I'm on a diet

so no more macaroni and cheese for me for a while.

I started seeing a personal trainer a week ago, and he put me on this new diet. It seems in line with the "paleo" diet. Just speaking on the paleo diet right quick, the "eat like a caveman" explanation for it sounds ridiculous. "Our ancestors ate this, so this is how we are meant to eat." Since our ancestors hardly even lived to see their grandchildren, and also lived completely differently from how we do now, I can't see how applying their diet to modern humans makes sense. However, I do think that most of the nutritional ideas behind it are pretty sound.

This is for anyone who asks what I've been doing when they see I've made progress. Occasionally people expect you to tell them you've been drinking a magical potion, living your life as normal, and still losing weight. There is no secret, calorie restriction and exercise are the best way to lose weight. When you're eating on a calorie deficit, that does not mean you can eat one pint of ice cream per day and that is okay since it's under maintenance calories. Especially if you're exercising, you're going to need proper fuel for your body.

This is the menu my trainer has me on:

• Breakfast
  • 3 eggs scrambled in 1/2 tbsp coconut oil with sauteed onions and mushrooms (also cooked in coconut oil)
• Second Breakfast
  • 4oz tuna with 1c asparagus/broccoli/green veggie and 1/4c of dry roasted almonds
• Lunch
  • Spring mix salad with 4oz chicken/fish/shrimp and balsamic vinaigrette
• Snack
  • 5oz Greek yogurt and 1/4c dry roasted almonds
• Dinner
  • 4-6oz lean meat, 1c asparagus/broccoli/green stuff, 1 sweet potato or 1/4c dry, 3/4c cooked plain old fashioned oats

I can eat what I want on Saturday, but not go totally crazy. I track my calories on MyFitnessPal, and it will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate for you if you set your activity level to "sedentary". The above menu adds up to 200-300 below BMR for me, and I feel STUFFED for most of the day. I love to eat in large quantities but it's hard to eat this much, and it's only about 1200 calories. That is truly impressive. I'll usually have another greek yogurt after I eat dinner, since I also work out, reducing my net calories even more. For flavor, I put lemon juice or salsa all over everything, because those are delicious and low calorie.

I do all of my meal prep on Sundays. I cook enough egg breakfasts and chicken for the work week. The salad and veggies are easy to throw in a tupperware container before work during the week. For tuna, I buy the lemon pepper tuna packets. It's less than 4oz but it tastes really good. You could easily make and measure your lemon pepper tuna out yourself, I just prefer to spend less time cooking everything on Sundays.

A note on portions: 4-6oz of chicken is about half of a chicken breast. 1/4c of whole almonds is a small handful (about the size of an egg). The 80 or 100 calorie individual greek yogurts are a little over 5oz and don't have a lot of sugar.

My next few posts will be about how I make this diet food delicious enough to want to eat repeatedly every day. Stay tuned.

Kale with Feta

ingredients:
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
16 oz bag of kale
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
large nonstick pot with lid

procedure:

1. Measure your chicken stock out, we won't be using it all at once so go ahead and pour it into the measuring cup. Pour a bit into your pot. Turn the burner on medium-low heat and allow the chicken stock to get warm.
2. Grab some handfuls of kale and place them in the pot until you've got about 1/3 of the bag in the pot. Pour some of the chicken stock over it, 1 tbsp of the apple cider vinegar, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Stir to coat the kale.
3. Repeat that 2 more times until all of the kale, vinegar, chicken stock, and olive oil are in the pot. Liberally apply salt and pepper.
4. Continually stir until the kale starts to reduce in size and becomes a deeper green. You don't want to overcook the kale. It should still have a crunch when you serve it.
5. Once the kale is sufficiently cooked, drain off the liquid you cooked it in.
6. Open the package of crumbled feta cheese and pour the whole thing onto a plate. We want small crumbles for this recipe so it will be evenly distributed. Smash the large pieces with a fork. I took a picture to demonstrate:



7. Pour the feta into the kale and mix well. Put the lid on and heat the kale and feta cheese together 3 - 5 minutes, until everything is warmed, stirring frequently.

comments:
So, I went to this conference at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta recently. They served excellent food all day long, and I didn't have to pay for it, so I tried EVERYTHING they put out, except some parfaits with strawberries, cause I don't like skrawburries (the little seeds, I can't deal). Anyway, they served this wilted kale with feta cheese one of the days, and it was amazing! I knew I had to make some of my own. This is what I came up with.

