3 Posts in 1 - Books 9, 10 & 11

Normally, I would post each of these books separately, but since they are all young adult books in series format, I thought I would blog all at once. I read the first two books in "The Princess Diaries" series ("The Princess Diaries" and "Princess in the Spotlight") and the "Gossip Girl" prequel "It had to be You." I thought the Princess Diaries books, like the Sisterhood books, were very cute and and appropriate for the age range they are targetting. I loved the awkwardness of the character, as I think most women remember feeling that awkward at one time, so it was a very sweet aspect to the books. I have to be careful with "Gossip Girl," since the franchise is owned by my company. I could see how this particular genre of young adult fiction would be appealing to some, but this book really wasn't my thing. I'm not a high fashion kind of girl, and the books are very focused on the finest of designer names. I could also see how this would make for great guilty pleasure TV, so I can see where the success of the series comes from. I won't be reading another "Gossip Girl" book, but I'm glad both the book and TV series are doing so well.

Reverse Chile Relleno Chicken

I love a good breaded & baked chicken. My first breaded & baked chicken was from my childhood and it involved stuffing chicken with bell peppers and cheese and breading & baking. Unfortunately, my siblings and I didn't like bell peppers when we were young (silly kids) and so we just got cheese stuffed chicken and then, eventually, just breaded chicken. I still loved it, and over the years, have perfected it into one of my favorite meals. I find that seasoning the chicken before coating in the egg and bread crumbs really seals in the flavor, and spraying with a little cooking spray at the end of cooking really crisps up the final product. Recently, I've revived the childhood original as a variation on the Mexican dish, Chiles Rellenos. I found that by stuffing the chicken with Anaheim chiles and Mexican Cheese before breading & baking, I was able to capture all the yummy flavors of a Chile Relleno without all the fat of the deep fried goodness of the real thing. The addition of the Mexican spices (sealed in by the egg) was the last step and so, tonight, the dish was perfected. This was so good, and another tribute to my patient stepmom who had to cook for us picky kids.


Reverse Chile Relleno Chicken
2 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 anaheim chile pepper, julienned

1/2 cup reduced fat shredded Mexican Cheese blend

1 egg, beaten in a shallow dish

3/4 cup dry bread crumbs in shallow dish

1/4 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, dry oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Insert sharp knife into the middle of the thickest part of each chicken breast. Cut an even pocket into the breast, keeping the opening as small as possible. Sprinkle each breast with garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and cumin. Stuff each breast first with julienned strips of pepper, then with about a 1/4 cup of cheese (or as much as your little pocket will fit). Seal securely with toothpicks. Coat chicken in egg and then in bread crumbs. Place in shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove and spray the top of the chicken breasts lightly with cooking spray. Cook for 10 minutes more. Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition Info: 550.1 Calories, Fat: 12.9g (4.3 Sat, .8 Poly, 1.5 Mono), Carbs: 31.5g, Fiber: 1.6g

No Mushroom Veggie Lasagna

I've always wanted to try making Vegetable Lasagna, but have had trouble because nearly every recipe I have found includes lots of mushrooms. I don't have too many foods that I dislike, but mushrooms are pretty high up the list. So this weekend, I decided to just wing it and create my own recipe. The confidence that I'm getting from trying so many new recipes with this blog is really what made this recipe come together. I loosely based the recipe off a Cooking Light recipe, but I pretty much just used it for proportions and cook time and the rest was up to me! I used all the vegetables we like the most and also used whole wheat lasagna noodles and low fat mozzerella, so this ended up being a very hearty and healthy meal. I did slightly overcook it because I was on the phone with my mother in law, who I haven't spoken to in a while and lost track of time a bit. The pictures came out a little dark looking because of that, but other than that, I wouldn't change a thing!

Vegetarian Lasagna

1 Tbs olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced

3/4 cup diced zucchini

2 cloves garlic

3/4 cup chopped broccoli

1 bottle jarred tomato pasta sauce (we love Ragu)

15 oz low fat or fat free ricotta cheese

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 cup low fat mozzarella cheese

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked & cooled according to directions

Preheat oven to 375. Heat oil over medium high heat in large saute pan. Saute veggies, starting with onion, then zucchini, then peppers, then garlic, then broccoli, allowing about 1-2 minutes in between each before adding in the next veggie. Veggies should be just getting some color to them when done. In medium bowl, mix ricotta with dried herbs (or substitute fresh). Add about 1/2 cup pasta sauce to 9" x 12" baking pan and spread evenly. Add remaining sauce to veggies and mix to combine. Lay 3 cooked lasagna noodles over the sauce in the baking pan. Top noodles with about 1/2 the ricotta mixture and smooth as evenly as possible. Top with 1/3 (about a cup) of veggie mixture and spread to even out. Top with 3 more noodles and repeat layers, ending with pasta topped with last 1/3 of veggie mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese and cover with foil. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove foil for last 15-20 minutes. Makes 6 very filling servings.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 382.3, Fat: 11.7g (4.5 Sat, 1.5 Poly, 3.9 Mono), Fiber: 7.8g, Carbs: 51.8g

