Remember how Peter and I celebrated the end of my final exams last week with a Cuban Feast? This morning, Peter finished his LAST law school final exam ever! :D He peeled through his last final exam faster than these hanging overripe bananas peeled away from their skins.
(Picture preceded by a “thunk, THUNK” in the sink below.)
We celebrated with a Jessie-cooked meal of chicken and artichokes, specifically:
Balsamic Chicken with Sauteed Pears and Blue Cheese
Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken tenders or chicken breast
2 tsp canola oil
2 ripe Bosc pears, cores removed and pears sliced into wedges
1/2 chicken or veggie broth
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Cook the chicken tenders by your favorite method. I simmered the tenders in water to keep them moist, but you can also bake them or cook them in a pan. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and saute the pears until soft, about 3 minutes.
Combine broth, balsamic vinegar, and cornstarch and mix thoroughly. Add to pears and cook until sauce is thickened.
Arrange chicken and pears on plate and pour sauce over all. Add blue cheese if desired (I didn’t have any, but adding cheese would taste gooood).
Fruit and balsamic vinegar make such a delicious combination! Adding blue cheese would taste even better … if you like blue cheese, of course. If not, well, I don’t know you. :P
I also made Christina‘s Stuffed Artichokes, a recipe I bookmarked a while back and that I’ve been itching to try. Usually, I just boil artichokes and serve them with a mayo-mustard sauce for Peter (boooooooring), but this recipe had me salivating and saying mmm-MMM!
I’ve never cut the tips off the artichoke leaves before – I always thought it was a time consuming frivolity that fancy restaurants did to impress their patrons, but it was actually really easy! And look how gorgeous they be:
Who knew artichokes were so beautiful??
Look how much stuff I pulled out of the artichoke centers:
Artichokes are definitely not a thrifty vegetable.
Full of stuffing:
After baking:
Great recipe, Christina! Peter is usually devoted to his mayo-mustard dip, but he loved this recipe :)
I’ve been working on a backlog of posts to go up periodically while I’m in China. I also have a number of guest posts in the queue by some wonderful bloggers that I’m very excited about! I’ll also have a guest post by my sister (haha, you can’t get out of it now, C!!). In any case, there should be some THIH action going on over the next month and a half.
Stay tuned for a fun post on Sunday! On Saturday, I’ll be getting another “credential” after my name. What “credential”, you ask? Hehehehe ;)
Q: Do you like artichokes? How do you like to prepare/eat them?
When I walked out of today’s Counseling and Teaching final exam at 1:45 pm, I had just taken three finals inunder 24 hours. No, I’m not kidding. There was some driving, eating, and occasional sleeping during that time.
(Here’s where the crotchety coot voice would say, “Young lady, in my day we had FIVE final exams in the space of five hours. And, we had to milk the cows and bale the hay during the five minute break between exams two and three.” )
I have one more final exam left on Friday, and then NO MORE marathon car sessions until August!! :D :D The dietitian for whom I work lives only half an hour away. Sweet.
When I arrived home yesterday, I was thrilled to see a package outside our apartment for me. Inside was a gorgeous purse that I won in Kristen‘s giveaway!
(I’m not sure what I’m pointing at, but it ain’t the purse.)
The purse was made by Kristen’s boss, Anissa, who started her company Lemonade Road while recovering a traumatic injury. The purse is gorgeous and roomy and – did I mention that red is my favorite color?? Thanks, Anissa and Kristen!
During the last few days, I took walks with Peter during study breaks:
Ingredients:
A buttload of basil leaves, preferably stripped from your prolific Aerogarden
1 garlic clove (trust me, it potent)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I just broke off chunks due to laziness stress from studying)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
Place basil leaves, garlic, Parmesan, and pine nuts into food processor. Blend until … blended.
The basil, garlic, pine nuts, and Parmesan, ready to be DESTROYED (or ENjoyed, as the case may be ;) ):
While processor is running, slowly drizzle in olive oil until blended. Add beans and blend the heck outta the pesto until it’s as smooth as desired.
Serve on top of your favorite whole grain pasta, shrimp optional.
I tried Triple P and regular pesto side-by-side. The Triple P is thicker, so if you like a thinner sauce, you can thin it out with a little water or broth. Or, you could serve Triple P as a party dip for veggies, chips, whatever. If you serve it as a dip, you may want to leave out the garlic to prevent clouds of dragon breath.
On the side, I threw together a beet and pear salad that my sister C sent to me a while back.
C’s Roasted Beet, Pear, and Feta Salad
Ingredients:
1/3 C. toasted nuts (almonds, walnut, pecan, etc.)
3 large beets – ends trimmed and individually wrapped in foil
2 firm ripe pears
3 C. beet greens or baby greens
1 C. feta or goat cheese (I used goat because that’s what we had in the fridge)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
Dressing:
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp honey
2 tsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 tsp grated ginger root
Toast nuts at 325 degrees F for 8 minutes (don’t burn). Or, you could make candied nuts by whipping an egg white until stiff, tossing pecans in the whipped white, tossing the egg-coated nuts in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon, and baking at 300 degrees F for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Roast beets in foil at 400 degrees F for one hour. In the meantime, stir together dressing ingredients. If you have a handy husb like Peter, you can use the red wine vinegar that he aged himself in a 2 liter oak cask.
Peel and cube pears and toss with dressing. Chop the nuts. Once beets are done, let them cool, then peel and slice them. Add to pear and dressing mixture. Toss greens with 2 to 1 ratio of oil and vinegar, and add salt and pepper. Arrange greens in a bowl. Add beets and pears and top with cheese and nuts.
As you can see, I didn’t arrange my beets and pears over greens because I just wasn’t feelin’ it. Even so, this salad would be fabulous with some greens, so give it a try! I liked this dinner so much that I repeated it in a slightly-altered form for the next day’s lunch:
I’m off to go study! Bonnie and Maddie want to have the last word:
The End.
Q: Do you like pesto? AND, have you seen “Terrible” Terry Tate (aka Triple T)?
If you haven’t, watch the clip below:
Disclaimer: The information presented on this website is for education purposes only. Please consult your doctor and/or registered dietitian for your health and nutrition needs.
