It's All About The Flavor

Bland, tasteless food just sucks!  It was definitely one of the things I was worried about when Erin said she wanted to do the South Beach Diet.  I was worried that we'd be having chicken or fish with no sauce...cardboard tasting pasta just to name a few.  However this is not the case!  This morning we started off the day with the Metabolism Charger smoothie.  I've made this one before but didn't use one of the key ingredients.  The smoothie is made with mango, green tea, yogurt, and ice.  The piece that I was missing was agave syrup/nectar.  A little bit of that stuff adds sooooo much flavor.  It's a cross between a simple syrup and maple syrup.  I chose to go with the amber colored agave nectar which has a little more body to the flavor.  This one is definitely one of my favorite smoothies;  I absolutely love the green tea in it.

Chicken Puttanesca

Now onto dinner.  I had recommended this one and Erin definitely wanted me to try it.  Tonight was Chicken Puttanesca.  DAMN...was this one good!  One of the best things is we have not bought jar pasta sauce in months and I was saying to Erin that I enjoy the "freshly" made sauce so much better.  Well like I said in one word....this dish definitely hit a home run.  I wasn't really sure what to expect; tomato's, olives & capers??? I was intrigued to say the least.  All put together, the flavors of this dish were great.  Now a traditional puttanesca sauce is made with anchioves (those were not in this one - but maybe next time), crushed/diced tomato's, capers, olives (we used Kalamatta), red pepper flakes and of course garlic.  A little basil and some lemon juice to finish off and done.  The sauce started out a little too watery for my taste, so I added in some tomato paste to thicken it up a bit.  The chicken was just seasoned with salt and pepper and then cooked in about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Set aside the chicken and then add in all the sauce components.  Once it comes together, add in the chicken to reheat and then plate.  We used some whole wheat penne, but you could use any kind of pasta or even couscous. 

Tomorrow night I am on my own for dinner since Erin is headed off to a work outing.  My dinner will consist of Ginger Beef Stir Fry with steamed broccoli.  Should be another good one!  Have a great night everyone and remember only 1 more day to vote for my web show name.