Tonight's Dinner: January 28, 2014

I have been so lazy when it comes to working out.  Maybe I’ll get a burst of motivation soon to train for my upcoming races and marathon.  The good thing about not working out so much is that I’m back to cooking.  Like I said before, the balance between working out and cooking is hard for me to manage.  If I workout, I don’t cook.  If I cook, I don’t work out. Lately, my teeter-totter has been leaning toward the fat-kid side.

I had picked up some ciabatta rolls from Costco on Monday to make sandwiches for lunch to try to quell the urge to sample all of the Mexican restaurants within walking distance.   My shrunken stomach is no longer shrunken.  I’m going to need a girdle soon to keep it all in.   The bread was so soft and chewy that I could probably eat the whole bag sitting in front of the TV crying over Downton Abbey.

My lunch time sandwich was so good that I decided to make sandwiches for dinner too.  I had bought one of those giant packets of chicken thighs that consist of size smaller packets.  It’s the rows and rows of pink meat wrapped in heavy duty plastic that makes you forget that the stuff inside used to be alive. Like the pork I had gotten a few weeks ago, I bought a week’s worth.   Because it’s almost a dollar cheaper per pound, I buy the bone-in, skin on variety and debone it myself.   The bones can then go into a stock, but last night I just tossed them because I don’t have room in my fridge right now to make a stock.

I marinated the chicken for about an hour before Nick grilled them.  When marinating, I left the skin on since it’s easier to grill.  Nick likes it, but I peel it off before eating.  The chicken was so good that I think I might do a repeat and make the same sandwiches again for dinner tonight.  Surprisingly, the apricot jam didn’t make the marinade that sweet.  I think by adding the vinegar it helped cut that sweetness while also bringing out the flavor. I will definitely be using this recipe this summer for barbecues.  I also bumped up my rosemary-garlic mayo by roasting the garlic in the oven before adding it to the rosemary-mayo mixture.  It added so much extra flavor without that garlicy bite that lasts for days in the back of your throat.

Savory marinade
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp vegetable stock
1 tsp apricot jam
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together.  This will work for any meat protein.  Let marinate for at least an hour.  If grilling, note that the sugars from the apricot can easily burn. 

 

Not all of the ideas I come up with on a whim turn out as well as the chicken.   I was trying to think of a healthy alternative to making fries to go with our sandwiches.

1.  Because I didn’t have potatoes
2.  Because I’m starting to look like a potato

While on my walk with Emmy I thought, chips!  Zucchini chips!  That didn’t turn out so well and I’m glad that I only used one zucchini.  During the baking process, the slices decided that they would rather glue themselves to the foil rather than being eaten.  I may try them again because the bits that we were able to peel off were quite tasty.  Here is the series of mistakes I made:

1. Sliced them too thin.
2. Didn’t grease the foil.  Next time I will try a Silpat.
3. Initially baked them at too high a temperature.
4. Left them in the oven to keep warm.