One Pot Lemon-Rosemary Chicken

I've been looking for low calorie, clean(er) eating dishes to make for dinner.  Dinner is my favorite meal, mostly because I'm always starving by dinnertime, but also because I like to spend time after work having conversation with others over a meal. 

Working in college athletics, so many of my friends are super healthy, and I love this about them.  My friends are inspiring.  But because they are healthy, I'm not going to get them to dinner at my house with chicken nuggets and fries (well actually, Cody did say Trader Joe's chicken nuggets was going to be his dinner tonight)...

Anyways, I invited my friend Cody over for dinner who I often tease about blending chicken into his daily protein shakes.  (Note: he doesn't actually blend chicken in his shakes, well so he says). That's not the point though.  Because Cody is pretty darn food conscious, I figured I'd try out this lemon chicken recipe.

I must say, this recipe was very good. The chicken was flavorful and for a lack of a better term (and I apologize now for those who might cringe at the word) moist. The rosemary, which is one of my favorite herbs, compliments the citrus from the lemon and pairs nicely with the tender potatoes.  This dish was incredibly simple and easy on the wallet.

Recipe link: 

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2011/10/lemon-rosemary-chicken-and-a-winner.html. 

For a side, on my cast iron skillet, I grilled up some fresh asparagus with a little olive oil and salt.

Hope you enjoy!

Back in the Kitchen means Back to the Blog

Hey, I'm back.  I thinks it's really been well over a year since I have posted a real entry on this thing I call a blog.  It's mostly been just a place to post pics of desserts but I'm thinking I'm gonna change it up slightly by actually uploading recipes or links to recipes moving forward.  For those of you who follow my Instagram, you know I do a lot of posting of my food.  Because I really just love food pics, I figured I'll add the recipe link to the blog in case I maybe inspired just one person to make the same dish :).

I've been on a cooking kick over the past couple weeks and figured maybe I'll start to upload the recipes to my food blog instead of just posting pics. Recently, I've been trying to cook more at home for two important reasons: 1) I spend way too much money eating out, and 2) I want to be more aware of the type of food I'm putting in my body.  Well with the new year and the whole "new year new me" (just kidding)... But really though, eating "smarter" is something I want to consciously be aware of. This doesn't mean no more amazing restaurants... It just means, less take out and less premade meals.  I've tried the whole "eating healthy" thing before and always limited myself to basically a salad... Gets super boring (at least for me) super fast!!!  I used to think that "healthy" eating was bland eating... But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case... So I'm learning.  

My blog has always been dedicated to dessert but since I've been recently finding some great dinner recipes, I want to be able to share them with you, if you are so inclined to visit my less than mediocre food blog. 

I'm a total foodie.  I love food, love flavor, and love everything that's bad for you.  So with that said, these low calorie meals wouldn't be on my blog if I didn't feel they were tasty enough to share.  Hopefully you'll feel the same if you do try some of these recipes out.

Market Foray's Four Course Food Lesson

The Non-Edible Cupcake Pincushion

For Christmas, I made this felt cupcake pincushion for my grandma who loves to sew.  Though you can't eat it, it still looks pretty sweet, right?  

Super Bowl Jack Party

Baby Chick- Deviled Eggs

Ok so this isn't technically a dessert, but they are pretty cute!  Makes you really not want to eat these deviled eggs though!  Check #pinterest for this inspiration!

Cinco de Mayo Piñata Cake

Thanks to my former co-worker, Emily, this piñata cake was such a great addition to the cinco de mayo party we attended!  I don't think I need to walk you through this one, as the picutures explain it all!  I have to say, it's pretty fun to see the expression of your friends when the first person cuts into this cake!

Bruin Ph.D Graduation

Graduation Cupcakes!!!  Ninety cupcakes- four flavors-one two-layered cake.

Congratulations to Dr. Marc and Dr. Gina!  #UCLAbruinGrads

Future Softballer Baby Shower

I was so honored to be asked to make softball inspired cupcakes for one of my best friend's baby shower.  Since my friend is also one of my former college softball teammates, we have a good feeling her daughter is going to follow in her mama's footsteps!  These strawberry and vanilla cupcakes were decorated with "team Liliana" pendants, softballs & hearts, and softball gloves w/ baseballs, all made from edible molding clay aka fondant :)

Birthday Request: Banana Cream Pie Cupcake

As a request from the birthday girl, this banana cream cupcake is semi homemade but more than semi delicious.  Had really no idea how this would come out as I really had no clue how I would make this taste like a banana cream pie.  I really wanted to be able to capture the vanilla waffer cookies, the vanilla cream, and the banana (bananas have a tendency to overpower other flavors, just and FYI). So for these, I went semi homemade... Box cake mix (vanilla).  Made the cake according to the directions.  For the frosting I added a ripe banana to a container of store bought vanilla frosting (the amount of banana can be judged by taste).  The vanilla and fresh banana gave the frosting a really smooth flavor with a nice creamy texture.  Once the flavor was right, I crushed vanilla wafers and mixed that into the frosting (again, do this to taste).  Once each cupcake was frosted, I sprinkle the top of each cupcake with the remaining crushed wafers.

For not having a real plan, I have to say these came out better than I thought.  I'm pretty sure our birthday girl liked them, along with my coworkers, as they did not last long in the tray! :) if you love banana cream pie, I recommend you try this super simple additions to store bought products!