Such good looking food

    

        I'm looking through my photos, and I have pictures of food that I know longer recall how to make. I think that posting the pics will help me remember. The first photo is a Turkey burger, topped with cheese, with sauteed asparagus on the side. Next is a breakfast burrito consisting of scrambled eggs, cheese, potato, hot sauce, and peppers. Next, a breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese and sour cream, turkey bacon, and sauteed spinach. The last photo is a turkey burger on a whole wheat bun, topped with swiss, mushrooms, and avocado.

Vegetarian Chili

Bob likes to think of himself as a chili making master. He makes a pretty decent green chili, a very spicy red chili, and once he made a whiskey chili that he doesn't like to speak about. But I make a pretty decent vegetarian chili. Like most of my recipes, its a Rachael Ray recipe.

Start by turning the stove top heat on medium under a large pot. Add some EVOO. Toss in a large chopped white onion, a chopped red pepper, and 2 chopped cloves of garlic. You can also add a chopped jalapeno, but I since I am not allowed to chop jalapenos since the time I got some juice in my eyes, I don't add jalapenos. Let the pepper, onion and garlic cook down for about 5 mins.

After the pepper, onion, and garlic have cooked down, add 1 can of drained kidney beans, 1 can of drained black beans, 1 can of refriend beans, 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, and 8oz of vegetable broth.  Toss in a handful of cumin and a handful of chili powder. Let the mixture come to a boil, then bring it down to a simmer. Simmer for 5mins, then enjoy.

I like to put some blue tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl, spoon some chili over top, then add some shredded cheese and sour cream to the top.

Blackberry Habanero Jam

Bob and I have been doing appetizer meals lately. We get some frozen appetizers and toss them in the oven. We'll eat some fruit, maybe a desert treat, and some veggies. This type of meal came in handy when we were preparing to move and cleaning out our fridge. And of course, no appetizer meal would be complete without cheese and crackers. Bob got this awesome Blackberry Habanero Jam that we have been adding to our cheese and cracker routine. Its awesome - sweet with a kick.

Where have we been?

So we haven't really been blogging much lately. It's not that Elizabeth has stopped cooking and Bob has stopped eating.......but we moved. The day that I published the last blog, Bob and I went to an open house, liked that house, and a few days later we put in an offer. We are now in our new home. And we love it. Here is our new kitchen that has tons of space for cooking.

We did do some cooking during our month of stress. Bob participated in a chili cook off, I made some fancy stir-frys, and together I'm sure we created something yummy. We just didnt write a lot of it down, and I have no idea where my camera has gone to. So here is our pledge - to be better at the blog. We'll start updating more.

We ate out a lot while we were busy with the move, work, school, and life. And I'm sure we'll post some great recommendations at some point. 

Veggie Burgers and Pasta Salad

I've been doing veggie burgers for lunches lately. I take a Morningstar Garden Burger, toss it in the microwave for a min or so, and its good to go. I put it on a whole wheat bun with some sprouts and sliced tomato, along with a slice of swiss cheese. I also add a bit of Miracle Whip/ Low-fat Mayo because I like to pretend I'm in Canada. This is a very tasty lunch, and I believe its relatively healthy. More healthy than eating dead cow.

I have also made up a pasta salad to have on hand to go on the side of my burger. I got the recipe out of the Skinny Bitch cookbook, which means its vegan, and its mighty tasty. First, you boil some pasta, drain it, and let it cool. I used fancy veggie pasta I bought at the Farmers Market. Then, you make a sauce out of the oil from oil packed artichoke hearts and oil packed sundried tomatoes, along with a squirt or lemon juice and some dried basil. Mix a small jar of marinated sun dried tomatoes, a small jar or marinated artichoke hearts, the pasta, and the sauce together. I added some chopped black olives to this pasta salad, because everything is better with black olives. This salad is yummy and healthy and doesn't use mayo, so you could take it to a picnic and not worry about it going bad.

Make a-head Vegetarian Lasagna

Bob and I work almost opposite schedules. Some days I go to work at 4 and he gets off work at 5.  Other days I don’t get off work until 7. Over the summer, this schedule led us to go out to eat a lot. I would get home, starving, Bob would be waiting for me to eat dinner, and we’d end up going someplace and spending money.  This is not an ideal situation.

1 – eating out all the time is making us fat, and we’ve got a wedding to slim down for.

