What a warm home!

When I first got the invitation to J's housewarming party I warned her that if I didn't pass, I wasn't coming. Lucky for both of us I got the good news the night before. I say lucky because this was a party not to be missed.

Kim greeted me at the door with a margarita her husband made for me. This is a telling sign of how the night would go.


I should have known what I was in store for when I heard of the guest list. Some of the most fun women I know and their equally fun husbands. Especially Jess's husband. He was the life of the party and had everyone in stiches all night with his antics. Check out the action he got! (Hey mister - this is a FAMILY party)



Of course, that was before he got trashed:

My friend Claire somehow managed to get in almost every shot. I'm sure she tells herself its because she's photogenic, but really its because she's kind of a photo whore.



And this is why I don't bring my husband to many parties. Do you see anyone else in this room? Nope. Me neither. Know why? Everyone else was outside......

Although when he did join us, I kinda wished he was back inside again because he started doing stuff like this.


And then Cat had to do it too (monkey see, monkey do)



Somewhere along the way, there was some wife swapping going on...... (or maybe the girls just got confused since all white guys look the same)




All in all I can honestly say everyone had an amazing time and J is a FABULOUS host. The house is gorgeous. They put a ton of work into it and its quite obvious. There was food and drink overflowing - even a candy buffet which prompted every husband to ask his wife for a candy room at home. Good food, good drink, great company and a beautiful setting - anyone would feel at home!

The most beautiful words in the English Language

"The name above appears on the pass list for the July 2007 California Bar Examination"

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peaches and Creme

When I was at the store this week I stumbled upon peachcello in the liquor aisle. I'm having a very strange craving for peach drinks so of course I bought it.

And I used it tonight in 2 different drinks. One with lillet (a favorite in this household) and one with gewurztraminer (not a favorite, but cheap at Trader Joes). My favorite was the one with Lillet, but Jon liked the second better - maybe because it was sweeter? You make them both and decide which you like better and report back. Or make your own!

Peach & Lillet

Combine 1 glass of white Lillet, 1/8 cup peachcello, and 3/4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Serve in rocks glass over ice.

Peach Sangria

Combine 1 glass of gewurztraminer, 1/8 cup peachcello, and 1/16 cup orange juice. Serve in rocks glass over ice.

But its not breaded!!!!

I'm a big fan of chicken parmesean. It's easy, it's cheesy and its chicken. Most of the time I make it in the oven by breading it and baking it. But tonight I decided I wanted to take a short cut. This is mostly due to the fact there was another accident on the freeway on my way home disabling the interstate.

So I did what any good cook would do and improvise. Can I tell you a secret? I think this is my new favorite chicken parm because its soooo cheesy. Of course this could be because I dumped a lot of cheese on top. Here's another secret - a good cook waits to start drinking until after dinner is made.

Stovetop Chicken Parmesean

1/8 cup grated parmesean cheese
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1) Stir 1 1/2 Tbsp parmesean cheese into tomato sauce.
2) Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken. Cook 10 minutes or until browned
3) Pour sauce over chicken. Cover. Cook over medium heat 10 minutes
4) Top with mozzarella and remaining parmesean. Let stand 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Pretty nice little Saturday

I love love love love shopping. The funny thing is, I always managed to find the best deals where ever I go so I used to bring back bags of clothes and still have spent under $100. However, the appropriate word here is "used to." As soon as I started law school, the shopping habit had to go by the wayside. All the money I had came from student loans and just barely covered my credit card/car/housing/tuition payments. So basically the only shopping I've done since '04 has been when I've received a gift certificate to a store (since that can't be used to pay bills). This is left my closet full of clothes that don't fit, are worn out, shouldn't really be worn in public.

Slowly but surely I'm working on rebuilding my wardrobe. One of the first steps I took was in the underwear department. See, Jon feels really badly about my wardrobe, so for Christmas last year he got me a shopping spree. I spent almost the entire amount on new bras. Bras are not cheap, and good ones are especially expensive, so most of the bras I had were old enough where they should be going through puberty at any minute. I had a million bras, but they were all the wrong size and all stretched out. I threw out every one and replaced them.

Now that I have my favorite bras I keep my eye out for sales. When I saw it was Nordstrom's Half-Yearly Sale AND one of my most expensive bras was on sale I knew I had to make a trip to the mall. Jon came with me and it was quite the outing.

