Because of the chaos that is my life, I am going to be forced to take a short break -  I should be back online early April.  Please check back with me then!

When my husband was young, he had relatives from California that would come every winter and stay for a while to snowmobile.  When we were dating, I remember Hank and Agnes coming with their yippy little dog; they were older and were a bit eccentric (at least Agnes was...).  I spent quite a bit of time at the farm, and got to know them.  Each year, Agnes and my mother-in law would spend an entire day making Chow Mein and Won Tons.  Agnes always used turkey legs, which she would boil with celery and onion, because they were "the best buy in the grocery store".   I prefer chicken, but you can do either.

This was so much different than anything I had ever eaten that I was obsessed with the whole process.  I would try to help, but these ladies had quite a system and it was sometimes better to stay out of the way!!  The key is the keep the wontons covered until you fry them.  If they dry out, they don't taste as good.  They would end up with enough food to feed an army and since the meal was practically infamous, there was always plenty of people there to help eat the feast.   I was lucky to score the recipes and am happy to share them with you here.  I have spent many days with my friends making these same recipes (not in a row), no changes have ever been made to them - the simplicity is the key!  So here is my ode to Agnes and Ruby (my mother in law) - thanks for the recipes and for teaching me how to make them - and to my friend, Beth, who reminded me how good this was!

Oh, we decided to make the chops last night and though I used a recipe I had made before, they weren't as good as I remember.  However, I did change things up (big shock there) and used boneless chops we had won at the meat raffle and barbeque sauce instead of chili garlic sauce because it was what I had on hand.  I definitely prefer the thinner bone-in chops over the boneless and the 'asian' feel of the chili garlic sauce and rice wine vinegar.  They were more moist and had better flavor. 

I used a recipe that I adapted from Allrecipes.com.   I decided to make a side of brown rice with onions.  I just fried some onions gently in a little olive oil, added the rice and fried for a minute or two (it is supposed to make it more fluffy) then added my homemade chicken stock (1 part rice to 2 parts liquid) - covered and let it cook until done (I do cheat and use a rice cooker, best thing I ever bought!!  No more guessing with the rice).   Hubby made a salad and it was a delicious healthy meal.

I can't even tell you how much I like sauce on anything, it is my weakness.  Since we are dieting, I did use Brown Sugar Twin and it worked just fine - although it has a really vague funny aftertaste (maybe thats just me, hubby didn't notice).  Also, as I have mentioned before, I don't measure anything, just eyeball it, these are not hard fast measurements.  I kind of figure equal parts to half parts and it works out really well.  Enjoy!

The hubby and I have been slammed this week with some other duties and so the cooking has been 'on the back burner' (out on the grill, in the garage because it is still COLD outside!) all week.  We have had Barbequed Chicken and Steaks - oh yum!  So much like summer.  I sure miss cooking though and will be back in the kitchen before the week is over - I am thinking something with pork chops tonight...I will be sure to post what I come up with!  Of course, if anyone has any ideas I am open to them!  Please keep in mind we are dieting...no rich cream sauces, please!

Having grown up with meatloaf that was just a great big block of hamburger with ketchup on top made me very leary of meatloaves in general and never something that I made for my family.  My boys probably have no memory of ever having meatloaf at home. 

A few years ago I found a recipe for Meatloaf that sounded really good.  I made it my own by adding some of our favorite things like steak sauce and ranch dressing mix - it became something that wasn't just eaten at my house, but often requested.  Like with any decent meatloaf, it was even better the next day.  A good tip to keep your meatloaf from being greasy: lay two pieces of bread at the bottom of the meatloaf pan before cooking it and it will absorb the grease.  When you take the meatloaf out of the oven, throw the bread away along with the grease!  Also, I like to cut the cheese into 1/2" cubes instead of shred it - you get a better bite of cheese instead of losing it in the burger, but you can do it either way.  If I am in a hurry, I just use the pre-shredded stuff.

