more from the new rachael ray cookbook

Last night I tried her three-bean pasta e fagioli (page 39) and didn't think it was so good.  Not a whole lot of flavor and I thought it would be enough food for dinner, but after I made it I realized it was more like a hearty soup.  So, I had to quickly see what I had on hand to add to it to make it a meal.  Luckily, I had tilapia!!  So I made my favorite tilapia dish (melt flavored garlic butter then add panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper.  Take off burner then add parmesan cheese, then pat this mixture on the fish and then bake at 400 degrees for 13 minutes) but changed it up abit: made it into wraps with a fresh salsa drizzled on it.  YUM!!!

Tonight is yet another Rachael Ray recipe.  It is actually in the morning but I made it already---I am waiting for a lame-o UPS delivery...3rd attempt...so I'm making good use of my waiting time! HA!  Anyway, I made the chinese orange-barbeque cashew chicken (page 102).  I tasted it, and while it didn't taste real bbq-ish, it did have a good taste!  But then again, it's 9:30 in the morning so I'm not sure if my taste buds are fully awake.

New Cookbook=New Dinners

So I just got the new Rachael Ray cookbook: Rachael Ray's Look and Cook and have to say it has so many recipes I want to try I can't wait for dinner!!!!  If there are a few recipes I want to make in a cookbook, I consider it a good book, but I must had earmarked at least 20 in this new cookbook!! A real winner in my eyes.  I made two this week:

--Turkey Chili Shepherd's Pie with a sweet potatoe topper (page 19

---Spinach-Artichoke stuffed shells (page 115)

Loved them both!!!



If you buy something already pre-marinated, is that cheating?

So yesterday I went to Trader Joe's.  That is my #2 happy place, right under Weggies!!!  So I decided to buy Trader Joe's herbed and marinated lamb chops.  I never tried them so I decided that now was the time!  I made them tonight and WOW they were yummy! My favorite husband (and only one at that!) commented that I should have bought two racks for the 3 of us.  I will take that as a compliment and will absolutely buy them again.  It's a very easy dinner (shhhhh,don't tell your family though) but looks very complicated.  I also made baked rice (same as stove top rice but bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes) and roasted cubed butternut squash with thyme and goat cheese.  Very good meal and very easy!   Everything baked in the oven while I caught up on laundry.  My kind of meal.  I would rather have the oven do all the work than me standing over the stove.

Sunday Sup

So we got back from a fabulous weekend at PSU!!!  Had a great time visiting with our favorite daughter, cheering on our favorite college football team, and tailgating with my daughters favorite friends!!!  WOW :) 

So while I was feeling alittle tired when we got home, I was craving a delish and healthy dinner.  So, here's what I came up with:  Mexican chicken soup (it was very cold and wanted some soup for tonight and also to have some for the rest of the week.  Also wanted to try out this version of chicken soup to test it to see if my favorite daughter would like it, for when she comes home over Thanksgiving break and....it's a winner!!!)  What makes it mexican????  I know I just read your mind.  haha  Well, it has a chopped up jalapeno pepper in it, tomato puree,cumin and coriander seed.  That really changes up the flavor.

Mexican chicken soup with cheese on top

I also made chicken piccato, roasted potatoes and nuked some frozen corn as a last thought.  I know,everything is light color.  tuff-o, it's still a look!

Love those Leftovers!!!

So last night, I made a turkey breast (slathered  with garlic butter..yummmm!!!!  Love those flavored butters :) )  So, I had quite abit left over.  I decided to make a pot of turkey chili.  The weather  is getting a nip in the air, which is perfect-o for chili!!!  I really liked this recipe because I'm not a fan of ground turkey.  I simply cut up, in small bite size pieces, my turkey breast that was left over from the night before.  Here's my recipe, in case you want to use your left-over turkey, perhaps from Thanksgiving!!  And incase you were wondering, no my favorite son did not eat this.  Instead I saved some of the turkey and he ate it in the slice form.

Turkey Chili

1 Tblspoon olive oil
1 bell pepper, any color, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper,seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 pounds diced left over turkey meat
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
2 Teaspoons cayenne pepper sauce
any other vegies you have as leftovers (I used roasted cauliflower and corn)
1 28 ounce tomatoe puree (I prefer anything with San Marzano tomatoes)
2 cups chicken stock
kosher salt to taste
----

Heat a large pot and add oil.  Add the peppers and cook for 5 minutes, until soft.  Add the bay leafand then rest of ingredients.  Bring to a boil then let it simmer for about 30 minutes.  It will thicken the longer you simmer it so you may need to add more stock.

comfort food with a healthy twist

So it's Friday night, TGIF!  We made it through another week.  Let's re-evaluate how it went, dinner-wise.  I would have to say pretty good.  Here was my basic menu:
Sunday: chicken with brocoli and twice baked potatoes
Monday: tilapia with white beans and rosemary
Tuesday: tacos
Wednesday: pot roast in the slow cooker with cous cous
Thursday: shrimp with left over cous cous from Wed. and roasted vegies
Friday: beef barley soup (with beef left over from Wed.) and salmon.
Wow, when I review, I see that Wed was a great left-over potential dinner night. 

Goals for next week: make a meal with beans (you know what they are good for!haha)
                                have another great LOP meal (left-over potential)

Flavor Flavor everywhere!

Boy do I love those flavored butters and oils!  They are packed with flavors that you don't have to do anything to achieve!  No extra chopping,cutting or anything!  Tonight"s dinner is white beans with zucchini, sauted on a flavored oil that has garlic and rosemary in it.  How good does that sound?  I decided to add beans to this dish cuz I think I should be eating more beans.  HAHA and, I had some in the cupboard, of course...since I have a well stocked cupboard!  I am also making tilapia with a garlic herbed butter!  Easy and sooo flavorful!

I would have taken a pix but my camera sucks and is more frustrating to use.  So until I figure out what's going on with that, no pix.  This meal happens to be a fav cuz it is so easy, doesn't take long (when you bake tilapia, it only takes 13 minutes at a 400 degree oven!  Whoohoo!!) and believe it or not, my favorite son, who happens to be a picky eater, will actually eat this fish.  It doesn't get any better than that!