Tips for the Busy and Hungry

I am very busy. I work 40 hours a week, drive 1 - 1.5 hours one way in traffic to get to my job, and I TRY to go to the gym 3 - 5 days a week. I am completely exhausted about 65% of the time. The other 35%, I am sleeping. I know this because I just calculated it. I like numbers.

Since I'm always busy and I love to cook and eat, I have come up with a few ways to still eat well even though I don't feel like doing shit but flopping down on the couch and turning on Netflix when I get home. My friend Ashlyn asked me for some tips about this, and I know a lot of my friends are busy like I am, so I thought it would be beneficial to make this post.


1. Meal Prep

On Sundays when I'm off work, I like to cook a shitload of meat at one time. Enough meat for the entire work week of dinners. Usually this is chicken breasts (because dieting) or other delicious chicken parts, but sometimes I make a turkey meatloaf, turkey taco meat, meat sauce to go over pasta, whatever, as long as it's enough for the work week. I have all those recipes on here. The only problem with this is that if you don't make a versatile meat dish, then you have to eat the same thing over and over. I'm strange and I LOVE to repeatedly eat the same thing every day, until I find something else that I want to eat every day. But Trevor likes to eat completely different stuff every day, so he doesn't prefer that I do meal prep. It's all up to you. If you like to eat different stuff, make something versatile that you can make varied meals out of. Chicken is just perfect for this because with it you can make salads, tacos, pastas, eat it by itself, etc., etc.

2. Frozen Steam-In-Bag Veggies

These are truly a lifesaver. They are so damn awesome. They taste pretty fresh, and all you have to do is pop them in the microwave for a few minutes. You can season them right in the bag and just pour them onto the plate, so it also saves dishes! Like I said, amazing. So efficient, such extra free time. If you get asparagus, you can steam it in the bag, pull it out and open it up, pour in your lemon juice, some butter, salt and pepper, and you have a top-notch side dish. They also have ones that are already fixed up, like potatoes and green beans in butter sauce. I like to add seasoned salt and some Italian blend cheese to these, it's to die for. My rule on pre-packaged stuff is that you must add things to it before it can be truly delicious.

3. Rotisserie. Fucking. Chicken.

Chicken is like my family (if you haven't seen the video this references then you must look up "King Curtis" on YouTube immediately). Whoever decided to start cooking and selling rotisserie chicken in grocery stores deserves a Nobel peace prize, for bringing peace to hungry on-the-go stomachs all across America. I pick one of these up almost every time I go to the grocery store. It lasts us a few days, and it's so versatile, as chicken is wont to be. It's also very inexpensive, about $6 for an entire chicken that's already cooked. I'll take it! And rip into it with my bare hands. And eat it like a savage.

4. Pre-Washed, Pre-Cut Vegetables

Prepping to cook takes a whole lot of time. Mainly because I'm still not very quick with a knife, but also because my knives aren't very sharp anymore (hello Trevor this is a great birthday present idea). So when I'm shopping for produce to make a meal, if I can find the pre-washed, pre-cut stuff, I will absolutely buy that every time. Of course, someone else washed and cut it, so you can't exactly know that it's been done perfectly, but it doesn't bother me at all. God made dirt, dirt don't hurt, or whatever it is people say. I don't even believe in God, but I still eat the pre-washed pre-cut produce.