2 – We are buying a townhouse and need to stay on a budget. We aren’t going to be able to afford to eat out anymore.

3 – We like to cook. We have a cooking blog. If we don’t cook very often, we won’t be able to add things to this blog and people will stop reading. That would be lame.

So, the point is, I’m entering this phase where I prepare meals ahead of time, have things on hand, and make/freeze food to use later in the week.

My Vegetarian Lasagna was made the night before we ate it. I spread a little pasta sauce on the bottom of casserole dish, then layered cooked lasagna noodles on top. I then spread ricotta cheese mixed with minced garlic and dried basil over the noodles. I sprinkled sliced zucchini and sliced mushrooms over the cheese. Then I layered another layer of noodles, another layer of ricotta cheese, and more sliced zucchini and sliced mushrooms. I top the lasagna with another layer of noodles, then poured the rest of the jar of pasta sauce over the top, spreading it out to make sure it coats the noodles. I covered the casserole dish with foil, and then stuck it in the fridge.

The next evening, a half hour before I got home, Bob put the foil covered casserole dish in the oven at 375 degrees. When I got home, I took the foil off the dish, and sprinkled cheese on top of it and put it back in the over for 15 mins. I forgot to put spinach inside the lasagna, so while the cheese was melting, I sautéed up a bag of spinach with EVOO and minced garlic. When the lasagna was done, we topped it with sautéed spinach. 

Dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow.

Since Bob and I had leftover biscuits, and hash browns from the Vegetarian Chicken Mug Pies, we bought some eggs at the store, used some leftover ham and cheese slices from the previous week's lunches, and made ourselves some breakfast sandwiches. 

Bob and I are not big breakfast cookers, and Bob is not a big breakfast eater. We enjoy breakfast food, but we rarely take time to make it. I eat cereal or toast for breakfast sometimes while I watch things on the DVR. Bob doesn't do breakfast because he doesn't have time since he wakes up 20mins before he has to be at work. Shower, dress, take out dog, shake awake Elizabeth, leave for work - that is Bob's morning routine. When we do want and have time for breakfast, we usually go out to someplace where Bob can get runny eggs, and I can get pancakes or some fancy scrambled eggs. I don't know how they do it, but I've never had eggs cooked at home that come close to being as good as restaurant scrambled eggs.

The point is, Bob and I are not breakfast pros.

Bob cooked up the hash browns with some garlic, but in the future we'd spice them up with cumin and cayenne. Bob scrambled up some eggs, but the pan was he wrong temperature, he used a spoon instead of a spatula, and the scrambled eggs got all broken up and didn't stay on the biscuit very well. Don't get me wrong, the eggs were good, but we know we can make them better. In the future, we might try using metal, round cookie cutters to keep the eggs in patty form for proper biscuit making. (Note to self, register for cookie cutters)

When it came time to put the sandwiches together, I flopped the ham down in part of the hash brown pan to warm it up. This worked well. We put cheese on the biscuit, ham on top of that, and them the eggs. The next time I make these, I think I will layer the ham, then the cheese, then the eggs, so the cheese is in between the warm ham and warm eggs and can melt a bit.  

Vegetarian Chicken Mug Pie

It's raining. Its been raining for day :( Some people, crazy people, like the rain. I don't because I don't like the wet. yuck.

On the other hand, when it rains for days during the middle of the summer, I get the chance to make really yummy, warm comfort food such as Vegetarian Chicken Mug Pies.

I've been holding on to this recipe for years. I love pot pies. My mom actually has a very good pot pie recipe thats made with leftover potato soup, but its time consuming. You have to make the potato soup the day before. If you've already gone to the trouble of making soup, why bother making pot pie? I got this recipe out of Rachael Ray's Kids Cookbook, and its for Chicken Mug Pies. You basically make pot pie filling, pour it in a coffee mug, and top it with a biscuit. It its really good.

Even though I've been holding on to this recipe for a few years, I've never made it because cooking chicken grosses me out. Its squishy and full of germs. ew. So Bob and I decided to make it with the Morningstar 'Chicken' Meal Starters. You get chicken texture without chicken grossness.

