What's For Dinner?

I’m No Chicken

I had a first as a blogger today.

I got my first official rude comment. I’ve had some backhanded ones before that I chose not to publish because that wouldn’t have done anyone any good. But today? Today I got a comment telling me that I “shouldn’t” be eating things like dark chocolate and “how is it possible that rice isn’t allowed” on this “newfangled plan” of mine.

I thought about letting it go. I thought about not saying anything, about not giving “Scared Sandy” any sort of recognition at all, and then I thought again. What is it about anonymity and the internet that makes people think they can say whatever they want? I’ve linked to this before, and I’ll do it again:

I’ve seen it on message boards and on other people’s blogs, but I’ve never experienced it firsthand in the comments of my own. The negativity. The rudeness. The inexplicable need to be anonymously terrible to another person. So rather than taking the easy way out and just hitting “delete” on the comment, I took a chance and responded. I defended myself, and explained that I’m not a blogger that reveals each and every thing I eat. And then you all came along. You, my amazing readers, came along with emails and comments too, defending me and my choices, and I’m absolutely blown away and humbled. Thank you all from the bottom of my non-rice-eating heart.

Speaking of chicken, that’s just what I made tonight. It was simply roasted much like I did back in January, and I served it along with some (more) roasted brussels sprouts. Since there’s no recipe, and just a bunch of photos, please enjoy the visual candy. Meat-o-phobes, you might want to stop reading after the pictures of the sprouts!

Thank you again, friends, for confirming why exactly I stay a part of this amazing community. We may all have our differences, but in the end, we have one common bond… and energy vampires and flower cutters be damned! When one dares to try to bring us down, there’s 30 more to pull us back up.

Also, a VERY happy anniversary to my mom and stepdad!! How cute are they??

Technorati Tags: chicken, friends, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables

27 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 4th 2010 | Tags: chicken, friends, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables
Posted in friends, simple recipe

Simple Genius

I’m a skeptic when it comes to super simple recipes.

Wait, what do you mean I don’t have to open 5 spice jars and chiffonade a bundle of basil? You mean I don’t have to chop a dozen onions, grate a pound of carrots, and roast something for two hours? The resounding answer is YES.

Sometimes a good recipe takes 3 ingredients and a little bit of time, like what I made tonight. I saw this on HEAB’s blog today, and immediately clicked the link and discovered I only needed one thing to make this for dinner. What is this glorious thing? A simple tomato sauce as posted by Smitten Kitchen and adapted from Marcela Hazan. When I saw Marcela’s name attached to this recipe, I knew it had to be good. She’s never let me down!

The recipe:

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

That’s it. I served mine atop half a roasted spaghetti squash, scooped out, and some sauteed mushrooms with a link of leftover sausage from last night. Please excuse the multitude of photos, as I was having fun with the new camera!

This was comfort food at its finest, and would’ve been great eaten with a spoon rather than on anything. There’s something delicate and yet still rich about this sauce, and I really can’t put my finger on it, but Julia Child was right: there’s something about butter!

Don’t forget to enter to win the amazing Organic Coconut Peanut Butter with a comment on yesterday’s post! Winner will be announced tomorrow night.

I wanted, also, to thank you all for your compliments on my openness and honesty with my “Ask Me Anything” questions. While there may be times I’ll post something cheery when I’m feeling anything but, 99% of the time, what you get on here is all me. I’m lucky enough to have truly supportive readers, and I’m grateful every day that I don’t have to field cruel comments… but if that day ever comes, you can rest assured that those commenters will be taken care of. Years of teaching have helped me grow a much thicker skin than I ever thought I’d have! So thank you all for reading, commenting, and supporting this little blog of mine.

Technorati Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian

20 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 18th 2010 | Tags: dinner, giveaway, Italian, pasta, sauce, simple recipe, thank you, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, giveaway, simple recipe, vegetarian

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This has been quite a crazy week, but I wanted to take a moment and tell each and every one of you how grateful I am for all of you. It’s amazing to know that I have such an amazing support system all over the world…

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, whether it’s a Turkey day, Tofurkey day, Shrimpsgiving, or just an ordinary day…

Technorati Tags: family, friends, holiday, thank you

7 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, November 26th 2009 | Tags: family, friends, holiday, thank you
Posted in chicken/turkey, family, friends

Bachelorette Party Recap!