So those are my tips. If you have any of your own to share, hit me up on facetwittergram. Also, I'd like to start doing a guest spot for recipes, so if you have any you'd like featured, again you can hit me up on social media. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!

Ground Turkey Potato Casserole

ingredients:
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 large russet potatoes
1.25 lb ground turkey
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
a few dashes of paprika
salt and pepper to taste
enough butter or margarine to line your baking pan
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, or your favorite cheese

hardware:
9x13x2 metal baking pan
large mixing bowl
large saute pan
aluminum foil

procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Slice your onion however you like, finely dice the garlic. Set these aside, then peel and cut the potatoes. For this dish, I cut mine in half length-wise and then thinly sliced them into half-moon pieces. Once the potatoes are cut, put them in the large mixing bowl.
2. Heat the olive oil in the saute pan over medium-high heat, then add the ground turkey. Once it begins to brown, add the onions and garlic, the paprika and salt to your taste. You don't want to overcook the onions here, since they will continue to cook in the oven.
3. Once the turkey is browned, remove it from the heat and add your milk and cream to the large mixing bowl, then your cans of soup, and stir. Pour the turkey/onion/garlic mixture in with it, add salt and pepper (I like lots of salt and pepper) and stir to combine.
4. Line your baking pan on all sides with the butter or margarine. Of course you can use olive oil or nonstick spray here, but I like to have butter with my potatoes.
5. Pour the casserole mixture into the buttered baking pan, and then cover it with the aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Put it back in the oven and bake for 25 more minutes.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the casserole. The entire top of the casserole should be covered, including the edges. Bake for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese. If you like your cheese browned, bake it for longer and keep an eye on it.

comments:
I'm REALLY creative with the names of my recipes, huh? I'm boring and predictable, sorry.

Anyway, this would be great with some mushrooms, but I didn't have any on hand at the time. I love mushrooms. I'll put onions and mushrooms in absolutely anything.

The side item I made for this was lemon pepper green beans, and the lemon flavor was a good balance to the savory casserole. I almost always make my green beans like this, because it's fucking delicious. I'll get a recipe for them up soon. I have to actually measure stuff to make a recipe, and I'm used to just throwing everything together.

Additional note, the magical Trevor ate the shit out of this. I looked over at him after he tasted it and he was just nodding and doing a little dance. I took that to mean he really liked it. He also called it "bomb-ass". "Bomb-Ass Casserole" was his name for this dish.

Honey Cinnamon Syrup

ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup warm water
1 clementine
3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup honey

hardware:
nonstick pot
chef's knife

procedure:

1. Put the water in the pot and add the sugar, stir to begin dissolving as you heat over medium-high heat.
2. Cut the clementine in half and squeeze each half into the pot. Squeeze the clementine in one hand, palm up, so you can catch any rogue seeds that might be present.
3. Add the cinnamon and honey, stir it all together. Bring to a boil.
4. Stir constantly until the mixure thickens, about 10 minutes or so.

comments:
This is good served with fruit over pancakes or waffles, you can add it to oatmeal, whatever you want. Sometimes I get tired of plain ole maple syrup and make this to change it up a bit.

Buffalo Chicken Legs

ingredients:
1 package of 6 chicken drumsticks with skin
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
pepper to taste
few dashes of ground red pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. olive oil
Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
optional:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
brine:
3 tbsp. salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 cups hot water
1.5 cups of ice

hardware:
baking pan
aluminum foil
1 or 2 shallow bowls
1 small plate
large mixing bowl

procedure:

1. The night before you plan on cooking the chicken, you should brine it. This part is optional, but I feel it makes a huge difference in the flavor of the chicken. In a large tupperware container with a lid, dissolve the salt in the hot water and add the lemon juice. Add the ice to cool it down and make sure it is cold before adding the raw chicken. Put the lid on and soak the chicken in the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°.
3. Prepare your dry rub in one of the bowls by combining all of the spices and optionally, the breadcrumbs. If you want a crispier chicken skin, use the breadcrumbs. If you are using the breadcrumbs, break the egg in the other bowl and lightly beat it. If you are not using the breadcrumbs, pour the olive oil onto the small plate.
4. Remove the chicken from the brine and dry it well with paper towels. If you are using the breadcrumbs, dip each of the chicken legs into the egg, then cover the skin with the breading mixture. If you are not using the breadcrumbs, lightly coat the chicken in the olive oil and then spoon the dry rub over the chicken and rub it into the skin with your fingers. Yes, this is messy, but worth it. Also, be wary of doing this if you have any cuts on your fingers, because ground red pepper burns like hell.
5. Cover the baking pan in aluminum foil and put the chicken onto it. Bake at 425° for about 45 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the chicken is at least 160° inside. Be sure not to place the thermometer right next to the bone, but deep into the meat of the chicken.
6. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the pan and put it into the large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the buffalo sauce, toss until well coated.

comments:
I've made this two weekends in a row now, it is that good. The first time, I made it with the breadcrumbs but didn't really feel that they added much to the equation other than calories. I'm sure some people would like it better that way, so I included them in the recipe. The second time I made it was my favorite, just using the dry rub. It's absolutely delicious and not nearly as bad for you as flour-breaded and deep-fried chicken wings.

Turkey Taco Meat

ingredients:
1.5 lb ground turkey
1 package fresh mushrooms (sliced and cleaned, if you're lazy like me)
1 or 2 bell peppers, diced
1 white onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil 1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp paprika
5 tsp lime juice
few dashes of ground red pepper, to taste
pepper to taste
your fave taco fixins

hardware:
large deep pan
cutting board
chef's knife
spatula

procedure:

1. Heat the olive oil in the pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onions, mushrooms, and peppers. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and the pepper; saute until the onions begin to turn translucent.
2. Add the turkey to the pan and turn it up to a bit above medium, incorporating it with the vegetables. Add each of your spices to the mixture, including the rest of the salt and the lime juice, and stir well.
3. Cook until the turkey meat is browned.

comments:
I really love mushrooms a lot, and I'm not the biggest fan of bell peppers. So I make this with one whole package of mushrooms and one green bell pepper. I dice the bell pepper and leave the mushrooms just sliced, because I like their texture. If you aren't on a diet or watching your weight like we are, please make this with beef! I'm sure it would be delicious. As with all of my recipes, please modify it to your taste.

This is SO quick and easy after a long day of work, slicing the vegetables is the most difficult part. I like to make kind of a taco salad out of mine with lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole, eaten with tortilla chips. Trevor eats his on a soft taco. It's a very versatile base for a meal, experiment with it!

Ranch Turkey Burgers

ingredients:
1.5 lb ground turkey
4 heaping tbsp. ranch powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 large white onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
1/2 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

hardware:
nonstick pan
spatula
mixing bowl

procedure:

1. Chop the onion and mince the garlic, saute together in the olive oil until the onions look translucent. When done, remove from heat to cool.
2. In the mixing bowl, mix the turkey, ranch powder, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, breadcrumbs, sauteed onions, salt and pepper.
3. Make into patties and cook in the olive oil at the notch below medium heat (this is a 4 on my stove) for 5 minutes on each side. I use a meat thermometer to ensure they're cooked to at least 165°.

comments:
If that seems like a lot of salt and ranch powder, it IS. I've been experimenting with these burgers for a few weeks now, and I'm finding that if you don't put plenty of salt and flavoring into turkey burgers they come out overwhelmingly plain.

If you don't like onions, feel free to omit them. I really love onions, so I put them in everything.

These burgers are more like hamburger steaks, to me. You can, of course, eat them on a bun. But I prefer to melt swiss cheese over them and just them as-is.

Another note, Trevor says that my recipe names are too lackluster. He suggested I call this the "Gobble Gobble, Motherfucker".