I love going shopping. It's one of my all time favorite activities. It makes me soooo happy, my spirits perk up as soon as I enter. Of course seeing this didn't hurt my spirits either. Does anyone see anything wrong with the picture? It had me giggling like a 6 yr old. I wonder if this was an irate employee or a mischievous shopper.


First stop: Old Navy so Jon could pick up a camo winter coat. Where he's going to wear a winter coat I'm not sure, but he's been wanting it since he saw a commercial for it, so I guess kudos to the Old Navy marketing department.


Then it was off to Nordys for me. Isn't she pretty? AND cheaper in stores than online!!!! So it was close to 50% off!!!!!!




On the way home we stopped at Burke Williams to book a spa day for me on Friday. I almost started crying at the counter just thinking about the approaching day. The nice lady booking my services decided to throw in a free "birthday bath" just to give me some extra time killers/relaxation time for that day. The caveat? I have to look surprised when they say Happy Birthday - shouldn't be too much of a problem since my birthday's in June.

Then it was off to Target to pick up a lamp and cake holder. Why a cake holder you ask? Well because Jon's boyfriend was throwing a party and I'd decided to bring an ice cream cake. Isn't she pretty?


I see the cake holder being very useful in the next weeks anyway since I am officially in charge of Thanksgiving desserts.

When we got back from Target I finally got to taste my pickles!!!!!!
It's a 3 day process to make them and I've been eyeing them since I put them in brine. Licking my lips and sitting in wait. Picking up the container and turning it over and over again. I almost had them for breakfast, but thought that might be a little weird. I was pleased with the result! I'll need to play with the brining mixture a bit, Jon says they need more dill. They're no Claussens to be sure, but I made them! I made pickles! So no one can say anything bad about them.

Ice Cream Cake

1 pt raspberries
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup finely crushed vanilla wafers
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 pt vanilla ice cream , softened
3/4 cup finely crushed chocolate wafers
2 chopped Skors bars
2 pt strawberry ice cream, softened
1 cup chilled heavy cream
3 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
raspberries for garnish

1) Sauce - puree raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in food processor, strain through fine mesh seive.
2) Layer 1 -Combine vanilla wafers and butter. Press into bottom of 9" springform pan. Freeze until firm. Spread vanilla ice cream onto frozen crust. Combine chocolate wafers and Skor bar. Press onto ice cream. Freeze until firm.
3) Layer 2 - Spread strawberry ice cream on top. Freeze until firm.
4) Whipped topping - Beat cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Run sharp knife inside pan to loosen cake. Release sides; transfer to platter. Frost top with cream. Freeze 1 hour.
5) Top with berries. Serve with raspberry sauce.

Dill Pickles (adapted from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook)

10 pickling cucumbers
1/4 cup kosher salt
hot water
2 sprigs fresh dill
1/16 cup pickling spices
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 cup cider vinegar

1. Wash the cucumbers and put them in container. The recipe calls for a wooden barrel, preferably one that contained olives from Portugal or Spain. Really? Really? I don't happen to have one of those handy. I used a plastic tub, but on retrospect something glass might have been better. Just make sure whatever you use has a lid.
2. Mix the salt with enough hot water to make the salt dissolve. Add the dill, pickling spices, garlic, and vinegar. Pour the brine over the cucumbers.
3. Add enough hot water to cover. Close top and let stand 3 days.

How to get your husband to eat veggies

Jon was never a big vegetable eater. I didn't ever realize this because he always eats them when I cook them from him. He told me this after we had been married a few months.

J: You know, I don't like vegetables, especially zucchini.
K: Really? I never knew! I'm so sorry I make zucchini all the time! I'll make something else.
J: Actually, I like them the way you make them. I guess I just never had them that way.
K: Really? I just saute them with spices.......how did your dad make them?
J: He boiled them.

Boiled veggies? Ew gross. No wonder my poor husband didn't like vegetables! I steam, roast, sautee and he gobbles it down. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have some great spices in there!

Sauteed Zucchini

2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Zucchini, cut into 1/4" slices
1/8 cup almond slivers
1/8 cup slivered fresh basil
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

1) Heat 1/2 Tbsp oil in nonstick skillet.
2) Add zucchini and cook until tender, remove from skillet
3) Add remaining oil and ingredients to skillet
4) Cook until heated through and pour over zucchini and toss

Austrian for Beer

As soon as I learned I was going to be in Austria for a month I started teaching myself German. After 6 months I had learned enough to survive, impress quite a few Austrians, and even charm my way out of an inspection by Dusseldorf Customs agents.

