Blue Plate Bachelor

One of the most difficult challenges I face day-to-day is the 45 minutes between getting home from a workout and actually putting something edible on the dinner table. I know I’m not the only one. You’ve had a long day, followed by an hour at the gym or the studio or running stairs, and you want to eat something now.

Ironically, the best way I’ve found to deal with this is to ignore your mother’s advice.

You know the advice I’m talking about: “Don’t eat that. It’ll spoil your supper.”

I’m not suggesting that you reach for the cookie jar or a spoonful of peanut butter. However, having a healthy appetizer prepped and ready to enjoy while you cook a quick and easy dinner is a great strategy.

Here’s the first of five weeknight ‘appetizer plus dinner’ strategies, each designed to serve two people in a hurry:

Appetizer: Carrot Sticks, Brown Rice Crackers and Eggplant Hummus
Dinner: Multigrain Penne Pasta with Flax and Vodka Sauce, Olive Toast

For the appetizer, buy pre-prepped baby carrots or carrot sticks, brown rice or multigrain cracker “thins” and prepared eggplant hummus. Make up a nice plate with about 15 baby carrots, 15 crackers (depending on the size/amount/calories per serving) and 1/2 cup hummus. Pour a glass of sparkling water or a light red wine, and share while you cook.

And for dinner…

Multigrain Penne Pasta with Flax and Vodka Sauce
(Modified from a recipe in the Sept. 2007 issue of Cooking Light)

Ingredients
1/2 pound uncooked multigrain penne pasta with flax
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup vodka
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation
Cook the pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add vodka; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until liquid is reduced by about half. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, broth, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes. Place tomato mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Process until smooth. Return tomato mixture to pan; stir in cream. Cook 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked pasta, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and basil. Serve immediately.

Yield
2 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Olive Toasts

2 ciabatta rolls
2 tbsp olive tapenade

Split the rolls in half and toast in a toaster oven until golden brown. Top each half with 1/2 tablespoon tapenade. Serve alongside pasta.

2 servings of one roll each.

Appetizer and dinner serves two. Per serving, the appetizer has 170 calories and 12g (38%) fat. The dinner (pasta and olive toast) has 502 calories and 15g (26%) fat.

This entry was posted Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Day to day, Healthy Stuff, Rainy days and Mondays (aka Easy Weeknight Dinners). You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.