Gina's Turkey Meatloaf

Shamelessly stolen and slightly modified from here.

ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil

1 package (8oz) of sliced mushrooms
1 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Pinch red pepper flakes or dash of cayenne powder
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 package (~6oz) crumbled blue cheese
2 lb ground turkey
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
baking pan or dish
large mixing bowl
saute pan
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Slice vegetables and saute in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
3. Add red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper and saute for another minute. Add chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce, stir and remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In the mixing bowl, combine the egg, panko, blue cheese, and sauteed vegetables. Add the turkey and mix, but don't stir too much.
5. Shape into an oblong loaf on the baking pan/dish. Spread tomato sauce over the loaf with a spoon.
6. Bake for 1 hr and 10 minutes.

comments:
I have begun venturing into ground turkey territory. I am one of those people with a very slow metabolism, a sedentary job and mostly sedentary hobbies, so if I don't watch what I eat and exercise, I can quickly grow obese. I am fine with eating the same thing over and over, so I generally just eat chicken breasts and vegetables for dinner. Trevor doesn't like eating the same thing over and over, so I'm trying to change things up a bit.

I decided to buy ground turkey and had no clue what to do with it. I've never cooked with ground beef much, unless it was Hamburger Helper provided by food stamps when I was a little Catsass. I grew up intermittently poor and always neglected, but that's a story for a different sort of blog. I've also never made meatloaf, so I thought it would be a great time to try my hand at a few new things.

I adore the Neelys' cooking show on Food Network. It's Southern, but not Paula Deen Southern. Not hating on Paula at all, but she makes all the same stuff I grew up eating. Sometimes you need comfort food with a twist. I knew the Neelys would come through for me on this one.

Gina's Turkey Meatloaf is hands-down the most delicious meatloaf I've ever had. The blue cheese isn't at all obvious or overwhelming, and is the perfect touch. If you really hate blue cheese and can't stomach the thought of eating it, I'm sure feta would work fine in this recipe. Among my changes to this recipe are to use only about 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock, and 2 tablespoons of the Worcestershire sauce. Because ground turkey is already very moist, and sauteeing vegetables always results in extra liquid, adding an entire 1/4 cup of chicken stock resulted in my meatloaf being a bit too moist. I made it exactly as the recipe instructed, and mine didn't quite hold its shape. Ended up a blob with a mound in the middle. Tasted amazing, so that's no big deal.

I also ix-nayed on the shallots, because those are really just for decoration and ain't nobody got time fuh dat.

Crispy Ranch Baked Chicken

ingredients:
1 package of thinly-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups seasoned panko breadcrumbs
2/3 cup of italian blend shredded cheese
1 cup of water
2 tbsp of ranch dip (sour cream and ranch powder packet)
1 tbsp olive oil
cooking oil spray

hardware:
baking rack that fits over a baking pan

procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and line your baking pan with foil to conduct heat.
2. Combine the breadcrumbs and cheese in a dish wide enough to put the chicken in. I just used a wide Tupperware bowl.
3. In another bowl, combine the water, dip, and olive oil and mix well, until no lumps of dip are visible.
4. Dip each chicken breast in the liquid mixture, then coat them with the breadcrumb mixure as much as possible. This may require a few flips and packing the crumbs on with a spoon.
5. Spray the baking rack with the cooking spray, then place it over the baking pan and put the chicken on it.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the chickens halfway through to properly brown them on both sides.

comments:
This isn't the healthiest, but I try to eat pretty low-calorie throughout the week so I buy large amounts of boneless skinless breasts. So anyway, I had some leftover ranch dip I had made when Trevor had friends over, from light sour cream and a packet of ranch powder. Then a bunch of chicken breasts, and some breadcrumbs left over from making meatloaf, so I whipped this up. I was pretty satisfied with the outcome, although they were a little bit soggy on one side so I decided baking them on a rack over a baking pan would make better sense.

