Who IS This Person?!

I am notorious for bringing pre-packaged foods to potlucks and social eating events (nothing home-cooked EVER)...mini-muffins, packs of cookies, bags of caesar salad, grocery store deli veggie trays...you name it. But in this new cooking life as a cooking diva (ha!), I found myself searching online for "halloween party food ideas" the other day. That was definately strange but even stranger...I DID IT. I collected ideas and selected a few and produced a robust result of FRESH, HANDMADE FOOD for this costume party with friends.

I'm in SHOCK.

Here's the photos to prove it! It is astonishing exactly how much I've changed...not to mention the satisfaction I had taking my creations to bless my friends. The apple smilies, mummies (lil' smokies in crescent rolls-yum!) and candy corn veggie tray (a small pumpkin held the dip but isn't in the photo). Since I've been allowing TIME to plan and prepare as a habit, it wasn't really difficult to put this together...what fun!

And that's me as a Lego brick and my husband as the real Buzz Lightyear! What a fun costume party!

Herb Roasted Salmon

Oh.my.word. Second dinner in a row that was SO tasty...and I quote Daniel, "The salmon is wonderful".

WHAT?

Huh, were YOU talking to ME?

I am still in shock. The boy doesn't like much and usually asks, "how many bites do I have to take"? HE ATE IT ALL! SALMON!!!!!!!!

The TSG Citrus Dill seasoning is awesome PLUS I added a smidge of my new favorite food "Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing". Insane, it is so good I could drink it!

So I made some notes on the recipe for next time so we can duplicate this one!

Beef Burgundy-No Crockpot!

Well shiver me timbers, I can still taste this DELICIOUS meal just looking at the pictures! The turkey bacon is insanely delicious and flavored the pan right away. I added a little olive oil and garlic and tossed in the meat, then the can of tomatoes and let it simmer then tossed fresh carrots and frozen peas on top...WOW, this turned out SO GOOD without the crockpot! I didn't have mushrooms but who cares because the flavor was outstanding! The TSG seasoning that goes in here is incredible! We all enjoyed the tender meat!

This TSG recipe was prepared in June (read about it here) and it wasn't anything like this because I cooked it in the crockpot (aka-boiled meat). I used BEEF bouillon instead of chicken tonight...wonder if that made a difference, too?

Lean & GREEN!

Since I started a diet, I've been food focused and inspired to post. This has become of our favorite recipes. This is "Dijon Chicken & Broccoli" from Stacey Hawkin's Time Savor Gourmet cookbook. I LOVE how GREEN it is! Cook up the broccoli in her garlic oil with her special seasoning. Put aside. Then cook the chicken with garlic and sauce of soy sauce and dijon mustard. Let all simmer together, yummy! Sometimes I thicken the juice with a little cornstarch for a "gravy" feel. Super yum!

UPDATE: We didn't like the spinach in it...it is best with just the broccoli and chicken...next time!

Clean Kitchen!

Wow. What a delight to cook tonight! It's so funny, every time I put Chicken Puttenesca on the meal plan, somehow that night gets hijacked and we never actually eat it! I've never even made it before and it's been scheduled at least five times! So even though I didn't marinate overnight and slice the chicken breasts and bake it, we DID eat Chicken Puttenesca tonight, sorta.

I've been blogging about becoming free from being messy at my other blog http://tidy-house.blogspot.com/ and the kitchen "after" pictures are here. Viva Italiano!