I haven't posted lately because it's the end of the quarter and I'm slacking off with everything. My apartment is a mess (not so much anymore since I missed the bus this morning and had to drive Tim to school instead of going to class myself, so I spent some time picking things up and folding the laundry I did last week but never got around to folding). I finally went and got my bangs cut yesterday since they have been in my eyes for a few weeks now, and once I'm done with this post, I'm going to make my exercise calendar and then finish washing my juicer and then clean the kitchen. And then after all that is done, I'm going to finish my last official lab report of the quarter!!!! YAHOOO!!
Anyways, so now I will write about what I cooked last week. On Thursday, I made Chicken with a Tarragon Sauce from Mediterranean Cookbook. It was pretty good, although I'm not sure I liked the way they had you cook the chicken. First, it instructed you to brown the chicken in a pan and then transfer to a pan and finished in the oven. The chicken came out a little dry, which I have no clue why because usually my chicken is juicy. I think I just left it in there a little too long and didn't let it rest because I was hungry :( I served it with a rice pilaf and some steamed green beans.
Chicken in Tarragon Sauce
4 chicken breasts, preferably skin on
2 tsbp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
salt and pepper
Sauce:
2 tbsp. tarragon-flavored vinegar (I just used a white wine vinegar)
6 tbsp. (or roughly 1/3 cup) dry white wine
1 c. chicken broth
4 sprigs fresh tarragon, plus more chopped for garnish
1 1/4 c. creme fraiche or sour cream (I used sour cream)
Preheat oven to 375 F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Melt butter and oil in pan over med-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, and brown for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to roasting pan (don't wash the previous pan just yet!) and roast for 15-20 minutes, until juices run clean. Transfer to platter and cover with foil. Add juices and bits to pan on stove and heat over med-high heat again. Add vinegar, scraping bits from bottom of pan. Pour in wine, and boil to reduce in half. Stir in broth and tarragon sprigs and continue to boil until reduce in half again. Finally, stir in the sour cream let boil till reduced in half. Discard sprigs and stir in chopped tarragon. Slice each chicken breast on individual plates and spoon some sauce over.
Then on Friday, I made a Lime and Ginger Pork Loin from the New American Plate. It was really tasty because you slice it, let sit in the marinade (which was really interesting because it contained lime juice, ginger, dijon mustard, garlic and honey), brown the pork (which didn't really happen for me because I didn't put enough oil in the pan) and at the end, cook the marinade with the pork so it adds even more flavor. I really enjoyed it, although I think I would have rather made it with just regular pork chops instead of a pork loin, since then the slices were kind of small. I served it with steamed potatoes and broccoli.
Lime and Ginger Pork Loin
1/3 c. lime juice
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp ground ginger
1 garlic clove
1 lb boneless pork loin, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 in slices
In shallow baking dish, mix together first 5 ingredients. Place the pork in the dish, mix with marinade, cover dish and put in refrigerator for 30 min. Heat pan on med-high heat, then lightly brown meat on both sides. Pour marinade over pork, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 5-6 minutes for 1/2 in slices or 8-9 minutes for 3/4 in. Remove meat from skillet and boil marinade for 30-40 seconds, then pour over meat. Enjoy!
And then on Saturday, I made burgers at home since Tim was hankerin for a burger and we've been going to Kidd Valley once a week for several weeks now and I'm getting a little sick of it. So I bought some preshaped patties at the store and some roasted onion buns and tomatoes and onions and cheese and bacon and mixed greens and on the side we had some roasted potato wedges. It was so much food! But it was soo good. And Tim made a blood orange soda float, which was rather tasty. Thomas Kemper makes some real good soda. I like their ginger soda, but Tim doesn't because it tastes like ginger. He is very odd, he loves ginger ale, but hates ginger. What a weirdo.
On Sunday, we ran some errands (like get our hair cut) and then Tim needed some batting gloves so we trekked up to Big 5 to buy him some only to spend like 20 minutes looking for them when they were in a locked case in a corner of the store, but now he's happy because softball is starting up soon. And I'm happy because then I have an excuse to go down south and see my family and my pets. And of course to watch his softball team play and kick butt. Since we were on the Ave (a popular street for UW students, actually called University Way, but everyone calls it the Ave), we went to Chipotle. If you have not been to Chipotle, go right now. They are in pretty much every state, so there's no excuse. Basically, it's like mexican food, but they only serve burritos or fajitas or rice bowls (which is pretty much just a burrito without a wrapper). I realized yesterday, that I have never ordered anything other than the vegetarian rice bowl. Tim asked me why I don't ever get meat with it and I didn't know why. But I figure it out! With the vegetarian one, you get free peppers and onions and free guacamole! Mmmmm... Tim didn't think it was a good trade off because he hates all three of those things! But it's so delicious, I wish I could eat it every week. Pretty much everyone that I know that goes to UW eats at Chipotle at least once a month, some even once a week! Everything is very fresh and so amazingly tasty! Seriously, here's the website. Go find the nearest one!
Have a great day!
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