You can always buy the regular boneless skinless chicken boobs and thinly slice them yourself. I used water and the dip instead of a milk/egg mixture to try to lower the calorie count a little bit. You can always use any thick sauce that you enjoy, honey mustard would be pretty good.

As a Southern woman I love few things more than fried chicken, and this is a very decent substitute.

Stovetop Mac and Cheese

ingredients:
2 cups dry elbow noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter/margarine
2 cups milk
1 tbsp. sour cream
1.5 cups of sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese
dash of dry mustard powder
dash of seasoned salt
salt and pepper

hardware:
large nonstick pot
colander
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Boil the noodles in salted water (should taste as salty as seawater) with the olive oil for 9-11 minutes, to your preferred doneness. Drain and leave in the colander.
2. Peel the garlic, finely mince it, and then crush it into a paste with the side of your blade.
3. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter/margarine over medium heat in the pot you used for the pasta, then scrape the garlic paste into the pan. Saute the garlic for about a minute.
4. Add the rest of the butter/margarine to the pan and melt, then stir in the flour. Cook until it combines into a paste.
5. Add the milk to the pan gradually, stirring constantly. This forms a roux, the base for almost all of my cheese sauces. It makes the cheese break down evenly into a smooth, uniform product rather than being stiff and stringy.
6. Simmer the milk down until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the sour cream, dash of mustard powder, dash of seasoned salt, and pepper; stir to combine.
7. Add the cheese gradually, stirring constantly.
8. Add the noodles back to the pot and stir to combine. Taste it to determine whether you need additional salt, and add some if so. Heat until it reaches your desired temperature.

comments:
Macaroni and cheese is my absolute favorite food. Any pasta and cheese combination is the most delicious thing to me. I refuse to eat Easy Mac (it's really gross) so anytime I have a craving I just whip this up right quick.

I always like it with mustard powder, and I've seen recipes saying you can substitute the wet mustard from your fridge, but it is just not the same. It tastes like you have mustard in your macaroni, which is okay but not preferable.

I started making my macaroni with seasoned salt after a guy I used to date way back when made it for me that way. Every time I make it for people like that, I get great feedback and requests to make it with seasoned salt again next time. My biggest suggestion is not to use too much, you don't want it to be obvious or overpowering.

The Perfect Steak

I don't have a grill. I hope this will change in the near future. But it's okay, because I prefer my steaks pan-seared. I was going to make a post detailing how I do this, but I recently began re-watching Alton Brown's Good Eats series and saw that he had already done it for me.

I make my steaks EXACTLY as Alton Brown does in this clip. I use ribeyes, because I adore fatty, flavorful cuts of meat. As he does, I cook it in a cast iron pan. I also eat my ribeye medium rare and only season it with salt and pepper.

Watch this video to learn how to make my idea of a perfect steak.

Applebee's 3 Cheese Chicken Penne

ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast, cooked (see this recipe for an idea)
2 cups dry penne pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter/margarine
2 cups milk
1 tbsp. sour cream
1 cup Italian blend shredded cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1/2 small tomato
1 tsp lemon juice
dash of oregano

hardware:
large nonstick pot
collander
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Boil the noodles in salted water (should taste as salty as seawater) with the olive oil for 9-11 minutes, to your preferred doneness. Drain and leave in the collander.
2. Peel the garlic, finely mince it, and then crush it into a paste with the side of your blade.
3. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter/margarine over medium heat in the pot you used for the pasta, then scrape the garlic paste into the pan. Sautee the garlic for about a minute.
4. Add the rest of the butter/margarine to the pan and melt, then stir in the flour. Cook until it combines into a paste.
5. Add the milk to the pan gradually, stirring constantly. This forms a roux, the base for almost all of my cheese sauces. It makes the cheese break down evenly into a smooth, uniform product rather than being stiff and stringy.
6. Simmer the milk down until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the sour cream and salt and pepper, stir to combine.
7. Add the cheese gradually, stirring constantly.
8. Add the noodles back to the pot and stir to combine. Heat until it reaches your desired temperature.
9. Dice the tomato and pour the lemon juice over it. Drain any excess. Throw a dash of oregano over the tomato.
10. Serve the pasta with the tomato and chicken on the top, and a sprinkle of extra parmesan cheese.

