Mmmm Dinner

i don’t even know what to call this creation that i made.
but it was yummm
it was a gruyere bechamel sauce over asparagus & chicken
served over tri-colored quinoa.
oh nomz.
so:
take 5 oz of gruyere cheese and grate it/shred it – whatevs – put it in your cuisinart and press ON. (with your shredding blade)
((and 5 oz b/c — that was half of my block))
cut up part of an onion… however much you want. . . i would have used more… but i didn’t. and i used a red onion b/c that’s what i had.
i also cut up some garlic
melt 2 tbsp butter
throw in your garlic & onion
saute those little babies up for a bit…
grab 2 tbsp flour – throw that in and mix around for another minute or so
lower your heat – but don’t remove from heat. i reduced mine from 6/7 to 3
add 1 1/4 c almond milk ((i happened to use some unsweetened vanilla almond milk… i’m sure you can use whatever milk or milk substitute you would prefer…and yes, vanilla b/c what delicious meal couldn’t use a bit of vanilla sweetness…besides the fact that you can’t really taste it anyways))
stir that around for a minute and then add your cheese…
stir stir stir
let that amazing cheesy goodness melt into a delicious amazing sauce.
yummm
i love gruyere…
but you could use any cheese you prefer… i just happened to buy me a block of gruyere the other day and have been wanting to use it!
so — sauce – made.
set aside…
while you’re making your sauce — you could steam some asparagus… i know this is out of order… but honestly i can’t write it side by side — do it at the same time.
i had one bunch of asparagus {which btw, i happened to store in a mason jar of water with a plastic baggie rubber banded around the lid of the jar… they definitely were still good… and i’ve had this bunch for over a week. i found this handy dandy tip while stumbling the other day! fantabulous!!}
i cut it up into bite-sizedish pieces and threw in the steamer… throw some lemon juice over those bad boys while they are steaming to kick it up a notch.
got some chicken?
good.
i went to Sam’s Club the other day with m/i/l and bought a big pack of chicken breasts and let me just tell you — when you’re doing portion control (for the most part) those chicken breasts — can feed an army. there was one piece in the package that was 18 oz.
18 mother f’n ounces
a serving of chicken is FOUR ounces
4.
18.
wtf steroidal chicken

anyways, i used a 12.4 oz piece and cut it up into pieces.
threw some light olive oil (cuz i’m out of evoo) in the pan and also some lemon juice and seared those little pieces til they were nice and cooked and semi browned… i seasoned with salt, fresh ground pepper and garlic pepper ((honestly only b/c i coudn’t find my garlic POWDER))  still yum.

chicken done?

mix your asparagus, bechamel, and chicken all together.

yummmmmm

serve with: in my case tri-color quinoa. pretty cool looking…

or pasta… which i happen to have cut out of my diet a few years back…

 

i like to pretend that people will want to print my recipes out, because let’s face it they are just amazing (haha!!) but — i don’t know how to do that little trick where you can bring up a printable version.

so.

sorry.

 but here is the recipe breakdown real quick without all the fluff.

Ingredients:

Asparagus:

1 bunch asparagus
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steam asparagus with lemon juice & water

Gruyere Bechamel:

5 oz gruyere – grated
2 tbsp butter
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cup almond milk (or other milk/substitute)

melt butter. saute onion & garlic til desired color reached. add flour, cook for another minute. lower heat. add milk slowly, whisking til smooth. add cheese, whisk til smooth. set aside

(or pour over finished asparagus and set aside)

Chicken:

12 oz of chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste, garlic pepper or  powder to taste

cook chicken until browned

Quinoa:

read package to determine if your quinoa needs to be rinsed
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken stock

combine quinoa and stock. bring to a vigorous boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

to serve:

combine asparagus, bechamel and chicken.

ladle over quinoa

Enjoy!

{unfortunately i do not have a picture… i was kind of in a hurry b/c husband got home super late from work and i was on a very limited time frame…bummer. i know. but trust me — this is SO worth it!!!}