At this point chicken piccata is probably like a gin and tonic, no one really needs a recipe for it, at some point it just became a part of the collective conscious. Just to be a brat not only am I going to post about it even though everyone and their dog knows how to make it, Im going to go ahead and post two recipes for it.

This is all Giada De Laurentiis fault. I just dont get the big deal about her, she doesnt cook anything super special it is all head slappingly easy and involves way too much butter. And this is coming from someone on the cream and butter diet, as so many of my friends have dubbed it. This is how most people probably feel about Rachel Ray, I realize. Which is fine. More thirty minute meals for me and more needlessly butter clogged arteries for them.

I was willing to give her a try though so on a low maintenance cooking night I pulled up her version of chicken piccata and followed it to the letter. The fella made pea pods with sesame seeds. We then sat and looked at the lake of butter on our plates for a while. Six tablespoons of butter and five tablespoons oil for two chicken breasts? It was ridiculous and didnt add anything to the dish. We certainly couldnt taste the lemon or capers, not to mention the peas pods as everything was overwhelmed by the barrage of butter. The leftover were not good. It was a chicken breast in butter sludge, I wasnt impressed.

This didnt make me want to try any more of Giada De Laurentiis recipes. What it did make me want to do is make my own version of the same recipe which is much lower in fat and higher in flavor. Its something that came out of a cookbook of my mothers that Ive played with over the years to the point that I have the portions down to the way that the flavors seem perfect to me. Obviously Id suggest making my lemony slightly salty version if the chicken piccata mood strikes you so thats the one Im posting here. Hunt for Giada De Laurentiis recipe at your own risk or if youre looking for an excuse to eat a stick of butter but feel guilty just chewing on it straight out of the fridge.

My Chicken Piccata

4 chicken breasts, pounded flat
2 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup white wine
1 glove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons butter
fresh lemon slices

Pound chicken breasts flat then season with salt and pepper. Over medium heat add oil to a skillet. Saute the chicken for 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and pour excess fat from pan.

Deglaze pan with wine, then add garlic, cooking until slightly brown and the liquid is reduced to half. Add broth, lemon juice, and capers.

Return chicken to the pan and cook for one minute on each side or until cooked through. Transfer the chicken to plates for serving.

Finish liquid in pan by adding butter and lemon slices. Warm until butter is melted and sauce is creamy then pour over chicken breasts.

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Being a non traditionalist instead of planning a romantic Valentines Day dinner the fella and I had six of our favorite people over for dinner this past weekend.  And to trick us all into forgetting it is still the deepest darkest days of winter I cooked all Moroccan dishes.  The colorful highly spiced dishes and all the amazing wine made it feel like summer for a few wonderful hours around my table. 

And if youve been following my posts at Forkful of News you will already know that my obsession with Moroccan cooking has been going on for a little while.  If nothing else go read my post about argan oil which besides being an amazingly cool oil also plays a huge role in the recipe for the starter course of my meal.  Plus there are hilarious pictures of tree climbing goats so it is just about a requirement that you go find out about argan oil.  Its worth a few minutes of your time I promise, the goats will make your day.

I decided to start dinner out with this simple orange and olive salad.  The thing I love most about Moroccan dishes is so often all it requires is gathering, measuring, cutting the ingredients, adding heat, waiting for amazing food to happen.  It requires very little maintenance.  This salad doesnt even need heat, it just needs tossing and then you instantly have awesome.

The citrus was made somehow more amazing with the hint of cumin and paprika and the nutty argan oil made it even better.  You could just use a high quality olive oil if youre not in the mood to track down and invest in yet another oil with pretty much the same result.  And a crisp not too grassy Bogle Sauvignon Blanc courtesy of my foodie friends Tim and Jess was an excellent compliment to the salad. 

I was super decadent and served this beautiful salad alone in tiny plates so that there was no other food on the table to steal its glory.  It was that pretty that I was willing to do extra dishes for it.  Also I felt fancy serving dinner in semi-proper courses.  And of course I got to stun all my friends by serving them something with such an exotic ingredient and tell them the story of it.  A very excellent start to a successful dinner.

Also included in this meal:

Sundried Tomato Tapenade

Salty Roasted Tomatoes

Crockpot Beef Tagine

Red Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables

Rice Crepes and Amlou

 

Orange, Olive and Argan Oil Salad

4 oranges, peeled and cut in into bite sized pieces
16 black or kalamata olives
1/ 2 red onion, finely chopped

1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons argan oil
1 tablespoon olive oil (you can do all olive oil if investing in argan oil is not in your budget)
salt, to taste
1/ 2 teaspoon cumin
1/ teaspoon paprika
pinch chili powder

2 tablespoons parsley

Put chopped oranges in a serving bowl along with the olives and chopped onion.  Toss well.