Here is the recipe:

1 tube jumbo biscuits like Pilsbury

a little paprika

3 tablespoons butter

1 sack of Morningstar Chicken Meal Starters

Couple of stalks of celery

Couple of carrots

Couple of shakes of poultry seasoning

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup frozen hash browns

1 sack of frozen veggies

1 cup cream

1 quart vegetable stock

1 cup frozen peas

Preheat the oven according to the biscuit directions and arrange biscuits on a baking sheet. Sprinkle a little paprika on top of the uncooked biscuits. Don't fear paprika. It has no flavor and just adds some color. It's  like blush for food. Bake the biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cut the Morningstar strips, celery, and carrots into smaller pieces. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter and cook Morningstar Chicken in the butter. Add celery and carrots. Season with poultry seasoning. Add a little more butter, and the flour and stir the pot so that the Morningstar pieces, celery, and carrots get coated in the flour. Add frozen hash browns, frozen veggies, cream and vegetable stock. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. After it boils, cover, lower heat and let simmer 10mins. Stir in the peas and cook for 1 minute just to warm them through. Remove from heat to thicken a bit.

Laddle the soup into a coffee mug. I have giant ones from Crate and Barrel that work perfectly. Set a biscuit on top. Bob wasn't sure how to eat it, but you just go in with your spoon, and try to get a little piece of biscuit and some soup. Be careful because it might overflow out of the mug the first couple of bites.

We served these with sauteed spinach, chili rellenos, and grapes. It was a very filling meal.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

On Sunday night we had a friend and her family over for dinner. Bob made enchiladas and other stuff. I made a pie. Even though Bob and I aren't dessert people, its nice to have something at a dinner party.

This recipe came from the Kraft Food & Family magazine. I substituted a pre-made graham cracker crust instead of making my own crust, which is a great time saver.

You will need:

1 pre-made graham cracker crust

2 bananas, halved lengthwise and quartered

a little more than 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 cups milk

2 pkgs instant vanilla pudding

2 cups thawed Cool Whip

2 Tbsp coarsely chopped nuts

Lay the banana pieces in the pie crust.

Microwave 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup peanut butter on high for 1min. Stir together to make sure the chocolate is well melted and mixture is blended. Poor mixture over bananas.

Whisk the 2 cups of milk with the instant pudding packages. Mix 1 cup of Cool Whip into the pudding mixture, then spread over the chocolate and bananas. 

Top the pie with the remaining Cool Whip. Sprinkle some chopped nuts and chocolate chips on top of the pie for decoration. Refrigerate pie for at least 3 hours before serving. 

Vodka Cream Sauce

Bob plays softball on Friday nights, and since I hate sitting outside, pretending to watch, and having dirt blow on me, I have started staying home. I struck up a deal with Bob; I don't go to the games, instead I stay home and make nice dinner. Everyone is happy. I don't have to go to softball, and Bob gets a nice meal when he gets home.

In Bob's defense, I would love to go to his softball games, if they were a little more exciting, less dirty, and maybe not with work people. I just hate watching the team get slaughtered.

So I've been trying to do something nice for him, and make him some dinner.

This past Friday, I made pasta with vodka cream sauce, an awesome salad, asparagus, and cherries. The sauce recipe and salad were from a Rachael Ray episode. Here are the links:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/you-wont-be-single-for-long-vodka-cream-pasta-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/heart-y-salad-hearts-of-romaine-palm-and-artichoke-recipe/index.html

Breakfast for Dinner

There are few meals that have left me speechless... and this was one of them. Bob and I were in a little rut trying to come up with something for dinner last night, so we flipped through our Rachael Ray DVDs and came across her 'Breakfast for Dinner' episode. The meal consists of French Toast-wiches with Peach Chutney, Green Onion Hashbrowns, and Yougurt Parfaits. Below is the link to the Food Network site for this show. 

A Frech Toast-wich is a sandwich of cheddar cheese, smoked turkey, and apple slices made between two slices of french toast. You then top the sandwich with homemade, warm peach and apricot chutney. 

Bob doesnt like onions, so I didnt make Rachael Ray's hashbrown recipe. I made rosemary and sweet potato hashbrowns.

