Monday, August 14, 2006

Friends for ARF/5 A Day!

Last night two of my friends came over for a catch-up visit and dinner. We each made part of dinner and then enjoyed it together. Jennifer and I have been friends since we were in pre-school. Katie and I, well, we didn't start out on the best of terms! We were in girl scouts together and did NOT like each other! I thought she was loud and silly. She thought I was a goody-goody. Both of which were probably true! however, we grew out of that and now we're good friends!

Anyway, I was responsible for the vegetables. I decided to use some of the squash and zucchini from the Farmer's Market. I roasted the veggies and they turned out great. We also cut the watermelon. It had more seeds than I like but was still good.

Jennifer was responsible for bread and dessert. She brought Italian bread and used fresh ground pepper, fresh Parmesan cheese, and olive oil for dipping. The dessert was just store bought cookie dough, which we ended up not using. I think she was just going to make them at home for her husband and take the rest to the teachers' lounge at school!

Katie said she'd do the entre. It was a very simple but good salsa chicken. I told her that I would be using it in the future for myself! The salsa, because it has tomatoes in it, is healthy with antioxidants and licopene. So, all of our dishes, except maybe the bread and dessert (but we did use the olive oil dip!) are fitting for Sweetnicks' ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday! Check out her other entries.

Roasted Squash
squash
zucchini
onion
olive oil
seasonings (garlic powder, Tony's, salt, pepper)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Slice vegetables in thin discs. Cut onion in small pieces. Put in roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Add garlic powder liberally. Add Tony's, salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes or until fork tender. Remove to serving dish and top with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Salsa Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Season All
salsa
Mozzarella cheese

Heat saute pan on stove. Cut excess fat from chicken. Pound chicken to 1/2 inch thickness (or desired thickness). Cut to desired serving size. Season liberally with Season All. Spray pan with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil. Place pieces in pan and cook until cooked halfway through. Flip chicken to opposite side. As the chicken nears doneness, spoon 1-2 T salsa on chicken and top with small piece of mozzarella cheese. Cook until chicken is done through and the cheese is slightly melted.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Claire! I love this blog, I check it religiously. I have to admit, I haven't cooked anything yet, but I can forsee that changing in the near future--I have been so busy and haven't had time to cook! Aww, Katie is so pretty, and how is Jennifer? Anyway, just saying hey and admiring your blog :) Laney

Annie said...

Is'nt it so fun to cook with friends?? I love to cook with other people who also like to cook.
Everything looks great.