All my favorite things...in a pan!

It has been a pretty lousy week so far. Work has been nightmarish and I'm finding myself less and less resilient to certain aspects of my job. I'm finding that a lot of this stress is manifesting itself in really strange ways, such as weird jaw pain. All day today my jaws have been tight and I've had a headache and I left work early because I just couldn't deal with the stress there anymore. However, when I got home tonight and started to make dinner, all the stress just sorta melted away. I was even humming a little bit and struttin' around the kitchen thinking I know a thing or two about cooking. Point is, cooking is relaxing and wonderful and cooking all my favorite things together in one dish is bliss.

I've made this Tuna with Black Pepper, Artichokes, and Lemon before, a few years ago, and remembered it being a little bland. I decided to give it another go tonight and it came out positively scrumptious. The recipe suggests serving it over rice but I'm trying to cut out some starches and carbs so I just ate it on its own and it was perfect. I also added lemon juice as opposed to just lemon slices as it calls for and I think the juice really made the dish. But as most people who know me know, I can never have enough lemon.

TUNA WITH BLACK PEPPER, ARTICHOKES, AND LEMON
(Real Simple Magazine)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (I used a yellow onion instead and actually liked it better than the red)
3 6.5 ounce jars artichoke hearts, drained and halved (I used about a half a can of artichoke hearts and it was just perfect)
1 lemon, cut into 8 slices (and my addition: the juice of one half of a lemon)
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
1 1/2 pounds fresh tuna, cut into cubes (I used 1 yellowfin tuna filet)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher sald
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups rice (didn't use)

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the artichokes, lemon, garlic, and thyme (if using). Cook until heated through, 3 more minutes. Transfer to a plate. Season the tuna with the salt and pepper. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Cook the tuna, turning to brown all sides, to the desired doneness, about 2 minutes for medium(I know most of my restaurant friends will slap me for saying this, but I actually like tuna to be cooked through. Don't hate me, Xu!). Return the artichoke mixture to skillet and toss to combine. Serve over the rice.

Chicken, cheese, and carrots

I was going to make this really yummy looking recipe from Bon Appetit but when I went to Whole Foods I 1. couldn't find sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil 2. forgot to buy basil, and 3. bought the wrong kind of chicken. My usual OCD self would have panicked, gone out again to procure all the necessary ingredients and made the chicken exactly as it was called for in the recipe (a year ago, I might have even sun dried the tomatoes myself), BUT, this new carefree less OCD Marsha decided to adapt the recipe and make it her own. I didn't even look at the recipe once I got home from the store. Instead, I mixed some stuff together - I even felt like Nadine as I was quickly chopping artichoke hearts and throwing salt on some carrots. The chicken turned out, well, really good. I'm always surprised when things I come up with taste good or don't poison me. Oh and the carrots! The following carrot recipe is courtesy of Jamie Oliver and I didn't change it or add anything at all. If Jamie says to use a glug* of olive oil then I use a glug of olive oil. They were perfect and sweet and salty and garlicky and thymey and mmmmmm...


THE BEST WHOLE-BAKE CARROTS (Jamie Oliver, Cook With Jamie)

1 lb young bunched carrots, washed and scrubbed
olive oil
herb or red wine vinegar (I used red wine)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Preheat your oven to 400. Toss your carrots with a good glug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves. Place in a roasting pan, cover tightly with foil and cook for 30 t 40 minutes until just tender. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until the carrots have browned and carmelized nicely.

and

CHICKEN WITH ARTICHOKE HEARTS AND FONTINA CHEESE

2 chicken breast cutlets, pounded thin (the other one is for my lunch tomorrow!)
a handful of shredded fontina cheese
3-5 chopped artichoke hearts, drained from a can
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix artichoke hearts and shredded fontina cheese in a bowl and add a splash of olive oil to coat. Salt and pepper the chicken cutlets after they have been pounded thin and spoon the cheese/artichoke mixture onto them. Carefully roll the chicken into a nice little bundle and secure with a toothpick or skewer. Heat oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add chicken and cook for about two minutes on each side. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes.


*Not exactly sure what a glug is. Xua, Nadine and I might have to take another field trip to Tea and Sympathy to find out.

Doing It

I was recently on the phone with my oldest sister Sarah lamenting about all the things I usually lament about, to the only person in this world who will simultaneously pat my head and kick my ass when she interrupted me and said, "I'm sorry, but its your diet. You eat like crap. You do, I know you do. If you ate better, you'd feel better". After much more whining and a little yelling I agreed and said I would do better and start eating "clean", as she puts it.

This phone conversation happened to fall upon the same day that I found two really glorious food blogs, and while I know that it may be ironic that I was drooling over a picture of a loaf cake right after I finished talking to Sarah about whole grains and greens, a little light bulb went off in my crazy little head.

The next day I was talking to my friend Leigh about food blogs and I thought to myself, "hmm, maybe I should just start one" and she agreed. And after a little more encouragement from my friend Nadine, " Yeah! It'll combine stuff you like -like food and photography- with stuff you don't like, like writing and focusing on new projects", here I am. Writing a blog. A food blog. The mission is:

1. To cook and eat really healthy delicious foods
2. Make perfectly sized portions for a girl who only needs to cook for herself. I hate wasting food. Also, I really really hate leftovers

This doesn't mean that this blog is going to be recipe after recipe of boring vegetable dishes. While there will be lots of vegetable, protein, and whole grain recipes, I plan on having a "Free Day". This means that one day a week (probably Saturday or Sunday) I will make and consume whatever I want. It could be a lovely pizza with cured meats ( God knows I love my cured meats) or a double chocolate peanut butter fudge cake with chocolate chips. I plan to post pictures of all my meals as well as recipes. I hope you stay tuned and keep me on track. I need to make my big sister proud and I need to stop whining.

Tomorrow: Chicken Breasts stuffed with fontina, artichokes, and sun-dried tomatoes (from Bon Appetit)