This post is a few days late. I actually made something on Thursday, July 22 that was very tasty. We had our Godson, Julian, come and spend the evening with us and I completely forgot to blog about it. First thing I made was Parmesan-Crusted Pork Loin Cutlets http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/parmesan-crusted-pork-loin-cutlets-recipe/index.html These were very good, and Julian and hubby both ate a lot!! You know when a 1-1/2 year old eats your cooking, it is the best feelng in the world! The other recipe I made that night was Caprese Tartlets http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/caprese-tartlets-recipe/index.html Very tasty little tidbits. Again, Julian really liked these. Hubby was not that impressed with the cream cheese filling, and I have to admit, I wasn't that crazy about it either. I did use a lot of mozzarella, so maybe the cream cheese filling was not necessary. The "cups" were very easy to make and they did taste good. I have an olive oil spray that I used instead of brushing the olive oil on to the pieces of bread and it worked just fine. I also used a water glass to roll out my bread because I was not in the mood to hand wash my rolling pin. I put a piece of parchment paper on the counter and when I was ready to spray, it didn't get everywhere. I love easy clean up.

Well, hubby is making burgers and potato salad for dinner, so no cooking for me tonight!!

Happy Eating!!!

Oh My Cheezits!! I am soooo excited. Last night we went out for dinner because we got so busy, but when we got home I had 5 chicken legs in the fridge that needed to be cooked. I took a packet of onion soup mix, sprinkled it into the bottom of a small pan, placed the 5 chicken legs on top of that, took some crushed garlic and smeared a little on top of each leg and took a can of whole tomatoes and poured it over that and added 1 cup of white wine. I coooked it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Tonight I took the left over, plain Jasmine rice I had in the fridge, combined it with the chicken, onion soup, garlic and tomato concoction and warmed it up in the microwave. Hubby said it was fantastic! The flavor was absolutely delicious! I am very pleased with myself for throwing that together. I have never made something by the seat of my pants that was actually edible!! I am on such a high right now, you have no idea!!! For anyone out there who reads this and may doubt themselves, take it from someone who has NEVER been a good cook, KEEP ON TRYING!!!

Happy cooking and eating!!!

OK, so yesterday I made a wonderful anniversary dinner! Our anniversary is today. I was so wrapped up in trying to do a good job, I didn't realize I was a day early. I made My Mother's Chicken with Barbeque Sauce (not my mother's but Alex Guarmashelli's) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/my-mothers-chicken-with-barbeque-sauce-recipe/index.html Baked Potato Salad http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/baked-potato-salad-recipe2/index.html and Blueberry Pie http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/blueberry-pie-recipe/index.html

The chicken was super tasty and not to hard to do. I even made barbeque sauce. Tate and I both liked the flavor. I am not a huge fan of barbeque sauce, but Tate LOVES BBQ chicken. The potato salad was good, but I didn't have the right consistency on the sauce. I did discover that baking the potatos for a salad makes it about 100 times better than boiling them. The pie was scary looking but oh so delicious! I had a food hangover after this meal. I think three new recipes in one day might be a little bit of overkill. The good news is that today is our anniversary and we both get to relax and I think we will get take out, watch a movie and relax!

Happy Eating!!!

Well after a week of being gone visiting family in Illinois and then another almost week of getting things straightened out at the office, I am finally back in the kitchen!!

Last night I made two new things. Chuck Dip Sandwiches - I actually did not use a recipe but after reviewing some recipes for chuck roast in the crock pot, I decided to try it. I used a 2 lb. frozen chuck roast, 2 packets of onion soup mix and 2 beers. I sprinkled the soup mix in the bottom of the crock and set the frozen roast on top of that. Then I poured the beers over the top of the meat and set the crock pot to cook on low for 8 hours. When I got home I removed the meat from the crock, cut thin slices and placed that on a fresh French roll. I dressed the roll with a horseradish-mayonaise. I then spooned out the juice into little bowls so that we could dip our sandwiches. They were really good. Hubby does not care for pot roast at all and he really liked this!

My next item was Napa Salad. We had this at a BBQ at cousin Elsa's while we were in Illinois.

Napa Salad recipe
2-pkg Ramen Noodles - Oriental, break up and sprinkle w/ seasnoing packet
1/4 - cup sunflower seeds
1/4 - cup slivered almonds
melt 1/2 stick of butter & toss all. Bake @350 in shallow pan for 20 min. One hour before serving - Toss 1 pkg Brococoli Slaw and 6 green onions chopped.
Dressing
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tblsp Soy sauce
Toss all together and serve

This was really good.

It was a great dinner!

Happy Eating!!

Tonights dinner was not completely unedible, but it is definitely not something I would be amazed at! It was however, a good lead to a possible great recipe.

I made pasta (spaghetti) and made the artichoke and sundried tomato chicken stuffing to go with it as a sauce. Well, it is not a sauce and the parmesan cheese should have been sprnkled over the top instead of added into the mixture because it "clumped" up really bad. The flavor was great. The texture, not so good! I will attempt it again and try to change it up a little to have more of a sauce texture.

I know it isn't an actual recipe, but I am pretty proud of myself for trying new things in the kitchen. I am really excited about making new dishes from the techniques I have learned (even the ones I haven't quite mastered)!

Happy Eating!!