Weird dinner tonight.

After work I went to a Tri Delta happy hour with some girls from the DC area.  Side note: if you are a Tri Delta in the DC or Howard County area and you want to join an alumnae group, get in touch with me via email!)  I got there about 20 minutes early so I parked in a garage and walked across the street to Reddz Trading, what I thought was a regular dress shop.  It ended up being this really cool designer resale shop with lots of shoes and purses.  I managed to try on a very cool gold sequined skirt from Apostrophe and buy it for $12(!) before I had to run.  Reddz is in Bethesda pretty close to the metro, so I'll be going back when I have more time.

I met the girls at Black's Bar and Kitchen around 5:00.  I was very impressed with the happy hour menu.  They had $5.00 glasses of wine, and a couple of beers from local breweries on special.  There was a short martini list and I looked it over, but all of the options appeared to be sugar bombs like Lemon Drops and Cosmos so I steered away.  

The happy hour food menu was short: mussels, oysters, shrimp, and calamari.  We got an order of mussels and I also ordered half a dozen oysters.  Both were delicious.  The mussels came in a very garlic-y crushed tomato sauce.  The oysters were from the Chesapeake Bay and I doused them with lots of vinegar.  My whole mouth just started watering as I'm typing this.  Unfortunately I suck at life and I got very distracted by sequins and wine and I forgot to take pictures.  You all will have to use your imaginations and envision a plate of crushed ice topped with six oysters and little cups of vinegar, horseradish, and cocktail sauce.

After happy hour I headed home.  I was a little bit hungry, but not enough for a full dinner.  I poked around in the fridge and found half of a chicken breast and some pepperonis.  Logic today tells me that I should have made a buffalo chicken pizza, but I was too tired.  I warmed up the chicken breast in the microwave and had a regular Tortilla Pizza alongside it.   It was the perfect ending to an already lovely evening.  

Pork chops and artichokes.

Guess what, y'all- artichokes are in season!  I know this because they are now available in a four pack at Costco.  This makes me a happy girl because single artichokes at the regular grocery store cost something ridiculous, like 2 for $5.

Yesterday I pulled some pork chops out of the freezer before I headed out the door for work.  When I got home they were ready to be pan fried and smothered with onions.  It takes an hour to cook an artichoke in the oven, so I prepped a Garlic Roasted Artichoke and popped it in the oven before doing anything else.  After the artichoke had roasted for 40 minutes, I put some olive oil in a pan and prepared two Ranch Pork Chops.  When they were cooked all the way through I set them on a towel to drain, and sauteed some onions in the leftover olive oil.

The awesome boyfriend does not really care for artichokes (more for me!) so he microwaved a bag of creamy frozen spinach to go alongside his pork chop.  This made for a super easy and very tasty dinner.  

I love popsicles.

When I was a kid my mom never kept things in the house that were loaded with sugar.  I'm not sure what her exact criteria was for determining whether or not this is a suitable food to feed to my children, but I do know that we rarely had things like soda, ice cream, candy, or cookies.  We did, however, always had these damn sugar free Fudgesicles and popsicles, and I really grew to hate them over the years.  As a ten year old I did not care much about calories and refined sugar.  I just wanted to eat Nutty Buddy ice cream cones and Firecrackers like my friends.

Last week, the awesome boyfriend brought home this box of Sugar Free Tropical Popsicles.  I took one look at them and turned up my nose.  The joke's on me because when I finally broke down and had one (we were out of dark chocolate), it was delicious!

I think that as an adult, my palate has evolved to become more sensitive to sweeteners.  I often find myself thinking that things are too sweet, especially foods that have refined sugar like candy or soda.  These popsicles are the perfect amount of sweet, and they come in yummy flavors like strawberry and pineapple.  We went back and bought another box of the original flavors and they were tasty as well.  Maybe we'll even add the fudgesicles back soon.

Pesto Chicken and Tomatoes

This dish was born because of a long day at work.  Normally I pull out some meat in the morning and combine it with whatever veggies I have on hand to make something delicious.  This work week has been crazy and yesterday I forgot to pull something out of the freezer before I ran out the door.  I know that you're all saying, but Kelly, you can defrost your chicken in the microwave!  Well, I don't like doing that because I am microwave challenged and I always end up cooking the corners of the meat in its own icky juices.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work, racking my brain for what I could make that would be low fuss.  Pesto was on sale for half off so I grabbed 2 containers and then headed for the chicken cutlets.  Some of my tastiest dishes come about when I'm not trying too hard.  This is one of those.

