Chicken 101

I hadn’t been to Weight Watchers in two weeks, so I had no idea how my weigh in was going to be.  Working two jobs last week every day meant my eating was all over the place.  Not that I ate bad necessarily, but there were times when I ate a late breakfast and lunch, and got home late and never ate anything for dinner because I was tired and didn’t want to eat right before going to bed. 

Down 2.8!  It was then, that I realized, I didn’t binge at all the last two weeks.  It feels as if getting this new job my life feels a bit more settled.  Quitting my desk job was the easy part, but the emotional roller coaster of the last six months of not knowing how this was going to turn out made me doubt my choices.  I worked my first class last night and any doubt I had has vanished.  And it feels great!

My WW leader was talking about this wrap that is only 2 points at a grocery store by the meeting.  I literally left the meeting and went right to the store to pick some up.

Each giant wrap is only 80 calories and 2 smart points.  I had some leftover steak and made a steak/egg white/spinach breakfast burrito.  The texture of the wrap is kind of chewy, so after I wrapped it up, I brushed the wrap with a touch of olive oil and pan fried it a bit for some texture.  This was delicious!

I didn’t eat this until nearly 11 a.m. since I went to my meeting first and then to the grocery store.  I didn’t have to leave for work until 3:00 and I wasn’t hungry to eat lunch before I left.  I found this package on my stores discount rack and cooked this up for my side dish for lunch.  Hannah absolutely loved it – not sure why is was on the discount rack because the sell by date wasn’t until 2017.

My friends at Beef It’s What’s For Dinner are promoting another 30 day protein challenge.  You can check it out here.   To help spread the word, they sent me these collapsible containers with plastic ware.  I packed 1/2 a cup of the jasmine blend (5) with 4 ounces of chicken breasts sauteed with zucchini and 1 tsp. of grapeseed oil (5). 

I couldn’t wait to get started for the Chicken 101 class I was doing after I ate.  Basically my job is to get everything together that you might need for the class so that the class runs smoothly and on time.  We were preparing three different chicken dishes with three different sauces.  My trainer Jess and I gathered all the ingredients together and based on the amount of people we had attending, had three different groups so we put everything together times three.  Here is an example – this is the mise en place for the grape tomato and caper relish that went on the pesto grilled chicken breast.

The kitchen is so organized – everything dated and perfectly labeled and super clean.

All of the appliances they use are residential grade so that you can recreate the recipes at home and get the same results that we have at the cooking school.   Students get 10% off anything in the store if they attend the class, and 15% off “hot ticket” items – or basically the tools they used during class.  We put a little set up in the front:

I love that Maldon sea salt.  It’s flake salt, and the company in UK has been making it for nearly 130 years.   When my discount kicks in, that is definitely one of the first things on my list of things to buy. 

One of the things I have been doing for the last few years is spatchcocking a chicken – now don’t let you mind go to the gutter – it’s just cutting out the back bone of the whole chicken so that it can cook more evenly and faster.  The Greek chicken was one of the first dishes we put together because it took an hour to cook.  It was paired with a cucumber mint yogurt sauce.  The chicken was rubbed under the skin and on top of the skin with a compound butter.  Perfection!

Here are all the dishes:

All the guests were lovely, we had two birthday celebrations, and the night flew by in the blink of an eye.  Because students pay $85 for the class, they get to take all the leftover food home with them if they chose to, and because it was all delicious, they took everything home.  I am definitely making the pesto chicken soon – it smelled amazing!

I got home around 11:45 p.m.  So funny I went from being an early bird to a night owl!  I was super hungry by the time I got home, and had half a grilled cheese and bologna sandwich and an ounce of ranch Doritos.  Hannah cleaned my pantry while I was at work too – so then I could actually see that I had Doritos!  That plate was 10 smart points.

This week is unusual because two of the trainers are off later this week before the labor day weekend, so I don’t work again until my farmers market on Saturday, and then do inventory at The Chopping Block on Sunday night, have Monday off – and then work the next six days in a row, so I am going to take advantage of these few days off.  It’s absolutely gorgeous today – 70 degrees, no humidity and blue skies.  I’ll definitely get my walking shoes on today and I plan on hitting the gym later this afternoon.

I am also going to be recipe developing for Divine Chocolates!   They sent me a giant assortment of their chocolate bars, and I am going to try to make savory recipes with the chocolate, since that’s my flavor profile.  I am going to try to make a bbq sauce with their ginger and orange chocolate bar.  In my mind it turns out great, but we’ll see! 

Alright, time to get this day going.  I watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy after I got home from work, and didn’t wake up until 9 a.m. this morning!  Love.

Make it a great day!