Simple, healthy meals - Chicken breasts & spaghetti squash

For some reason eating healthily at home is not always as easy as it sounds like it will be. Maybe because you have to keep things movin' and groovin' otherwise you want to tear your hair out or run to the nearest greasy spoon or bakery and shove fried food and/or pastry into your mouth as fast as possible...

or maybe that's just me.

But REGARDLESS, if I had a penny for every time a friend of mine or I say (martini in hand) "No, I'm really going to start eating healthy this week" I would have SEVERAL pennies.

And I hate it when someone touts a recipe as being simple and there is basting, peeling, roasting, pureeing, zesting, chilling invovled - THAT'S NOT SIMPLE. You know what's simple? Cereal. So when I say "simple" I mean a step above cereal... and that step is using the stove or oven.

One of my all-time favorite recipes is baked chicken breasts. Plain chicken breasts? Not so good. Chicken breasts covered in Herbs de Provence? Fuckin good.

Take two halves of a chicken breast and lightly cover them in olive oil. Shake a decent coating of Herbs de Provence on the tops of the breast and bake at 375 for 30-40 mins or so, depending on the size of the breast. Et voila - a tasty protein dish. Sound too simple? Try it. I eat it at least once a week and have been serving it to my boyfriend for several months and each time he says (as he did last night having prepared it himself for the first time) "You have somethin here with this recipe...it's always good."

I usually pair it with steamed asparagus with a touch of butter and salt and pepper or a sprinkling of shaved, fresh Parmesan or steamed artichokes. Last night, however, my boyfriend cooked a new favorite of ours which is very healthy and tasty - spaghetti squash.

Halve the spaghetti squash and remove the seeds, placing the halves face-down in a baking dish coated with cooking spray and cook them at 375 F for about 35 minutes or until you can pierce the shell easily.

Let cool for a few minutes and using a fork or spaghetti server scrape out the meat of the squash and place in a large bowl. We usually add our own homemade marinara sauce made with canned and/or fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, basil and garlic. It makes for a filling, healthy meal that feels like you're eating pasta - but you're not!

My boyfriend is not a squash-person. He says it's often too sweet for him and in general doesn't seek it out, but after I served him spaghetti squash for the first time at the end of the last cold season he said, "I may never eat spaghetti again this is so good". Now I know some pasta lovers would definitely beg to differ, but what I'm trying to say is - it's good.

Cupcakes to make the most hardened man beg for more... part deux

So another friends' birthday gave me the perfect excuse to try my cupcakes from last week again. This time I only made the Dark Chocolate Sour Cream cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting -





-and the Easy Yellow-Mix Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream -





(please forgive my shitty camera phone - i will get a better one soon)

and they turned out quite well again. I cooked the DCSC cupcakes for less time and they are crumbly when they first come of out of the oven which makes it a little difficult to ice. I recommend cooling them and the icing in the fridge for a few minutes and then frosting them. Then refridgerate until serving.

They are yummy!

Again, I used the tips from the icing video on youtube.com and it's getting a little better. The chocolate buttercream is just me doing random designs. But the flowers are quite pretty. I'll let you know what my friend thinks!

Rained out

So my boyfriend and I decided, after trying for five months, to have a yard sale today in Brooklyn. Ummm... it poured rain and soaked all of our belongings. We sat on our stoop and watched the rain fall. Our upstairs neighbor brought us a tarp, thankfully, that we put over our stuff.

Then we ran back and forth from the shelter of the porch to bring everything in and place it on towels in our living room. Sigh. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

I don't know if you have seen this movie-

Once

but I have seen it twice and think it may be the best love story on film besides Casablanca. And Blue Velvet...heeeyyyy!

Oh, barf. My cat is being ridiculously cute next to me.

Sometimes a girl needs some space

I don't know if you have days where modern life makes you want to smash windows with a baseball bat or drown your sorrows with bourbon and the blues...

But on those days sometimes the best thing to do is get out of the house and remind yourself that there's a big world out there, not just full of shitheads, but well-dressed, rich people too (wait a minute...). And Central Park.

I'm having one of those days and I think I just might head over to one of my favorite bars in New York City - The Lobby Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental.

While you're there, try out the Jade Blossom Martini if you like white wine and lychee and sake... it's yummy and very pretty. My crappy cell phone camera does not do it justice... but I'm sure you will.



Not only is the MoBar lovely, but the Lobby Lounge has comfortable seating (if you can get in, it does get crowded after work) and sweeping views of Central Park and the New York Skyline. It's not cheap, but it just might clear your head.

If that doesn't help, try street heroin.

Cupcakes to make the most hardened man beg for more

Ok, so a good friend of mine had her birthday party in Manhattan a week ago and I decided to make cupcakes for her.

Who doesn't like cupcakes after all?

Well, I used recipes from this book -

Cupcakes!

and they were a HUGE hit.

