New Pasta Recipe, Book Review, Dragon Tattoo?

Hola and happy (albeit late) hump day! I LOVED reading about your real-life/blog-life crossovers! Too funny how you've been recognized and Biz I TOTALLY got your story. hehe And Pam, so funny that your friends suggested your recipes/blogs to friends not knowing it was you! :) To answer questions/respond further - I use frozen shrimp from Trader Joe's - $6 a pound so $1.50/serving. And Austin is still sick. Ew. I'm trying to stay away from him which, thanks to work this week, has been pretty easy. Grrr!

My day was a little rough… Started out good though – I finished a book on the way into work! I finished up James Patterson’s 4th of July audio book. It was another Women’s Murder Club book. This one focused on the San Francisco Lt. Lindsey Boxer who finds herself in a courtroom drama – which is what I loved! It had the courtroom stuff going on, and while she leaves town to get away from it, she finds herself in a town where multiple murders are being committed. I liked the story and the killer definitely surprised me. If anything, I’d say the problem with this one is that there were a lot of characters introduced that seemed irrelevant an then later, when I found out the mystery, they seemed planted. I don’t know – they just didn’t fit that well. I give this one a 3/5 – loved the story, but felt like it was a little slow in parts, wish the characters had fit in better and wish they had featured the other women in the club more.

Other than finishing the book, I had a new recipe for lunch. As usual, forgive the pics taken in the tub!

Chicken Scallopini
Makes 4 Servings
Adapted from a Cooking Light recipe

16 oz. chicken, diced
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp bottled lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
½ cup fat-free chicken broth
¼ cup chardonnay
1 tbsp land o’ lakes light butter with canola oil
8 oz. penne

All of ze tubs ready to go in the fridge!

Set pot of water to boil. Add noodles and cook per box instructions. Set medium pan over medium heat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Put chicken on a plate and spread it out. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Use hands to mix it well. On another plate, spread bread crumbs to single layer. Pick up a quarter of the chicken and spread in the breadcrumbs. Coat on both sides and add to pan. Repeat three times until all chicken is in the pan. Cook 3 minutes on each side until chicken is done. Remove from pan. Add broth and wine to pan, and cook 30 seconds stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in butter. Drain now-cooked pasta and divide into 4 servings. Top each with a quarter of the chicken and a quarter of the sauce.

Nutritional Information: 395 calories, 45 carbs, 5 fat grams and 37 protein grams.

Review: GREAT. Love the addition of breadcrumbs – make my life carbtastic. And the lemony flavor is strong, but not overwhelming. The sauce is thin, so know that it’s not a thicker sauce but that it’s flavorful. I found this to be super filling and will definitely eat it again!

In other news: no workouts today. Lunch was eaten up (pun intended) by an alterations appointment and I had to work late until 6:15, then got home at 7, ate dinner, and worked until 9:45. OMG - when will this week end?

Q: What do you do when you miss workouts? Try to make them up or move on? I just hate it because I needed that stress relief today!

Q: Have you read/heard anything about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? I've heard it's awesome - been meaning to read it since last summer when Shana brought it to book club! Lindsey loaned it to me, Danielle is reading it, and Stacy just finished it and loved it - I think i'll love it! I'm 1 out of 10 CDs down... so far it's convoluted.