comments:
Story time! I used to work at Applebee's and I simply could not get enough of their 3 Cheese Chicken Penne. Except that I was a vegetarian at the time, so I got it without the chicken. Also, I grew up not liking raw tomatoes, so at first I would order it without the bruschetta. But then I tried it one day, and realized that I had grown to love tomatoes, especially in cheesy pasta. Then another day much later, I realized that my life is too short to not eat food that I love, like chicken and steak.

Anyway, since I don't work at Applebee's anymore, but I still crave this pasta all the time, I figured out how to make this recipe at home. They serve it with garlic bread, but I've never seen a huge need to add even more starch onto rich pasta dishes.

Cajun Chicken Breasts

ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or however many you want to cook
cajun seasoning
water
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. butter/margarine
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
deep pan with a lid

procedure:

1. Bring enough water to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the chicken, lemon juice, and margarine to boil in the pan.
2. Coat one side of the chicken with the cajun seasoning of your choice. I like Zatarain's Blackened Seasoning.
3. Once the water mixture is boiling, add the chicken to the pan seasoning-side down. Season the other side now that it is facing upward in the pan.
4. Once water begins to boil again, reduce heat to medium and cover.
5. Cook for 11 minutes, then flip the chicken breasts and cook for another 11 minutes on the other side.

comments:
I say 11 minutes on each side, but I still always cut my chicken open to make sure it's done. It's pretty hard to time it exactly when chicken breasts come in widely varying sizes and thicknesses. I'm also paranoid about food poisoning, although I've never had it.

This might seem like a weird way to cook chicken, by cooking it in a salted broth, but I find that it keeps the chicken very juicy and it gets the flavor all the way into the meat of the chicken.

Another note: you can use ANY spice or spice combination you want with this basic recipe. I make chicken like this every single week. To make lemon pepper chicken, I up the lemon juice to enough to cover the bottom of my pan, then use lemon pepper seasoning. I also enjoy using Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning in this recipe. Change it up, experiment. I do this often with garlic, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar in the pan. Go wild.

Side note: Trevor swears he doesn't like any chicken that isn't breaded and fried, but he will eat this.

Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

ingredients:
24 oz. elbow noodles (about 6 cups or 1.5 16oz boxes)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 blocks sharp or extra sharp cheddar, or one of each depending on your preference
2 cans cheddar cheese soup
3 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
8 tbs butter or margarine
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder (don't substitute refrigerated  mustard for this)
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

hardware:
large crock pot
large pot
collander
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Boil the noodles in salted water (should taste like seawater) with olive oil for exactly 6 minutes. You want them to be under-cooked. Drain and leave in the collander.
2. Cut your blocks of cheddar into chunks about 1 square inch. No need to be perfect, and no need to grate the cheese. 
3. Melt the butter/margarine over medium heat (I like to reuse the pot I boiled the noodles in for this), then melt the cheddar into it, stirring constantly.
4. Turn the crock pot on low. Add the cheddar cheese soup, milk, sour cream, seasoned salt, mustard powder, and paprika to it. Stir to combine.
5. Pour the noodles into the crock pot and stir.
6. Pour the melted butter/margarine and cheese mixture into the crock pot, as well as pepper to taste and stir all together. After stirring well, taste it and add additional salt to your taste.
7. Cook on low for 2.5 hours.

comments:
Crock pots vary in how they cook things, so I have some additional tips for this dish. Check on it about every 30-45 minutes to ensure it isn't getting too dry. If it begins to get dry, add a bit of milk. If it isn't melting down well enough, turn it on high for an additional 30 minutes after cooking on low for 2.5 hours.

