White Peach Sangria

This cocktail was a hit at our engagement party!! It is also the reason why Chris and I had a headache all day Sunday. In total, the party went through 9 pitchers of Sangria (count that 9 bottles of white wine and 2 bottles of peach vodka). Coupled with a keg of beer and Prosecco for toasting. Cheers! Less than 1 month to go! :)

INGREDIENTS

* 1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry white wine
* 3/4 cup peach flavored vodka
* 6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1 pound white peaches, pitted and sliced
* 3/4 cup seedless red grapes, halved
* 3/4 cup seedless green grapes, halved

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DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pitcher, combine dry white wine, peach vodka, lemonade concentrate and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add sliced peaches, red and green grapes.
2. Refrigerate sangria until well chilled, at least 2 hours, or overnight to blend flavors. Serve over ice, and use a slotted spoon to include sliced peaches and grapes with each serving.

Province

For my birthday dinner, Chris surprised me with dinner at Province!
Province is an American restaurant with cuisine inspired by Central and South America and Spain. Located in Chicago’s West Loop in a gold-level LEED-certified building, the restaurant incorporates green building materials and equipment, farm-to-table cuisine from Executive Chef Randy Zweiban, and a true blending of old world and new world culinary sensibilities.
We dined on the following:
-goat cheese fondue
-crusty bread with diced radish, onion, other things and a dollop of mustard sauce on top.
-chris ordered the flat iron steak (medium rare) with buttermilk mashed potatoes.
-i had the crumbed chicken breast over green beans.
-for dessert he had a bittersweet chocolate brownie with coffee ice cream
-i had blueberry sorbet (with fresh blueberries!) over angel food cake with whipped cream

holy cow this place was incredible and the food was delicious!

Province:
6 out of 5 spoons!!

Sweet Mandy B's

I decided to wait to blog about Sweet Mandy B's until a very special occasion, like my birthday! Sweet Mandy B's is a dessert shop in Lincoln Park that Chris and I have visited a few times now. Their buttercream cup cakes are mouthwatering and Barrett has founded a national holiday based on their Double Doozie cookies (two cookies with frosting in the middle).
So if you've got a sweet tooth of any sorts, I recommend you check out Sweet Mandy B's!

Thomas Better Start English Muffins

I'm sick of oatmeal.

So thank goodness my co-worker Beth suggested these Thomas English Muffins; only 100 calories and full of fiber. I've been toasting one of these for breakfast this week, with just a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. It's filling and IT'S NOT OATMEAL!!!

Filippo's Ristorante

On Friday night, Barrett and Megan took Chris and out for dinner at Filippo's Ristorante to celebrate our engagement. Chris and I have wanted to check out this restaurant for months now and were so thrilled that we got to dine there with such great friends.
The service there was ify (we stood by the door for almost 5 minutes before being acknowledged and seated) but the food was INCREDIBLE! I'm so excited for our trip to Italy after dining here!

Our meal consisted of:
Appetizer: ASPARAGI DOSE'
asparagus rolled in eggplant and prosciutto topped with fontina and parmigiano, served with a lemon butter sauce

Chris' Entree: the day's special: sausage lasagna

Olivia and Megan's Entree: ROTOLO PRIMAVERA
Stuffed with ricotta, spinach and prosciutto, served in a light pink sauce

Barrett's Entree: RIGATONI NAPOLETANA
Backed rigatoni in tomato sauce with smocked mozzarella, ricotta and parmigiano cheese

Each plate looked fantastic and Chris and I both agreed we would have to come back to order what Barrett got, because it looked so flipping delicious!

We both highly recommend Filippo's Ristorante (at Webster and Clybourn) for a romantic dinner or a fun gathering of friends. Just be prepared to be there for awhile as the service is a bit slow but the food is definitely worth the wait!

