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