FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Polenta Pizza

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What a Monday!  It’s week three at the new job and I couldn’t be happier.  I’ve been getting these bursts of adrenaline and excitement that I don’t remember feeling consistently since 2007 when I worked as a project engineer on this building.  Let me just tell ya, it’s exciting to be excited about {real} work again!

Sliced Polenta

And this excitement, rather than taking away from, is flowing directly into FoodFash.  I drove home with atypical energy for 6-ish o’clock and a huge grin {one of those ear to ear kind}.  I knew from the moment I walked in the front door that I was going to own the polenta pizza I had been dreaming about for days.

Grilled Polenta

I made my own sauce, acknowledging that I prefer my marinara over most.  And then I whipped out the new cast iron skillet that ordered through Gilt a few weeks back.  I stacked and baked and topped and ate.  I was satisfied, completely.

Polenta Pizza

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Chicken Spinach Lemon Soup

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Chicken Spinach Lemon Soup 2

Noodle-less soup was a tough concept for me to grasp tonight.  Austin is rainy and rain totally calls for noodles.  But I’ve been trying to do this bootcamp, green smoothie, minimal dairy, minimal grain thing – so I got creative.  And by getting creative, I mean getting simple.  Super simple.

Shredded Chicken Breast

The shredded chicken and spinach gave this soup enough heartiness that your mind didn’t wander towards thoughts of noodles.  And adding egg to the chicken broth made this soup nice and creamy, giving the illusion that dairy was invited.  Dee-lish!

Chicken Spinach Lemon Soup

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On Top Of Spaghetti {Squash}

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It turns out there are benefits to digging through your archives and re-blogging an old recipe.  Like the feeling of goodness that fills you up because you already know you’ll love your meal, and it’s yours.  Or getting a little chance to complete against yourself in the photo department, and win.  In my not so humble opinion, these pictures are worlds better than the old pictures.  Worlds.

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I like making meatballs because your hands get messy and there’s something therapeutic about squishing meat through your hands like GAK.

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And I like this meatball recipe because there’s no junk, just lean meat and veggies.

Buffalo Vehicle

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As much as I wish I favored a cooler hot sauce, I don’t.  Crystal is my number one and I prefer it ten times out of ten.  And anything that acts as a vehicle to get this good stuff into my belly becomes my number one as well.

As soon as I ordered a slow cooker, I went slow cooker recipe crazy on Pinterest.  I found this pulled buffalo chicken recipe from Skinny Taste and knew I was going to be blown away.  I modified the recipe a bit by using two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, 4 cups of chicken broth, 2 celery stalks, and an entire onion, but followed the rest of the prep instructions to a tee.  The bones and skin made for a broth worthy of saving for soup later on this week.

So this Crystal vehicle was exclamation point amazing!  It was better and more satisfying than any buffalo wing, buffalo sandwich, buffalo anything I’ve ever had.  To say I’ll be making this dish on the regular is an understatement.  So. Darn. Good.