Ethiopian Diamond

Last night Chris and I met up with some friends at Ethiopian Diamond in Edgewater. I've never had Ethiopian food before and was a bit skeptical about whether I would like it or not.
The evening was quite enjoyable and I learned a lot about Ethiopian culture. How you order and eat food in Ethiopia is by a system of sharing. Everyone eats off one giant plate (or three giant plates, in our case) of food. You use a flat bread (which was quite spongy and bland)to pick the food up and eat with. We played a bit of musical chairs last night, each wanting to try different foods off the other plates.

What I ate was:
Doro Tibs: chicken breast meat cubes marinated in lemon juice and garlic sauteed with onion and green pepper
Shrimp Tibs: shrimp marinated in lemon juice and garlic sauteed with onion and green pepper
Yebeg Tibs: lamb meat cubes marinated in lemon juice and garlic sauteed with onion and green pepper
Yemisir Azifa: cooked whole lentils mixed with chopped onions and green peppers, seasoned with garlic, white pepper and lemon
South African Beer: Castle (yum!)
a sifter of honey wine (super sweet)
and Ethiopian coffee (incredibly strong, with the consistency of melted chocolate)

There were some vegetarian foods down at the other end of the table but I opted to stay with the food in front of me. :)

I enjoyed the food but I don't think I would ever seek out Ethiopian food. I can't imagine craving it, but it was fun to try!

Waterfront Bristro

I found another fantastic fish I love cooking! Dominicks sells this brand called Waterfront Bistro and I bought the Pacific Cod with a Tuscan marinade (tomatoes, garlic, herbs, etc)
I put it on the grill for about 20-25 minutes, till it was opaque and flaky, and holy cow it was delicious!
And only 220 calories for a really large filet!

I'm excited to try out some of their other flavors now! I love this sort of food for weeknight cooking: delicious, reasonably priced, healthy, and super easy to make!

Grilled Potatoes

Over the weekend, Chris and I went to Waterloo, Iowa for our friends' Lindsay and Alans' wedding. On our drive back on Sunday we passed an Amish farmstand. What luck, since we missed our regular weekly farmer's market here in Chicago!
At the farmstand we picked up some onions, apples, potatoes and green beans.

Last night we decided to grill hamburgers (for Chris) and fish (for me) with grilled potatoes and sauteed green beans. It was delicious!

Here's how we grilled the potatoes:

chop up the baby potatoes into chunks
chop up half a sweet onion into chunks
smash up about 4-6 cloves of garlic

mix all that into a bowl

take some rosemary (from our herb garden!) and add it to the mix
add salt and pepper to taste
pour in some olive oil and mix everything together

wrap it all up in some aluminum foil and then lay that on the grill for 25 minutes. Turn over and grill for another 25 minutes.

The potatoes were delicious! the garlic, onion and rosemary had seeped into the potatoes for a rich, full flavor. Yum!!!

Kraft Fat Free Ranch Dressing

I'm still watching my waistline as we get closer and closer to the wedding date. I wish I was able to just avoid snacking throughout the day but I get pretty hungry so I've had to come up with healthy snacks to help tie me over to the next meal.

For instance, every afternoon at 3pm I eat 2 cups of organic spinach with 10 slices of cucumber and 1 Tbsp of Kraft Fat Free Ranch dressing. (total calories: 45) I had tried my share of dressings and this one tastes the best to me. The fat free Italian dressings were too strong in flavor and the raspberry vinagrettes were still pretty loaded with sugar (and calories).

So I recommend Kraft Fat Free Ranch dressing if you're looking for a light alternative to top your healthy salad!

