Wednesday, April 14, 2010

It's about balance.

I was craving chicken and veggies. That's it. We went grocery shopping yesterday for the first time in a few weeks. We never go this long, but we had gotten to the point where we were just making do with what we had in the house. I made a soup out of beef broth, pancetta and black beans. Tell me that doesn't sound weird (tasty, but weird).

For work lunches I was hitting the store on my break for a few Amy's Organic meals and fruit. I'm not a huge veggie lover, but I was really craving them today. It's just been too long and I was starting to feel the physical effects of not eating balanced meals. I know it seems odd with all of my crazy, absolutely unhealthy recipes I post on here, but I don't eat like that on a daily basis. They're just fun recipes to learn. We have a major cheat day once a week. In all honesty, my husband and I eat very differently on a daily basis.

While he made himself hot wings on the bbq, I made myself chicken, pasta and asparagus. It was exactly what I'd been craving and it was so easy. I had my dinner finished in 15 minutes.


I started with half a diced onion and a couple cloves of diced garlic. I let those brown in olive oil while I trimmed my chicken breasts. Seasoned them with fresh ground salt, pepper and an italian seasoning blend. I pushed the onions aside and added the chicken.

In a separate pot I had water boiling and added a single serving of dry whole wheat rotini pasta. After 8 minutes I flipped the chicken and scooped the onions over the top. I added my rinsed and trimmed asparagus to the pan and covered. After an additional 8 minutes my pasta was finished and drained.

I moved the chicken and asparagus to the pot of noodles and added a 1/4 cup combination of olive oil and water to the onions to deglaze the pan. It cooked down to a nice sauce and I added the chicken and pasta back and tossed to coat. And dinner was finished!


Enough to serve two. Or in my case, leftovers for a work lunch. I didn't feel a tad guilty totally enjoying this meal. I think we forget sometimes how easy it is to eat well. I know I forget a lot. I even enjoyed it with a tasty oak aged ale. Where would I be without beer?

1 comment:

Kate said...

Yummy, quick to prepare and goes well with beer - sounds great!

Funny how this time of year makes us want to eat healthy. Maybe subconsciously we're think about bikini season getting closer!