Jessica

Hello Fresh Herbs & An Easy Recipe

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Look!

My chives are starting to poke their little heads out of the
dirt after a long winter! Is that not the most exciting thing ever?

I am currently working on a plan for a garden at the new
place. The back yard is small, we like to entertain and play outside so it’s a
little tricky but I think I have a plan that will work that however is a post
for another day. Today my focus is on herbs in food.

Herbs are perhaps my absolute most Favorite ingredient that
I simply could not do without. I think we all know the power that herbs have
over the taste of any dish, but I particularly like them on their own. Though
Chuck may not agree with me, I think anything that has massive chunks of
parsley, or basil is pretty much the best thing ever, I even like basil in my
lemonade, and we aren’t talking lemon basil either.

I keep telling myself that someday I will have a beautiful garden
full of fresh perennial herbs, I will someday learn to grow annuals from seeds
and they will actually live past a couple weeks. I will learn how to properly
dry, and store these herbs to enjoy them year round and know that I grew them.
When people try my food they will sing praises from the roof tops and exclaim
wonders of the pure and abundant flavor that comes from my cooking and my herbs.

I totally just started day dreaming there a little bit, did
you catch that?

I digress, the spring time weather has quite obviously got
me daydreaming of fresh herbs, so I decided to make this easy fresh pasta salad
for lunch the other day. Its great both warm and cold, though if left in the
fridge overnight I have found that it allows more herbaceous flavor to sink in.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture idk whats up with blogger

Herb & Ricotta
Pasta

1 cup pasta, cooked aldente

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

4-5 basil leaves, chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

1 tbs chopped fresh chives

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup low fat milk

¼ – ½ cup low fat ricotta cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

In a sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat and sauté
onions for 2-3 minutes or until they begin to soften. Add all other herbs and
cook for an addition 2-3 minutes, they will start to become fragrant. Reduce
heat to low, and stir in milk. Add pasta and toss. Add ricotta cheese in
increments, thoroughly mixing until reaching desired cheesiness. Add salt &
pepper to taste, and serve warm, or refrigerate over night and serve cold.

Irish Chicken & Herb Dumplings

By Jessica

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Have you ever been to Five Below? That place is a maze of
awesomeness, it’s just like the dollar store but the stuff lasts two weeks
instead of just one, and costs $5 or less. I happened to be poking around there
recently and came across this Irish Cook Book.

Now anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Ireland, especially the food. I grew up with stews, green peas, scones and tea; don’t even get me started on my dad’s favorite, boiled dinner. I flipped through this book thinking, that it would probably be wicked boring, and to my great surprise it was filled with recipes that I really wanted to try, so I sprung for the 4 bucks and bought it. I hope you are ready for about a trillion new Irish recipes.

Earlier this week I had a really awesome spring cold. The kind that feel like a bomb went off in your sinus cavity, yeah it was pretty fun. So on Monday I decided to make myself some chicken soup and use the herb dumpling recipe from this book.

The original recipe was for a roasted pork shoulder with the dumplings boiled separately, but I just tossed them in to the pot with my stew and they came out perfectly. Also the original instructions suggested using parsley and mint or anything other preferred herb. I went with chives because I had them, but my guess is that the use of mint would be great in a lamb stew. Just a thought.

Irish Chicken & Herb Dumplings

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tbs oil
2 tbs unsalted butter
4 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 large celery ribs, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
3 tbs all purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp pepper +more to taste
1 lb cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
1 cup frozen peas
Salt to taste
For dumplings:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tbs flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tbs chives, finely chopped
1 tsp pepper
2 tbs softened butter
1 egg
2 tbs milk

Instructions

In a thick bottomed sauce pan Heat oil, and melt butter.
Add carrots, onion, celery and thyme and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.
Stir in flour until well blended before adding broth.
Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.
Add bay leaf, pepper, and chicken. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile sift together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and herbs for dumplings. With a fork blend in butter, until it begins to forms loose crumbs. Carefully stir in egg and milk until a dough forms. With lightly floured hands form 2 inch diameter dumplings.
After 15 minutes stir frozen peas into the soup and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
Add dumplings and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they begin to float.
Remove bay leaves, adjust seasonings, and serve warm.

Even in my numbed taste buds enjoyed this one, and Chuck especially did. The stew was wonderfully creamy, and flavorful, the vegetables perfectly tender, and the dumplings light and refreshing. It was the perfect antidote for my cold symptoms. Ok maybe I had a little help from cough drops, honey, tea, and Alka-Seltzer, I’m still saying it was the soup though.

This might also be a helper (comfort meal?) in light of this weeks most recent events in Boston and in Texas. My prayers are filled with hope and sorrow.