 

Ingredients

4 chicken cutlets

1 container Buitoni Pesto with basil

3 roma tomatoes

1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Remove chicken cutlets from package and rinse.  Pat dry.  
3. Sprinkle half of the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning over the chicken cutlets.  Turn over and repeat with remaining half of all three.  
4. Spray some nonstick cooking spray on a baking sheet and lay the cutlets on the sheet.  
5. Use the back of a large serving spoon to spread the Pesto over the chicken cutlets.  
6. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven.  
7. Cut the tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices.  Layer the tomato slices over the pesto.  
8. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the cutlets and tomatoes.  
9. Switch your oven over to the broiler and set on low.  
10. Return the cutlets to the oven, and cook under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has toasted and started to bubble.  
11. Serve immediately.  Enjoy!  

Notes

• Which tomatoes you use is very important so make sure that you get the right kind.  Regular vine ripened tomatoes are too juicy and you will have a runny pesto mess if you try to use those.  The roma tomatoes are a little bit firmer and great for dishes like this where you want clean slices.  Your local grocery store should have them.  
• Make sure that the chicken cutlets are completely rinsed and dried before you layer the pesto over them.  If they are slimy the ingredients won't stick.  
• There's no exact amount of Pesto that you should be using to cover the chicken.  It will depend on how big your chicken cutlets are.  I used about 2/3 of the container for these.  Just make sure that they are completely covered and you will be fine. 

If your spoon touches raw chicken and then goes back into the pesto jar,
your pesto could become contaminated with bacteria.  Be careful not to
eat that pesto unless it's been heated to at least 165 degrees.  

Beef Jerky in the Dehydrator

Remember how excited I was when my mom got me this awesome food dehydrator?  Well that does not even come close to how excited I am to tell you about the delicious beef jerky that came out of it.

The Nesco dehydrator came with a mini recipe book.  There are only about 20 recipes in there, so I'll need to purchase a more comprehensive book eventually, but we picked one to get started.  The beef jerky recipe in the Nesco book actually calls for some Nesco jerky seasoning that I didn't feel like ordering, so the jerky that we made is close to the original recipe but not exact.  

Ingredients

4 Tbsp soy sauce

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp curry powder

2 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 lb steak

Directions

1. Cut steak into strips.  Strips should be 1/2 inch wide and 3-6 inches long.  
2. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  
3. Add marinade mixture and steak strips to a gallon Ziploc bag.  Steak should rest in marinade, in refrigerator, for 12-24 hours.  
4. Dump entire contents of Ziploc bag into a colander over the sink.  Do not rinse.  Allow steak to drain for 5 minutes.  
5. Lay steak strips on dehydrator trays.  Strips should be close together, but not overlapping.  
6. Set dehydrator to 160 degrees and dry for 4-8 hours.  Rotate trays every 1-2 hours.  
7. Once meat has dried completely, remove from dehydrator and lay on paper towels.  Press to remove any remaining grease or fat.  
8. Beef jerky will be good for 2-4 weeks at home.  Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  

Notes

• Beef jerky is so versatile.  I have to keep an eye on the awesome boyfriend because he likes to experiment by dumping weird things into the marinade, especially spicy ones like Sriracha and chili powder.  The end results have varied in levels of deliciousness, but all have been tasty.  
• My dehydrator will hold 2-3 pounds of steak strips, depending on how thin I cut them.  I just double or triple the marinade recipe accordingly.  
• About 1 pound of steak strips is a good amount for a gallon Ziploc bag.  If you have two pounds of meat, add half the marinade and half the steak to two separate bags.  If you've got too much steak jammed into one bag, the strips will not coat evenly.  
• Any cut of steak will work, but cutting it thin enough to dry can be a hassle.  I've had the best results with skirt steaks or flank steaks.  I tried a top round one time and it was good, but it took forever to dry because the meat was too thick.  You might be able to get your butcher to thin slice your steak for you, especially if you are at a more high end grocery store.  
• Drying the meat is something of an inexact science.  The drying time will vary based on how thick and dense your slices are.  Don't let them get too crispy in there, but wait until they feel completely dry to remove them.  
• Click here for some tips from the USDA on safely drying beef at home.  