Turkey Shepherd's Pie

This St. Patrick's Day, it seemed a lot of people I know were planning pretty big food celebrations. Just in my office of 12 alone, we had one person making roasted lamb and colcannon and another making homemade Irish Soda Bread. So even though both my husband and I are standard American mutts with very well blended heritage, I decided that I would do something a little Irish tonight. I purposely made a ton of mashed potatoes on Sunday night for my Cornish Game Hen dinner so that I would have enough leftovers for Shepherd's Pie. The only trouble I was having was that I wasn't finding a recipe that really fit my tastes. So I improvised. I'm sure some Irish would be irked at my technique (ground turkey instead of beef, frozen vegetables, canned gravy), but I was impressed with how quickly this came together. I think next time, I will use more worcestershire sauce and perhaps some pepper and fresh herbs, but otherwise, this was very tasty.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie
1/2 lb Extra Lean Ground Turkey

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs Olive Oil

3 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (I used a Trader Joe's 4 veggie blend of carrots, beans, corn and peas and it was VERY good)

6 oz canned chicken gravy

2 cups mashed potatoes (fresh, leftover, or packaged are all fine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee Onion & Garlic in oil over medium high heat until soft. Add Turkey breast and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, breaking up into bite size pieces. Add Worcestershire Sauce. Add frozen vegetables and saute until thawed. Add gravy and mix well to combine. Pour mixture into an 8" x 8" baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Top with mashed potatoes and spread over mixture until covered like a crust. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then increase temp. to 450 and bake for 5 minutes more. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving: Calories: 233, Fat: 7.1g (1.6 sat, 1.0 poly, 3.6 mono), Carbs: 27.5g, Fiber: 3.9g

Keyesville Classic - Kern River Valley

This is my favorite bike race of the year. The Kern River Vally is about an hour east of Bakersfield, CA, which means we have a pretty long and boring drive every year, but something about driving through all that nothing to emerge in a beautiful valley with huge rocks and amazing views makes it even more special. This year, the wildflowers were out of control, and the weather was better than it has ever been in the eight or so years that we've been going to this race. So I actually went for a hike on Friday while my husband prerode the course. It was great to see a little of this course that I've heard all our friends say is the best course they ride. Afterwards, the husband was feeling tired and a little grumpy, but we went to an early dinner at our favorite once a year restaurant ("That's Italian" in Kernville) and went to bed early. Even though my husband was feeling bad on Friday, he ended up feeling pretty good on race day after all that rest and both of us said it was a really fun race. My husband sometimes forgets to have fun, so that was a great victory in and of itself. He finished around mid-pack, which is pretty good for this early in the year and for the big age group this race had. I'm already looking forward to next year!

The drive along the river into the valley

Holy wildflowers, Batman!

My husband is the one in white

Totally not my husband, but this picture I took of our friend Steve was so good that it is now the lead photo on the Platinum Team website!

Cornish Game Hens

One of my biggest cooking challenges is that I love roasted chicken, barbequed chicken, and pretty much any kind of chicken that is cooked on the bone. So tasty, but my husband does not like any food that has bones in it. Chicken, ribs, chops, all need to be boneless for my guy. So it is incredibly rare that I'm able to enjoy a dinner like this one. So even though this isn't really a recipe, I'm posting this because I enjoy Cornish Game Hens so much. When I was young, if I was lucky, I would get to eat an entire hen all by myself and I would get such a kick out of having my very own little chicken. I really like these little guys because the breast meat stays so moist because they cook through quickly.

Roasted Cornish Game Hens

2 Cornish Hens, defrosted

2 Tbs Olive Oil

Salt, pepper and garlic seasoning to taste

Roast in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes and 10 minutes at 450 or until skin is golden brown and juices run clear.

Chicken Piccata Pasta

I love Chicken Piccata when it is done right. Our local italian fast food place, Presto Pasta, makes a delicious Piccata that is saucy, lemony and buttery. I decided I wanted to make this at home, but I've had a hard time finding a recipe that has the right mix of wine, butter, lemon and capers. So I decided to just wing it, but started with Rachael Ray's Base recipe (here). What I came up with was not exactly as good as Presto Pasta's, but it seemed to look better than the Rachael Ray recipe, and my husband and I decided that we would not adjust the ratio at all, just increase all of it to make more sauce. Here is what I came up with:



Chicken Piccata Pasta
12 Oz Chicken Tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces
2 Tbs All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbs Butter or butter substitute
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 Cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
6 oz uncooked pasta
2 Tbs capers, drained
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions. Combine Flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper in ziploc. Shake to mix. Add chicken pieces in small batches and shake to coat. Reserve remaining flour. Cook chicken over medium high heat in 1 Tbs butter until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Add remaining butter and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add reserved flour mixture and cook for 1 minute. Add lemon juice, wine & stock. Cook, stirring frequently to scrape up bits from pan. After sauce thickens, add chicken back in, then add capers. Stir to combine and simmer until heated through. Serve over cooked pasta and top with fresh chopped parsley. Makes 2 large servings (as shown in the picture)

Nutrition Info when made with "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter": Calories: 462, Fat: 8.9g (2.2 Sat, 2.3 Poly, 2.1 Mono), Carbs: 44.4g, Fiber: 6.6g