Eating with Liz 2012 - Crispy Panko Chicken

Food. Yep, we eat it at our house. This is something we ate last night:

 

Crispy Panko Chicken

2 servings

 

⅓ c Panko breadcrumbs

3 T shredded Parmesan

(2 t olive oil, ¼ t salt, ⅛ t pepper,

2 T Dijon mustard, 1 T water)

½ lb chicken breast meat, pound thin

 

In a shallow dish, toss together Panko, cheese, olive oil, salt & pepper. In another dish, combine mustard, & water. Coat chicken breasts in mustard mixture & dredge in Panko mix. Bake on a sprayed baking sheet 25 – 30 min @ 400 or until golden brown.

 

 

Wild Rice

6 oz box Uncle Ben's long grain & wild rice

Prepare rice as directed.

 

Cantaloupe

2 c diced cantaloupe, serve on the side

 

 

FYI - Panko crumbs are made by Kikkoman. I can't remember if I found them in the isle with the Asian food, or in the isle with the flour/bread crumbs. It was definitely in one of those two places.

 

What I did different…

 

I actually doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers for lunch. Not really any extra work, but let me just say, it was pretty good the second time around too.

 

I did not pound out my chicken. I just left the breasts round and plump like I found them. I don't know that it would have made that much of a difference.

 

Dredged the chicken through flour before the coating in mustard. This helps the mustard stay on better.

 

Rice-A-Roni – yeah, that's what I used. What do you want to make of it? It's what was on sale.  I followed the microwave instructions, and happily the rice, with very little effort on my part was done about the same time the chicken was.

 

We didn't eat cantaloupe. John doesn't like it and there wasn't any in the house.

 

broken spirit

Broken Spirit

by Liz Evans 3.29.2012

I need to not feel like this.

I am not a teenager

Who can mope around

Wearing black

Blaming the world for their problems.

I’m an adult

I want to lock myself in my room

I want to cry over the unfairness

of the choices placed before me

That aren’t really choices at all.
The bleakness engulfs my heart,
Shrouding my brain in fuzzy cold darkness.
For no reason whatsoever.
The need to pull a blanket over my head
And just let the world go on without me
This feeling is overwhelming.
But I can’t.
So I put on my lipstick,
I paste on a smile,
And hope the tears don’t fall to loudly
As I pretend I’m okay
And life goes on.

Movies: The Catch Up Edition

So… What have we been watching lately. Not much. A lot of movies have come and gone that we had wanted to see, but we didn’t see them, and didn’t write them down so who knows if we’ll ever remember. It seems that with all the moving and PS3 and unpacking and whatnot, we’ve missed a lot, but there have been some TV shows and movies interspersed with our lives. Lets look back and see if I can remember what we’ve seen since our last installment shall we.

 

Beauty and the Beast – The Musical, at Capitol Theater – Granted, this wasn’t a movie, but it was something that we watched. The production was fairly good, although I would rather just watch the Disney Movie. The voices of the cast members were quite good, and the production itself was great. Glad we had an opportunity to see it.

 

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) – Anime. This can either be a good or bad statement depending on the person reading the review. This is one of those movies by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky) that Disney has purchased for US distribution. The movie itself is quite cute. Getting to the point of the story takes forever. John gave up on it half way through and went to bed, but I watched the entire thing. Yes it was slow. No, there was really no point to much of the movie. But if you want to watch a slow movie that finally gets to it’s point in the last 20 minutes than this is the one for you. If you like the other movies by this write/director then I’d suggest watching this one too.

 

Conan The Barbarian (2011) – I’d really like to say that this was the worst movie ever… but I know that I have seen worse. If I can tell you anything about this movie I’ll tell you not to watch it. It was full of naked boobs and lots and lots of stupid. I cant believe that I actually spent money to watch this, but I’m very glad that we didn’t spend the money to see it in the theater last year. Bleh. Avoid this movie. Go watch the 1982 Schwarzenegger version, believe it or not it’s the better choice.

 

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)  – This movie was re-released into theaters. It was in 3D. I remember seeing this in the theater the first time around. Gosh, I think I probably saw it about 24 times. Some with John. Some with Lariann. Some with other friends. Fact is, I love this movie. Why? It’s inexplicable. But I do. Going to se this in the theater again was like stepping back 13 years and enjoying it like it was the first time again. Oh, George Lucas, how do you find so many ways to take my money from me?

 

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) – Best Mission Impossible movie so far. The first one was alright. I have no memory of watching the second even though John says I did. And the third was just rather “Meh.” But this one was enjoyable all the way through. It was full of action and more plot then the others. I think this is one we’ll probably end up owning.

 

The Muppets (2011) – LOVED IT! I tried going into this with lowered expectations because, come on, it’s a new Muppet movie. Is it really going to be as good as the old ones? It was better. We loved watching this with our friends on a Saturday morning. The movie was cute and funny and morally upbeat with a few pulls on the heart strings. Most definitely a movie I’ve told others they need to watch.

 

Love Never Dies (2012) – This was a Fathom Event at the theater. Over priced tickets for a special performance. Love Never Dies is a sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom has since moved to the Americas and is successfully running his own show of Freaks and Oddities. He finds a way to lure Christine to him here and drama ensues. This really was an unnecessary thing for me. While I enjoyed it, I was disappointed that anyone thought that the story of the Phantom needed a continuation. I don’t know that this is anything that would ever be watched again by us.  It’s like that fourth Anne of Green Gables movie that no one cares about. Just not necessary.  

