Berry Banana Blast

Berry Banana Blast:

After workouts I like to make fruit smoothies. Not only are they healthy and tasty, but they are really easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of strawberries
1 banana
1.5 cups of soy milk (skim or 2% will do as well)
1/3 cup of carrot juice
2/3 cup of ice

Throw all these ingredients into a blender and pulse/blend on low until ingredients are fully blended. This recipe should render about 3 glasses of fruit smoothie goodness. This particular smoothie is high in antioxidants, potassium, protein, and other stuff I am sure. I think it will help you live longer.  Full nutritional details here.

Post-workout fruit smoothies are great!


-Nikhil

Nik's Grilled Chik & Salad

For my second post I would like to go over a chicken recipe with a Salad and pasta side. Its easy to make and pretty good for you. I call it Nik's Grilled Chik Y ensalada.

The recipe calls for:
Chicken breast
Olive Oil
Soy Sauce
Worshtershire Sauce
Minced garlic
Tomato basil seasoning
Oregano flakes
Chili pepper flakes
Sea Salt
Ground black pepper

The amount of each ingredient really depends on the amount of chicken you are planning on grilling, usually I eyeball it. I realize this doesn’t help much if you are trying to replicate this recipe, but you can be safe by throwing a pinch of each ingredient for each chicken breast.

Begin by coating the chicken with the olive oil and then squirting on the worshteshire and soy sauce. This will create a nice bath for the seasonings to soak in. For best results, let the chicken marinate in the fridge for a day, or even overnight, before grilling.

Grilling:
If you have a gas grill, heat it up to medium temperature and wait until it is warm. If you use a charcoal grill, try to get a medium-sized flame going. Throw the chicken on the grill and close the lid. Let it cook for about 4-5 minutes without messing with it. After 5, flip the breasts over, close the lid, and wait about 3-4 minutes. At this point you will need to start “manning the grill.” You should cut open the meat at the thicker areas to see if it is ready. If you see pink in the middle close the lid and keep it going for a minute or two more. If you are using a meat thermoter, the thermometer should read at least 165 degrees F. I like to taste test on the grill because I am usually really hungry at this point.  It usually takes YEARS of experience to learn the ways of the grill...but not really.




With dinner I like to always make a hearty salad. I like to cut up veggies on Sunday and use them throughout the week to save time during the hectic workweek. The salad below is:

Arugula/spinach mix as the base with broccoli, shredded carrots, tomatoes, snow peas, and red peppers.

I throw on light balsamic vinaigrette because eating all those veggies without dressing isn’t really fun. This salad is good for you. You can just trust me or read about salads online…

I also like to serve this chicken with rice or pasta. The picture below teams up the chicken with whole wheat pasta and my homemade pasta sauce. Actually, I can’t really take credit for the sauce because my mom made it, but I do know that there are tomatoes in it. YUM.

There you have it, a nutrious, but obviously delicious meal.

-Nikhil

Bad Case of the Mondays

Hello and welcome to my first blog post! As I am now the newest member of the blogging community, more specifically the cyber-foodie community, to break the ice I thought I'd share something personal about my day and its relationship to food.


For anyone, heading back to work or school on a Monday is rarely an anticipated occasion. Especially on a Monday such as today, when the weather's overcast and rainy, all I want to do is stay at home nestled up with a nice cup of tea and a good book. Today, I found myself daydreaming about so many things other than my immediate reality. I thought about restaurants I want to try, recipes I want to make, and the people I want to share these experiences with. I fantasized about being in Paris on a sunny summer day eating and drinking my way around the city. But alas, I was not in Paris. I was here, in the sticky and humid Washington D.C. area, confined within the white walls of my office at work.


To break loose of this temporary Monday-induced solace, I decided to forgo any after-work plans I had and instead I went home to bake! Every savory dish needs its sweet counterpart, and to complement a lovely dinner of saffron shrimp and a mixed green and chickpea salad, I decided to bake two of my favourite cookies: snickerdoodle and oatmeal raisin cookies.

First, I made the oatmeal raisin cookies. I used the "Cowgirl Oatmeal Cookies" recipe found here, but altered it significantly. Ironically enough, I ran out of raisins two days prior so instead I used dried cranberries, which are a perfect substitute. Also, I found that this recipe called for a remarkably small proportion of oats given the amount of butter required. As such, I increased the amount of oats used from 1 1/3 cups to 1 2/3 cups oats. Wanting to keep things simple and (relatively) low-fat, I also omitted the coconut and chocolate chips.


I undercooked them just a tad, for extra chewiness and they came out perfectly chewy with a slight crunch around the edges. Totally delicious!


Of course, I had to pause for a cup of tea before moving on to the snickerdoodles!

Next up, snickerdoodles. I found that these cookies, because of their incredibly soft and tender texture, go perfectly with a cup of tea. The recipe I used, found here, is actually adapted from Martha Stewart's classic snickerdoodle recipe. But once again, I made an effort to reduce the amount of butter used without compromising on the moistness of the cookie. As such, I only used 1/2 cup butter and substituted Greek non-fat yogurt for the remainder. I was nervous that this would compromise the flavour of the cookie somewhat, but truthfully it came out just as tasty and chewy as any other snickerdoodle recipe I've tried. The cookies were slightly dense, in my opinion, but short of aerating the wet mixture before adding in the dry, I don't know how much this could be avoided using this recipe.

In all, these cookies were the perfect antidote to my Monday blues. Two very simple cookies to help ease the stress of the worst day of the week. On the bright side, now I have dozens of cookies to keep me going the rest of the week through Friday!

Overall, the results for both cookies were simply delicious -- just what the doctor ordered to heal a bad case of the Mondays!


Until the next adventure, on behalf of Nikhil and myself,


Happy eating!
-Talia

Ambrosia

This fine establishment will mark the beginning of our journey into the wonderful world of food. Ambrosia Restaurant is a quaint Greek restaurant with a robust menu, quick service, and a family-friendly atmosphere.  Patrons have the option to tantalize their taste buds with authentic, perhaps even exotic, Grecian cuisine or opt for tried and true dishes like burgers, spaghetti, and pizza.

Upon entering the restaurant you are instantly immersed in Greek culture. The walls are covered with hand-painted visages of Greek Gods.   I have the same paintings in my room.

The place mats provide a nice history of Greece and insight into the things for which the ancient country is most known. Interestingly enough, economic collapse is not listed… Nevertheless, it helped pass the time to read about the Culture-rich country.

Now to the important part, I ordered a Chicken Souvlaki platter. This came with two sides, I choose the Greek salad (when in Greece right…) and roasted potatoes. Alright the food came and this is what it looked like:

NOMS


Big pieces of succulent chicken… tzatziki sauce … pita bread…lettuce tomato onion. What’s not to like? Seriously what’s not to like…back down. The portions were big and now as I write this post my stomach is full.  The overstuffed Souvlaki is a fantastic lunch item that would make even Aphrodite’s toes curl. It is also a great way to introduce your palate to Grecian tastes. Would I eat here again? Yeah.


I’d say Zeus would give this place 4 out of 5 thunderbolts.

-Nikhil

That’s all for now, stay tuned for more adventures from the Savory Squad