Only a food blogger… I swear, only a food blogger would do what I did at her bachelorette party.

There was much drinking (as was expected) and a great time was had by all… There were quite a few embarrassing pictures taken of me, mostly involving odd facial expressions and looks of shock while opening gifts. There was one photo, actually, that one Meghan said she’d give me $100 if I put it on the blog. I deleted it. I guess I can share one goofy one with you…

I should rewind a bit. My sister Leigh(my Maid of Honor) did a fantastic job planning a very “Mara” night out. Thanks to some cool chef people my sister knows, she was able to get reservations at The Bristol, a restaurant that does not take reservations. It’s a very cool restaurant with interesting food and a focus on sustainable ingredients.

Lizz and I got there early (a RARE occurrence for us) and went up to the upstairs bar while we waited for the rest of the party to arrive.

While we waited, we ordered drinks. Little did I know that the drinks we ordered would be some of the best I’ve ever had, EVER.

This was called a Dardanian Cocktail. It contained gin, muddled pear, elderflower and sour. It was un-freaking-believable. I drank oh… 4 of these.

This was called a Cu-Cui, which had pear vodka, cucumber puree, and something else I don’t remember. Lizz kept saying it was like someone took a salad and put it in a drink. It was also amazing.

Before we sat down at the table, I made it a point to get a picture with Leigh and Lizz

The rest of the party finally arrived, and we headed downstairs to the table

We perused the menus and decided to share a bunch of appetizers and each get our own entrees. Now, you all knew that I’d take pictures of my food. I actually debated blogging about the night, but then Lizz reminded me that if I didn’t, I’d probably regret it… so, here goes (some of the pics are blurry…I did my best!):

I ordered another pear cocktail, and my friend Erin proceeded to order me drinks.

Another pear cocktail as well as a cocktail with Patrón silver tequila and citrus

Then the appetizers came… duck fat fries (the BEST I’ve ever had, hands down)

These came with homemade ketchup and horseradish cream sauce… SO AMAZING!

And, there was savory monkey bread with dill butter… which luckily, Leigh remembered to take a picture of with one piece remaining while I scolded myself… bad food blogger!

There was an apple and manchengo cheese salad

And Leigh and I split fresh radishes with butter and salt. An amazing combo if you’ve never tried it!

Then the entrees came out. Not only did I take pictures of MY food, but I passed my camera around and made everyone else take pictures of THEIR food. I’m really not positive of what all this stuff was… I’ll label the ones I’m sure of.

Half chicken with mustard spaetzle and apple salad (there were about 5 of these at the table)

Goat meat ravioli type things. Thanks for the great picture Meghan!

Raviolo. A HUGE ravioli filled with fresh ricotta cheese and egg yolk. Still smacking myself for not ordering this myself!

Fresh noodles with something called mojama. It’s a Spanish delicacy of cured tuna, grated over the top

Organic grass-fed beef with sweet potatoes (they’re in the background!)

No idea… greens of some sort?

Leigh and I split this whole roasted Pompano fish. I’ve never had more buttery fish, ever!

There were also desserts that were devoured before a picture could be taken, but I assure you, they were FANTASTIC!

After dinner, the group split up and a bunch of us headed north to a quasi-improv show called Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. I say quasi-improv because while true improv isn’t rehearsed, this is… it’s 30 plays in 60 minutes, the cost of admission is $9 plus whatever is rolled on a 6-sided die, and if they sell out, they order pizza. We’ve been going to this show for the better part of the last 15 years, and it was the PERFECT thing for us to do. The doors didn’t open for another 45 minutes when we got there, so we went around the corner to a favorite bar, Hopleaf, for another drink. I got a raspberry Lambic.

[source]

We then went back, got in line, and took a final group picture.

From Left: Me, Lizz, Leigh, Leah, Mom, Anna, and Kristin

It was an amazingly fun and perfect night out! Thank you SO MUCH to Leigh,, all who came, and everyone who helped make it a night I’ll never forget! I love you all!

