Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Apologies for the lack of entries but this week has been filled with mostly uninspired nourishment and more mindless eating than I care to admit. And to add insult to injury I haven't stocked up on my usual staple of fresh fish & produce so this week I have concentrated on eating my way through my fridge and stock pantry items.

Tuesday night's dinner and subsequently Wednesday and Thursday's lunch consisted of the following "not-so-original Foodie original":
Sauteed chicken, white onions, garlic, cured olives and marinara sauce over whole wheat pasta.

All in all, this was a pretty good wholesome dish. I sauteed some white onions with some garlic. When I can get good ones, I prefer white onions over red or yellow for their sweetness. Once the onions began to soften, I added about 4 oz of thinly sliced chicken breast and cooked until no longer pink. At that point, I added pitted cured olives and a can of crushed peeled tomatoes. After seasoning with my usual repertoire of salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and nutmeg; I let the sauce simmer while the pasta cooked.

After a quick drain in the colander, I added the pasta to the sauce and gently mixed. A generous sprinking of grated cheese and voila! Dinner, lunch and lunch...done, done and done.

Having to overcome a bit of caloric guilt for eating such a carb-filled lunch I decided to make what Seinfeld's Elaine would call a "big salad" for dinner. I decided to splurge a bit on a small head of radicchio (7.99/lb at Garden of Eden), baby arugula, cucumber, walnuts, cured olives that I was too lazy to pit (see above pantry cleaning reference), and some lovely chevre goat cheese I picked up on a recent hellacious trip to Trader Joe's. After my salt, pepper and garlic powder trinity I added a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and called it a day.

Yeah, yeah, a real gourmand would make her own vinaigrette but when it comes to dressing a salad I am a bit lazy. Plus, I really think it is tough to go wrong with the classic balsamic/olive oil combo. When you are looking for a quick healthy meal after a long day can you blame a girl for taking a few short cuts?