Tag: garlic powder

100th post –  Mexican pork  with fresh salsa

100th post – Mexican pork with fresh salsa

As the year 2013 ended Cookies was looking at all the stats on Magda Cooks and figured out that this is my 100th post – I honestly didn't know I hit that much, but as it is, lets now go for 200!   As I 

New soup in the neighbourhood

New soup in the neighbourhood

As I’ve mentioned probably 43,000 times before, we are trying to eat relatively healthy and different. Because of that we have couple rules about weekly meals, like at least 1x vegetarian, 1x fish, 2x meat and definitely soup for 2 days. Mostly I can rotate 

Delirium Dinner

Delirium Dinner

82 delirium dinner

So, I’m on my second week of “vacation” meaning I’m not “working”, but leave it to Cookies, he will find 43 billion things to do just at this right moment. Pity, I caught a cold in the end of my first week of “vacation” and have been literally dying since 0_o And imagine that, he (Cookies) is still demanding food 0_o. Today he made sure I will commit to cooking and since noon was annoying me with one question: What are we eating today, Babes? First 30 times I just said I don’t know yet, but every next one I was trying to get the worst food that was coming to my head and definitely one he hates the most. Though still didn’t know what to make. Then while I was laying under a pretty yellow-orange-beige-brown blanket trying to enjoy my book, I just saw this dinner on the plate. It’s all in the colors. Yellow for rice, orange for carrots and a brownish tint for grilled pieces of chicken. Of course it gave me the opportunity to use my AAAAACHEEEW, excuse me 0_o my newly exploding garden on the windowsill 😉 I just freaking love to hover over it with my fuchsia scissors and thinking which one to cut this time… Then through my stuffy nose ripped the delicious smell of fresh rosemary – I prepared my own Chix marinate using the small fragrant leaves.

Magda’s Sweet & Sour Pork

Magda’s Sweet & Sour Pork

When Cookies told me he took pork chops of the freezer I was like… WTF loin cutlets AGAIN??? I thought I won’t manage another typical meal and I started thinking what to prepare… I looked at PINTEREST for some ideas and saw recipe for pork 

Magdas’ Mushroom Soup

Magdas’ Mushroom Soup

I think I don’t have to explain the beneficial influence of various soups – though mushroom soup has additional values because of the unique values of mushrooms themselves. Mushrooms are a very good source of B vitamins such as niacin and riboflavin and minerals like 

Work Food part 2

Work Food part 2

 

71 work salad 1

Did I mention that I’m constantly trying to lose weight? Yeah I do. My last great idea is to cut as much carbs as possible from my diet. Cookies said: AT LAST WOMAN!! and I said – don’t be so cheerful you are going there with me Buddy! You would have to see his face… well like popular ad says… priceless 0_o.

One of my biggest problems with cutting carbs is lunch at work. The easiest (for Cookies) to prepare was always sandwiches. I hate crunchy bread and I don’t like the heavy sour taste of whole grain flour bread, so mostly I was looking for rye or wholemeal but still it’s not diet enough. So now I try to find recipes to eliminate carbs at all or just most of it.

The salad below is really filling and and so damn tasty. It’s easy to manipulate the size of the portion, with the dressing make sure you either cut it in half or double ;-). Of course it can be served with different kind of dressing like simple vinaigrette or dill dressing – you choose!

Cookies Shepherd’s Pie

Cookies Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd's Pie Sort of Meat Pie but with Potatoes. You could easily make this with pastry crust and it would be like a ground beef pot pie… sort of. Anyway, we like a lot of vegetables and I try to utilise as many as I 

Dirty Rice

Dirty Rice

Dirty Rice Before I met Cookies I thought that American cuisine is mostly hamburgers and fried chicken oh and apple pie 0_o. I know stereotypical, but I didn’t have a chance to change that thinking. I got the chance after Cookies and I created the 

Lemony Chicken With Couscous

Lemony Chicken With Couscous

Lemony Chicken With Couscous

Since I’m trying to diet constantly, I tend to look for recipes that at least seem to be diet, (read that: HEALTHY) then I change everything that isn’t diet, and make it diet 0_o. This time I found on the BBC Foods site a really nice, and healthy dinner idea for grilled chicken with couscous.

I know it starts to be boring – all that grilled chicken 0_o, like I would hear Cookies moaning :D. But really, there isn’t many kinds of meat that are really low calories and mostly protein. I usually use chicken or pork tenderloin. Pork tenderloin contains the same amount of fat as chicken breast.  And grilling is one of the best ways to keep meat diet too.

So, another chicken dinner ;-), as always easy and fast. Those that make couscous from time to time, knows it takes 5 minutes to prepare it, not counting boiling water or bouillon. Salad another 10 but it can be done while grilling the chicken. The only catch is that you have to marinate the chicken, though not long, only around 15-20min.

Lemony Chicken with Couscous
For chicken and marinade
2 single breasts
juice squeezed from 1 lemon
2 tbsp oil/olive oil
1 tbsp dried chilli flakes or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic pressed
salt

For couscous
½ cup couscous
handful of sultanas (raisins)
1 tbsp fresh coriander
handful parsley
½ cup chicken bouillon HOT HOT

Preparations:
Start with the chicken, butterfly the breasts by cutting through the thickest part of the breast, stopping 1 cm before the edge, then opening out like you see on the picture above. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade, place breasts in the plastic container, and pour liquid on. Make sure that chicken is nicely covered in the marinade, and cover the container. Set it aside for at least 15 min (fridge the best).

Now bring the water to boil for bouillon (can also be done from the cube). Make sure bouillon is strong – the same flavour you would like your couscous to have – if the flavour is too weak, the couscous will be bland. So don’t hesitate to spice it up extra (with soy sauce for example and black pepper). Mix sultanas with the couscous in the bowl, then pour hot stock and cover – set aside.

Now take the breasts out of the marinade, sprinkle with a little salt and place it on the very hot grill. Grill until cooked through. While chicken is grilling and couscous is sucking bouillon prepare a salad of your choice – anything you feel like and is made from fresh veggies.

A minute before the chicken is done, add parsley to the bowl with the barley and stir it with a fork. Serve immediately when the chicken is done.

Very light dinner with nice lemony flavour to the chicken.

Until next time, take care of yourself and each other 0_o

P.S. Cookies, well he didn’t bitch whatsoever so I believe it was success 0_o.

 

“The Contradiction”

“The Contradiction”

After my IDWTC Syndrome last week, I didn’t want to get tired quickly with something that takes time, so I chose this recipe for chix with nice sechuan bite, that I found somewhere in the internet  It seemed easy to make, and in the end I