But one thing they really don't teach you in any "teach yourself" program you can learn by drinking. The best way to learn German? Order a beer. It's easy enough. The German word for beer sounds exactly the same, its just spelled differently - bier. Here's a quick little vocabulary lesson for ordering Bier:

Weiss - (pronounced Vice) Means wheat. Weissbier is wheat beer and its almost like drinking a meal. It is very thick. So thick in fact, that here in the US, our tastebuds much prefer:

Hef Weiss - (pronounced Hef-vice). Means half wheat. This is a slightly milder, much less thick weissbeir.

Fass - (pronounced Faaas) Means draft. Order fassbier if you don't want a bottle.

Helles - (pronounced hell) Means light. This is a light, lager like beer. Golden in color.

Dunkles - (pronounced Doonkles) Means dark. Think Guinness. Brown and Dark

Radler - (pronounced Raadler) This is Europe's answer to Mike's Hard Lemonade. It's a combination of light beer and lemonade.

Of these, my favorite is Dunkles. I love dark beers and German dark beers are the best. They're also great for making a steak sauce. Tonight we had steak with a Dunklesbier sauce and mashed sweet potatoes and persimmons. Jon loved the sauce. He even ranked it higher than his current favorite - A1 (seriously who raised this boy?). As for the mashed potatoes, he was very impressed, personally I didn't like that the persimmons didn't mash. They remained as chunks in the potatoes. I'll put down the recipe, but I think the next time I make this I'll puree the persimmons before adding them to the sweet potato.

Dunklesbier Sauce

1/2 cup Worcester Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup Dunkelsbier (you can use any dark bier, I used Warsteiner)
1/2 onion, minced

1) Combine all ingredients in saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Persimmons

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 persimmon, peeled and chopped
buttermilk
salt and pepper

1) Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil.
2) Place sweet potato and persimmon in water and cook for 10 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.
3) Place sweet potato and persimmon in medium bowl and mix with electric mixer until smooth - add buttermilk as needed to achieve desired consistency.
4) Season with salt and pepper

Everybody's Doing It

By far, the most popular meal on my cooking board is Garlic Cheddar Chicken (or GCC). It is raved about by nesties, requested by husbands, and is almost a ritual of initiation. So tonight I initiated myself.

It is no big surprise that this dish was a success. I told Jon I was expecting something creamy and cheesy, I mean it is called garlic cheddar, chicken. Instead it was a baked dish with bread crumbs. Jon said he was happy my preconception was wrong because that would have made it too white trashy. This way, he told me, was far more gourmet.

I don't think I've ever heard baked chicken in breadcrumbs gourmet, but as long as he's happy right?

But I definitely think I gained weight just cooking this dish - melted butter, parmesean, cheddar....and of course I can't really substitute low-fat/no fat alternatives because cheese and butter is the one area I don't mess with. There's enough cancer in my family without adding plastic to my diet! I'll just have to content myself with knowing this won't be a frequent dish, but it will be a good one!

Garlic Cheddar Chicken (from What's Cooking)

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, pepper, and salt.
4. Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

I like to eat eat eat eat eat eat Apples and Bananas

I'll admit it. I grew up on Raffi. Baby Baluga, Down by the Bay, and of course, Apples and Bananas. Maybe that's why this morning when I had the brilliant idea to make banana muffins I also felt the need to make apple muffins.

Of course, it could have also been the 1 apple I wanted to use up......since I still have a mountain of persimmons I decided to add that to my apple muffins.

And the results? Drumroll please........



The banana muffins tasted amazing, although they were a little on the short side. Unlike the apple-persimmon muffins which were beautiful looking and great tasting. I liked to ate ate ate ate ate ate ay-pples and ba-nay-nay muffins!

Banana Oat Muffin

1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed slightly
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, with electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla until blended, scraping sides occasionally.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture, then bananas just until blended. Evenly spoon into prepared pan.
6. Bake 25 minutes. On wire rack cool 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely.
7. Blend butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla yogurt, and vanilla extract until smooth. Chill. Drizzle over tops of cooled muffins.

Apple Persimmon Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 persimmon - peeled, cored, and chopped
  

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together milk, egg and butter. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture just until combined. Fold in chopped apples and persimmons. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Fall Fruit

When I lived in Pennsylvania, Fall always meant apple picking. We'd go to the orchard and fill up baskets, bringing home both apples and cider.

Here in California, there is apple picking in Julian, but that's not exactly close. Nevertheless, it's not fall with some yummy apple goodies.