I made the Chocolate Buttercream frosting which was incredible - buttery and smooth and the perfect amount of sweetness mixed with chocolate flavor. I combined this frosting with the Easy Yellow-Mix Cupcakes which I think is hard to beat - even the most picky eater can't turn down a good yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting.

Next I made White Cupcakes with White Chocolate frosting as my friend is a big fan of white chocolate and she couldn't get enough of them. She ate several that night and took a couple home for breakfast and snacking the next day. They turned out quite well - the White Chocolate frosting was a little sweet for me, but if you like white chocolate I recommend them.

And last, but most definitely not least I made Dark Chocolate Sour Cream cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. The Cream Cheese frosting was simply delightful... it's one of my favorite kinds of frosting anyway, and this was no exception. It was smooth and cheesy and sweet and tangy. The DCSC cupcakes were drier than the others, but that was because I cooked them a few minutes too long, I think. The recipe is quite good. I also filled a mini-cake tin with the batter and that turned out moist and perfect so I know it's possible to make these little guys mouth-wateringly good.

And, of course, I forgot to take pictures before they were gobbled up!

I used disposable pastry bags and attachments sold as a set by Dean and Deluca and even though I'm a novice, they turned out quite good. My advice is, stick to the basic moves and don't get too creative on your first try. I did have a few cupcakes that looked like a first grader exercised their creative license with them... and the I reverted back to the two styles I learned from a video on youtube.com.

Icing Cupcakes Video.

Oh, and because I'm a fuckin dork I bought tupperware in which to carry cupcakes. It's AWESOME. I think making and bringing cupcakes to someone's birthday party is a great present and my friends couldn't believe what a freakin domestic weirdo I am. YES. Check it out -

Cupcake Carrier from Crate & Barrel

Suffice to say, four different people asked if I owned a bakery where they could buy more (hey - not a bad idea, right?) and several more sought me out to tell me how good they were and they, despite dietary restrictions, had indulged in more than one.

Now that's what I call a success.

Driving on I-84? Stop by Rein's Deli.

If you are taking a road trip and happen to be driving on I-84 and need a pick-me-up, I recommend a stop at Rein's New York Style Deli in Vernon, CT.

They have fantastic deli-style food complete with lox, bagels, pickles (yum), pastrami sandwiches, corned beef sandwiches, reubens, halava, cheesecake... you name it.



They're open daily from 7am - 12am and will give you good, fast service. They have a big dining area where you can take a break from driving or do as my boyfriend and I did and just get it to go. We bought a jar of raspberry preserves and a bucket of Rein's pickles to bring with us.

Light Blueberry Muffins

If you're like me you want to eat yummy baked goods but don't need the calories and fat that often go along with them.

I am making it my mission to spread the lower fat/lower calorie joy of baked goods.

So! Here is a lovely recipe for Blueberry Muffins (on the Weight Watchers diet they register 3 points per muffin).

1 ¾ cups flour
6 tablespoons sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites – slightly beaten
¾ cup skim milk
1/3 cup canola oil
¾ cup blueberries (fresh or frozen- & i added a bit more)
½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degree F.

In a medium mixing bowl stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, milk, vanilla and oil. Add entire wet mixture at once to dry mixture and stir. A few lumps are okay, some lumps are good. Over mixing can result in tough muffins.

Carefully fold blueberries into batter. Fill muffin cups (paper or silicone) 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and muffins are slightly golden brown.

I made mine and this is how they turned out!





And let me introduce you to my new little friend - the silicone muffin and cupcake baking cup - you can reuse and they are dishwasher safe. The muffins plopped right out of them! They are available at Crate & Barrel and elsewhere, I'm sure.

Silicone Baking Cups from Crate & Barrel



Happy Baking!

Breakfast & Lunch to make you cry... in a good way.

In South Portland, Maine (an area much worth exploring) there's a small cafe with some of the best breakfast treats I've ever had and beautiful backyard.

The Pickett Street Cafe is at 158 Benjamin W. Pickett Street.

I highly recommend the house smoked salmon on a bagel with capers, dill, olive oil and red onions. They also have great breakfast sandwiches and salads.

Affordable and delicious.

Not open on Labor Day.

Music to your skin

If you're strolling around Portland, Maine and are craving a little bit of luxury and pampering to go, head over to 41 Wharf Street where you'll find a little shop with big appeal. 2 Note Perfumery has body butters, scrubs, lip balms, body lotions and skin care products ranging from massage oil to face masques.

They use scents like pink grapefruit, lavender, vanilla, eucaplytus, sage, patchouli, cocoa, honey and geranium.

I just bought several friends' birthday presents here and can't wait to pass them out. My friend recently got me a birthday present of expensive lotion made at the store - and I use it after every shower and feel completely pampered and decadent.

2 Note Perfumery

They have testers for everything so go and discover the lusciousness.