Start with steaks that are already thinly sliced.  If your grocery store has
steaks labeled as 'fajita steak' or 'stir fry steak' that is perfect.

A little bit goes a long way.  

I've had the best results so far when I put the steak into the marinade after
work on Friday and then into the dehydrator on Saturday morning.  Then I
can be home all day to keep checking for doneness.  

Make sure to let the steak drain because you don't want the marinade
dripping all over your dehydrator.  It's okay if the strips are a little wet,
but you don't want them to be drippy.  

My kitchen is getting full of gadgets.  I'm going to have to do a
clean and purge soon.  

Peeking.  Not quite ready.  

You can see that the strips are a little bit dryer and smaller here than above.

Perfect.  When the beef strips are small and dark like this they are done.

The awesome boyfriend is a nerd.  He bagged his half into portions.
(Seriously though, portion control is good.)

 

Steak dinner.

One of my favorite things about a low carb diet is steak.  I spent years avoiding red meat because of a fear of fat, and I have been happy to welcome it back into my lower carb life.  It's still important to try to eat beef that is grass fed and free of hormones and antibiotics, but an organic steak for dinner is a tasty part of a low carb plan.

This is a New York strip steak that spent a couple of hours in my famous not-so-secret recipe marinade.  I pan fried it in some cooking spray and topped it with a sliver of butter.  I ended up splitting it with the awesome boyfriend because I decided it was too much food for one person.  

I served the steak alongside a Garlic Roasted Artichoke, one of my most favorite side dishes.  You can see in the picture that I had run out of garlic cloves so I just smeared some minced garlic over the top of the artichoke.  I prefer the whole garlic, but this was fine in a pinch.  

Brunch in the city.

I recently visited an exhibit at the American History Museum called Food: Transforming the American Table.  It was amazing and if you are in the DC area or planning a trip to DC you should add it to your agenda.  The American History Museum is one of my favorite free things to do in DC anyway, so I was double excited for this visit.

The featured display at the Food exhibit is Julia Child's kitchen.  She donated her entire kitchen to the Smithsonian and it has been set up, exactly as it was when she cooked in it.  There is also a lot of Americana to see: old microwaves, the evolution of wine making, historical food pyramids.  I spent about 2 hours in the exhibit and still didn't read everything.  I'm going to try to go back on a week day when the crowds will be smaller and get to everything that I didn't see the first time around.

After leaving the exhibit my friends and I headed over to The Hamilton for brunch.  I had never been there before, but I was familiar with the building because it is kind of a big deal.  It's massive, with multiple floors, and features a restaurant, bar, and a performance venue downstairs where there is often live music.  It's just off the metro and pretty centrally located, so if you are planning a visit to the city this might be a good stop.

A classic brunch conundrum for me is always, coffee or booze?  It's hard to get my day started without coffee, but what's brunch without alcohol?  Enter, the Irish Coffee.  An Irish Coffee is a pretty simple drink.  It's made with coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar.  Some fancy bars will use brown sugar.  You can also order your with Splenda if you don't want the sugar.  The amount of sugar in an Irish coffee is usually pretty small, less than a teaspoon, so I decided to go ahead and get mine with regular sugar, and over ice.

Holy Irish coffee.  This is literally the best alcoholic coffee drink I have ever had in my life.  I had to restrain myself from just chugging the whole thing because it was that good.  As i'm writing this I'm thinking about trekking into DC right now for another one.  

For the meal I ordered a pork belly and egg dish that was also delicious.  The meat was so tender that I was able to break it up with a fork and eat it.  There were two eggs, some kale, and a generous portion of navy beans.  I tried to go easy on the beans (too many carbs), but I gobbled up the pork and the eggs.  The waiter told me that they cook the meat for something crazy, like 12 hours, to get it to fall apart like that. 

After brunch I hopped on the train to head back to the burbs, sleepy and satisfied.  This was a very successful museum and boozy brunch outing.  I'll keep you posted on what we get into next month.