And so begins my fall apple baking. There'll be more to come!

Carmel Apple Pastries

•	Cooking Spray
•	3 large baking apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
•	1/2 cup Caramel Sundae Syrup
•	1/2 cup toffee bits
•	16 sheets phyllo pastry

Directions:

1.	Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2.	Combine the apples, caramel syrup and toffee bits; set aside.
3.	Lay phyllo pastry sheets flat under a sheet of plastic wrap. Place a slightly damp kitchen towel over the plastic wrap.
4.	Removing one sheet of pastry at a time, spray completely with cooking spray. Top with another sheet of phyllo pastry; spray with cooking spray. Repeat until four sheets of phyllo are stacked. Cut the stacked pastry into 2 equal rectangles. Place 1/3 cup apple mixture 1-inch from a short edge of the dough. Fold long edges in about ½-inch, then roll, beginning with filling end, until a cylinder (egg-roll shape) is formed. Repeat with other half of dough. Repeat with remaining sheets of phyllo and apple filling. Wrap and refrigerate any remaining phyllo.
5.	Place each roll on the prepared baking sheet. Spray the tops of each roll with cooking spray. Bake 12-15 minutes or until pastries are golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Dinner for 1

I didn't want to make anything too fancy or elaborate for dinner tonight since I was on my own, but then again - I did have an easy dinner last night so I decided to step it up a notch. After all I had the time, and I deserve a nice dinner.

As usual, I turned to a Chicken dish from Cooking Light. I have yet to figure out why other recipes even exist. This one was very easy to adapt to a dinner for 1 by dividing the recipe by 4... Okay, that's not really easy, but the results were worth it. I wouldn't put this dinner up there with Basil Chicken or even the Chicken Stroganoff, but it was definitely enjoyable. I bet if I made it with breasts next time instead of thighs I would enjoy it more......Or added a little garlic/salt/ spice to the sauce.......

Chicken in Wine Cream Sauce (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/3 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Cooking spray
2 chicken thighs, skinned
1/12 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 oz. light cream cheese
1/2 cup hot cooked wild rice

Directions

Combine first 7 ingredients and 1 teaspoons oil in a small bowl; rub over chicken. Heat 1 teaspoons oil in a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; set aside. Place flour in a bowl; gradually add milk and wine, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add to skillet, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; bring to a simmer. Return chicken to pan; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Add mushrooms; cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan; cover and set aside. Add cheese to skillet; cook 5 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring constantly with a whisk. Place 1/2 cup rice plate. Top chicken thighs and 1 cup sauce.

When the Cat's Away.....

As I type this, Jon is at his 10 year high school reunion. I was supposed to go with him until the Ringo incident. Now I'm at home with the puppy while Jon's reliving his childhood.

So what do I do when he's out of town? Throw a party! Of course, its not a party like you throw when your parents go out of town. This party had 3 people and centered on food - not alcohol.

See, when Cat found out I had made pie, she not so subtley asked for some. When I invited her over, a couple others jumped at the invitation. And so this morning's pie party was born.

Of course, no good mom gives her kids pie for breakfast - so I made a frittata to go with it. Frittata is the perfect dish for brunches. Mostly because its prepared in the oven so you don't have to worry about cooking it while guests are there. You also don't have to worry about timing like a stovetop preparation.

After brunch, I headed over to the Holiday Faire where my mom had a booth. My cute mommy. She was very busy when I visited, but eventually it slowed down enough for little visiting time.

Then I came home and did some cooking/baking - which means there'll be lots of blog updates this week. Guess when the cat's away...the mouse pretty much does the same thing as always......

Red Bell Pepper Frittata (from Cooking Light)

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup uncooked couscous
1 tablespoon water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 large egg whites
3 large eggs
Cooking spray
2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 cup thinly vertically sliced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shredded Manchego or Monterey Jack cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Bring 1/2 cup water to boil in a small saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Combine 1 tablespoon water, salt, black pepper, egg whites, and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Heat a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in couscous and egg mixture; cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until almost set. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Just Peachy

I'm a tequila girl. It is my drink of choice. Which is not to say I don't appreciate other drinks. In fact, one of the things I'm really into is flavored vodka. I love playing with the flavors - its almost like cooking.

This week I stopped by BevMo to pick up some Dunkels and picked up some peach vodka in addition.

Peach is definitely a summertime flavor for me. Peach vodka? Well its almost my way of trying to squeeze out the last taste of summer.

