Las Vegas Eats & Treats

Justin and I ate at many wonderful restaurants while in Vegas-- American Fish, Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak, First Food and Bar, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Serendipity and China Poblano in the new Cosmopolitan Casino. China Poblano was certainly the most interesting concept-- Asian combined with Mexican cuisine. We had the queso tacos and some very interesting margaritas. They were topped with a lime and salt foam.

Our next favorite meal was First Food and Bar. We ordered the philly cheesesteak dumplings. They were amazing! The dumplings are filled with thinly sliced Rib eye, grilled onions, mushrooms and American cheese, neatly wrapped in dumpling skins and then fried like pot stickers. There are five to an order, served with sriracha ketchup, which alone would have been awesome.

Finally, my birthday treat! We had a chocolate chip cookie sundae from Serendipity that was huge and amazing. We only made it through a 1/3. It would take at least 6 people to finish one of these.

So as you can see, I am in need of a serious detox-- but it was well worth it.

Armando's Food for Life

After a weekend of way too much delicious food in Vegas, I have returned to the real world. I woke up this morning and went to one of my favorite restaurants, Armandos, to learn about my job for this semester. I am so excited! I will be working with Armando's Food for Life. I had to share this with all of you-- the food is delicious, healthy AND reasonably priced. It kicks My Fit Foods ass! Please go check it out and let me know what you think.

Couscous-stuffed Chicken

I made it to the grocery store and successfully cleaned out my kitchen! Then I made my first home-cooked meal of 2011. I picked couscous-stuffed chicken. It sounded so good: chicken breast stuffed with couscous, tomatoes, olives, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Yum! (and only 271 calories per chicken breast) I invited Brett over to be my guinea pig. He arrived with perfect timing, although late, because according to the recipe I had 5 minutes left in the oven which gave me enough time to steam the broccoli. Well, 5 minutes came and went and my chicken was only 130 degrees (it should be 165). So back in the oven another 5 minutes...and its 140. BACK into the oven for 3 minutes, 145. Back into the oven for 5 more minutes, 155. Finally, back in the oven for another 5 minutes (23 minutes total) and it's done! I believe the culprit was the chicken breasts being too thick. I should have measured the instructed 1/4 inch thickness. Even though by the time the chicken was done we had eaten all the broccoli, the chicken was worth the wait! It was really good. You should try it...

Ingredients
1/3 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup uncooked couscous
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
3 tablespoons chopped plum tomato
2 tablespoons kalamata olives, chopped
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 minced garlic clove
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Cooking spray

Preparation
Bring broth to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in couscous. Cover and let stand 4 minutes. Place couscous in a small bowl; fluff with a fork. Cool for 10 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and next 8 ingredients (through garlic); toss. Preheat oven to 400°.

Place chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness. Divide couscous mixture evenly among breast halves; roll up jelly-roll fashion. Secure with wooden picks. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook for 6 minutes or until browned; turn chicken over. Bake at 400° for 5 minutes or until chicken is done.
From Cooking Light

Fresh Start Sunday

Unfortunately, it is Sunday and I still have not made the sweet and sour chicken as planned. My resolution to cook more is going to need some work, hopefully I'll be more successful once I fly back to Houston tonight. It's hard to be healthy away from my kitchen. I am planning a new year grocery trip tomorrow that includes making some simple, but important swaps in my kitchen to shift from holiday eating to healthy eating. First, all those cookies, cakes, fudge, and desserts are being donated to my parents house. If I need to appease my sweet tooth, I'll enjoy Skinny Cow's Cookies and Cream ice cream cup. It's only 150 calories and tastes almost as good as Blue Bell! Next headed out the door are sodas-- all those cokes, sprites (even diet) are out. They will be replaced with water, sparkling water or Ocean Spray's Diet Cranberry Juice (just 5 calories per cup). Next on my must remove list are any casseroles, creamy pastas, and high calorie, high fat leftovers. Last but not least is a simple glance through the pantry and fridge for any high fat, high calorie foods that need to hit the road. Once my kitchen has been purged of it's holiday calories, hopefully I will be as well!

Next step is to make a list of things I do want in my apartment, such as nonfat greek yogurt, hummus, light soy sauce, low calorie salsa, organic peanut butter, whole wheat bread and, most importantly, I want to add seasonal fruits and vegetables. What's in season you ask...I'll tell you: beets, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, celery, grapefruit, spinach, winter squash, some oranges and tangerines and strawberries are right around the corner in Feb. Lastly, I have two very important tips for grocery shopping.

1) Pay attention to the serving size!! Food manufacturers are tricky. They know you are looking for low calorie foods and when you think something is too good to be true, read the label. If a serving of potato chips is only 50 calories-- the serving size is probably only 4-5 chips.

2) Ignore the word "natural." There is barely any regulation on what foods can be labeled all natural and you are much better off ignoring this phrase all together. In fact, your best bet is to ignore all the claims on the box and head straight for the ingredient list. If there are more than 5 things you can't pronounce, you should probably put it back on the shelf.

Why is there so little regulation? Well, for example, chickens naturally have sodium in their bodies, but very little. So when a chicken farmer pumps his chicken breasts full of sodium, technically that is still all natural, even though there is 500% more sodium compared to what I would consider a natural chicken.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So now that the sparklers are out and the champagne is empty, we are forced to deal with that pesky list of new year's resolutions. I will be the first to admit that my past resolutions all revolved around a new diet and/or exercise regime and something along the lines of this was going to be the year my body finally turned into a size 2. Well, years have come and gone and I am not, nor will I ever be, a size 2. I have come to the realization that new year's resolutions based on criticizing my body are worthless. I am done with them. So-- your next question would obviously be, what are my new years resolutions this year? I will gladly tell you. First, I am going to try to make recipeasy more personal and post on a regular basis. Since I am quickly approaching internship application deadlines, I am not sure how often I will be able to post, but I will do my best to post at least 2-3 times per week. My second resolution is to cook more and try new recipes. What are your new years resolutions?

I tried to start my year off right by picking a delish-sounding sweet and sour chicken recipe from Cooking Light. Justin and I made a list and went to the store to pick up all the ingredients. I headed to grab the apricot reserves, since Justin looked like I had spoken in a different language when I asked him to grab them, and he took off to pick out the chicken breasts. We met back at the cart and Justin was empty-handed. There wasn't a single chicken breast in the entire store. We asked three different people. Apparently, there was a super sweet sale on chicken breasts and we got screwed. So now what? We could drive to another store, but I knew Justin was out of patience. He hates grocery shopping with me. We head home, compromise and eat at the vietnamese restaurant next to Justin's apartment. Hopefully, we will be able to find some chicken tonight so I can attempt this sweet and sour chicken recipe---

Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 1/2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons Thai chile paste

Preparation
Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness. Sprinkle chicken with salt and black pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until done. Transfer chicken to a serving platter. Add chicken broth, apricot preserves, and soy sauce to pan; bring to a boil. Stir. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in fresh lime juice and Thai chile paste. Spoon over chicken; garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, if desired.

Nutritional Info

1/4 recipe: 264 calories, 5.5g fat