We drank mimosas with this meal, and we were so full we didnt make it to the fruit, yogurt, and granola parfaits.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tm/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9997_20600,00.html

Potato Skins: The Verdict

As with any meal or dish that exists only in the mind before it is attempted to be brought into the tangible world things don't go quite as expected.  As per the previous post the plan was to create potato skins without a recipe with the twist of using sweet potatoes instead of the standard Idaho spud.  The sweet potatoes took quite a while to get cooked, and when I thought they were done, they were still in need of more cooking for the core of the potato.  If you're trying this at home you might as well put the sweet potatoes in the oven for a full day or just ask Orpheus to run them down to Hades for the afternoon.  If you seriously want to know how long this should cook and what temperature then hopefully you'll be less lazy than me and look it up.  The next issue that occurred was that unlike bar skins these sweet skins just fell right off from the rest of the potato.  This is when I went to plan B.  Plan B consisted of making some hasty mashed potatoes.  I didn't have a masher or even anything worthy of mashing so I used a plastic spatula and a lot of elbow grease.  Since we had no milk that was fresh I used some cream to give it a consistency that was a little easier to work with.  For some reason at this point I decided to throw some curry in.  It just seemed to make sense and ended up working out really well.  It compliments the flavor of the sweet potato really well, and Elizabeth didn't realize that it was even in there even though I put in a little more than I intended.

While all this was happening I was grilling up some bacon on the George Foreman grill, which really does a good job of draining the grease efficiently.  It makes for easier cleanup as well.  I like to throw a little chili powder on the bacon just to season it up a little bit. 

Back to the potato.  I cut the skin of the two potatoes into strips about and inch wide.  I placed the strips on a baking sheet and then turned the oven to 360.  It doesn't need to be too hot, you just want to melt everything together.  I then scooped my the potato mash into skins, threw on a some chives, broken up bits of the cooked bacon, and then covered it in SHARP cheddar.  I capitalize SHARP because if you are going to eat cheddar it might be a good idea to actually taste it.  Since the sweet potato skins are really thin I then folded then into a cup around the filling.

At this point you throw it in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is nice and melty, then you take it out and you have some decent tasting potato skins.

The Verdict - Pretty good, could use some tweaks, but worth pursuing.

How about Potato Skins

This is a great example of making things up as I go.  Potato skins are good.  I'd like to make some at home.  Do I need a recipe?  Nah.  How hard could it be?  The twist is using sweet potatoes instead of regular spuds.  I'll let you know how it goes.

E's Top of the Town

5280 mag put out their annual 'Top of the Town' issue. Here's my Top of the Town:

Italian:

5280 picked: Osteria Marco

Readers picked: Pasta's Italian restaurant (I've been here and was not impressed)

My pick: Rico's.

I've been going to this place since high school and it never disappoints. I love the veggie spaghetti. The place is kinda a dive, located in Englewood on Broadway just north of Hampden, but its always good. (note: they only take cash.)

Mexican:

5280: Santiago's Mexican Restaurant

Readers: Benny's Restaurante y Tequila Bar 

My pick: Blue Bonnet

Bob introduced me to Blue Bonnet about a year ago, and I don't know why I ever ate anywhere else. This place is awesome, mellow, and very cool. I've never had a better margarita, and everything I've ate there has been great. Neither Bob nor I has ever been to either of the other picks, and we will be trying them to see if they are better. Located Broadway and Alameda. 

Thai:

5280: Chada Thai

Readers: Thai Basil (been here, its cute, but I've had better)

My pick: Wild Ginger

This is the best Pad Thai I've ever had. The best curry I've ever had. The best spring rolls I've ever had. Go there. Enjoy. I'll go with you if you want. And beware of Thai Hot.... it's not for the faint of heart, its just for Bob. Wild Ginger is located on Littleton Blvd, just west of Broadway.

Sushi:

5280: Sushi Tora

Readers: Sushi Den (been here, and its eh)

My pick: Land of Sushi

This place has a great $1 a piece happy hour special. The miso soup is to die for. I'm a sucker for a great Philadelphia roll and the one at Land of Sushi is very well balanced. Land of Sushi is located at University and Arapahoe Rd

Deli:

5280: Salvaggio's Italian Deli

Readers: Heidi's Brooklyn Deli (I hate Heidi's. They always mess up my order, there is always a line, and its not that great.)

My pick: Abe's in downtown Littleton

I love the veggie sandwich, the french dip, the chicken salad, and the pita. When the weather is nice, its great to sit outside.

Burger:

5280: Ted's Montana Grill, Elway's, and SmashBurger

Readers: Cherry Cricket

My pick: Cherry Cricket or City Grille

I rarely eat burgers. The last two I've ate have been at these places. They are very special. City Grill is on Colfax near the capital, Cherry Cricket is in Cherry Creek behind Crate and Barrel.

