Chicken + a cast iron grill pan = a fabulous dinner

I am trying to change the way I eat because I know it's what I need to do to be healthy. I have a sweet tooth but I don't indulge it every day. I don't snack between meals and I don't eat a bag of potato chips in one sitting. But I do have a problem with carbs.

So I've been looking for meals that are healthy, interesting and delicious. Watching "The Kitchen" on Food Network this weekend, I saw the hosts giving tips for grilling chicken breasts. That's what we did for dinner tonight. I didn't look at a recipe, but just cooked it like they suggested.

We pounded out the chicken breasts. I did two and the boy did two. He said it would be great therapy for anyone who had a bad day. And I'll be honest. He did a much better job on pounding them out than I did. They really did cook more evenly since we made them flat. All we used was Kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper and garlic powder. A little Canola oil brushed on the grill and that was it.

There are chives and parsley in the yard that survived the winter, so we chopped some of them to add to some spring mix greens. All we added was a little olive oil and balsamic for a quick and light dressing. I topped the chicken breasts with the salad and a pinch of salt. I also made some roasted purple potatoes -- just a few pieces for everyone. That's a much better choice than making enough mashed potatoes for six people when we are only three, right?

I thought it looked great, and the proof was in the pudding. Or actually, the empty plates. Everyone loved it. You're probably wondering if my plate really has snowflakes on it. Yes, it does. Don't judge. I forgot to run the dishwasher and this is what was clean. I think Jeffrey got the random flower plate.

On a side note, we did have one small mishap. Jeffrey somehow flung balsamic vinegar into his eye. Naturally, the boy and I laughed. And then I got Jeff a damp towel. Apparently healthy food can be dangerous for some people, but we'll keep trying meals that are good for us anyway.

Cookie butter

How have I not heard of this before?

It can't be any kind of good for you, so I probably will not even try it. Because if I try it and like it I'll want more and that would be bad. I already eat enough things that are bad for me.

I saw a video on Facebook about making a cookie butter mug cake in the microwave, and I thought cookie butter? What the what?

Naturally I immediately Googled it and found that it's a real thing. I mean, Trader Joe's sells it so it must be a real thing in the civilized world. I live in the middle of nowhere, so I have to find this stuff out via the interwebs.

Then I found pages dedicated to all the luscious but artery clogging things you can make with cookie butter. Kind of like the the pages I found the other day with recipes for your Peeps. I really need to stop looking at these things. Are there salad pages? Salad, green things pages? I need to go find out.

A quick trick to peeling hard boiled eggs, or not

I saw a video on Facebook the other day about a super easy way to peel hard boiled eggs. You put the egg in a small glass with some water, shake it around and voila! The peel comes off in one big piece and you are done.

Whew. What a relief. Because peeling a hard boiled egg is so difficult. You can't hear me saying that, but those of you who know me well enough can recognize my sarcasm even in print.

I found myself curious about this though, so naturally I Googled it. Side note - I am fascinated how quickly slang becomes real language, like using Google as a verb. I Googled "tricks to peeling a hard boiled egg" and in approximately .44 seconds there were approximately 40,500 hits. By about page 5 or so, I'm sure the results will be less relevant. But there is a surprising amount of time dedicated to something that seems so simple to me. And there are the videos. Plural.

I guess people with a physical disability or severe arthritis would really appreciate suggestions for other ways to do things many of us are blessed to consider the simplest of tasks. But why would anyone else put whole fresh eggs into a tennis ball to shake them around and scramble the egg inside the shell? Is cracking it open into a bowl and whisking really so much effort that we need a quick trick to get it done?

Scrambled eggs was the first dish I made on my own. I think I was 10. I grew up Catholic, and we had tuna sandwiches and hard boiled eggs fairly often on Fridays. I've peeled a lot of hard boiled eggs in my life, so I'm pretty sure I've got this egg cooking and peeling thing down without the helpful You Tube videos.

The amount of internet space devoted to working with what has to be one of the easiest ingredients is shocking. And now I have added to it. Make that 40,501 hits. I hope my blog shows up sooner than page 5 of the results.

My ridiculously large coffee mug

I love this mug.

I got it on our last trip to Disney, so one reason I love it is that it's a reminder of the wonderful time we had. On a side note, we went in November for my birthday. It's the second time we went to Disney for my birthday, as Jeffrey (of Pooh Sticks blog fame), likes to remind me. We haven't made it to Disney to celebrate his birthday yet. But we will.

Anyway, back to the mug. I also love it because it's Winne the Pooh. And it's a cute cartoon. And did I mention it is ridiculously large? This mug is from the Animal Kingdom park, though I think I actually bought it in the hotel gift shop at Port Orleans French Quarter. True to Disney's attention to detail, there is a Tree of Life in the bottom of the mug.

Jeff and I were talking about it this morning. He doesn't like a huge mug because then the coffee cools more quickly. And that's one more reason why I like it. It means I can drink all of the coffee sooner. I love a mug I have to hold with two hands. It doesn't matter what the temperature outside is. There is something very comforting about a mug filled with hot liquid warming your hands.

