The Person Behind The Plate #6

My sister sent me a book last week called The Introvert Advantage. I am most definitely an introvert and reading this has been pretty enlightening. I often wonder about bloggers and whether this is a social outlet for them in lieu of actually going out and meeting with people face to face.


I also think the irony of me eating alone while reading this book is pretty funny.

Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? Does blogging provide a social outlet for you?

Chicken and Artichoke Packet

After eating a cheeseburger on a donut bun I needed to get back to smarter eating. Not that I regret that sandwich for one second but the scale definitely reminded me that what happens in San Francisco does not stay in San Francisco. So I busted out one of my old favorites, a Weight Watchers cookbook I picked up at Goodwill.


This is another foil pack recipe, which I love because there is nothing to clean up after. I cut this recipe down to one serving. Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees and lets get started.


The ingredients are, beans, carrots, chicken, seasoning, artichoke and Italian dressing. The best thing about recipes like this is you can just take the basic idea and use whatever you want. I don't like fennel so I just used cabbage instead. I also had some white beans already in the fridge so I just used those. The only prep you need to do is to chop your veggies.


Literally all you have to do is lay down the chicken and pile the rest of the ingredients on top. The hardest part of this recipe is folding the packet.


Folded up tight and ready to cook. Put it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. The best thing is there is nothing to clean up so you can use that half hour to read a book or sit outside and enjoy the summer weather because it will be gone too soon!


Cut a few holes in the foil when it is done to let some of the steam escape. Once the packet has cooled a bit get your chicken out and you are ready to eat.


This was so packed with flavor and only took a few minutes to prep. Eating smarter doesn't have to be expensive or difficult, and it doesn't have to be boring and bland. I will be going back to this cookbook more often for the rest of the Summer.

Have a great week!

Weight Watchers Chicken With Broccoli and Oranges

I have definitely been on an Asian food kick since having the delicious peanut chicken dish in San Fran. I was craving something a little sweet and savory and found this recipe in an old Weight Watchers cookbook. This took no time to make and definitely cured my craving.




I cut this recipe pretty much in half. You need stock, corn starch, OJ, broccoli, oranges, tamari or soy sauce, ginger and chicken. I used canned mandarin oranges instead of fresh.


Mix your cornstarch and water. This is called a slurry!


Measure the stock, soy sauce, and OJ. I did not have fresh ginger so I just put the dried ginger in with the sauce.


Chop your broccoli, I did this the night before.


Chop your chicken.


Lets cook! Get the oil heated in a pan. Again, I skipped using fresh ginger so I went straight to cooking the chicken. Cut this small it only takes a few minutes to cook.


Once cooked, get the chicken out of there.


Drop in the broccoli with some water and pop the lid on for about 3 minutes.


Return the chicken to the pan with the sauce mixture and give it a stir. Bring it up to boiling.


Stir in the slurry and let it thicken. Can you believe that it is this easy? Well, it is.


Stir in the oranges and you are ready to eat.


Delicious, fast and easy. That is a trifecta in my opinion.

What is your favorite Asian dish and have you ever made it at home?

More San Francisco Pics

Since we were gone all last weekend, I have been in catch up mode this past week and we also had no groceries. That means, no cooking this past week to share with you. But I do have a few more wonderful photos from San Francisco and I will be cooking a few good dishes this week.

One of the coolest places we went was the arcade near Pier 39 called Musee Mechanique It had a lot of old school and antique arcade games and attractions.




I thought this was pretty funny!


I found a school I would love to attend :)


This cool church was right by our hotel.


Of course we had to stop when we encountered a fun looking playground.


One of those San Francisco hills we climbed, what a work out.

I hope you all had an awesome Monday!