Banana Pancake

Okay. So, I know I've covered (2 ingredient) Banana Pancakes before.

This post is just to brag on my ability to make one jumbo sized one, the size of my medium sized skillet... and flip it over without it breaking.

Ha.

Enjoy.  :)

Roast... Part III ...

Okay, so the chicken roast was much more to my liking than the beef roast.

Especially with yet another hearty helping of asparagus. 

Gosh, I just love that stuff.

And I don't mind eating the same thing several times in a week. (Which is very beneficial with this lifestyle of eating.)

However, I just kept wondering how this lovely chicken and its flavorful robust sauce might taste on spaghetti squash.

So, thought "What the hay. Don't know until you try."

I've still only had spaghetti squash the one time, a while back, when I made a fresh pesto to mix in it and then, with the leftovers, added some tomatoes and chicken to it. And it was quite tasty.

I think the thing that keeps me from messing with spaghetti squash too often is the cutting of it. It can be a bit of a pain; though not as difficult as I had remembered. 

It's comparable to cutting a pumpkin in half. But, not half as messy.

So, I gave it another crack. And was really glad I did.

I think I did a better job of cooking it this time (was a little more generous with the olive oil and cooked them cut-side up for the first 30 minutes, then faced down the remaining 30). And I really enjoyed the heartier sauce over it than just the pesto like I had done the last time.

Sure, it tastes like clean-eating. You know it's not pasta. But, it's funny... I swear, sometimes, you can just about actually hear your body thanking you. Knowing you're eating what you were intended to eat all along. 

The evolution of Chicken Stew. Top Right: Roasted Chicken / Vegetables, Bottom Left: Chicken Stew (just the chicken all pulled off the bone in bite-sized pieces, thrown back in with the original sauce and vegetables), Top Left: Spaghetti Squash (cut in half, drizzled with Olive Oil and sprinkled with s/p and cooked at 375 deg for an hour), Bottom Right: Strained Chicken Stew over Spaghetti Squash and sprinkled with a bit of Swiss Cheese - YUM!

Roast.... Part II

Okay. So, I wasn't all that crazy about my beef pot roast the other day, but still saw real potential in all the other ingredients (sans the carrots). I just couldn't help but think it would be much better over a nice slow-cooked chicken.

So, I went back to the store... got all the same ingredients... this time with chicken (and no carrots). 

And this time, was much more promising.

Though, this time, even though the chicken had been in the crock pot for over 4 hours, it still was hardly warmed, let alone cooked.

So, I finally got tired of waiting for it and threw it in the oven for an hour.

Much better!

This time, the stars aligned a little more perfectly and all just felt a little more right in the world.

It was delicious.

And all the more so, with another heaping helping of asparagus.  :)

I just pulled some chicken off, enough for my portion for dinner and enjoyed it with big yummy chunks of tomatoes and peppers and onions.

Good stuff.

Beef Roast

I have been having so many hamburgers and sautéed chicken lately that I thought a nice slow-cooked beef roast sounded good. And would be nice to come home to one day after work.

So, I got busy looking for one with lots of flavor, no longer able to just throw a can of soup or two in there. Found one in Danielle Walker's original cookbook "Against All Grain".

Then, in an effort to 'thank myself later', I got up at 6:00 before work one day, gathered all my fresh ingredients together and I sliced, diced, seared and poured. And man, did it ever look good.

Thankfully, I came home for lunch that day, because even though it had only cooked on 'low' for 4 hours or so by that point, the beef was already well-done. So, I cut a little bit off and tried it with a little spinach salad. It was alright.

Having been cooked already, I went ahead and just threw it in the fridge for the remainder of the day and just tackled it when I got home. 

And even though it was chockfull of all kinds of delicious vegetables, I still wanted a side with it, so revisited my old favorite, asparagus. I had binged on that quite a while back, but hadn't had any in awhile, so it sounded pretty good.

Sliced the meat up. Just short of tough as leather, but thought 'Well, maybe if the gravy/sauce is hearty enough..." So, followed her direction of pureeing some of the veggies and pouring the puree back into the sauce as a thickener for more of a gravy. I might not have even attempted this part, as it doesn't sound as good as a standard beef gravy, but I really didn't mind the carrot puree this Spring when I added it to my chicken broth, so thought "What the hay." 

It wasn't my favorite.

Now, I liked the overall flavor, sans the carrots, but it just didn't 'work' for me. To me, the flavor took on more of an Italian taste and should've been chicken. But, went ahead and plated up what I had looked forward to all day... along with my beloved asparagus.

And I ended up eating the ENTIRE BUNDLE of asparagus! (I had cooked enough to have leftovers the next day for lunch.) 

So, although the beef roast was lacking, I ate asparagus to my little heart's content! 

And it was as yummy as ever!!!