Peach-tini

1 shot peach vodka
1/8 cup orange juice
1/8 cup cranberry juice
1 Tbsp pineapple juice

1) Shake all ingredients in cocktail strainer with ice and strain into glass.

Cake and Bake

I'm not really into sweets so much. Birthdays are always hard for me because I have a hard time deciding what kind of cake I want. Sometimes I get birthday pie. One of my favorite cakes however is Carrot Cake. I don't know why. Maybe because it has veggies in it. Maybe because its not as sweet as chocolate or white cake. Whatever the reason, I really enjoy it.

When I'm having a rough time I find myself in the kitchen. The worse a day/week/month/year, the more baking/cooking I do. For some reason I really needed cake this week. Well, I know the reason - and I really needed cake this week. So I made carrot cake.


I make a really good carrot cake. A really really good carrot cake. A forget all your troubles kind of carrot cake.

I already feel better.

Carrot Cake

2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
2 eggs
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
11 oz. cream cheese
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla

1) Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 9" cake pans.
2) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in food processor.
3) In large bowl beat together sugar, oil and eggs with a mixer on medium, until well blended.
4) Beat flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended.
5) Stir in carrots and coconut.
6) Evenly divide batter into prepared pans. Bake in heated oven 40 minutes. Cool completely in pans on wire racks.
7) In medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until blended with mixer on medium.
8) Add confectioners' sugar, beat until mixture is smooth
9) Add vanilla
10) Place one cake layer on serving platter. Spread with about 3/4 cup frosting. Place second layer on top. Spread top with remaining frosting.

True Americana

My dad was almost the complete stereotypical child of the 60s. This include most meals we consider to be "classic American" meals. Meals like casseroles, shepherds pies, pot pies, tuna melts, etc. etc. etc.

What's funny is, growing up we never had any of these kind of meals. The closest we got was meatloaf, and even that wasn't so often. I didn't have my first potroast until last year. I think that's mostly because these meals aren't exactly healthy.

Although Stroganoff is a Russian dish, I always think of it as a 60s housewife's staple. Truth is, I've never been anxious to try it. The idea of beef and sour cream just doesn't appeal to me. Then I stumbled upon a Chicken Stroganoff recipe in Cooking Light. I know it sounds weird, but for some reason Chicken and sour cream doesn't offend me nearly as much. And the fact that its Cooking Light made me feel like its probably healthier than anything my dad would have had growing up. Of course, now that I've made it, I have a hard time thinking its healthy at all. I cut back on the sour cream, and next time I make it I'll probably use turkey bacon instead. I'm sorry, did you hear me say next time? Yup. This is sure to be a repeater.

Chicken Stroganoff (from Cooking Light)

4 slices bacon
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

3 Tbs flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

8oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (8-ounce) container fat free sour cream

1) Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, drain on paper towels and crumble.
2) Add onion and chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes, until the outside of all the chicken pieces has started to brown.
3) Add the flour and stir frequently to combine with all the fat in the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste.
4) Add broth, mushrooms, bacon, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic; bring to a boil.
5) Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
6) Add sour cream to pan, and stir to combine with the rest of the sauce. Turn off the burner and let the sauce stand on the warm burner to thicken. Serve over noodles.

My Secret Confession

I am a complete and total cheater when it comes to a certain cooking tool. For the most part, I'm not so into processed foods, preferring to make my own "healthier" "from scratch" versions. Except when it comes to taco seasonings. I know I could make it myself. I know it would be a million times healthier with much less sodium, but I just don't have the desire to mess with spices to create the perfect blend. So I buy taco seasoning.

However, I take comfort in the fact that I don't make tacos simply by adding the taco seasoning to meat. My taco fillings are, well, more filling. Rice, beans, salsa, everything you could want in a taco. All cooked together to create a warm and tasty treat. I've even been known to eat it plain - without the tortilla.

Tacos are one of my "super easy fallback meals" because they're just so quick to make. Last year when I was in school we must have had tacos once a week. In general I make them with turkey, mostly because I prefer turkey to ground beef. But it also makes them a little healthier - especially when you're using cheater taco seasonings.


Turkey Tacos

1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
1 cups salsa
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 can black beans
1 cup instant rice

1) Cook turkey and taco seasoning together in pan over med. heat until fully cooked.
2) Add salsa, tomato sauce and black beans. Bring to boil.
3) Add rice, making sure rice is covered with liquid.
4) Turn off heat and stir.
5) Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
6) Serve with warm flour tortillas