Tag Team Dinner

Jasmin's Watch & Computer (Left) & Kyle's Watch & Computer (Right)

We've been meaning to do this all week!  My goal was to have us make several different meals at once, divvy them up into lunch-sized portions, and be able to pack them for our lunches this week.  It's pretty unfortunate that we didn't get to do this until Thursday night, but that means we'll have yummy foods to take to the library & work this weekend.

First, we split up the recipes: Kyle made Sweet Potato, Kale, & Chickpea Soup and Cilantro, Lime, & Chickpea Salad; I made Balsamic Honey Chicken and my mom's zucchini bread recipe.  Unfortunately [again] neither of us finished our second recipe.  We have frozen spinach (for the chickpea salad) but Kyle says it will taste better with fresh spinach.  I was going to make zucchini bread this past weekend because it looked like the zucchini in our fridge were on their way out.  Looks like they went all the way out over the week, so now I have a bowl of dough (I know...I should have checked before I put every single other ingredient together).  We decided that, for the sake of studying, it would be better to throw the dough in the fridge [in a zip-lock bag] and finish it tomorrow.

The chopping, cutting, seasoning, and cooking side by side was really nice.  We didn't necessarily speak to each other the whole time, but it was definitely comforting to work simultaneously.  Usually we cook together, but literally together - both working on one recipe.  When we both had our dishes boiling/simmering I asked which one we'd eat tonight.  Kyle's response was "whichever is less good."  What a challenge!  We ended up eating the balsamic honey chicken, but that's because mine was done first.  It was sooooo good!  Thank you, Panera!

Balsamic Honey Chicken

The only thing I didn't follow exactly is that I didn't smash the chicken breasts prior to cooking.  I just let them cook longer than it said and everything turned out perfectly!  It made it more difficult in the end when the chicken were supposed to be marinating in the liquid portion, but it was perfectly ok.  If you try this, make sure to get both the pear and chicken in every bite.  SO GOOD!

Kyle's soup is still on the burner and I need to head to Starbucks, so maybe [if you're lucky] he'll take a picture and post it on here.  Cross your fingers!