I spent the night at Lizz’s house, and we had the luxury of going to IHOP for brunch… there’s something about breakfast food cooked by someone else that’s just so great! Dinner has yet to be decided…

Technorati Tags: beef, Bristol, cheese, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, noodles, out, red meat, restaurant, salad, seafood, thank you, wedding

19 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, November 15th 2009 | Tags: beef, Bristol, cheese, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, noodles, out, red meat, restaurant, salad, seafood, thank you, wedding
Posted in beef, dinner out, family, friends

Showered With Love

**Blogiversary Giveaway Winner is announced at the end of this post**

After much anticipation, today was my bridal shower!! I was beyond excited to see the people who were going to be there, since it had been quite some time since I’d seen a few of them. People came from near and far, and I felt very truly loved today. It was wonderful having most of my best friends and family in one room to celebrate our upcoming wedding!

Of course, there was excellent food:

Smoked salmon on mini pumpernickel; The whole spread

Unbelievably delicious pastries made by my sister

Another view of the whole spread, including shrimp salad, beef tenderloin sandwiches, and mini caprese sandwiches

My sister spent the last week baking for today, and the best part besides the delicious tiny pastries, was the fact that she made 2 of my grandma’s recipes as well.

We played a couple of shower games, and I got to open our gifts, which were beyond generous! I’ll have quite the stocked kitchen! I’m so beyond grateful to everyone who helped plan and throw the shower, as well as all my friends, family, and future in-laws that came to celebrate. Eo really outdid herself with the amazing food, the generous use of her house, as well as this incredible towel wedding cake:

How cute is that??

I was thrilled to have all four of my bridesmaids in one place at one time, along with our adorable flower girl:

From left: Meghan, Leigh, Me, Lizz, Kristin, and Skylar in front

I really cannot express my gratitude to everyone enough! I’m truly overwhelmed…

Once our kitchen is all set up with the amazing new things, I’ll make sure to share with all of you, but right now, I need to decompress, take off my makeup, and oh… announce the blogiversary prize winner!

I used random.org to come up with a number between 1 and 151 (can’t believe there were 151 entries!) and it came up with ***drumroll please***

which is Laura of Hey, What’s For Dinner Mom’s comment:

CONGRATULATIONS LAURA!!!! Send me an email with your snail mail address, and I’ll get your prize out to you as soon as all the components come in!

Have a wonderful evening! Make sure you come back tomorrow for the kickoff of another giveaway!

Technorati Tags: beef, dessert, family, friends, giveaway, red meat, salad, thank you, wedding

22 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 25th 2009 | Tags: beef, dessert, family, friends, giveaway, red meat, salad, thank you, wedding
Posted in Baking, beef, contest/giveaway, family, friends, giveaway

365 Days (Giveaway Post)

359 Posts

6,077 Comments

over 100 recipes

5,930 Tweets

245 Google Reader followers

402 FeedBurner subscribers

715 Twitter followers

ONE YEAR OF WHAT’S FOR DINNER!

Did anyone figure it out? The theme for yesterday’s Cute Food Saturday was “birthday cakes”. Not because any human was having a birthday, but because the blog was! I cannot believe it’s been a year already. I’ve met some of the most amazing people, both virtually and in real life, and had wonderful experiences, fun times, and great food.

I’ve discovered new foods

Indulged addictions:

Drastically improved photos:

Then and Now

Eaten at amazing restaurants:

Tru thanks to FoodBuzz, Frontera Grill

The Publican, and Red Mango/Yogen Fruz

And through all this, we’ve been planning our wedding, which will be in 41 days!

To celebrate my Blogiversary, I’m going to give one lucky What’s For Dinner reader a “favorite things” prize pack including, but not limited to:

One foodie charm of their choice
One coupon for free Oikos yogurt (16 oz)
One 32 oz. jar Tropical Traditions Extra Virgin Coconut OIl
One coupon for free Alouette spreadable cheese
One package of Matt’s Cookies (a Chicago favorite)
Three pieces of Fannie May chocolate (another Chicago fave, individually wrapped of course)
Two Cherry Pie Larabars
A Food-Themed bracelet by my ColorHungry friend
One Chicago-themed travel mug

That’s not all, but I haven’t figured out the rest yet! Due to shipping costs, entry is limited to US residents only. How to enter? The usual!

