only the garlic-philes need apply

yesterday the ladies of the chateau were in a mood -- a cranky, uninspired wednesday mood. with chicken breasts defrosting in our fridge, we fretted over epicurious.com and vetoed everything. it was all just blah, or too much work, or complicated and yucky. ugh. nothing looked good and we were getting sassy.  good-natured but with undertones of "if we do not cook something good tonight there will be hell to pay!" we needed something tried and true, comfort food to bring us back to life, so we traveled back in time (again) to another college favorite of mine: garlic chicken. which, i was surprised to note when i looked up the recipe, does not have quite as much garlic as you would think, given the name.  the recipe called for a measly 2tsps!!! at the chateau, garlic reigns supreme -- we devour a plurality of bulbs per week - 2 tsps was not going to cut it.  and in the original recipe, you only use the garlic to infuse olive oil, which you dip the chicken in before breading it!  the amended kristine/colette recipe uses an entire bulb of garlic, minced and mixed in along with the panko crumbs and the parmesan cheese.  yes - you are basically breading the chicken in garlic.  no, that is not insane.  and yes, it was very delicious.  ridiculously delicious.  colette and i collapsed on the couch after our meal, rubbing our bellies, and sighing happy sighs.  no more cranky bears - mission accomplished.

Julie and Julia have NOTHING on us!

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog cyber space (and spacers for whoever is thoroughly enjoying reading this!)

Last Wednesday we had a mini feast - which included a Chicken that I ROASTED!  Kristine cooked the potatoes, and I also made bruschetta as an appetizer...and voila - we had a meal to feed a family of 10....yet only had 2.5 people to eat it (roomie #3 Francie wasn't hungry)

Roasting a chicken is probably one of the easiest yet messiest things I have cooked - all it takes is a little salt, a little lemon, some garlic, rosemary (if you want), olive oil, and paprika...cook for 15 minutes per pound, or until the juices run clear when you lift the wing up, and VOILA - you have yourself an entire roasted chicken!  I was very impressed with the moistness, and how flavorful it was - considering it was only the second time that I cooked it...GO TEAM CHATEAU!

Kristine and I also HIGHLY recommend the three colored potatoes from Trader Joes - they are pretty and so tasty....YUM.

Stay tuned for tonight's chicken dish :)

 

skinny love

there was a time when food was my enemy. it was complicated, toxic, misunderstood, controlling, sometimes passive-aggressive -- all the signs of a classic co-dependent relationship.  we struggled for a long time, food and i, before arriving at a safe, neutral place: food is fuel.  this is how i typically think about it now... food is energy in, so i can put energy out.  don't you find that when something is formulaic, it makes it somehow more manageable? but, like most relationships in life, i find that my relationship with food can't really be boiled down to a simple equation, E=mc2.  there is another all-important element which isn't accounted for in my current experience, and that is: food is love.  

let me paint a picture for you what life pre-roadtrip-to-skinny was like: come home, make one of two single-serving meals in my repertoire (involving cooking pasta or defrosting chicken apple sausage), eat on couch, in front of tv.  

let's contrast that with the new scenario: colette and i look for a recipe that excites us and we put together a menu; we have courses! appetizer, entree, and dessert!; we purchase fresh, seasonal ingredients; we take on roles of chef and sous-chef; we listen to music and catch up on our lives as we bustle around the kitchen; we open a bottle of wine; we care if we burn the dish because someone else other than ourself has to eat it; we set the table; we light candles; we eat slowly; we sit and rub our bellies, and digest. and then we do the dishes. 

the former is food as fuel. the latter is food as love, fostered in the preparation, presentation, and enjoyment of a meal.  can you see the difference?

p.s. here is the recipe from last night: grilled scallops and nectarines with corn and tomato salad, courtesy of epicurious.com.  

Gym - frenemy NO MORE!

Everyone sit down while reading this post.

I - Colette Vance-Wright - went to the gym yesterday.  Yes. It's true.  To be completely honest, I actually missed it (well it took me 20 minutes to feel that way).  

2 miles and 100 crunches later, I decided that baby steps was the way to ease back into an active lifestyle. 

So off I trotted home to make my skinny compatriot a skinny meal...who I expected to be waiting anxiously for me to run home and make dinner.....yet I had to wait for HER!!!!

I gave myself a pass today because it was my last day at Hearst, and being taken to lunch and dinner (where my building manager gave me not just 1, but 3 CUPCAKES - yes I only ate 1, and saved the other 2 for the roomies - sorry Kristine)

So score is Gym-1, Colette-1.....see blurry picture below to prove it (taken while running)

hi honey, i'm home!

you know that gender role stereotype where the husband promises to be home in time for dinner, gets caught up at work, and arrives late? yeah - that was me yesterday. at 7pm, colette texted me to remind me that we had dinner plans and i quickly jumped on the shuttle with instructions to pick up tomato and feta on the way home.  and when i finally arrived, hours late, looking a wee bit stressed from the madness of work, she swept up my bounty and whipped up a feast in 20 minutes flat! the only thing missing from the picture was a frilly apron and a rolling pin. and i thought, as i put my feet up on the couch and dived back into a spreadsheet, "i could get used to coming home to a wife."

all joking aside - colette's first roadtrip to skinny meal hit the spot! we used the leftover couscous i made last week, she grilled up some trader joe's cajun chicken, and made a refreshing cucumber, tomato, and feta salad.  i probably stole her intended post by documenting it here - but it was so good, and i was so grateful to have a filling meal after scraping the bottom of the barrel at google (when you get to the cafe after 1:45pm, you're pretty much SOL...)

delicious - and definitely skinny!

we're a really cute couple, colette and i. :)

Guess who wears the skinny pants in this family?!

Day 2, and it is as hard as ever....except for my skinny snack of veggies, hummus, and mini pita bread...


Kristine tried to lure me into her non-skinny carby ways today by tempting me with cheesy bread with jam....i simply put up my hand, blurted out no, and made my plate of veggies and hummus....of course I shared it with my skinny sista kristine....

How's that for self control!!!

yet, didnt go to the gym today...


Gym=1, Colette=0

Thou Shalt Not Carb in Vain

the plan was to wake up and do a short(er) ride to work (30 miles instead of 45 miles).  to prepare i wolfed down a bowl of pasta before bedtime to "carb up." when my alarm went off this morning, i rolled over, hit snooze and went back to bed. so much for carbing up last night. woof. 
anytime i miss a ride i plan, i have a whole list of excuses. but excuses don't burn calories, only getting on my bike will do that.  i have to eat to be active, and often, i have to eat a lot to be really really active. to use a tired cliche, my calorie consumption is a balancing act... too little and i bonk (not pretty), too much and i gain weight (not skinny).  i have to be diligent about this because the calorie differential can be upwards of 1000 calories (!!!).  


so my commitment during my roadtrip to skinny is this: if i plan my ride, then i gotta ride as planned. no excuses, because remember, they don't burn any calories.