what i'm eating: last week's version
you know, i was wondering why my email box lately was so quiet -- my pop setting for gmail were wacky, thus i though no one loved me or was reading this. d'oh!
besides, i'm still way behind in posting the latest in food adventures. at the moment, i am fighting the creeping crud that has been ravaging the office. silly me thought going gluten free and feelnig better meanty i could instantly stop taking my super-duper auto-immune support vitamins. uh uh. not with this crud! i trippled up last night, and am feeling much more human today than i was yesterday.
so a briff look at what last weeks culinary adventures for al-desko dining.
sometimes the amount of cooking that needs to be done for this whole gluten free thing is just daunting. and then sometimes you don't care about the volume or mess because damn, it's tasty!
this is what the lunches will look like this week. on the left: lemon and mustard marinated chicken, and lemon scented quinoa salad with garbanzo beans. on the right: balsamic-honey roasted root veggies.
i spotted the root veggie recipe first this week. seeing as i have a couple (yes a couple) bottles of aged balsamic vinegar in the cupboard i am never remembering to use, it was a go. no rutabaga in my version, as the three turnips i had were huge (Baldrick would have been jealous), but i even used beets. something new for me (my mom hates beets, so never experienced them other than those day-glow things from a can they served as hot-lunch in junior high). of course, my delight at scoring all the veggies at WF at bargain prices meant i forgot to pick up the rosemary. and i had not dried in the cabinet. so, i just started puling out jars and sniffing and tossing them in. ended up with cardamon, marjoram and a little bit of thyme. it works.
the lemon scented quinoa salad had my mouth watering as well. i already figured i would make up some quinoa this week (two weeks is far too long for me to go without quinoa). but this was perfect to go with the veggies. and even though it already had garbanzo beans in it, i knew i would need a little more of a protein kick to pass the combo off as lunch.
so i marinated up a chicken breast to go with the salad. toss some extra virgin olive oil in a zipper bag (about 2 to 3 Tbs i think), then pour in some lemon juice (1/4 c?). add a healthy couple squirts of mustard (i chose a german mustard), and a more than generous sprinkle of lemon-pepper. add a dash of salt, and give it a quick fondle from the outside to get it mixed, drop in the chicken, massage it around a bit more and pop in the fridge for few hours.
being lazy, i didn't break out the grill. i decided i'd just cook it up in a fry pan on the stove. but decided to add a healthy bit, probably a 1/2 c. of the marinade to the pan, so i could pop a lid on and let it steam in as well. most flavorful, juicy chicken ever.
