A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Last week I tried a new recipe from my Cooking Light cookbook that I was extremely excited about and had very high hopes for: Chicken with Rosemary Sauce. I had everything on hand except the chicken, so I picked that up Thursday and decided to try it out for Friday's feast. The recipe was easy, healthy, and didn't call for too make ingredients, a seemingly perfect combo. But when all was said and done, and it was time to sit down and eat, it left me … unsatisfied. The flavors worked well enough, and the chicken was moist and all, but it just didn't live up to the expectations I had set for myself. So then I faced a dilemma: throw away perfectly fine leftovers, which is wasteful and ridiculous, or eat them, wishing all the while that I was eating something else. After a couple days of putting off the inevitable, it struck me. I could use the original recipe, jazz it up with my own flair, and have a delicious meal (hopefully) that was satisfying and avoided w...

Some of my readers may know that I was recently laid off (along with my entire department) due to "budgetary constraints." While I could be really mad about this (and some days, it's tempting), I'm choosing to use this time to my benefit. Getting things done around the house, helping out those who need me during the day, and getting dinner started before Mike gets home. A week or two ago, I found a recipe that had my hubby's name written all over it: Austin-Style Chicken Chili. It came in a pull-out from our recent issue of Food Network Magazine that was "man-themed" in honor of fathers' day. We love trying new chili recipes, and this one caught my eye for several reasons. 1) It was a red chicken chili. Most chicken chili I see is white. 2) You braise said chicken in beer, which is one of our favorite "secret" chili ingredients. 3) It contained chipotle chiles and a habanaro. This last reason caused me slight concern, as Mike certainl...

I know at some point you are going to get tired of me using the same cookbook over and over again. But when the recipes are all so tasty and reliable, why venture to an unknown? Here’s another I tried from Salt to Honey . I omitted the golden raisins (because I don’t like them in stuff like this) and the celery (because I didn’t want to buy the entire bunch to use only one stalk), and opted to add extra dried cranberries and almonds instead. The toughest part of the entire recipe was probably chopping the chicken, but that is only because I’m very particular about not wanting any grisly bits or fatty bites. I will say that the dressing portion made more than we wanted to add, so we saved the extra and decided we could maybe use it for something else later. Use your own judgment when adding it, and hold off dumping the entire amount in if you prefer less dressing as well. We were all set to serve the salad in radicchio leaves as suggested, but the radicchio available to us loo...

Well...it almost is, anyway. With a long-missed crispness back in the air today and a baseball game on TV tonight, I was in the mood to break out the soup pot again. Mike thought it sounded good, too, and we both agreed that we should try something we've never made. So, I pulled out some past issues of Food Network Magazine and EveryDay with Rachael Ray and got busy browsing. Rachael Ray won this time with her Curried Chicken and Cider Soup . It seemed easy, healthful, and the perfect start to the season. Anyway...this was, indeed, quite tasty. I doubled the recipe, since I couldn't think for the life of me what we'd do with half a chicken and half a head of cauliflower. The original said this freezes well, so I decided to make extra and we could always freeze some for later. Mike loved coming home from class to the smell of this on the stove, and ate until he was stuffed. All-in-all, I'd say it was a success. I think I might also add a pinch of cloves next time. ...

Mike and I have been getting eggplant in our CSA box as of late and were on the search for new ways to enjoy them. Normally we would treat ourselves to Eggplant Parmesan, but since that would require several eggplant and typically we receive 1, we needed to branch out. While perusing a Rachael Ray magazine on my lunch break, the solution presented itself: Mediterranean Chicken Stacks! The recipe looked simple and delicious, two of our favorite things. We had fresh eggplant and tomatoes from our farm box, and I picked up fresh herbed goat cheese from Noble Springs Dairy at NFM. The recipe did take a bit longer than the magazine promised, but we've found that it usually does. It still made for a great weeknight meal...not a ton of ingredients were needed, and it only got one skillet dirty. It makes 4 servings, so Mike and I even had lunch for the next day ready to go! Mediterranean Chicken Stacks 1 eggplant (10 oz.), trimmed and peeled Salt and pepper 2 thick slices coarse...

Mike and I returned home from vacation a little over a week ago to a very full farm box. We were very excited to find some tiny yellow squash in there and decided we would purchase a zucchini from the store to stretch the squash a bit further. I had already picked up some chicken tenderloins, so the plan was to grill those and have veggies as a side dish. However, when I got to store, the zucchini were also looking a bit smallish. I started thinking: why not combine the zucchini, our squash and maybe a few other veggies, then toss it with pasta for a Pasta Primavera dinner? I've certainly read enough recipes for it that I felt confidant in winging it this time. Here's what we started with....  1 small zucchini, 2 small squash, 1 green bell pepper, 3/4 pound chicken tenderloins. You'll also need 16 to 32 ounces of pasta sauce and 1 pound of pasta.   Chop all the veggies. We started by sauteing the bell pepper since it typically takes a bit longer. Drizzle about 2 to 3...

This past week was a particularly hard one in the Nash house. We very suddenly and unexpectedly lost our beloved cat, King Lear. With the stress of visiting vets and grieving our loss, cooking for ourselves was pretty far down on our to-do list. Cooking, however, can be therapeutic as well as necessary, so yesterday we decided to try a new recipe for Smoky Enchilada Soup. The weather was gloomy (like our mood), and it sounded like the perfect comfort food—warm, easy, and soothing. We made everything as directed and were quite pleased. You can adjust the amount of adobo if you need it more or less spicy, but it was about perfect for me as-is. Don’t skip the queso fresco on top…it really adds a nice little touch. I found the recipe in Texas Tables , a multiple award-winner from the Junior League of North Harris and South Montgomery Counties . Smoky Enchilada Soup ¼ cup vegetable oil 1½ cups finely chopped onions 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped 2 tablespoons chicken base 1 t...

Hello again! I feel like it's been forever since I posted a new recipe, but I suppose it's only been a little over a week. Tonight, Mike and I tried a “new” recipe from our March 2010 issue of Food Network Magazine, Chicken Korma. Oh...my...goodness...was this tasty or what? Let me tell you, we thought it was delicious. I've heard about layering flavors on various cooking shows we watch, and Mike and I agreed that this was a prime example.  It did take us slightly longer than the 35 minutes cook time posted in the magazine, but we think that’s partly because we multitask and partly because we cook with electric heat instead of gas. We made the recipe almost exactly as described, with two exceptions. We found ground chicken was sold only in 1-pound increments, so we used the entire pound and added a little extra coriander and cumin (the latter of which is one of our favorite spices.) The other exception is that we couldn't find pita bread without pockets, so we used Fl...