Grilled Pizza

Last night, after Chris and I returned from our weekend in St. Louis, we decided to try grilling a pizza for dinner. It turned out really well! Here's how we did it:

Roll out pizza dough and then brush vegetable oil on both sides of the dough. *You must use vegetable oil, not olive oil, because it will cook at a higher temperature and can handle the heat of the grill.
Put dough on grill for a few minutes and then flip it onto the other side to cook the other side of the dough. This part you just have to eyeball until you think the crust is cooked pretty well through. While grilling the crust, heat up pizza sauce in a pan on a stove.
When the crust is pretty much done, lay a sheet of tin foil on the grill and put the crust on top of the foil (this will keep it from being over-cooked/burnt). Spoon on the pizza sauce and then add a layer of mozzarella cheese on top. I also clipped some fresh oregano from our herb garden and chopped it up and sprinkled it on top of the cheese.

Let that grill for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.

And dinner is served!

Less Than 3 Months to Go

So there is less than 3 months to the wedding and I finally bought my dress last Saturday. (Thank you Michi and Sarah for all of your help with that!!)

There is zero wiggle room in this FANTASTICLY awesome dress I bought which means super healthy eating for the next three months. Which also means, no more Goat Cheese Medallions. :(

Luckily the Logan Square Farmer's Market is open every Sunday to supply me with fresh fruits and veggies. I enjoy organic strawberries in my morning bowl of Oatmeal and a fresh spinach or mixed greens salad as an afternoon snack. This week I was able to slice up a cucumber to go on top!

So I mostly eat the same thing day in and day out, which makes my blog a bit boring, but I will try to post some light, tasty treats for those who are also watching their waistline this summer.

First up, the beer had to go. My drink of choice is now an Arnold Palmer. I make my own sun tea (no calories and full of good anti-oxidants) and I mix in a bit of lemonade. 3/4 part tea, 1/4 part lemonade. serve on ice. :)

Goat Cheese Medallions

Yesterday was the first day the farmers market was open in Logan Square. Summer is officially here! Chris and I took our puppy Fred over and did our weekly shopping. Last night we dined on 99% local, organic foods: grilled pork chops, arugula salad with cucumber, cherry tomatoes and feta, and goat cheese medallions dipped in a warm marinara sauce.

Chris and I have ordered this goat cheese appetizer at a couple of restaurants and LOVE how they taste! So I decided to try it out myself and they turned out fantastic! We used chive goat cheese which we bought at the market. Yum!

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Divide the coat goat cheese into 8 rounds.
3. Wisk together in one bowl an egg white, salt and pepper.
4. Pour bread crumbs into a second bowl (I used oat bread which I tore into small pieces with my hands)
5. Bread the cheese by first dipping each round into the egg and then into the crumb mixture, dusting off the excess between each step.
5. Arrange the 8 breaded goat cheese rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with just a touch of olive oil over the top. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is crisp, and the cheese oozing.

Super easy and amazingly delicious!

Goat Cheese Medallions 5 out of 5 Spoons

Low Fat Ranch Chicken

Thanks to Sarah for passing along this recipe to me! Chris and I made this last night, along with a side salad of mixed greens and blueberry shortcake for dessert. Yum!

¼ cup fat free ranch dressing
½ cup corn flakes – crushed (we used Special K, b/c that's all we had)
spices of choice (parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, etc.)
salt (optional)
PAM

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix spices, salt and corn flakes in a bowl and set aside.

Spray cooling rack with PAM. Put chicken on rack on a cookie sheet.

Dip chicken in FF ranch dressing.

Roll chicken in corn flake mixture.

Lay chicken on cooling rack (on cookie sheet)
Cook until chicken is done, about 45 minutes.

Makes 4 portion
4.5 WW points each.

Low Fat Ranch Chicken: 5 out of 5 spoons

Cherries!

It's the of May which means we've officially hit Cherry Season! Last week I noticed bags of cherries at the grocery store and couldn't help but by buy two bags full! They make such a great mid-afternoon snack.

