drool.

this was the best dinner i've made in a while. breaded apricot-almond-goat cheese-stuffed chicken breasts with homemade pesto, served over soft polenta... alongside a strawberry-cucumber-arugula salad, tossed lightly in a homemade walnut oil vinaigrette. dddamn! i follwed this recipe but used basil instead of the mint, added a couple extra apricots, and used at least 3 oz. goat cheese instead of the 2 that the recipe called for (because i goat cheese).


lots of pictures...


microwave polenta is great. i mixed up 1/2 c polenta, 1 c milk, 13 oz water, 1 tsp salt, put it in a huge pyrex measuring cup, and nuked it on high for 6 min... then i whisked it and nuked it for 6 more min. it looks quite liquidy when you take it out, but after about 4 minutes it thickens into a perfect soft polenta. this made 2 hearty servings.

i have LOTS of leftovers, but i will be freezing half the recipe. yay!

in other news, i was SO excited to get this in the mail today:


free bars from honest foods! THANK YOU SO MUCH honest foods! i am quite full now, but i am already planning to try one of these as a pre-run snack tomorrow morning . but what flavor to pick first...

i did have room for more strawberries. these local berries were so much better than the last batch, and they did not perish upon arrival to my apartment. i'm guessing they were fresher to begin with, due to the shorter travel incurred. i'm eating these with chopsticks because my dishwasher is completely full and i am sick and tired of doing dishes after all the dinner cleanup. also, i love these chopsticks!

with a cinnamon honey stick drizzled on top

laterz.