It's a small world after all

Before I hit Panama on my way from Pensacola to St. George Island on Sunday, my mother called me to tell me that she ran into one of my high school friends, JM, at the rental agency. Apparently, my family and his decided to go to the same beach at the same time. Small world, huh? JM and I bonded during 10th grade math and had a pretend marriage during high school. We even were "married" on facebook for most of our freshman year of college (despite the fact that I went to Georgia Tech and he went to the University of Georgia). I even had a couple friends ask me why they weren't invited to the wedding.

So over the course of one weekend, I saw a friend from preschool (CA), a friend from middle school (KM), a friend from high school (JM), and also saw a fellow Georgia Tech grad walking down the beach. All I need is elementary school to round out the mix.

Almond-Crusted Chicken Breast

1 lb chicken breast, thawed

2 eggs, whisked

1 cup almond flour

1 cup almonds, chopped

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the almond flour, almonds, parsley, garlic salt, black pepper, and paprika in a bowl; transfer to a plate/pan.

Pat dry the chicken breasts, then coat each chicken breast with the eggs, using a pastry brush if you have one. Place the chicken into the almond mixture, making sure the chicken is thoroughly and evenly coated. While you're doing this, heat 2 tbls of olive oil over medium heat on the stove. Place the chicken breast into the heated pan and brown each side (~4 minutes per side).

Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Optional: line the bottom of the pan with sliced zucchini before baking.

Serve over a salad of romaine hearts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and yellow peppers.

That's Just Beachy

My parents and I are going to St. George Island for the next week. I leave today to drive to New Orleans and stay the night with my preschool buddy CA and his girlfriend. Tomorrow I'm going to Pensacola for a night, and then on Sunday I make the last segment of my journey to St. George Island.

Unless things have changed since I last went to St. George Island in 2009, there's only one small grocery store on the island, which means we have to bring food if we don't plan on eating out for every meal. I don't want to cart around food on what sums up to a 13-hour drive, so I plan on stopping in Panama City to go to a Publix or Sam's Club to pick up whatever I need. In order to figure out what I need to bring separate from my parents, I came up with a meal plan for the week.

Sunday:
--- drive to the beach ---
D- Chicken and veggies

Monday:
B - Scrambled Eggs with veggies and leftover chicken
L - Salad
D - Burgers

Tuesday:
B - Frittata
L - Leftover Burgers
D - Chicken with steamed carrots and salad

Wednesday:
B - Leftover Frittata
L - Salad w/ Leftover Chicken
D - Zucchini with Pesto

Thursday:
B - Sausage and Eggs
L - Ground Beef Taco Salad with Guacamole
D - Salmon with roasted broccoli

Friday:
B - Scrambled Eggs and leftover ground beef
L- Beef tips
D - Dinner out

Saturday:
B - Meat and veggies
--- drive home ---

My shopping list:

Proteins	Veggies/Herb	Fruits	Other
Eggs	Peppers	Avocado	Honey
Chicken	Celery	Apples	100% Orange Juice
Ground Beef	Carrots	Oranges	Wine
Sausage	Mushrooms	Lemons	Lime Juice
	Spinach		Pine Nuts
	Cabbage
	Lettuce
	Kale
	Zucchini
	Artichokes
	Brussels sprouts
	Cilantro
	Basil