Date Night, April 18, 2012

So I fell back on my "never fails to please" date night menu:  Manhattans, filet mignon, mashed potatoes (for Josh, I had a baked sweet potato--more on that later).  Of course, I also roasted asparagus which makes Josh "gag."  It was okay though because I smothered the asparagus in lemon aoli. Yum!

Appetizer was seed crackers, light Havarti cheese with a smidge of peach coriander jam.  Josh wasn't impressed by the multi-seed crackers, but then again, I didn't expect him to like them.  I did.

The mashed potatoes were made from these tiny (ping pong balled sized) Yukon gold potatoes.  Easy to mash.

My sweet potato was topped with a trans fat free butter flavored spread and a splenda brown sugar blend.  It tasted as awful as it sounds.

Filet was cooked perfectly.

The piece de resistance, however was the aoli for the asparagus:

.25 c mayo
2 cloves garlic, minced

That's where I stopped measuring.  I used the zest from 2 lemons and the juice from one (it was a juicy lemon) and a little salt and pepper.

Tonight, being Thursday, is pizza.

happy cooking

What I have been eating

I don't want to bore you with the details of my current eating regimen, but I will share 2 tasty things (of my own creation...basically) that I've been enjoying.

Breakfast sandwich
   I toast a multi-grain sandwich thin (a number of different "bread makers" make these, but they are pretty consistently called "sandwich thins") and fill it with 1 fried egg, a slice of Canadian bacon, 1-2 slices of roasted red pepper and a slice of reduced fat cheese.  It tastes great and keeps me full till lunch time.

Jicama Slaw
   This one kills m--I love it so!  Peel one medium jicama and cut it into matchsticks.  Mix it with some shredded carrot, thinly sliced celery, some radishes and some green onion.  Toss all of these veggies with the following dressing:

.5 c non fat unsweetened plain yoghurt
.25 c minced cilantro (if you really don't like cilantro you could use parsley)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T lime juice
salt and pepper to taste--you don't need much

I never thought in a million years that I would like this dressing so much, but I do.

And the slaw is a nice accompaniment to burgers, bar-b-cue, hot dogs, pulled chicken.  And yes, I've been eating those things, too.

Josh, however, finds the raw veggies a little "too al dente.)  His words.  Turns out, I think he just wants it in the form of chopped slaw.

Chinese delivery for dinner tonight as I just had some dental work done.  (Again, I can make good choices here, too.)

happy cooking

I haven't really been hiding...

I started the South Beach diet again about a month ago, and while we've been eating really yummy food, I just haven't been inspired to post about them.

But then I had my in-laws for dinner last night.  And MIL extraordinaire noted that 1) I haven't been blogging of late and b) that last night's dinner was blog worthy.

 So here goes.

Appetizers:  Bruschetta with a tomato topping that I read about in one of the Trib's  magazines on Sunday.  It had halved cherry/grape tomatoes mixed with minced herbs (basil and chives), capers and olive oil.  I also had fresh guacamole and salsa.  (I made toast points and chips for myself from multi-grain flat bread and tortillas.)

Dinner:  The flank steak with the mushrooms and shallots that Josh loves so much.  I did use a Splenda/Sugar blend in the marinade.  I didn't have any of the mushrooms because they were made with butter and real sugar.  I did not feel deprived in the least.  I like the flavor in the beef without the mushroom ragu.

I also made a barley risotto.  It's just what it sounds like.  You use barley instead of arborio rice.

For green things we had roasted broccoli and a cucumber salad.

Dessert:  Fresh fruit.  Pineapple, mango, kiwi and strawberries.  We ate the fruit a with few dark chocolate morsels.

Tonight's dinner is spaghetti squash with my gravy   Also sausage (Turkey) peppers and onions.  Oh...and the rest of the cucumber salad.

happy cooking