Diner:

5280: Rocky Mountain Diner

Readers: Steuben's

My pick: Pete's Kitchen or Cherry Cricket

Pete's Kitchen is the best diner atmosphere and diner food I've had in the city. And the Cherry Cricket.....you can't beat a diner with a bar in it. Pete's Kitchen is located on Colfax.

Pizza:

5280: Parisi

Readers: Proto's Pizzeria Napoletana

My Pick: Parisi

I forgot about this place until I read 5280's review. A friend and I stumbled upon this place on accident while we were waiting for a concert. Its so good.

Happy Hour Menu:

5280 & Readers: McCormick's Fish House & Bar (Bob and I will have to try this)

My pick: The Boulder Cafe

Bob and his friend took me here a few months ago, and I have been dying to get back. Its awesome and I wish there were more places like it.

Breakfast Sandwich

5280: no pick. They couldnt find anything good enough

My pick: The Pita Breakfast Sandwich at Pete's Kitchen

No matter what time of day it is, this is what I get when I'm at Pete's. 

Ice

I had a tonsillectomy and so Elizabeth has been super nice about blending ice so it is easy to eat.  It is one of the few things giving me relief.  It is also one of the few things I've had to eat today.

BBQ Pork

As I went to the grocery store with no particular plan for making dinner I sauntered over to the meats section of the King Soopers. Looking for random inspiration I noticed that pork loin was on sale at about half price. This got me thinking that I could make some sort of BBQ pork sandwich even though I didn't have a recipe to work off of or any knowledge of what to do. I ended up picking up the loin, 2 bottles of honey BBQ, some whole wheat rolls, brussel sprouts to go on the side, and a half a peach pie for dessert. I was going to use the slow cooker for this, but was kind of short on time, so I needed to medium cook it. In a pot I put the pork (chopped into managable chunks) one of the bottles of BBQ, some rosemary, and garlic powder just to add a little flavor. I set the burner on low and let it cook for about 2 hours. After the pork was well cooked I took shredded it as best as I could (pork shoulder works a little better for this) and then mixed in the remaining bottle of BBQ and put back on a burner on super low just to keep warm. While I was shredding I started boiling the brussel sprouts. This takes roughly 15 minutes. It is a good idea to taste test this because if it doesn't cook long enough it is too hard to bite into and if it cooks to long it gets a bitter taste to it. When it comes out perfect there should be a light sweet taste when you bite into it. It isn't overwhelming, but it is there and preferable to a strong bitter taste. It was a fairly well balanced meal with the whole grains, veggies, fruit, and what turned out to be a lean meat after all the fat cooked off int the pot. There were also plenty of leftovers so I have lunch for the next couple days as well.

Healthy Pizza

One of my favorite things to do lately is to experiment with healthy versions of pizza. Boboli makes whole wheat crusts now in big and small versions that are a great foundation to work from. After that you can pretty much go anywhere you like. A more traditional pizza starts with the sauce (I usually use the squeeze bottle for this) and then freshly grated cheese. Already shredded cheese creeps me out because it has some sort of coating on it that keeps it from clumping together. It is easier to work with but I'm sure it leads to hallucinations after extended use. I like to get a sharp cheddar and than mix it in with some white cheese. Mozzarella works but monterey jack doesn't do too bad either. Apply layers separately because it is better to cover your toppings with the other layer. I really like to put mushrooms, olives and zuchinni on my pizza, but do what works for you. Even if it means using evil onions and polluting your cheese with that vile onion essence. Bake until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is well browned. The other way to go on this is to go cheeseless. No need for pizza sauce without cheese here, it would just be weird. I like to start with some pesto as a sauce. Then you kind of make a pizza salad from there. Spinach works really well with this recipe along with the aforementioned ingredients that I like. Maybe a little artichoke heart in this one would do the trick? Since there is no cheese a good way to check if it is ready is if the spinache is starting to cook in the pesto.

Bbq tofu with cilantro lime brown rice and black beans, sauteed spinach, and melon

This is our go-to vegan recipe. Sometimes we don't eat so good, so we like to have a fall back detox meal. This is the meal we eat when we feel fat and gross.

Start by draining and pressing the tofu. This job sucks. I've done this dozens of times, and I have finally found a little less time consuming way of doing this. Step one: Wrap the entire block of tofu in a paper towel and gently press the water out of the entire block of tofu. Step two: Slice the block, wrap the slices in a paper towel and gently press the water out. Place the slices on a tin foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 5 mins. Baking the slices for a few mins will help get the all of the extra water out of the tofu. 