As you're reading this fascinating post, I'm sure you're wondering what I like to drink out of my mug. I love a dark roast coffee. It's really weird, but the darker the coffee I drink, the less likely I am to use sugar. Just regular coffee you'd get at a restaurant? Yep. That's getting a good amount of sugar. Espresso? Not so much. We have a Keurig. We usually use an insert and grounds rather than the K-cups. Sometimes, though, I splurge and get Folgers' Black Silk, my favorite K-cups. Jeffrey really enjoyed them this week. I think I had three out of the box. It's ok. As long as I had some....especially this morning. Now -- get your favorite caffeinated beverage and get out there and enjoy the weekend people! And feel free to tell us your favorite coffee and mugs in the Comments below.

Homemade strawberry syrup

I couldn't help it. I went to Lowe's last weekend and I got sucked over to one of the tables with someone giving away free samples. So, note to self, the rosemary olive oil bread is really tasty. There were also strawberries. And her selling point was that they were actually ripe and sweet, in January. And they were a two-fer purchase. So I bought a couple pints with no idea what I would do with them.

This morning I thought it was a pancake kind of morning. I opened the fridge and saw the strawberries. They were starting to turn on me, the traitors. I decided to make a quick syrup out of them. I combined 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar and cooked until the sugar was dissolved. I cooked it over low heat, mostly because I was unloading the dishwasher and drying rack at the same time and didn't want to have to babysit it. Then I rough chopped the strawberries. I added them to the simple syrup and turned up the heat. I boiled it on high for a few minutes, then turned the heat down to medium-high as the syrup darkened and some of the liquid had evaporated. You have to really pay attention at this point. You don't want it to stick and it progresses pretty quickly at this point. I also added a few drops of vanilla. I hate it when I see this in a recipe, but...I didn't really time it, so all I can say is that I cooked it until it was the consistency I wanted. All told, the strawberries cooked in the syrup for at least 15 minutes. Probably.

Honestly, what I made is probably more a strawberry compote than a syrup. Maybe if I cooked it for less time it would have been more syrup-y. What I do know is that it was just what I wanted.

Hot Toddies are Medicinal

The most awesome husband ever is making Hot Toddies tonight. Yep. That's right. My husband loves me.

A Toddy in a Toad

He's not been feeling well lately. There is a crud going around here and it's one of those things that lasts for a long time. I am in a kind of crud limbo. I sort of have it, but not really. Hopefully this is the worst I'll have of it. Jeffrey's also been grousing about the cold temperatures (we moved South for a reason, you know). So it's time to warm up, Maker's Mark style.

I remember my Dad once making a different kind of Toddy for me when I was a child. I had a terrible cough. He made me hot tea with honey and a little rum. Supposedly it was to soothe my throat, but mostly I think that he was making sure we all got some sleep that night.

And then a few years ago, I had bronchitis. I have never felt worse in my life. A C-section didn't make me feel as bad as bronchitis. I was so uncomfortable, and I couldn't even lie down to get some rest. And there was my Jeffrey to the rescue, with a Hot Toddy to soothe my aching chest. He made me one every night until I was better. I could so get used to that.

Jeffrey's version uses bourbon, lemon juice and honey. He juices half a lemon for two toddies and uses "a good squeeze" of honey. He heats the bourbon and lemon juice in the microwave and then adds the honey when it's hot. Or, he mixes it all together in a pot and heats it on the stove.

I don't know if it will cure the crud, but I do know that I will sleep well tonight.

What I got for Christmas - Part 1

I love food, cooking and books. So of course I love cookbooks. I especially love getting new ones. I think about all the possibilities and all the delicious food I'll be making.

This Christmas, I got two new cookbooks -- one from the awesome Jeffrey and one from his awesome parents.

Jeff got me Alton Brown's Good Eats -- The Early Years (more on the second cookbook gift in a future post). What a good choice! If you've never seen his television show on Food Network, I highly recommend catching an episode or 12. This is a chef who really understands how recipes work. He knows and is able to explain the science behind why ingredients go together or why cooking methods work the way they do.

This book (the first of three) is more than just a collection of recipes. It's also a collection of sometimes seemingly random trivia. He doesn't just give you his recommendations for how to build a great burger, for example. He talks about the kind of beef to use, gives tips about buns and explains why the only way to cook a burger is medium-rare (Amen to that).

This book has even more though. It has stories, and how I love a good story. The into is a Q&A with Alton asking and answering the questions. So from the first page, I was already doing what we call "dramatic readings" of the book as Jeffrey played his new video game. I haven't made it through very much yet, because I want to take my time with this one. I haven't even decided what I'll make first. I am leaning toward pimento cheese though. It may sound like an odd choice for a former Yankee/Southern girl transplant, but I have to make something for a baby shower luncheon, and I am thinking that might be just the thing.