So.. what here’s a rough recipe list:

• pasta. 1/2 pound or so, any type you like really
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• broccoli (or other veggie you like to saute)
• chicken tenders
• parmesean cheese (and/or pecorino ideally)
• crushed red pepper
• rosemary, or other herbs
• 2tbsp olive oil

What do we do with this stuff? Well first we pre-heat the oven to.. 350 or so. Next, toss the chicken with some oil and rosemary, or whatever herbs you like. Last time I used rosemary and it was awesome. As the chicken cooks, set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook the chicken through – no more than 10 minutes. Watch out as it may spatter and smoke.

On one burner, begin heating your water. Boil your pasta as directed, but cook to about 80% of doneness (ie, if you have orecchiette needing 12 minutes, cook it for 9 or 10. Whatever comes before al dente. As the pasta cooks, heat oil in a *large* saute pan at medium heat. Once hot, add chopped garlic. Just as garlic becomes fragrant, but not browning, toss in your vegetable – I find broccoli does very well here, it sautes nicely and maintains its crunch.

Your chicken should be done by now – dice that up. As the pasta is faux-finishing (that 80%), save at least a cup of the pasta water. Drain pasta, add a good splash of water to the veggie saute.. and toss the pasta in. Stir it up, using the liquid to deglaze as needed. Toss in the chicken – and add more pasta water as needed. Throw some cheese in, keeping things saucy as with the pasta water. Mix up the pan till things firm up if they are not already. Once the ‘sauce’ is thick enough to coat, you are ready. Dump into dishes, top with more parm/pec and red pepper, and serve immediately.

You probably never thought about it.. but in this day and age, buying local honey is very important. Here’s a good writeup from Lifehacker, including links to more official and compelling articles.

This weeks report by Food Safety News sampled honey at grocery stores around the country, and found most of it has been filtered to the point where it has no pollen at all. The World Health Organization WHO, the European Commission, and the US Food and Drug Administration FDA all state that in order for a product to be called honey, there has to be some pollen content. The industry group that represents honey manufacturers and importers, the National Honey Board, says this is misleading, and says theyre just doing what their customers want.

via Buy Local Honey to Make Sure Youre Really Getting Honey, and Support Local Beekeepers.

One of the top motivators in this one was simply to get rid of some of our tomato crop – several bowls of the fruit are around the kitchen in various stages of ripeness. As an added bonus, the garden also sourced the pesto and cucumber for us.

Not the prettiest shot from my phone.

The only real variations to the recipe – we used baguettes and chicken thighs, rather than a large loaf of bread and a whole bird. Everything was prepared on the grill, which makes for a pretty fun cooking session. Grilling bread, the whole pepper, chicken parts, roasting the tomatoes and garlic really puts your skills to the test.

The recipe produced an awesome end product. At a brief glance it sounds somewhat simple.. but once you are eating it, the deep flavors from the roasted garlic, charred bread and pesto really stand out. Black olives add an almost exotic flavor and consistency, as well. It has a bright edge courtesy of the the lemon – and the red wine vinegar helps as well. While I normally prefer balsamic, this gave it that lighter touch.

590 calories. In a salad? What do you suppose the “normal people” salads come in at? Well.. for one, (according to the internet) the lunch portion of a Ceasar Salad rocks a cool 860 calories. Oddly most others appear to fall under 590 anyway, which is somewhat relieving.

Back to this “Weight Management” idea though – what the hell kind of weight are you managing if just-shy-of-600-calories is a light meal? Not to mention the bread/butter starters and half gallon sized, bottomless beverages. It was mentioned that the iced tea is unsweetened, at least.

I went with the Cuban Sandwich – which, halved, is literally two full sandwiches on the plate. With fries. I downed half of it and a bunch of fries – the whole sandwich weighs in at 1140 calories. That side of fries? 570 calories. Dang. Add two refills of a Coke and you’d blow past the standard 2000C RDA. Amazing. Then throw some cheesecake in there for kicks, and you are officially a fatty.

Yeah, Danny’s usually all about home repair, but this one came up at the right time! Kim whipped up a similar recipe the same day.

Tip:

As you know, basil doesn’t taste as good when allowed to flower. To keep them from blooming, and to keep the plants bushy, regular haircuts are in order. Haircuts mean harvest; harvest means basket full of basil; and basket full of basil means pesto! It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Recipe:

• 4 cups basil leaves
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup pine nuts (or one small package)
• 3-4 garlic cloves (1 teaspoon minced)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2/3 to 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

serves Serves 4 to 6, active time 15 minutes, total time 1 1/2 hours (plus overnight marinade)

via Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant Noodles.

The duck fat fries served at JG Domestic are indeed something special. Skin-on potatoes are sliced moderately thick, fried to a brilliant golden hue, and then coated with a light dusting of salt. In a slightly odd comparison, the flavor is reminiscent of mashed potatoes wrapped in fried chicken skins. If that doesn’t sound glorious to you, I don’t know what else to say.

via Philadelphia: Inconsistent Burgers and Duck Fat Fries at JG Domestic.

Here’s the math on those Clif Bars:

  Item Subtotal: $22.20
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Subscription Discount: $-3.33
Shipment Total: $18.87

Click to see the Subscribe and Save options

Subscribe and Save has no strings – you can select your delivery frequency and change that model at any time. You can use it for all kinds of things - from soap to dog food.

Another example on some Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Foaming Scrub (Kim’s favorite).. its $5.99 for one tube.. but you can again save 15% on Subscribe and Save, bringing the price down to $5.09 a pop, delivered when you want it (and free w/ Prime!).