, butternut squash delivers an ample dose of dietary fiber, making it an exceptionally heart-friendly choice. It provides significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems. The folate content adds yet another boost to its heart-healthy reputation and helps guard against brain and spinal-cord-related birth defects such as spina bifida.
• As if this weren't enough, butternut squash may have anti-inflammatory effects because of its high antioxidant content. Incorporating more of this hearty winter staple into your diet could help reduce risk of inflammation-related disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.

Wowee!

Sounds like a power-packed meal to me! I bet a lot of you eat great tasting meals filled with tons of benefits. Maybe take a few minutes this weekend and pick apart your meal. I’d love to see a picture and the health benefits your getting—so email me at apinchandadash@live.com and I will post my favorite next week! =)

 

Swiss Chicken with Roasted Fruit Compote Recipe

Serves:4

Ingredients:

• 1 oz red wine vinegar
• 1.5 oz apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp honey
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 c chopped Fuji apple
• 1/2 oz unsalted butter
• 3.25 oz of Swiss cheese, shredded
• 3.25 oz of frozen bing cherries, thawed

Directions

• For the marinade: Place the red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, the mustards, and honey in a food processor. Turn it on and drizzle in the olive oil until fully incorporated. Marinate the chicken breasts overnight in this mixture. Or in my case, I did it for 3 hours, and it worked fine!
• Preheat 12-inch skillet sprayed with nonstick spray on med-high. Remove chicken breasts from the marinade and transfer to a plate. Season them with salt and pepper. Cook each chicken breast about 4 minutes on both sides, and transfer back to plate. (Chicken breasts will still not be fully cooked, so do wash your hands and take precautions with using raw meat!)
• For the stuffing: Peel, core, and very roughly chop the apples. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium/high heat and add the apples. Cook the apples for roughly 5 to 10 minutes or until they are deeply browned. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the Swiss and cherries and mix. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

• For the chicken: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut a slit in the side of each breast (in the thicker part) about 1-inch wide, creating a pocket almost as large as the breast itself. Stuff the breasts with the apple stuffing mix – cramming in as much as possible without ripping the breast.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 155 degrees F in the thickest part of the breast.

Great blend of sweet and savory flavors!

Start Your Week Off Stuffed

Monday’s can sometimes be the worst day of the week—back to school, work—you know the feeling. But there is something that can make it a tad bit better. How you ask?? With a super stuffed recipe of course ;-) What can be so good that it would transform a whole day, even a Monday? Here’s a clue..

If you guessed chicken, you’re right! But not just your everyday chicken—this recipe was inspired by one of my favorite restaurant meals. It’s cheaper than the restaurant ($2.28/serving vs. $9.99), and even though it took awhile to compile the ingredients to perfection, it was soo worth it. And lucky for you, it’s pretty easy as well!

Crab Stuffed Chicken Breast

*Serves 1, but you can easily double or triple.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz skinless/boneless chicken breast
• 2 Tbsp FF block cream cheese, room temp
• 6 tsp imitation flaked crab, 1oz
• 1/6th an envelope of Lipton savory herb&garlic mix(about 1 1/2 tsp)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Panko bread crumbs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp butter or butter spread (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
• Handful of spinach, optional

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 F and smear butter spread in a 12-inch skillet on stovetop.
• In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, crab, and Lipton soup mix.

• Take 4 oz chicken breast and slice into it horizontally, stopping about 1-inch towards the opposite end.

• Spread the inside of the chicken breast with the cream cheese mixture and flip the opening shut. If you’re having trouble getting everything to stay inside, you can seal with a toothpick, just remember to take it out before you eat it—ouch!

• Roll chicken breast in egg whites until completely coated. Then dredge it in the bread crumbs—you may need to add a few more breadcrumbs if you can’t cover the whole piece.
• Cook for approximately 10 minutes on MED-HIGH heat, flipping once. If the outside starts to get extremely charred, turn down heat.
• Next place in baking dish, and bake, uncovered for 15 minutes, and you’re done!!
• Serve on a bed of baby spinach if desired.

Have a great start to your week!