Latinicity

Knowing that I was going to have a big point lunch, I made yet another fruit sauce parfait.  This time I used a bag of mixed berries Hannah bought at Aldi I think – it has strawberries, blackberries and raspberries – I used 1/2 a cup of that with 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon corn starch and 1 teaspoon sugar.  If you try this, I want you to know when you first add the water/corn starch/sugar mixture to the pan of frozen berries, it’s going to look like white water on your fruit – but literally in five minutes you’ll have this gorgeous 1 smart point sauce.

It was just enough to keep me full until I got downtown.  Because it was later in the morning, there are no express trains so it’s about an hour and 10 minute ride to the city.  I found a seat with an outlet, plugged in my phone and watched a few episodes of Broad City.  Anybody else watching that?  The kadults turned me onto it, and it’s pretty funny.  So the ride downtown went by in a snap. 

I was meeting my sister for lunch, as well as her friend Denise who works for a catering company.  And while her company isn’t hiring, she introduced me to a bunch of networking events that I plan on going to.   I am confident sometimes it’s now what you know, but who you know, so this was a successful lunch.  They had never been to Latinicity, so we walked over there.  If you are ever in the city and are eating with a bunch of people, this is the place to go, because everyone can get what they want.  My sister and I ended up getting the same thing though.  While I had pork carnitas on my brain going in, once I saw braised short ribs, that was it.

The beef was so tender and that hot sauce was addicting.  Note to self, I need to make my grilled pineapple salsa again now that it’s grilling weather!  I counted lunch as 15 smart points – it could have been more or a little less, but with all the walking I did, I am not going to worry about a couple points.

Since Jennifer and Denise had to head back to work, I decided to head to the lake front to walk.  It was sunny, a bit breezy and about 60 degrees – perfect!  Once I crossed over Lake Shore Drive I saw the Divvy bikes.  I’ve always wanted to rent one, but never have.  It’s the city’s bike rental system – you can pick up a bike from any station and return it to any station.  It was kind of confusing at first on how to actually rent the bike – you put your credit card in the machine, it gives you a five digit passcode to unlock a bike – I realized you REALLY have to pull hard to get the bike out of the docking station.   It was $9.95 for the first 30 minutes, then $1.50 for every extra 30 minutes.  I ended up biking for an hour up and down the lake front.  It was funny because I headed north first and was like “wow, this is easy!”  Um, I didn’t realize that the wind was at my back – when I turned around it felt sometimes like I was biking through sand the wind was so strong.  Felt good though!

I got home around 5:45 and the first thing I did was light the grill.  Hannah had pinned this chicken/pasta/paprika sauce recipe because she said it reminded her of a German dish she had when she went there SIX years ago – I can’t even believe it’s been that long!   I was grilling chicken legs for me and Jacob, and paper thin chicken breasts for Hannah because you know, she’s picky about her meat.  I also grilled broccolini that I got at Trader Joe’s.

I had the pasta and paprika sauce on the stove inside and put all the grilled components together inside.

The verdict?  Jacob and I loved the chicken.  I liked the broccolini and pasta – Hannah only liked the pasta and declared that she probably won’t ever like chicken again (um, even though it was cooked perfectly and that’s hard to do with paper thin chicken by the way) and Jacob hated the pasta and broccolini.  Oh well, you can’t win them all – but the chicken was delicious!   I’ve been following a BBQ Chef on Instagram by the name of Adam Perry Lang and just picked his cookbook from a couple years ago called Charred & Scruffed.  It’s interesting because his techniques are the exact opposite of what I usually read with meat on the grill – kind of like “set it and forget it.”  But his thought process is “active” grilling, meaning he’s constantly moving the meat around the grill because he feels it builds flavor. 

I marinated my chicken in 1 tablespoon olive oil mixed with 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, a pinch of salt and pepper.   That was enough for four chicken legs.  Check out how great these look!

Sometimes simple is best, no?  Although I am anxious to delve into some of the other recipes in Adam’s book – he makes a board sauce for meat to sit on while it rests and has half a dozen finishing salts that take grilled meat over the top.   I just need a bigger family to feed – so if you want me to come over and grill for your family – just let me know!

Oh, and I forgot to show you my 2 point ice cream sundae I made the night before last – I used my melon ball scoop (2 scoops is 1/4 cup) to make these – they kind of look like mini ice cream cones with the banana on the bottom – but 1/4 cup of the Halo Top ice cream is 1 point and I drizzled two teaspoons of light chocolate syrup over the top for another point.  Super satisfying and perfect if you have a sweet tooth.

Alright – time to catch up on some computer work.  I have a date with the Stair Master later today for my last chance workout before my WI tomorrow.  Make it a great day!