Leave a comment below for one entry
Link back to this post on your blog, or email me for a second entry, AND leave a second comment that you’ve done so..
Tweet about the contest mentioning @imadedinner AND (this is the key for the third entry) leave a second comment to tell me you’ve done so

Only comments will be counted for entry!! The contest will run the whole week, and the winner will be announced on Sunday, October 25th.

I spent today at the apple orchard with Lizz and Skylar, and then we went to Asian Noodle House…enjoy the pictures!

Thank you all for continuing to read my little blog, and for being such wonderful additions to my life. I’m truly grateful for all of you!

Technorati Tags: alouette, Asian, cheese, Chinese, cute, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, Frontera, frozen yogurt, giveaway, noodles, out, restaurant, Rick Bayless, sushi, thank you, Tropical Traditions, twitter, wedding

151 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 18th 2009 | Tags: alouette, Asian, cheese, Chinese, cute, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, Frontera, frozen yogurt, giveaway, noodles, out, restaurant, Rick Bayless, sushi, thank you, Tropical Traditions, twitter, wedding
Posted in Asian, contest/giveaway, dinner out, friends, giveaway

Stuffed!

First of all, I wanted to say thank you all for your kind words and virtual hugs about my post last night. I’m feeling much better today, and was ready to face the day.

First of all, in my funk yesterday, I forgot to mention that WE BOOKED OUR HONEYMOON!!! We will be spending 7 days and 6 nights in Ocho Rios Jamaica at the amazing-looking Sandals resort there! I’ve NEVER been on a vacation like this… just LOOK:

Needless to say, I’m a little excited!! Also, today we got our wedding invitations!! A good friend of mine from work made the invitations for us, and they came out JUST as I was hoping they would! I’ve blurred out the personal info…

They are 4-petaled invites that seal shut with a sticker I designed. I love how simple and clean they look, with the little pop of our turquoise color in there.

Enough wedding talk…there will be PLENTY to come, don’t worry! Dinner tonight was something I’ve been craving for a while, but have never actually made… Stuffed Peppers! They came out pretty well, but I’d recommend adding quite a bit more tomato sauce than I did. The recipe below came out great, I just wish it were tomatoey-er!

Easy Healthy Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

4 green bell peppers

3/4 c. uncooked quick brown rice (NOT instant, quick cooking)

1 c. plus 1/2 c. tomato sauce

1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, divided

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey

Instructions

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean the insides of seeds and membranes. Mix together all other ingredients, saving the 1/2 c. tomato sauce, and put 1/4 in each pepper. Top each pepper with more tomato sauce and the remaining parmesan cheese. Pre-heat the oven to 375* and place the peppers in a shallow baking dish. Bake about an hour, basting a couple times with remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve!

I know that typical stuffed peppers have melted cheese on top, but I wanted to try something different… They were good! And like I said above, they needed more tomato IN the pepper, and maybe mozzarella next time.

I’m stuffed, the peppers were stuffed… get the post title??

I’m off to crochet my friend’s baby blanket… I’m WAY behind!! I’ve GOT to finish it by Thursday! Tomorrow evening will be full of sealing and addressing invitation envelopes, so WOW! I gotta get a move on!

Keep those Guests for Dinner ideas coming! I’ll be posting one guest per week until I run out! AND, check out this article! HangryPants, GreenLiteBites, and What’s For Dinner are posted as 3 of 50 blogs you shouldn’t be without!

Check me out on ZestyCook today!

ONLY 60 DAYS UNTIL OUR WEDDING!!!!!

Technorati Tags: beef, cheese, dinner, food, Italian, recipe, simple recipe, thank you

23 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, September 29th 2009 | Tags: beef, cheese, dinner, food, Italian, recipe, simple recipe, thank you
Posted in Italian, beef, simple recipe

One Last Hurrah (Giveaway Post)

Today was a very long and busy day, but thankfully tomorrow I’m off to go to our wedding cake tasting! I get to “sleep in” which means getting up at probably 7:30.