My Healthy Back Pocket Meal

By Jessica

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Tuesday’s run had an almost overwhelming affect on me. For starters I hadn’t run in almost 6 months, and definitely not since we moved. We live just off a very busy road that I’m not entirely comfortable running down, but on google I found an old snowmobile trail that I could get to a side street on. So I took it, not entirely thinking about how wet and gross it would be, since it had after all rained all day, I was able to keep a good pace through the much and more that destroyed my shiny, still newish running shoes, and was out on the open road.

Then I wanted to DIE. I was coughing, and sneezing, and my nose was dripping like crazy, and of course I didn’t bring tissues. I looked at my phone and realized that I had barely ran a mile. My goal was 2.62 in honor of Boston. And I was going to run it even if it did in fact kill me. So I switched the ipod to some skillet (your welcome) and pushed through it.

I made one stop at my turn around point to get my bearings and figure out how to get home then started off again, this time uphill (that was great). I did have to walk when I came back across the swamp, which I now noticed had a posted sign, whoops! I was mostly afraid for my sprain prone ankles and tired legs, but after getting out I jogged for the last .2 miles home, only of course to realize that I was short by .3 miles so I did a few laps on our little street in front of the house, I bet our neighbors think I’m crazy.

I’m honestly shocked by how well it all went. In the end I was fairly soaked, mud caked, and covered in snot (TMI? Sorry, it’s true my face was leaking like a faucet), but I could finally breath. After 3 days of congestion the run knocked it all out of me (Hell yeah), and this morning I only felt a slight twinge of discomfort going down the stairs, so my legs didnt even mind the shock. I know that a half hour for 2.62 miles is friggin awful, but hell I feel good about it, I actually
feel great about it.

I’m proud of my run, that I pushed myself when I really didn’t want to. I did it for something other than myself, for something bigger than me. For Boston.

Post run I was not in the mood for cooking so I pulled out one my super lazy day, back pocket meals.

This one is one of my favorites because not only is it super quick and easy, but it’s clean and there is always leftovers, because lazy days sometimes last for more than one day. I also really like it because unless there is a vegetarian in the house nearly everyone likes it, so you can’t go wrong. This meal can be made in one pan, it can easily be multiplied for more people, or halved for fewer; and the flavor profile can easily be changed by simply changing the type of sausage. This is why I have voted it one of my favorite back pocket meals.

Tomato, Sausage & Bean Stew

Author: JC

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 lb precooked chicken sausage, sliced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 ( 15 ounce) cans unsalted cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, with juices
1 cup water
1 8oz can tomato paste
1 large bunch fresh spinach (5-6 oz)
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large skillet heat 1 tbs of oil and cook sausages on medium high heat, until they begin to brown, 2- 3 minutes.
Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.
Stir in the beans, tomatoes water and tomato paste until well blended. Cook, stirring occasionally for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
Gently fold in spinach and allow it to wilt.
Adjust seasoning and serve warm.

Note: I have been known to on very lazy days to skip the onion and garlic altogether and just toss in a can of low sodium tomatoes with onion and garlic added already. It really just depends on my mood.

For another version of this that’s similarly easy, but with 1 or 2 extra steps to change it up I will skip the beans and put it over pasta, much like this recipe from Clean Eating Magazine.

Today I Ran.

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I have not run in roughly six months.

I have a hell of a cold, the kind that has kept me in bed, and coughing up a
lung.

It was rainy, and windy, and gross.

But today I ran.

I ran for our country.

For the vigilant heroes that are always ready when we need them.

For everyone in Boston.

Today I ran 2.62 miles, in honor of the yesterdays tragic event.

I have had much better runs, its true, but I want to share this with you all to show my support for our country.

Chicken Paillards with Asparagus Gruyere

By Jessica

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Chicken, Vegetables, and cheese make up this meal and what a
wonderful one it is. The crispness of the asparagus, in the creamy sauce, and
melted cheese, all on top of a tender piece of chicken; just imagine it! I
really like this meal and how surprisingly easy it was for the complexity of
the tastes that it provides.

Chicken Paillards Asparagus
Gruyere (serves 4)

4 chicken prepared chicken Paillards
¼ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt & pepper (each)

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot sliced thin

½ cup white wine

2/3 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 lb asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

¼ cup reduced fat sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

2/3 cup fresh grated Gruyere Cheese

Sift together flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the
chicken in the mixture, shaking off any excess. Place in a large skillet that
has been heated to medium-high heat and coated with oil. Cook for roughly 3-4
minutes per side, or until golden brown and just cooked through. Remove from
heat and set aside. Add shallots to the pan and cook for roughly 1 minute, add
2 tsp from the leftover chicken dredging mixture stirring well to blend. Add
wine, broth and asparagus to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the
asparagus begins to get tender, and wine reduces. Continue to stir will adding
broth to the pan and allow the mixture to thicken. Reduce heat to low and stir
in sour cream, and lemon juice. Return the chicken to the pan and top with
grated cheese. Cover and continue to cook until the cheese has melted. Serve
warm.

For instructions on how to prepare chicken pillards check
out this post.

Jessica

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