Make the dressing by whisking together all the remaining ingredients except for the parsley. 

If making ahead of time store the dressing separately and pour over salad at the very last minute.  If serving right away pour dressing over salad and toss well then sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

Makes enough to serve a party of 8 a starter size portion.

From Claudia Rodens Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon.

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Negative calorie foods are foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories food actually contains! Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to use. In other words, the body has to work hard in order to extract calories from these foods. Even though a food may contain equal amount of calories, much less of these calories can possibly turn into fat in negative calorie foods as fewer calories are actually available to the body. This gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage.

Consider the facts:

1. A piece of dessert consisting of 400 Calories (actually 400 kilocalories) may only require 150 Calorie (actually 150 kilocalories) to digest by our body, resulting in a net gain of 250 calories which is added to our body fat!

2. On the other hand, a 5 calorie raw piece of celery will require much more calories to chew and digest, so resulting in a net loss of calories from our body fat!! It implies that the more you eat, the more you lose weight!!!

Therefore, these foods are said to be good for achieving weight loss naturally without starving.

How it works?

All foods have a nutrient (carbohydrate, fat, and protein), caloric (calories) and vitamin & mineral content. Vitamins stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that breakdown the caloric nutrients of that food.

The foods with negative calorie contain sufficient vitamins & minerals that produce enzymes in quantities sufficient to break down not only its own calories, but additional calories from body in digestion as well. This is called "negative calorie effect".

List of Foods Possessing Negative Calorie Effect

These foods will have maximum benefits when eaten without any empty calorie foods (junk foods). There are several foods such as vegetables and fruits that have negative calorie effect. Some of the foods that can be eaten in generous quantities are: Asparagus, Beets, Carrot, Zucchini, Papaya, Strawberry, Raspberry, etc. Look at the list below.

List of Negative calorie Foods

Negative Calorie Vegetables
Asparagus Beet Root Broccoli Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower Celery	Chicory Hot Chili Cucumber Garden cress Garlic Green Beans	Lettuce Onion Radish Spinach Turnip Zucchini
Negative Calorie Fruits
Apple Blueberries Cantaloupe Cranberry Grapefruit	Honeydew Lemon/Lime Mango Orange Papaya Peach	Pineapple Raspberry Strawberry Tomato Tangerine Turnip Watermelon

Article By: Padma Mehta and Prakash Mehta (www.fatfreekitchen.com)

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By Jennipher Walters - DietsInReview.com

So the holidays are almost over and youre probably feeling like the rest of Americans right now: bloated, tired and a little heavier than usual. Instead of going on a crash diet or thinking that you have to go to the gym for hours on end to start feeling like your pre-holiday self, follow these five tips to post-holiday detox in a healthy way!

1. Break the sugar and salt habit. If you feel especially bloated, cutting out the extra sugar, refined carbs and salt youve been having at holiday gatherings is the first step to getting back to your usual self. Do this for at least three days to get back on track and give your system time to reset. 
2. Load up on veggies. Detoxing is all about getting the bad out and the good back in. So after the holidays challenge yourself to eat seven to 12 servings of fruits and veggies a day -- and make clean food the bulk of your diet. Get a variety of produce to ensure that youre getting all those vitamins and minerals you probably skimped on over holiday break. Try our "vegetarian for a week" challenge, or give "meatless Monday" a try!
3. Start off easy at the gym. Youre probably gung-ho about working out right now and think a killer workout is what it will take to get you back on track, but ease back into the gym. Its better to do a little bit every day then go to the gym, push it too hard, and then be so sore that you cant move for days!
    
4. Make water your new BFF. Hydration is the name of the game when it comes to post-holiday detoxing. Guzzle that water throughout the day, trying to get at least 64 ounces. Water helps flush out toxins and helps your body eliminate waste! (A good rule of thumb is to divide your total body weight in half, and drink that many ounces. i.e. A 150-pound person should drink 75 ounces of water.)
    
5. Ignore the scale for a few days. Because of all the extra holiday goodies, which included added sugar, salt and fat, youre probably a few pounds heavier than normal. Instead of stepping on the scale and feeling down about the number, just forgo the scale. Follow these tips and weigh yourself in a week. Youll probably be back to your normal size!

Extreme detoxes arent necessary to get back on track after the holidays, nor are they any kind of healthy for your body. Its also not healthy to beat yourself up over what you ate and those workouts you may have missed. Today is a new day -- so appreciate the holidays for what they are (or were) and get back on the healthy track!

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