Chicken Primavera

In anticipation of our trip, I've thrown a few italian dishes into the repertoire. Ellie Krieger has also turned into a huge favorite of mine from the Food Network. She does really sensible, fresh recipes that are very healthy. A few weeks ago, I had tried this Pasta Primavera sauce with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, and a beautiful creamy sauce. I'll be making this tonight for Ryan and his parents plus Melissa and Bobby.



This version has baked chicken with it; I've been recently cooking with the "in bone" chicken, mostly because I like the taste quite a bit more...it seems like you have to work it a bit more to get it considered "done" but it keeps better flavor, better texture, and looks really neat on a plate. Another part of me appreciates the work of having to cut it off the bone on your plate and does make me think about the creature that is providing me nourishment. Without getting super meta on you, it's part of that internal struggle between wanting to not eat meat, wanting to respect the food chain, and enjoying cooking and eating.

Ryan's parents arrived last night and we had a great meal at Hyde Park Grill and a good night of sleep. We just finished breakfast (I started cooking pancakes but was just not pulling through on the delivery of beautiful fluffy and nice-looking specimens...so Ryan had to pinch hit and finish the job) and are going to head out into the fog and rain. Costco, Toys R Us to find this game we've wanted to buy, etc. I need to remember to pull the camera out and take pictures; I regret I didn't take more when my parents were here! I selfishly have a great photo of them in front of some fabulous homemade german food. Sigh!

And if you're counting...8 days until Europe! WOOHOO! Yes, we will be blogging all the way.

Tschüß!