Monday 2 August 2010

Breakfast: Spackle (1/4 each oat bran and flax meal, 1 tsp inulin, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, about 2 Tbsp sugar-free maple syrup).  I love how these little amounts get so big when you add water!  I also had 2 cups of coffee with half-and-half.  This held me 5 hours!

Left my phone at home on the charger.  Argh!

Lunch:  1 perfectly ripe peach, sliced (a bit larger than the one shown above); 1 serving of 1% cottage cheese, and a rose garden (feast for the eyes rather than the mouth).  I wasn't physically hungry, but it was getting a little late for eating lunch outside AND going for a walk.  So I went ahead and ate slowly, and it did taste good.  The yellow jacket wasps were looking for the source of the peachy goodness, which made me a little nervous, but they were befuddled by the roses and didn't come too near my dish.  Then I went for a walk, in which I pondered Food and Men.  I'd started listening to Geneene Roth's "Women, Food, and God" this morning on the way to work (got like 5 different CD books on hold...all at once!).  Interesting listen so far, and somewhat different than I was expecting, but I like it so far.  Reminds me a lot of the Martha Beck book (although hers is more general; this one is more food-focused), and Geneene Roth's voice even sounds similar.

[Here's where a photo of a mint Pria bar would be.]

Snack:  I felt tummy rumblings, it was 3 hours after lunch, and it's at least 2 more hours until dinner - mint Pria bar, away!

Dinner:  I'm so glad I ate lighter than usual today. Because Mr. Handsome-and-Handy decided to show off for my blog: he made what we call "Chicken ala Jacques."

What is "Chicken ala Jacques?"  It's that lovely thing on the platter.  Mr. Handsome & Handy and I used to spend our Saturday mornings watching cooking shows on PBS.  One morning, Jacques Pepin made a boneless stuffed chicken.  Intriguing!  We tried it, and we LOVED it.  It's been quite awhile since we made it, since the kids don't care for stuffing (!) and like their meat grilled and plain.

"Wow," I exclaimed.  "What inspired this?"

"Well," he said, "I wanted to do something different.  I was thinking 'Hmmm...stuffing and gravy,' then I remembered this dish."

Mr. H&H modified our old recipe to use my flax bread, so the carb load isn't quite as intense.  He said it tasted a little funny when he cooked it up, but after baking inside the chicken, it turned out good.

So how is this amazing thing made?  Mr. H&H explains:

First, make your favorite stuffing recipe, and set aside.  Take a whole, raw chicken and place it on a large cutting board.  Break the wings at the socket, then pull them off the chicken.  (You can cook these in the pan along with the chicken roll, or BBQ like I did.)  Turn the chicken back side up, and make an incision down the center.  Using a knife, start scraping the meat off the bones.  When you get to the thighs, pop the socket and twist out the bone.  At the drumstick, scrape down the bone, and then break the drumstick bone about mid-way down - whack! - with the back of the knife; you want the skin to stay tight there.  It will look kind of like a mess, but it will be boneless and flat.  Place the cooked stuffing down the middle of the chicken, and stuff it into the legs, too.  Bring the sides up, and truss with cotton string.  Season the skin as you usually like for roast chicken.  Roast until done, breast-side up.  (I lined the pan with foil sprayed with cooking spray, which made cleaning the pan a lot easier.) 

Side view of the "Chicken ala Jacques".  It's a beautiful dish, isn't it?  I wished we had company to share it with.

Here's my dinner: A leg of "Chicken ala Jacques" (6.5 oz. - the bone was probably only .5 oz) with gravy, a bowl of celery and carrots, dip made with 1/4 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (2% from TJs) and about 2 Tbsp ranch dressing, and 1 cup of non-fat milk.

I also ate the wings and another little bit of the chicken + stuffing.  Thing 2 wanted to play, so after I ate my chicken, I set aside the veggies and dip and played and noshed during the evening.  This worked pretty well.  I wasn't really hungry for the veggies, but I felt like I should eat them, because I hadn't had any veggies today.

Dessert: Old school style! I think Debby's granita made me think of this. (Plus, Thing 2 wanted to make pretend cotton candy with cotton squares and a pink marker...this was a much less frustrating solution for pretend carnival food for her stuffed animals.)  We made tiny snow cones, with sugar-free strawberry syrup.