BBQ Pulled Chicken

ingredients:
6 - 8 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of ketchup
1/2 cup mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp your favorite hot sauce
dash of ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
large crock pot
mixing bowl

procedure:

1. Combine the ketchup, mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce chili powder, garlic powder, hot sauce, ground red pepper, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed.
2. Splash the olive oil into the bottom of the crock pot dish. Pour enough of the barbeque sauce into it to cover the bottom. Put a layer of chicken breasts into the dish, then cover them with more of the sauce. If there are any left, make another layer of chicken and sauce. Stir all together until chicken breasts are evenly coated.
3. Set it and forget it. Set the crock pot on low and cook for 4 hours.
4. Leaving the sauce in the crock pot, remove the chicken and shred with two forks. This can be difficult with the amount of chicken you're working with, so keep a significant other handy to take over when you get tired. 
5. Add the chicken back to the crock pot and stir in with the sauce. Set on low and cook for another hour.

comments:
Trevor likes to take a direct approach and just eat it straight up. I like to serve it on onion rolls with ranch coleslaw, mustard, pickles and hot sauce. To make the coleslaw, all I do is combine shredded slaw mix, Duke's mayonnaise, a splash of lemon juice, and ranch seasoning.

Creamy Chipotle Chicken

ingredients:
1.5 cups water
1 package thinly sliced chicken breasts, thawed
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken boulion powder
2 bell peppers (any colors you like)
1 large white onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno pepper
1 can chipotles in adobo
1 package washed, sliced mushrooms
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sour cream
pepper to taste 
Mexican blend or your choice of cheese

hardware:
large nonstick pot
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. In the pot, add the water, juice of the lime, salt, and chicken boulion powder. Bring to a boil and add the chicken.
2. Cover and simmer chicken for an hour. Shred chicken apart in the pot with two forks, then cook for another 30 minutes.
3. While chicken is cooking, dice onion and bell peppers and finely mince garlic.
4. I recommend wearing gloves because slicing a jalapeno can leave your fingers burning. Cut the stem off the jalapeno then slice it lengthwise. Scrape the seeds into the trash unless you like very spicy food. Dice the jalapeno.
5. Get 3 or 4 of the peppers out of the can of chipotles en adobo. Slice them into small bits. Using a spoon, collect about a tablespoon of the adobo sauce from the can, add it to the pot.
6. Add the onion, bell peppers, garlic, jalapeno, chipotles, mushrooms, chili powder, cumin, whipping cream, sour cream, and pepper. Stir all together until mixed.
7. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer uncovered for another 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

comments:
You can serve this over rice, in a taco shell or tortilla, with tortilla chips, as a quesadilla, any way you like. I like to do it restaurant style, with black beans, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, the works. My boyfriend tends to just eat it out of a bowl. Just remember if you do a quesadilla, don't get too much of the cream sauce in it or your result will be soggy.

Spicy 3-Meat Sauce

ingredients:
1 large white onion
1 package sliced mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic
2 whole bay leaves
1/2 cup red wine
mild italian sausage links, skins removed
hot italian sausage, ground
1/2 lb lean beef
2 medium fresh tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmesan or italian blend cheese

hardware:
large nonstick pot with lid
chef's knife
chopping board
wine opener

procedure:

1. Nonstick pot on medium-high heat. Once hot, add meats and break down into chunks. Stir them together and cook until completely browned. Drain about half the grease out of the pan.
2. While meats are cooking, dice the onion and tomatoes, and finely dice the garlic. Pour the wine over the cooked meats and stir.
3. Add the diced vegetables to the pot, along with the mushrooms and both cans of tomatoes. Crush the whole canned tomatoes and add the whole bay leaves, salt and pepper, and stir.
4. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve over pasta with a sprinkle of cheese over the top. 

comments:
This one speaks for itself. I was so proud of myself when I came up with this recipe. It is simply delicious.