Well....I just tried to make a de-contructed ravioli stuffed with ricotta and pesto. Used roasted zuchinni as the pasta. Good in concept but I have to work on it a bit. I think thicker slices of zuchinni. It tasted good but I def have to work on the visual.


So...my dinner was pan-seared halibut with ricotta and pesto deconstructed ravioli. For dessert, lemon cheesecake mousse. I ate dessert so the wine was out. Can't have both, have to choose and I chose dessert toningt.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

oh goodness!
how does one get tired of a juicy, thick, cheeseburger smeared with homemade garlic mayonnaise????

i could live on burgers!

Ahh, the key to many a great meal. Homemade garlic mayo can fix any culinary mistake. Try adding toasted, ground cumin to it one time with a little extra lemon.

I've been living on spicy roasted chicken with marjoram. It is so intoxicating when it cooks.

Thanks for the reminder about that one. It's a great recipe.

I've been eating chicken wings like crazy. They are really cheap and filling; this is also a good way to clean out the spice cupboard. I cut the wings into drumettes and flat pieces, saving the wing tips for stock in the freezer. Then I toss them in any dry seasoning blend I have around, and a small touch of olive oil after the dry seasoning has adhered to the wings. The oven gets pre-heated to 375 degrees F. I put the drumettes on one non-stick baking sheet and the flat pieces on another. The drumettes bake in 40 minutes, turning them halfway through. The flat pieces cook in 50 minutes, turning them halfway through. By using different seasoning blends, they don't seem like the same thing over and over.

The other meal I could never get tired of is steak.

More wings tonight; no seasoning blend. Instead, I made balsamic-glazed wings:

I tossed the raw wing pieces with a little oil (no salt for extra crispiness) and cooked them as above so they became very crispy. Then I tossed them with a reduced balsamic glaze and a bit of salt. To make a balsamic glaze: just reduce balsamic vinegar by one-third to one-half. This was very good; I will repeat it.

Oh yeah, I absolutely love chicken wings. I've gotten to the point where I eat my roasted chicken except for the breast, that I tear up cold and put into a salad. Chicken breast is so blah compared to the rest of the bird.

I do the same thing, except I put the torn up breast into soup - that's about all it's good for! To think, that used to be my favourite part of the bird - what was I thinking???

Have you guys had the low carb pizza...to die for. My family even asks for it.

Here is one of my all time favorite recipes to make for a party... serve with celery sticks for the low carbers, crackers for non-lowcarbers... they all love it!

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
1 cup canned artichoke hearts - drain and chop
1/2 cup frozen spinach - thaw, drain and chop
8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used fresh shredded and then crumbled it up).
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust for spiciness)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic (or less if you don't like garlic)
1 tsp black pepper

Prepare:
Boil spinach and artichoke until tender. Drain.
Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute.
Combine with spinach and artichoke. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Bake in oven for 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

1 serving (about 1/8 of the dip): 140 cals, 12.5g fat, 2 carbs (1 fiber), 5.5 protein.

I make something like this except I put in some chicken breasts and sub cream cheese for mayo and sour cream. Will try with the cream cheese too .

You can also make it w/ other veggies such as broccoli or green beans. nice rich meal....goes well w/ shirtaki noodles (but for me, everything goes good w/ noodles

Which recipe are you using?

.

Last night I chopped up some cooked chicken and fried it in butter and sliced mushrooms and chopped garlic from a jar. Then I added a splash of cream and about an ounce of cream cheese. Decadent was my thought.

I get bored with the condiments available, and people keep extolling the virtues of mayonnaise, but I have always hated it -- just the smell in the jar was disgusting (brothers used to eat mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread just to gross me out).

How is homemade? Does it have the rubbery, gooey texture of the stuff in the jar? Does it have the smell? How about the taste? Convince me.

i've been doing my wings in parmesan cheese and butter lately....
cranking up that fat ratio!