Here's some info on this tasty fruit:
The cherry is generally understood to have been brought to Rome from northeastern Anatolia, historically known as the Pontus region, in 72 BC.[1] The city of Giresun in present-day Turkey was known to the ancient Greeks as Kerasous or Cerasus.
By the Middle Ages, however, cherries had disappeared in England. They were reestablished at Tyneham, near Sittingbourne in Kent by order of Henry VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders.
Cherries contain anthocyanins, the red pigment in berries. Cherry anthocyanins have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation in rats.[6] Anthocyanins are also potent antioxidants under active research for a variety of potential health benefits. According to a study funded by the Cherry Marketing Institute presented at the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting in San Diego, rats that received whole tart cherry powder mixed into a high-fat diet did not gain as much weight or build up as much body fat, and their blood showed much lower levels of inflammation indicators that have been linked to heart disease and diabetes. In addition, they had significantly lower blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides than the other rats.
Cherries have a very short growing season and can grow anywhere, including the great cold of the tundra.[citation needed] In Australia they are usually at their peak around Christmas time, in southern Europe in June, in North America in June, in south British Colombia (Canada) in July-mid August and in the UK in mid July, always in the summer season. In many parts of North America they are among the first tree fruits to ripen.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Jenn originally introduced Chris and I to these cookies, and we couldn't be more grateful! Trader Joe's has these Cranberry Oatmeal cookies in their freezer section. It only takes 14 minutes in the oven and you have fresh baked, warm cookies. And they're pre-rolled, so you can bake just 2 or 3 cookies if you want.
The tartness of the cranberries is a perfect compliment to the sweetness of the brown sugar. I highly recommend these cookies for an easy late night snack.

Trader Joe's Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies: 5 out of 5 spoons!

Doggie Biscuits

Here's a great recipe for homeade doggie biscuits. The yeast will keep their pee from killing your grass. The garlic will keep the fleas away.

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. cornmeal
2/3 c. Brewer's yeast
2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 egg yolks
3 beef or chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 and 1/2 c. boiling water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix well. Working with half the dough at a time, roll dough to 3/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Bake for 20 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Turn oven off but leave biscuits in oven until crunchy. Makes about 1 pound of dog biscuits that you dog is sure to love.

*You can substitute slow-cook oatmeal for cornmeal

Feed a Cold, Starve the Flu?

I have a very sick fiance at home. He either has a severe case of the stomach flu or he has food poisoning.

For once, I don't know what to feed him.

Anyone have any suggestions??

Grill

Last night Chris and I bought a new grill for our apartment. It's a Weber Spirit E-210. I don't know much about grilling but I'm sure Chris will put this to a lot of use this summer. In a couple of weeks our farmer's market opens up for the summer and we'll start buying great cuts of meat from our local farmers, Beth and Jody. I'm looking forward to my first smokey brat, hot off the grill!

Twirl and Swirl

Last night, BK offered Chris and 2 complimentary tickets to the Joffrey Ballet's spring performance. I have never been to the ballet before and wasn't sure what to expect but Chris and I both LOVED the show. The evening consisted of 4 performances and we both truly enjoyed each one. Those women are so tiny, muscular and flexible!!!
I just watched them amazed as they stretched their bodies into long, lean poses. And how they floated across stage, with such grace, it was truly breathtaking.

After the show, we headed to Swirl Winebar on Hubbard St. (downtown Chicago). BK's wife, Stephanie, is a flaminco dancer there.

Swirl is the type of place I typically would not visit, as it appears pretty swank and trendy from the outside. But Chris and I were both impressed with their menu. We shared a bottle of Malbec wine and nibbled on empinadas and toasted goat cheese and pesto on crisp flat bread.

Swirl Wine Bar food: 5 out of 5 spoons

Nothing to do with Food, but Inspiring None the Less

Mrs. Obama's speech at last night's New York gala:
"Our success was made possible with the encouragement of a diligent parent or teacher, a grandparent who told us we had real talent, an older sibling who paved the way and set a good example, a scholarship or grant that created an unexpected opportunity, or a neighbor or community leader who told us to dream big. That's certainly been the case in my own life...As global leaders, let's not underestimate the power each of us has to change the world for someone -– and let us not be afraid to try."