A few weeks ago, I came up with the idea to take the things that we love in a burger and roll them all into a meatloaf - bacon, mushrooms and swiss cheese.  This wasn't just good - it was amazing.  There wasn't a bite left, so I don't know if it would've been better the next day!!  I can't eat these while I am on my self-imposed diet, but I was thinking about them today so I will give you the recipes for both.  Enjoy!

As much as winter is getting me down, I like Sundays.  It is my only day off and I usually spend it in my kitchen with the Food Network on in the background.  I don't get to cook ALL day, I usually have to mix in laundry and picking up the house, but for the most part, you will find me on Sunday in the kitchen with many pots of 'something' cooking.  We always eat good on Sunday in the winter!  I decided last week that my favorite smell in the world is a beef roast cooking in the oven or crock pot.  It just reminds me of home and I have many good memories of beef roast.  When we were kids, Mom would make us anything we want for our birthday, I always chose Beef Roast with Mashed Potatoes.  

One of the other things I like to make on Sunday is Chicken Stock.  Sometimes it is Turkey or Ham, but most often it is chicken, because we eat a lot of chicken.  The process is the same regardless.  I take the carcass and all the stuff that is left on the plate after we have carved the bird and throw it in a ziploc bag in the freezer until I am ready to make stock.   I also freeze the giblets and necks for stock (throw out the liver...it won't do you any good) and I throw in the wing tips when I cut them off.  There always seems to be some type of bone I can throw in a pot and make stock with.  I buy the stock in a box as backup, because I use it in SO many things that I make (it is a good healthy substitute for butter!), but that costs like $3 a box, so if I can make it, I do.

I get out a big stock pot and throw the frozen bone and scraps into it.  Then I add whatever veggies I have in the fridge that might be getting past crisp - usually celery leaves (you know the tops that you usually throw away?) and carrots. I always add an onion, skin and all.  Then I throw in some seasonings - bay leaf, garlic cloves (just squished, no need to chop) and poultry seasoning or whatever you might have for fresh herbs work too.  You really can't screw this up.  I cook it for a few hours, stirring every so often so it doesn't all stick to the bottom.  Then I strain it and throw away all the big chunks - we have sucked all the flavor out of any meat that may have made it into the pot so toss it.  Let it cool and put into manageable size containers and freeze.  That is it.  The other day I made 9 ziploc bags of stock and it cost me nothing.   I just saved $27!!

It's official.  I need to lose 10 lbs. I am going to Mazatlan in 4 weeks and cannot fit into any of my summer clothes.  I decided on Sunday (after the cheesecake...) that I would put together a lowfat meal plan and grocery list for the week so we could start off on a good note with healthy snacks in the house.  Great idea.  I put together healthy menus for each day and had the food to back them up.  We were off to a great start!

Tuesday, I thought about the menu for tonight - pork stir fry.  It just sounded boring.  My husband and I really enjoy trying new recipes and mixing and matching flavors and styles.  I thought about mixing it up and making it more ethnic - maybe Thai?  I got home that night and assessed the food in the fridge.  I took out the pork tenderloin, a red pepper, a yellow pepper...yum!  Off to a good start, but still sounding boring...  I chopped all these up and put them in a pan.  I added some soy sauce, garlic and ginger (great tip for ginger:  peel and freeze it when you get it home from the store.  Then just use a fine grater to get what you need in your recipe.  It keeps almost indefinitely.  I also use the fine grater for my garlic...works like a charm!)  and a bunch of other good stuff and threw it in the oven (I had some stuff to do and didn't have time to babysit a stir-fry).  It smelled pretty good, then I thought about pineapple and how good that would taste in there...all I had was a small can of crushed pineapple; that would work...wouldn't it?  Kind of a homemade teriyaki, but thinner.  I added it to the covered pan in the oven.   Now the smell coming from the oven was REALLY good.   

