I feee-eee-eeel good, within my mind ...
Wow, did we eat well this weekend. We wanted to have a nice meal at home without a lot of clean up, so we picked up a couple of roasted chickens from the grocery store on Saturday night. We selected one plain chicken, and one with Thai green chili seasoning. The seasoning was not too dramatic, just made for a very tasty chicken. With the Thai chili roast chicken, we enjoyed some deli-style potato salad, French bread, and a green salad for our picnic-inspired Holiday X dinner. It was a perfect salad for my palate. I made the vinaigrette from kosher salt and lots of freshly-cracked black pepper, crushed garlic, Dijon mustard, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The salad was primarily butter lettuce and radicchio, with red onion, tomato, and avocado. It was the best result of any salad dressing I've ever attempted, and certainly the best salad that I have made. The effort-to-flavor ratio was outstanding, and it was easily one of the tastiest meals I've ever enjoyed at home.
If I could have changed two little things, it would have been to have a nice, chilled white wine with this meal. And also, I had planned to bake a plum galette for dessert, and serve it with creme fraiche, but Jimmy had developed a sudden craving for these frozen cream puffs that my aunt loves, but he wanted them eclair-style with that touch of chocolate, so I heated up some dark chocolate and dipped them then put them back in the freezer. They are tiny, thirty to a box, but because we were still so full, we each just had two at the end of the meal and were content. I have been craving a good fruit-based dessert, but since we couldn't have done justice to the galette, I'm not too sorry that I didn't make it. Other than those two relatively minor details, it was perfect. I still have the makings for the galette, so I will make it later this week to share with Jenn and Nora as well as Jimmy.
Last night I shredded up some of the leftover chicken and made another vinaigrette, this time with red wine vinegar and the addition of some parmesan cheese. I really wanted the flavor of feta cheese, but I didn't have any. C'est la vie. I made the same basic salad again, but added a can of black beans, and served the whole thing stuffed into pita bread with the shredded chicken. This was a healthy meal that was nonetheless so flavorful that we were both sorely tempted to gorge ourselves. (And how bad could it be, relatively speaking, to gorge oneself on salad and chicken breast?) A success on many levels!
I have to comment on the unusual habit we have evolved of eating healthier meals on special occasions. I think it's because I tend to exert more of a leadership role on what we will eat on those special days, and because I also tend to be the main cook. Anyway, on occasions that others tend to splurge on a rich meal, we tend to splurge on a healthier one. As time goes on, I find that I crave vegetables and fruits not just because I want to eat right or be healthy, but because of the variety of flavors and textures that are possible. A special occasion is an excuse to spread my wings a little, and I like to take full advantage of it. YUMMY!
If I could have changed two little things, it would have been to have a nice, chilled white wine with this meal. And also, I had planned to bake a plum galette for dessert, and serve it with creme fraiche, but Jimmy had developed a sudden craving for these frozen cream puffs that my aunt loves, but he wanted them eclair-style with that touch of chocolate, so I heated up some dark chocolate and dipped them then put them back in the freezer. They are tiny, thirty to a box, but because we were still so full, we each just had two at the end of the meal and were content. I have been craving a good fruit-based dessert, but since we couldn't have done justice to the galette, I'm not too sorry that I didn't make it. Other than those two relatively minor details, it was perfect. I still have the makings for the galette, so I will make it later this week to share with Jenn and Nora as well as Jimmy.
Last night I shredded up some of the leftover chicken and made another vinaigrette, this time with red wine vinegar and the addition of some parmesan cheese. I really wanted the flavor of feta cheese, but I didn't have any. C'est la vie. I made the same basic salad again, but added a can of black beans, and served the whole thing stuffed into pita bread with the shredded chicken. This was a healthy meal that was nonetheless so flavorful that we were both sorely tempted to gorge ourselves. (And how bad could it be, relatively speaking, to gorge oneself on salad and chicken breast?) A success on many levels!
I have to comment on the unusual habit we have evolved of eating healthier meals on special occasions. I think it's because I tend to exert more of a leadership role on what we will eat on those special days, and because I also tend to be the main cook. Anyway, on occasions that others tend to splurge on a rich meal, we tend to splurge on a healthier one. As time goes on, I find that I crave vegetables and fruits not just because I want to eat right or be healthy, but because of the variety of flavors and textures that are possible. A special occasion is an excuse to spread my wings a little, and I like to take full advantage of it. YUMMY!