Day 16 and a recipe

Today is Day 16.

That means we are over half way there! Yippee.

Just want to let you know that I am watching the Biggest Loser while typing this post. It is all Jillian--all the time.

The workouts are going well. She changes it up every weeks so we are learning all new exercises. I think it will be great to have all these new things to do.

I actually enjoy doing some weight/resistance training. Weird, I know. But I was sort of stuck in a rut. Eric Keaton taught me an exercise routine almost a year ago and that's about all I know to do. Jillian's book is teaching us all sorts of new and awkward moves like frog kicks and rock star jumps! Ask Erin to demonstrate!

Eating is going a little better this week. What helped a ton is that Jenny made me a menu for the week. Jillian's menu called for about 5 meals that included seafood. I don't do seafood. So the book was of no help to me.

Plus, we have enjoyed some of the meals this week. We had Chicken Scallopini tonight and it was a hit with Kyle and the kids. I will include the recipe at the end of the post.

However, for those of you who don't know me that well you might not know that I am not so great in the kitchen. So while the chicken was a huge hit--I definitely had some missteps in the kitchen as well (so did Kyle).

We were supposed to have garlic green beans. I was in a hurry and read the recipe too fast. I got some of the key measurements a little confused! It called for one tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1/4 cup of water. Yeah. I switched it. I kept thinking, "I can't believe we can eat something with this much oil in it!" So anyway, they didn't turn out so great. I was the only one who ate them.

Then the chicken recipe called for white wine. Let me be clear, I am soooo not cultured when it comes to wine (or much of anything). Seriously, I can't remember if I have ever bought wine before. I don't know anything about wine. I don't know any of the names, types, colors, etc. I just bought the cheapest mini-bottle that I could find. It was $7. Probably a pretty good wine, huh?

But the funny part is that Kyle decided to open it. Actually, when I realized that it had a cork in it, I told Kyle to call Jenny to see if we could borrow their opener thingy. Then he got one out of the drawer. I didn't even notice that we owned a cork screw. So Kyle being the man of the house and a wine connoisseur like me, decided to try to open the wine bottle.

Cork is a natural material and won't do any damage to the digestive system, right? Let me just say that we ate some cork tonight. We have a lot to learn about wine. (not whine--we got that down over here)

Here is the recipe:

Chicken Scallopini

Serves 4
Pounding the chicken breast halves into thin "scallops" cuts the cooking time in half but leaves the chicken moist and tender.

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
cooking spray (olive oil preferred)
1/3 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1 tablespoon Smart Start

1. Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Brush chicken with juice, and sprinkle with black pepper. Dredge chicken in breadcrumbs.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Add broth and wine to pan, and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in capers and Smart Start.

just a side note: for Kyle and the kids, I put their chicken in some melted butter before I dredged it in breadcrumbs. Plus, I added a little olive oil in the pan. I also put the pan-fried chicken in a warm oven for a little bit while I was finishing the other dishes. Just to make sure that it was cooked all the way through. Good luck!