I took it out after 45 minutes and the meat was really tender.  The veggies had gone a little farther than I would have liked, but they were okay.  I stirred in the peanut butter and put chopped green onions and cashews on the table so each person could add as much or as little as they like.  For me, I also put on someSriracha  (Great Flavor Boost!) and cut up limes to squeeze over the top.   I served it over brown rice to keep the healthy theme going and Wow.  This was like a short vacation to Thailand and it fit into the diet.  Yummy!!  Where should we go next?

We had friends coming over that we hadn’t seen for some time, so that alone was reason enough for a special dinner.  However, it was also Valentines Day, so I decided to ‘kick it up a notch’ and make a dessert.   Most people would not think that was anything spectacular, but as you get to know me you will find I DO NOT BAKE.  EVER.  So, this would be a huge undertaking.  I don't eat sweets as a general rule,  there is little in the dessert arena that appeals to me.  However, Cheesecake is something I could learn to be fond of, if only it wasn't so bad for you. 

My friend, Sandi, had made this low-fat cheesecake a few months back for our Dinner Club and it was really, really good.  I thought 'How hard can it be?' and asked her for the recipe.  Boy, am I a sucker or what.  Sandi knows me and my aversion to baking, so not only did she bring me the recipe, she brought me what I have since learned is a Springform Pan to cook it in.  Really.  A special pan.  Who knew.  Since I had planned to make this for my company coming on Saturday night and the directions said it had to refrigerate for 24 hours after baking, that meant I had to make it that night...great.  This whole baking thing was becoming a bigger pain than I thought!  My husband and I piled into the truck to head for the grocery store to start the adventure.  During the drive, I read and reread the directions, BOTH pages.  Really.  I called Sandi to whine a little about how much work this was going to be and she assured me that it would be fine and not to panic.  Nothing was hard, just putzy.  And she also said that even though I would wrap the springform pan in foil, I would still have water inside the foil and that was OK.  Don't sweat it, she said.  Good advice.

We finished up at the grocery store and zipped on home to start the baking process.  During this time, my hubby carelessly thought to ask me what my plans were for supper.  SUPPER?  Don't be ridiculous.  I was like a doctor going into surgery.  We will not be discussing non-essential things like supper.  (He got the hint and didn't ask again,  I think I saw him in the cupboard looking for Triscuits...)  I spent the next hour (or so) making the cheesecake and it really wasn't as frightening or hard as I had convinced myself it was going to be.  I finally got the whole thing in the oven and sent a text my friend, Dana, who was coming for dinner the next day, to let her know that I had successfully got the cheesecake in the oven.  (I am not kidding about this when I say that it was a BIG deal).  She added that I should not open the oven, no matter what.  Great.  One more thing to worry about.  Off to the hot tub hubby and I went to unwind from all the stress...without supper.

I took it out of the oven when the timer went off and it looked beautiful.  I let it rest like I was supposed to and then pulled the foil.  There was a LOT of water, like a couple tablespoons full.  REALLY??  My hubby said 'DON'T SWEAT IT, remember?'  Yup.  I remember, but I was sweating it.  I let it cool for a while longer, like the directions say, and then it said to 'remove the sides and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.  What??  Wrap my beautiful cheesecake with plastic wrap?  What if it sticks?  Should I spray the wrap first ? (won't that taste funny?)  Oh no, another crisis.  And now too late to call anyone.  Well, it says to do it, so I did it.   I woke up at 2:00 a.m. worrying about my labor of love and how it would survive the plastic wrap. 

Well, the next night after taking the cheesecake from the fridge, I had my hubby take a photo of it BEFORE removing the wrap, in case it did horrible things to the pretty cake.  Unnecessary.  It removed easily and perfectly.  The cheesecake survived!  No reason to sweat it about the water, it tasted fabulous.  I served it proudly to my friends and it was awesome.  I may even do it again in a couple years!