Let's Eat

My nutty husband and I have been on the South Beach diet all week and I am quite tired of eggs and red meat. We were very good all week (the first 2 weeks are very hard, and both spouses must participate or it just won't work) but last night we ate a bunch of meat and carb-laden side dishes from the nearby Fast Eddie's barbecue joint. Maybe that's Famous Eddie. No, it's Famous Dave's. Truthfully, I don't know why it's famous. It would have been tastier to eat a bunch of Famous Amos cookies. We were too lazy to put shoes on and go to a decent restaurant so we had carry-out. Note to selves: don't do that again.

So this morning as I was getting over my carb hangover and planning the day's food (you really do have to plan ahead with South Beach) I decided to prepare some chicken breasts so we could use them in a variety of dishes. When they were done (I boiled them with some kosher salt and a bay leaf but I'll say blanched since that sounds more appealing), I thought why don't I make something now. I diced one of the breasts and added a jar of artichokes (drained). Needing something to fill up the dish, I added a package of frozen spinach, after it was thawed of course, which I did with the defrost setting of my microwave. I added lots of salt to the mixture as spinach needs lots of salt to be palatable, IMHO. I added grated parmesan cheese while the butter was melting. I have cream which needs to get used up and is most definitely not on the South Beach approved list, but really, who cares at this point. To the butter/cream mixture I added white cooking wine. As I prepared to add it to the spinach, I thought why not throw in an egg to keep the South Beach gods happy and I won't even know it's there. I mixed all that up and added it to the spinach-chicken-artichoke concoction. Added more salt, pepper, parmesan cheese and some bread crumbs and shoved it in the oven. Boy did it smell good and I have just had some for lunch. It was tasty and filling and now I won't have to think about approved foods for a few hours.

Have a great day eating wisely.