Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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.

15 comments:

Clarence Carlyle said...

Liked your style of writing. Interesting blog you have. Hope you stay at 115 all along!

Erica said...

Great pasta dish! These days I am preferring pasta with olive oil/breadcrumb/lemon juice dressings vs. traditional pasta sauce. Sorry you had such a crazy day but at least its Thursday!!! I don't try to make up for workouts, but try to stick to my schedule as much as possible for the rest of the week

Kelly Pearce said...

We made the Buffalo Chicken Chili.... DELICIOUS. Thanks for sharing, RYAn loves it :)

Tyler said...

Yum! That looks so tasty! I love lemon in pasta dishes. I try not to worry if I miss workouts. If it becomes a several day thing, then I get really mad. But I NEED workouts on stressful days, so I feel yah! Hope your week flies so you can enjoy your weekend!

lee said...

I could not get into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I read about 100 pages and stopped. Everyone says it's great though.

I only try to make up workouts when I'm training for something. Otherwise I just move on.

Danielle said...

Dragon Tattoo – I am almost finished and it has been a challenging read! Good however there’s a lot of characters and the Swedish names, places et cetera are hard to follow.

Anonymous said...

The Dragon Tattoo series is one of my favorite recent reads! The first hundred or so pages of Dragon Tattoo take a little to get through because he's setting up so much of the plot/people/etc. The second book if probably the best. Be warned -- they're all a little graphic in places but such excellent books!

Feel better Austin! (And I hope you don't get sick too...)

Samma said...

You will LOVE the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- the entire trilogy is sooo good! I hate when I miss workouts, but you just gotta move on. Today is a new day! Hope it's better!

Unknown said...

You have to get through the first few CD (or the first 100 pages) then it rocks! Hang in there!

Kacy said...

Sorry about the stressful week girl! We're almost to the weekend though!

I don't usually make up workouts unless I'm training for something, and even then I prefer to just let it go so it doesn't create added stress.

I've heard great things about the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I'm hesitant to read it for some reason..

Regan Jones, RDN said...

I hate missing workouts, but right now my schedule on consistently allows for two days a week... that's pathetic, but better than nothing.

I've heard good things about Tattoo... I've actually started the Outlander series (old series, I know, but I've never read.) Have you ever read those?

Kate @ Daffodils said...

I have mixed feelings about 'Dragon Tatoo." First it confused me, then everything wrapped up in a nice pretty bow a little too easily, but at the same time, I couldn't put it down. I swore I wouldnt read the second one, but then i did anyways and had the same reaction. They reminded me of Dan Brown books, kinda interesting, kinda repetitive, but you'll finish it because you want to know what happens!!

Tami@NutmegNotebook said...

Good looking pasta dish.

Last night I had to do my weight work out at 9:00! I try to get my exercise in and sometimes I modify and maybe do less of a weight work out or walk a shorter distance.

At least I do something and it isn't the end of the world to miss one day! I move on with no guilt if I have to.

lee said...

I could not get into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I read about 100 pages and stopped. Everyone says it's great though.

I only try to make up workouts when I'm training for something. Otherwise I just move on.

Danielle said...

Dragon Tattoo – I am almost finished and it has been a challenging read! Good however there’s a lot of characters and the Swedish names, places et cetera are hard to follow.