Adventures in Recipes

I tried out a new chicken recipe yesterday. The recipe called for dry white wine. I don't drink. I stopped drinking long before I started my healthy lifestyle change. I drank a LOT in my 20's and had to stop and even then I didn't drink anything fancy like wine. If it didn't taste like kool aid or was cheap enough to use for drinking games I didn't drink it. So it's been an adventure building my "cooking alcohol" collection as recipes have called for them.

So I go to Safeway yesterday which has a fancy wine alcohol section -- it takes up an entire corner of the store and they always have people working at the "bar" trying to sample out wines. I'm sure how they have the alcohol arranged makes perfect sense to connoisseurs but I was completely lost. So after I turn down a myriad of wine samples, I say, "I'm just looking for a dry white wine to cook with." Finally one of the women working behind the "bar" takes pity on me and takes me over to the white wine section (that I couldn't find on my own) and suggests a couple wines that have excellent reputations and starts delving into all the wine speak. I listen like I care (which I don't -- I'm just going to dump it on some chicken), grab the cheapest bottle she recommends, and head to the check out with the rest of my groceries.

I get home, put the groceries away, and start cooking dinner. I heat up my olive oil and butter in the pan, prepare my chicken breasts, start browning them and while that's going on, I measure out the chicken stock, the chopped garlic, and peel the wrapper off the wine to measure that out. I'm shocked to find it has a cork. I do not own a corkscrew. It never even occurred to me I'd need one. That shows what a dork I am, I guess. I take the chicken out of the pan, and put in the garlic and start browning that while I desperately think of a way to open the bottle.

The husband says, "I could screw a screw into it and try to pull it out that way."

I scoff, tell him to keep stirring the garlic, our next door neighbor is into cooking and he's and older gentlemen, he's GOT to have one. I run over, ask, and he chuckles, says they're recovering alcoholics so they don't have any anymore but he'll check. He invites me in and I feel totally horrendous that I'm carrying this bottle of wine into their house when they're recovering alcoholics. Alas, they do NOT have a corkscrew, he says the last time he cooked with wine he pounded the cork into the bottle used what he needed and threw the rest away.

That doesn't help me.

I take the bottle back to my husband and tell him, "Whatever MacGyver, just open it."

So he screws in this wall hook thing and then starts prying and groaning and bitching -- trying to get the cork out. After about 5 minutes, he gets the cork out a bit and instead of staying with what works he unscrews the screw wall hook thingy out and gets pliers and totally breaks off a huge chunk of cork. So I give him crap about why didn't he stick with what was working as he's screwing this ginormous wall hook screw thingy back into the cork. He finally gets the cork out (and believe me it's worse for the wear) and I'm able to use the wine in the recipe. All that work for 1/4 cup. The Husband informs me this chicken better be worth it to which I agree.

Then there was the fun of trying to shove the massacred cork back into the bottle. Finally MacGyver got it back in. I guess that's why I keep him around.

Well the recipe was amazing. It was totally delicious and well worth the hassle of the white wine debacle.

Chicken Breasts in Garlic Sauce w/ French Baguette


So you take the garlic sauce and spread it onto slices of Baguette. The garlic is cooked down and really mild and has an almost sweet flavor and compliments the chicken and tastes so delicious on the bread. It's presentation looks like it should be bad for you and it definitely tastes like it should be bad for you but 1 serving of the chicken with a serving size of a french baguette with the sauce was only 259 calories. This recipe will definitely go into our regular line up. If anyone's interested in the recipe give me a holler and I'll send it along.

Today is also weigh in and measuring day. I'm excited to report that I've lost another 3 pounds last week and 7.5 inches off my entire body in the last month.

--Previous Day Tracking --

Exercise - Walking.

Healthy Lifestyle - Day 96

Only Water - Day 91

Total Pounds Lost - 38.3

Meals:
Breakfast - bowl of FiberOne Honey Clusters w/ homemade Almond Milk
Morning Snack - (didn't need)
Lunch - Cracked Pepper Turkey Sandwich, with carrots and a dill pickle spear
Mid-Afternoon Snack -1/2 peanut butter and banana sandwich and a slice of honey cinnamon swirl bread
Dinner - Chicken in Garlic Sauce w/ French Baguette and asparagus

Total Day Calories - 1017