After the tofu has been in the over for 5 mins, pull it out and brush bbq sauce on each slice, flip them over, and do the other side. After the slices are all covered, put them back in the over for 30mins. Pull the slices out, flip them over, brush on a little more sauce, and bake for another 15 mins.

While the tofu is baking, put the brown rice on to cook. We cook ours in a rice maker, but there are ways to cook rice on a stove top in a pot. Rachael Ray does it all the time, and I believe it is equal amounts of liquid and rice, simmer for 30mins, but do some research on this if you are going to be cooking rice this way.

About 5mins before the rice is done cooking, start warming up some canned black beans in a pot. We like to add chopped cilantro and some lime juice to the beans. You can also add some chopped tomato and onion to the beans. When the rice is done cooking, mix it with the beans, and let them hang out on low for a few mins.

About 5 mins before you are ready to eat, add some EVOO and garlic to a skillet (we use a wok) and then add a bag of pre-washed spinach. This takes a few mins to cook down, stir it every once in while while its cooking, but thats it.

While everything is cooking, chop up some melon or mango to go with the meal.

Tortellini Soup

The original source for this recipe is the Rachael Ray Get-Together Cookbook. This is a modification of her Tortellini en Brodo recipe. I’ve been making my version for a few years, and I modified the original recipe, using vegetable broth instead of chicken and cheese tortellini instead of chicken, to make it vegetarian for my mom and my friend Katie.

Here’s what you need:
1 sack of fresh pre-washed Spinach (we always get the family size bag because we like extra spinach)
2 boxes and 1 can of Vegetable broth (I like Pacific Foods brand low sodium vegetable broth)
1+ pound of fresh Tortellini (Cheese is always good, but sometimes we get Chicken herb and prosciutto tortellini)

Bring broth to a boil. Add tortellini and boil for 5-10 minutes. Tear spinach into pieces and stir into soup. Let spinach wilt a little, then serve with some crusty bread. If you really like cheese, you can top the soup with some shredded parmesan cheese.

Pita Pizza

For this recipe, you’ll need some pita bread (we like the whole wheat kind,) shredded cheese, various pizza toppings, garlic, dried/fresh basil, and some store bought pesto. Yes, pesto sauce is rather easy to make if you prefer your own. You just take some basil, pine nuts and EVOO and grind it all up in a food processor, but to avoid the mess and to save time, we always just buy some pre-made from the store.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with some tin foil to prevent a mess. Take a pita and spread some pesto on it. Top with toppings. I like sliced zucchini, red bell pepper, and black olives. Top with shredded cheese, then sprinkle a little bit of dried basil and either garlic powder or minced garlic on top of the cheese.

Bake these for 15 mins.

These can be vegetarian if you don’t use meat toppings, and these can be made vegan if follow all the steps, but omit the cheese. (They are actually very tasty without the cheese, just load up on some extra veggies!)

Ravioli Lasagna

In the fall of 2007, Bob and I bet on the CU vs. CSU game and the loser had to make dinner. I bet on CSU, and I lost. Since we were newly dating, I wanted to use this opportunity to impress Bob with my cooking skills. I found a Rachael Ray recipe on foodnetwork.com for Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna. Bob has some adverse reaction to tomatoes, which is why I was attracted to this recipe. The recipe calls for a white sauce to be made out of butter, flour, and milk, but to cut down on the calories, I’ve cut it out in my version. I’m sure Rachael Ray’s version is good, but my version is pretty good too.

You will need:
Some EVOO, 1 bag of fresh spinach, 1 tub of ricotta cheese, 2 cloves of garlic, about a palm full of dried basil, 2 packages of frozen ravioli (we like Safeway Select Mushroom ravioli,) 1 15ounce can of artichoke hearts, and about 1 ½ cups shredded parmesan cheese.

Pre heat the oven to 425. Prepare the ravioli according to the package directions. Chop/crush the garlic (or use some of the minced garlic from a jar) and mix into the ricotta cheese. Mix the dried basil into the ricotta cheese also. Drain the water from the can of artichoke hearts.