 

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) – Funny movie. We’ve see it several times and was something entertaining to watch on a night when we couldn’t decide on anything else.

 

The PowerPuff Girls (2002) – Finally I have seen this movie all the way through. I saw it in the theater, you know, back in 2002… but I slept through it. And I’ve slept through it every time we’ve tried to watch it since. But finally, after all these years, with the help of Sophie I have seen the entire movie. The origin of the PowerPuff Girls and their nemesis MoJo JoJo. It makes me laugh and keep the kids entertained.

 

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension (2011) – We’ve actually seen this one several times. It a favorite of the nieces, and no lie, we enjoy it too. Phineas and Ferb is a very entertaining Disney creation. It inspired two Perry the Platypus birthday cakes. The movie makes us laugh and would tell others to watch it too. Also catch the show on the Disney Channel (or Netflix apparently.)

 

Marvel Anime: Iron Man (2012) – Yes, we’re nerds. Tony Stark goes to Japan to help them build a Stark Reactor, he “retires” the Iron Man armor, but the suit plans are stolen and the villains build their own. He takes up the armor again to save Japan and the world. 

 

Marvel Anime: Wolverine (2012) –  This is the story of Logan and his love, Mariko. Some dirty pool is going down and Logan has to save his girl form some Japanese drug lords. John says that it’s a fairly good modern adaptation to the original story of Logan and Mariko.

 

 

Torchwood: Series 2

Torchwood: Series 3

Torchwood: Children of Earth

Finished watching this series. It is very adult oriented. Other than that it was a good show to watch. It kept us entertained and I even cried at various points as the plot unfolded.

 

The Tudors: Season 3

The Tudors: Season 4

We’ve been through 3 wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and now we’re with Kathryn Howard who is a silly child. I hear tell that she will be executed. This series has been rather fascinating. If you ignore all the sex it’s been quite informative. It’s gotten John to research actual Royal history to see what’s true and what isn’t. Surprisingly it’s not all completely wrong. We’ve taken a break from watching this for a little while, but we’ll have to get back to is. There is still one more wife to go.

Eating with Liz 2012 - Sausage & Cabbage Soup

It's that time again. I know you missed it… Here is the recipe of the day brought to you by www.emeals.com and the Portion Control Menu for Two. If you're interested in signing up for emeals.com please use the link at the bottom of this post so that I can be your referral.

 

Sausage & Cabbage Soup

Serving size 1.5 cup

3 servings

 

7 oz smoked turkey sausage, diced ½ inch cubes

1 c shredded coleslaw w/ carrots blend

2 green onions, sliced

3 c chicken broth

¼ t onion powder

⅛ t celery salt

⅛ t pepper

dash of nutmeg

hot sauce to taste

½ c uncooked small macaroni

 

In a sprayed stock pot, sauté sausage, coleslaw & green onions 4-5 min or until veggies are tender. Add broth & seasonings; bring to boil. Stir in macaroni; cook & stir often, 7-8 min or until macaroni is tender. Add hot sauce to taste. Serving: 1 ½ cup

 

 

Toasted Tortillas

Serving size: ½ large tortilla

 

1 ½ large soft taco size flour tortillas

No-stick spray

Seasoned salt

 

Spray tortillas with no-stick spray and sprinkle with seasoned salt to your taste. Cut into wedges; bake @ 350 until lightly browned.

 

~*~

 

This was oddly delicious. At first look at the recipe John said to me: "I wont eat that." But I told him that I would so it would be made and he'd just have to suffer through it. Well the recipe waited and waited for a week and a half to be made and finally last night we needed to use the cabbage in the fridge or else… so this got made.

 

What did I do differently:

 

Kielbasa Sausage. We've discovered that this has so much more flavor than the smoked sausage so when the choice comes up we usually buy he Kielbasa.

 

Celery. I didn't have any celery salt in the house and since it's not something I use often I opted not to buy any. I did have celery in my fridge so I used 1 stalk of celery diced up and thrown in at the beginning with everything else. And then some salt. I think it tasted just fine.

 

Chicken Broth. I added two 14.5oz cans. I didn't feel like measuring out 3 cups. This worked out just fine. Also, I think that if you don't cover you pot while boiling you loose a lot of liquid in the condensation.

 

Hot Sauce. I added about 4 shakes of Tabasco to the soup while it was cooking. When served I put the Tabasco on the table for an option. It seemed that John and I both added about 3 additional shakes to the soup to add a bit more flavor.

 

For the baked tortillas:

 

Olive Oil Cooking Spray. The regular cooking spray always smells like tuna to me so I don't use it very often. I did recently buy a can of Olive Oil Spray that I have grown rather fond of. (also, fyi, the baking spray is fantastic for cakes and whatnot.)

 

Kosher Salt. This salt is rather nice. It doesn't have so much of that "salty" flavor to it.

 

~*~

 

In the end dinner was quite tasty. It was fast. It probably only took about 20 minutes tops from beginning to end. It was filling. And as John pointed out, it seemed very Irish with the cabbage. Perhaps this could be our new St. Patrick's Day go-to food instead of Bangers and Mash.