Okay so I am falling behind...

The luxury of cooking is one that is harder than I thought. In between work and school and juggling a social life I am not sure how I would be able to cook every day of the year. Any ways, we a re going to rewind and flashback to the last meal that I made. It was CHICKEN TETRAZINNI. It was a combination of whole wheat spaghetti, chicken, mushrooms, red bell peppers all sauteed in a sauce that consisted of parmesan cheese, mozzarella and cream cheese. It was a lower calorie meal and all was delicious. I also had it with a sun dried pesto on a french baguette that I put some fresh parmesan cheese and a little olive oil to add some zest. I got raves about the meal:)

Things I have learned about my cooking is that there is a time to try to undercook. I have been over cooking the pasta which brings about the non-slimy noodles more commonly referred to as clumpy.... Yet again that has happened...

I am sorry I am failing you and not providing you with a more consistant meal... But I had a brilliant idea the next meal I am going to try to focus on using fine wine... Maybe doing a Temecula tour through wines that are local favorites and then make some kind of food with it?

Maybe I can call it "With love from the bottle" I dont know I am still playing with it... Enjoy

Slimy Noodles anyone???

A day late but not a meal forgotten... So last night I went over to Omar's house and told him I was going to make dinner... I know ambitious for sure. I guess I was feeling overly confident since I hadn't killed us yet with the 3 meals I have done thus far. So on my way I went....

Last night I made Chicken Breast over Wheat Linguine with Pesto, Minced Garlic, Tomatoes, and Spinach. It was really good! What made it better was a fine Malbec red that came from Paso :) Yummy.

Things I would change... When I added the pesto to the noodles made the noodles become sort of clumpish.. I wanted them to be slimy and smooth like what I envision Kraft Mac and Cheese is... So maybe next time I will add milk and butter before the pesto? If any of you are reading this and know how to make noodles more slimy I am all ears:) The chicken was a little dry but that was partly due to the fact that I didn't let it marinate long enough in the olive oil and pesto.

All in all it was a wonderful evening.. good food... better wine.. and company that makes doing a 1000 piece puzzle fun:)

ps... the next few days I am working the closing shift so no dinner from me... but Sunday I will be back online making something fabuloso!

Buttering, Eating, and Sipping

SALMON FILLET with MUSHROOMS, SPINACH & SUN DRIED TOMATO VINAIGRETTE

Tonight as I sit here and write this post I am sipping on a "mediocre" chardonnay... I am not the biggest Chard fan but with the meal I was making tonight it was between this and Sauv. Blanc and to be honest they are just too sweet for my liking. THIS chard is a convenient wine to buy it is the Cupcake brand... medium oak some fruit note but nothing I would order off a menu.

This fine evening I got to bake my SALMON FILLET... It was beautiful!!!! I had everything laid out and bought some fresh spinach on my way home from work from Baron's along with a bottle of Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette. I chopped, I sliced and I put some much needed "LOVE" into this meal. All was going great. I made a little spinach salad with some sauteed mushrooms..Butter always makes things so much better!!!! Then the main course... well with 3 minutes remaining on the oven clock I remember that I was supposed to make rice!!! Mother of Pearls! Was I upset... I tried to make magic happen but there is just no way that 3 minutes can turn into 20 minutes so no rice... I had to toast Italian bread.. It was a substitute but the presentation wasn't as nice.

Makes me wonder whether investing in a rice cooker maybe be necessary? I would be interested to hear what you think on the subject and what brands are the most reliable.

In the end.. everyone enjoyed the fish! I am so happy. I am stuffed happy and now sipping on some vino.. I love that everyone is blogging about weight loss and exercise AND here I sit buttering eating and sipping.

So here's to you who like to eat and be merry:)

My inner CHI...

So today the plan was that I was going to cook Salmon Fillets with mushroom, spinach, Tomatoes all sauteed in Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette. Sounds Yummy Right???

What actually happened was I went on a lovely hike in the morning with two of my closest friends and after we headed to San Diego to meet "Dr. Steve". Now, Dr. Steve is no ordinary doctor he practices in a more traditional chiropractic sense. I have to say the the chi machine left me feeling all sorts of woobly but the cracking that he got from my neck was down right crazy. I feel so much better and aligned. This guy is genius even though it sounds crazy balancing out your inner chi I have to say I feel so in balance...

Having done that we headed to Pacific Beach to World's Famous. I had grilled fish tacos that were amaze-balls! And as the sun set in the background I realized that tonight I was probably going to miss our little cook out. So tomorrow is another day.. I may do something a little quicker since I am scheduled to work till 6:30p and we never get out on time. So till tomorrow... Eat and be happy

Sauteed Mushrooms Avocado Cheeseburger

I figured if I was going to start any where it should be with one of the most traditional American Meals... a Cheese burger. I have to report it is easier in the kitchen than I thought.

Through out the years I have stepped out of the kitchen because I had a fear of what it would be like if the meal was terrible and know I can say that there is something really special and magical when you are sauteing and cutting.

The mushrooms were really easy.. All I did was get a pound of mushrooms and cut them up as best as I could.. then I added about a tablespoon of both Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar.. a dash of Oregano... 3 tablespoons of butter... come minced garlic (I would have minced fresh ones but forgot to buy some) and wa-la deliciousness in a pan!!!! As far as the cheeseburgers went they went on the grill with some cheddar cheese... Cut some fresh avocados, tomatoes and lettuce and you have a cheeseburger bar!!!

The side salad was a caesar salad with edamame beans on top...

I am looking forward to the next meals and maybe some more complex menus:)

Till next time butter up

Ringing in 2012...

And the New Year has begun!!!!

I was trying to think what I could do this year to make this blog more interesting and fun. So I was thinking and thumbing through ideas of what would make me have to blog every day when the wonderful movie Julie and Julia came on Lifetime (Yes, it was a lifetime show kinda day one too many champagne glasses for me last night)... Which brings me to my idea of doing the same thing this year. Cook my way through a cook book. It wont be Julia Child's but I was looking through some popular ones. I am really excited to try this since I am a terrible cook so this will only force me to learn my way around the kitchen:) Tomorrow's goal is to find a good cook book and cook my way through it. Excited nervous and super apprehensive about this idea.

Well I guess till we meet tomorrow I am going to do some cook book research and hit the hay:) Thanks for following heres to a new year and a new idea....