In a rectangular baking dish, drizzle some EVOO in the bottom of the dish, then begin layering 1/3 of the ravioli on the bottom. The ravioli is sometimes to hot to handle at this stage, so tongs might be helpful for this step. Another tip for this step, lay the flattest side of the ravioli on the bottom of the dish. For the second layer, spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture with a spatula over the ravioli. Then, layer some of the fresh spinach over the ricotta mixture. For the fourth layer, lay down half of the can of artichoke hearts. To spread them out better, pull the artichoke pieces apart while you are laying them down. After the artichoke layer, I drizzle a little more EVOO over the top.

Continue layering the layers. 1/3 of the ravioli, the other ½ of the ricotta mixture, some more spinach, the other ½ of the artichoke hearts, a little more EVOO, then the last layer of ravioli. Top with the parmesan cheese. Bake for 30min.

Sweet Potato Burritos

When Bob and I were first dating, we found out that we have a shared love for Potato Burritos from Big City Burrito in Fort Collins, Colorado. They are one of the greatest things on earth. Big City takes cheese, potato pieces, ranch dressing, salsa, guacamole and sour cream and wraps them up in your choice of tortilla. It doesn’t sound that great, but it’s amazing. I have taken first timers there, Big City virgins, and no one has ever been disappointed by the visit.

Early in our dating, when we were pulling out all the stops to impress each other, I picked up some burritos while I was visiting my sister in Fort Collins. It had been years since Bob had ate one. While we were eating them, Bob told me of his potato burrito recipe that he had mastered during his bachelorhood, how he ate them daily, and how it helped him put on 40lbs. I said, and possibly just as an attempt to impress him, “I think I could make a healthy version of these that we could make at home and eat more often.”

And I did.

First, pre heat the oven to 425. Take a decent sized sweet potato, wash it, dice it, and toss it on a cookie sheet.

I need to interrupt here and state that I am from the Rachael Ray School of cooking. I don’t really measure things and I call olive oil EVOO.

Drizzle EVOO over the pieces; sprinkle about half a palm full of cumin and about the same amount of cayenne over the sweet potato. Mix it with your hands to make sure all the pieces are evenly coated. Bake for ten mins, shuffle the pieces around on the cookie sheet so they bake evenly, then bake for another ten mins.

When the pieces are done baking, toss some of them on a tortilla (we like spinach tortillas!) and add your toppings. We always add a spoonful of Ranch dressing to take the recipe back to its Big City roots. Bob likes to add Cholula. Diced avocado, diced tomato, and diced black olives are good too. Sometimes we use some shredded cheddar cheese, but if you leave it out, the recipe is vegan.

We make this recipe at least once a week and its always amazing.

Fish Tacos

My best dish is probably the fish taco. It is a moderated version from my favorite cookbook "Eating for Life." I don't really do crazy things like measuring or anything like that so this doesn't really translate to a tradition recipe but I will attempt to explain it.

The first thing you need to do is select a good, sturdy fish. Ahi tuna is good, so is swordfish, pretty much anything that chunks well. I'm coming up with new cooking lingo, chunks will soon sweep the nation. Get about a pound of that.

Other things you will need. Spinach tortillas. 3 to 4 avocados. 4 limes. Cumin. Olive oil. Garlic. Lettuce or spinach. Jalapenos. Tomato. Onion.

Get your self a marinatin' dish. Throw in a enough olive oil to coat your fish, combine with a teaspoon of cumin, the juice of 3 limes, and a few minced cloves of garlic. Let the fish soak it up for about 10 minutes while you're chopping the other stuff.

Dice the avocado and jalapenos and place in a mixing bowl. Add teaspoon of cumin yet again, a couple more minced cloves of garlic, and the juice of the remaining lime. Mix it all up until it is evenly distributed. If it is a little dry at this point drop in a dab of olive oil.

If you are anything like me then you hate tomatoes and onions, but chances are you are like most people and you love it. Dice those up and mix in a separate bowl on the off chance I'm dining with you and would want to avoid it. This can go into you're avocado filling mix, but I think it layers better separately anyway.

Throw you're marinated fish on a grill that is as hot as it goes and cook for a few minutes on each side until it looks done, but before you dry it out. Let it sit for a few minutes so the juices can settle. Cut in to strips or "chunk" it as I like to do. I'll actually just rip it into bite sized pieces.

Let the tortilla sit on the grill for a few seconds on each side if you are using something bigger than the George Foreman I usually use. Set a bed of lettuce/spinach on your tortilla throw in the fish chunks and your desired filling. You will be happy with this taste wise and its got lots of healthy ingredients. I like to have some white wine with this. I've made it a million times and it always tastes good.