Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lazy, Yet Delicious Meals

A couple weeks ago (yes, I'm behind on posting this!) I had my friend Janan over for dinner. Janan is also a dietitian, so whenever she comes over we try to make healthy meals together. It's always fun cooking as we sip on wine (or in my case, a cold beer!) and catch up on life. When Janan came over the last time I felt incredibly lazy. She got to work making her 4-Spice Smashed Sweet Potatoes, and I just....watched. You know that feeling of just wanting to watch someone cook...right? I mean, the Food Network is popular for a reason.


4-Spice Smashed Sweet Potatoes
(Serves ~ 6)

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 T cilantro, chopped
4-5 shakes of Red Hot
2 cloves garlic, chopped (we omitted this)
1/4 t pepper


Directions

1. Boil the sweet potatoes until nice and soft (~ 5-10 minutes)

2. MASH those babies (with the skin on)

3. Add all the cilantro, garlic, yogurt, Red Hot, and mix well.


Eventually I decided not to be lazy, and I got off my butt and grabbed the cod I had thawed in the fridge. It was wild-caught cod, but I completely forget where it was from. Anyway, I rolled the three cod fillets in one egg white and then sprinkled about 2 tablespoons (on each) of whole wheat Italian bread crumbs on the cod.



The final meal was a breaded cod filet served with sauteed spinach and 4-spice smashed sweet potatoes. We all agree it was perfect (Nick was with us).



Which picture looks better, top or bottom? I know neither of them look great, but I'm working on getting better lighting with my photos. This night was one of those "red sky at night" evenings, which make for poor photo lighting.



After Janan left I asked Nick to get out the grill to cook some chicken I had thawed. I was going to cook it inside and then use it for weekly meals, but then I thought "I'm feeling so lazy, wouldn't it be great if Nick could just grill this?!". Since Nick is the best, he agreed to get out the grill around 8:30pm to appease me and grill the chicken.




At this time we had never used the grill before (this was about two weeks ago, and since then we've only used it two other times), and I should have made something special, but I had no desire (again, I was lazzzzy). Either way, here is what I did;

1. Got out 3 chicken breasts (Antibiotic and Hormone Free, although just an FYI, all chicken is hormone free)

2. Coated the raw chicken with 2 T EVOO (to add juiciness and to protect from AGEs)



3. Once grilled, I vovered the grilled chicken with BBQ sauce



Last step: Put in fridge or freezer for weekly meals
(lazy prep for some meals for upcoming week; complete)


Question: What's your favorite thing to grill in the summer? I won't lie, I'm excited for some Italian sausages and bratwursts!








20 comments :

  1. I have to tell you those sweet potatoes look awesome. I honestly like everything on the grill. No special favorites!

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  2. I vote first picture--the lighting is better! They both look mighty delicious, though!

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  3. The meal looks great! It's so colorful! And everything sounds absolutely delicious.

    I love to grill portobello mushrooms and shrimp.

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  4. Cooking with friends is the BEST!!! Hmm...favorite thing to grill? Home made burgers. They just taste better on the bbq! Have a great weekend Gina!!

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  5. your smashed sweet potatoes sound great. huge fan of anything SP. :)

    and i also like the first photo better. it is so tricky to get lighting right at night!

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  6. Those potatoes sound awesome! I love your grill! Perfect for summer!

    I'm ready for brats, too. Mark doesn't like them, though (weirdo), so I usually only have them when I'm somewhere for a cookout!

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  7. Sounds like a fun night and a great meal! Chicken and veggies are my favorite things to grill. But I want to try and grill fruit sometime.

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  8. Sometimes I love taking a back seat in my kitchen and watching someone else cook...especially when something as delicious looking as those potatoes comes out of it :) As for grilling...I really like to grill stuffed peppers in the summer. And pizza. For sure :)

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  9. I'd vote for the bottom photo! Although I'm no expert :)

    I don't have a grill, so I can't really have a fave right now, but I think it would be a toss up between veggies and pineapple!

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  10. ive been really lazy lately in term of cooking, mostly threw together kind of salads!
    i love grilled corn! :)

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  11. I love making tin foil veggie pouches and corn on the cob! Anything on the grill really (well, besides meat obviously) is good to me!

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  12. omg! thanks for all these great recipes. Everything looks so delicious. God knows we can all use some quick-healthy recipes considering our hectic lifestyles!

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  13. Hmm I may want to try this mashed sweet potato dish at some point. How spicy did it turn out? I'm easily scared :)

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  14. dudeeee the grill is SO easy to use!! i consider it a lazy girl toy for sure because it requires nothing but tinfoil and a hand to turn it on! plus your grill looks pretty darn swanky! nick needs to become a master at the grill PRONTO!

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  15. Grilled foods and fish tacos make easy, lazy day meals for us! They're quick and don't heat up the kitchen much.

    I like the second picture more... the white plate is while and the colors look more vibrant. Nighttime shoots can be challenging, but I bet that red sky was beautiful!

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  16. I love fish dishes because they're so quick to make.

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  17. Delicious looking dinner! I'm going to have to try those mashed sweet potatoes. Cory loves anything involving hot sauce.

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  18. Ribs. My boyfriend has got an amazing recipe. Several people have asked fro the recipe so it's my job to watch, make him measure, and take notes so that we can share it the next time that he makes them...maybe we'll do that this weekend!

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  19. I like top photo too. Grilled Salmon, grilled asparagus, grilled corn all favorites.

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  20. Ooooo, I've bookmarked this post to fix both your fish recipe and the sweet potatoes stat!! They're gorgeous!! Love your top photo - it's so beautiful with the soft lighting...

    I don't think you were lazy at all, grilling the chicken - I'm VERY impressed that you prepped it ahead of time! :-)

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