Pre Labor Day apartment searching weekend

Pre Labor Day, Apartment Searching, Parent's visiting weekend ended with a Mexican Fiesta

My hubby Dave and I have been trying to figure out where our next home should be. It's been a bit of a struggle, because we both work in NYC and we are there 5-7 days a week. The commute from Montclair is averaging $800.00 a month, and we are thinking it will make more sense for us to live in NYC. The challenge....Having giant furniture and 1500 square feet in NJ and not being able to fit any of our furniture through the hobbit sized doorways in any of the affordable apartments in NYC.

Yesterday, We found a place we loved in Astoria! (an awesome town in Queens where we kept running into friends on every corner.) We thought "This is perfect!" Until....we took out the measuring tape. The doorway to get into the apartment was 28 inches...our couch...30 inches...waaaaa waaa..... Do we buy a whole new set of furniture and sell two cars in 2 weeks?!?! Hurry..Hurry...make a major life decision in 5 minutes or less...or the apartment will be taken!!!!! We still don't know what we should do. But....at least we can go back to our full size kitchen in New Jersey and make a delicious meal. It takes an hour and 1/2 and $30 for us both to get back home...but it will be yummy!

Here's what we made!

Chicken Fiesta Enchiladas (Philadelphia Cream Cheese cook book)

1 small onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced

1 pound cooked boneles chicken breast shredded

1 cup salsa

4 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese cubed (use lowfat)

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese (low fat, makes it not as bad for you. :) )

8 flour tortillas

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Heat large skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Add onions and garlic..cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken, 1/4 cup of Salsa, cream cheese, cilantro, cumin...mix well. Cook until heated through. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, mix well

3. Spoon filling into tortillas, roll up and place seam down in 13X9 sprayed baking dish. top with remaining salsa and cheese

4. Bake 15-20 minutes.

We just got the call that we are approved to take the apartment...What do we do? What do we do? I don't know, I don't know....Let's just keep cooking until we figure it out!

Next up...Corn Bean Salsa. (Giada style)

1 bag of steamed corn

1 red pepper chopped

1 can black beans drained

1 can chick peas drained

1 mango cubed

Mix all of the ingredients above and add dressing

dressing:

2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar

Chopped basil

1 tsp. cumin

2 limes..zest and juice

salt, pepper

whisk together with 1/3 cup evoo

We still don't know what we are doing...waiting to hear the exact measurements to see if we can fit our life into the doorway of our maybe new apartment. Why don't landlords and brokers understand that we don't want to sell EVERYTHING we own to move into an apartment? We're not going to feel guilty for asking for measurements. We will be giving you a lot of money per month. Oh...NYC.....

Let's make some Guacamole! (Alton Brown)

3 Haas avocados

1 lime juiced

1/2 t of kosher salt

1/2 t of cumin

1/2 t of cayenne

1/2 medium onion diced

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 T chopped cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice. Toss to coat. add salt, cumin, cayenne, and mash with a potato masher. Fold in onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic.

Enjoy your Meal!

I'm gonna get fat with all of this stress and unknowing. At least my tummy with be happy!

Thanks for reading!

Love, Melindersz

Cooking for the Hurricane

My husband and I and everyone else in the NYC/NJ area have been getting prepared for Hurricane Irene the past few days. On Friday morning, I dashed to the grocery store fighting my way in for D batteries, bottles of water and ingredients for two of my favorite easy to make delicious meals that I wanted to eat while stranded inside from the storm for two days.

1. South Beach Oven Fried Chicken (the healthy version of one of my favorites (fried chicken)...it's the southern roots trapped inside my New Jersey raised girl's body that keeps it one of my favorites to make.

2. Giada's Brown Butter Penne with pine nuts....totally ruining the south beach thing...but I use whole wheat penne and margarine instead...makes it not as bad for you...plus it's really yummy!

Yesterday, the tension grew as we were wondering if we needed to evacuate. In order to cope with the decision making, I decided to cook. Either way, I would bring the food and eat it wherever we ended up. Food is always welcomed in tricky situations as well as wine and vodka. We decided to stay put and wait out the storm at home. We were lucky to not have major flooding or have any trees fall on our house. Most importantly, the power stayed on and so did the fridge and oven.

So, here's how I make it!

Oven Fried Chicken

It's the same recipe as South Beach, but I make my own bread crumbs!

Preheat the oven to 400

Ingredients:

2 pieces of whole wheat bread

1/2 teaspoon of Mccormicks Steak Seasoning

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1 garlic clove chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

pinch of ground pepper

2 tablespoons of chopped parley

pinch of salt

1/4 cup olive oil

2 pounds of thin chicken breats

Ground 2 pieces of whole wheat bread and mccormick seasoning in food processer

In large bowl mix bread crumbs, garlic, parmesan, almonds, parsley, salt, pepper, thyme,

Pour olive oil into a shallow bowl

Dip chicken in oil and then coat both sides in bread mixture

Place chicken in sprayed baking pan.

Cook at 400 for 25 minutes.

Giada's brown butter Penne with Pine nuts

This is my version of Giada's dish. I leave out the capers. I use 1 whole stick of margarine, and I use whole wheat penne

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts

1 stick of margarine

1 pound whole wheat Penne

4 cups arugula

1 cup of parmesan

cherry tomatoes

Lemon

olive oil 1/4 cup

salt and pepper

Toast pine nuts for 6 minutes at 350 degrees

Boil water

Dressing:

Whisk together

1/4 Evoo

Zest and juice from one lemon

salt and pepper

Melt 1 stick of margarine in small pot

Add to cooked drained penne

add 4 cups of Arugula

add dressing

add 1/2 cup parmesean

add sliced cherry tomatoes

add pine nuts

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Melinda aka Melindersz