New Year's Resolution... ppsshhtt (yeah right).

You know I really do wish I were one of those people who made and actually kept New Year's Resolutions, but the fact of the matter is-- I am not. One year I said I was going to write and read everyday-- another year I said I was going to save money so that I saved my "eye" income and could quit work for a year and write. Well as you can clearly tell... I am still working in the eye business. I really do want to write and aspire to write, but 1) once you've worked all day, the last thing you wanna do when you come home is write and 2) once you hit a block or your story takes another direction- a different one than what what you thought- you kinda sit there and say, 'okay, now what?' And yes I realize those are just excuses, but those are mine.. and I think they're pretty good ones. :)

So being the New Year in the new place, I have come up with goals.. not resolutions but goals. These are not writing goals as much as ME goals. The week before New Year's, I started on the Special K challenge. This starts week 3 for me. Have I seen results? No. But I do have the results in, I'm trying to eat and be healthier. This means no Coke and no eating out, except for twice a week (trust me, this is better than what it used to be). This means eating breakfast (something I have NEVER done before in my entire life). And this means, less desserts (something I'm still working on) and more walking (again, something I'm still working on). I also keep meaning to keep a food journal, so I can keep track of what's going in but I haven't managed to do that yet. I'm drinking mostly water, unless I get an urge for mostly unsweetened tea.

With this effort in trying to be healthy, this means I'm trying to come up with good recipes that are flavorful and good and healthy (any homecooking is better than fast food, so thankfully in our house, it doesn't have to be TOO healthy).

This is just a list of the recent recipes I've made: Chicken with Caramelized Onion Soup, spaghetti, jambalaya, goulash (which I did NOT like at all), chicken lime soup, cheddar corn chowder, firecracker chicken stir fry, cheesesteak sandwiches with macaroni salad, and then our regulars (cubed steak with mushroom gravy, chicken pot pie etc). Anyone that knows me knows I don't mind to cook at all-- I actually prefer it b/c it always gives us leftovers (lunch OR for future suppers), it's cheaper, and again-- Nothing beats homecooking.

I realize now that I do not have the metabolism I once had when I was 20 or hell, even 25, so I've gotta work to get myself healthy again. One of these days, I've got to be able to stand and paddleboard comfortably. :)

Chicken Florentine Penne Pasta Casserole

I'm always looking for new things to do with chicken, so I found this recipe and, of course, added some things to make it mine.

- 1-1.25 pounds of chicken- either cut up or shredded
- 1 box of penne
- 1 10 ounce box of frozen spinach, thawed. Make sure you wring the excess water out-- there will be a lot of it.
- 2 ounces of cream cheese
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- 2T of sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing
- 1 glove of garlic clove, chopped
-1 small red onion, chopped
-6 mushrooms, chopped
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, divided
- Parmesan Cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 375.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for about 11 minutes (you don't want it completely done b/c it's going to continue cooking in the oven). Drain the pasta well.

Cook your chicken- add salt and pepper. When it's about halfway through, add the dressing and continue cooking until just cooked through. Add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms- salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add your spinach and break it apart. Cook for another three minutes. Add your chicken broth and cream cheese- add salt and pepper. Cook until the cream cheese is melted. Add the mixture to the cooked pasta.

Put about half of the mixture into a 13 x 9 casserole dish. Add 1 cup of mozzarella and some grated Parmesan. Add the other half of the mixture to the dish. Add the remaining mozzarella and more Parmesan on top.

Bake in the oven for about 15-17 minutes.

It is one of the best casseroles I've ever made... still eating the leftovers!!!

Oh my, my, my...

I have to share this recipe with you b/c it is probably one of my favorite cookies ever. Now mind you until tonight the only cookies I had made were either out of the package (a quick fix) or homemade chocolate chip, pecan, and toffee cookies (when I'm feeling creative).

I had discovered this cookie recipe out of my Bon Appetit magazine- one of my absolute favorite food magazines ever (should anyone from Bon Appetit read this blog, see how much I love y'all? Can I please write for you now?? LOL). This recipe calls for no eggs which makes it a really good cookie b/c when you bite into them, its flaky and not doughy... kind of like eating a flaky, buttery pie crust... oh my, my, my...

Ok so here's the recipe from Bon Appetit magazine:

Lime Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate and Almonds.

2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1/4t salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes

1t vanilla

2T fresh lime peel (usually 2 limes)

1/2 chopped toasted almonds

1 3.5 ounce bar of white chocolate (I used 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add the cubed butter, lime peel, and vanilla into the processor and pulse until the dough forms clumps. Press the dough evenly into a buttered 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Pierce the dough with a fork and cut the dough (make sure you go all the way through) into 12 bars and then diagonally to make 24 bars.

Bake the shortbread until golden brown around the edges for 30 minutes (the recipe says 45 minutes but with my oven, it's 30 minutes--- so judge your time-- the rule is: if you can smell them, they're overdone). Remove from the oven. Using a knife, immediately recut shortbread, gently seperating triangles. Put them on a cooling rack.

Place white chocolate into a metal bowl and put over simmering water to melt. After the chocolate is completely melted, take it off the water. Using a fork, drizzle the chocolate in a zigzag pattern over the cookies (I put the melted the chocolate and put it into a ziploc baggy, snipped the end and made it into a piping bag- that works too). Sprinkle evenly with the almonds.

You can sprinkle any remaining lime peel over the cookies, but I didn't have enough so I didn't.

I'm telling you once you make these cookies and bite into them, you'll be in cookie heaven. They're not overly sweet and you can taste the lime in the background.

Trust me you won't regret it.

Strawberry Pie Recipe

This pie is made of a graham cracker crust and a great substitute when I'm craving Backyard Burgers' strawberry cobbler.

The crust:

9 graham crackers pulsed into crumbs or 1 1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3T sugar
5T melted butter

Mix together and press into a 9-inch pie pan or 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The filling:

2 cups of strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

Put the berries and sugar in the food processor and pulse until it's a puree.
Transfer to a pot and cook on medium heat with:

1/4t of salt and 2T cornstarch

Cook mixture for about 5 minutes until the taste of the cornstarch is gone, and the mixture has a custard appearance to it. Stir it constantly.

The topping:

4 cups of strawberries
3T strawberry preserves or orange marmelade, melted

Coat with berries with the melt preserves or marmelade to give the berries a shiny appearance.

Pour the filling into the crust and top with the strawberries. Gently push the berries into the custard.

Cover the pie and put it in the refrigerator to set up anywhere from 2-3 hours to a day.

Bon Appetit!!