On my way home, I realized that while a black bean burger (the original planned dinner) sounded OK, a ground beef burger sounded even better! I stopped at the grocery store an ended up with an odd conglomeration of toppings. More on that later.

When I walked in the door, I was greeted by THREE packages! One I was expecting, and two I was not. The one expected package included this lovely golden flaxseed from Tropical Traditions:

You know what it means when I get something from Tropical Traditions… it means that soon, YOU can get something from them!

The second (and smallest) package contained a lovely Mexican ceramic box that I won from KP at To Be The Whole Package:

And lastly, I opened the largest of the packages. It was from none other than the amazing and generous Veggie Girl, who was quite distressed in our last conversation that I’d never tried anything from One Lucky Duck. In this amazing package was quite possibly EVERY snack food that the company offers, as well as a school-perfect bright red tote bag:

This box contained grawnola, chocolate macaroons, blonde macaroons, cinnamon crispies, chocolate crispies, cheese quackers (crackers) and rosemary quackers.

Thank you SO VERY MUCH Miss VG!!! I’m beyond appreciative!!

Dinner was a simple summery dinner, kind of as a last summer hurrah. I made my “summer burgers” without the bread crumbs, and ate it on an Arnold’s bread thin. But the random toppings that I ended up with? Yeah, those would be garlic and herb Laughing Cow light cheese, jarred roasted red peppers, and avocado. Just check this out:

SO VERY DELICIOUS!!!

And this brings me (in a very non-sequitur sort of way) to the giveaway. A few weeks ago, I was sent some samples of Tanka Bars to try and review. They were both intriguing to me, as well as a bit scary. Why scary? Well, they’re not your average snack bar. Tanka bars are made from 100% organic grass-fed buffalo mixed with organic dried cranberries. There’s a spicy version as well, which I got to try in “bite” form. When I finally did try the bars, I was pleasantly surprised! There was a very beef-jerky smoky type flavor, as well as a nice sweet/tart contrast from the cranberries. I couldn’t eat very much of a bar at any one time, as they were quite chewy and satisfying, and the “hot” flavor of the bites was QUITE spicy!

The lovely Linda at Tanka Bar offered a whole box of 12 Tanka bars to one lucky What’s For Dinner reader! All you have to do? Comment below! That’s it! Winner will be announced at tomorrow’s dinner post, when I’ll be announcing the NEXT giveaway! It’s apparently giveaway week…

Don’t want to wait to win? Linda and Tanka Bar have created a special coupon JUST for What’s For Dinner readers that will grant $5 off a box of regular Tanka Bars from today through October 31! Just enter the code “IMADEDINNER09″ at check out.

Have a great Monday night and a fabulous Tuesday!

Technorati Tags: beef, burger, dinner, food, fun, giveaway, product review, simple recipe, thank you, Tropical Traditions, wedding

46 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, September 21st 2009 | Tags: beef, burger, dinner, food, fun, giveaway, product review, simple recipe, thank you, Tropical Traditions, wedding
Posted in beef, contest/giveaway, giveaway, simple recipe

Home Cookin’

After days and days of eating out, I finally got around to cooking something! When we were at Valli yesterday, we perused some of the aisles that we normally don’t go down, and I found, for a whopping $2.99, a tub of arborio rice.

What does one make with arborio rice? Why, risotto of course! Adam has been asking me for months to make the pea risotto seen on Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen. His risotto recipe includes fresh peas, asparagus, and langoustine, so I figured I could come “close enough” for a Thursday night meal.

I followed the basic risotto recipe on the back of the tub of rice, and then added in my own extra ingredients. The result? A fresh-tasting, super-simple risotto!

Pea and Shrimp Risotto

Ingredients

2 c. arborio rice

5 c. chicken stock, heated

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. butter

1 small onion, minced

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

1 small bag frozen peas

1 lb. cooked salad shrimp

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil and butter in a pot or saucepan. Add onion and cook until transluscent, then add the rice. Stir until the grains glisten. Then add 1/2 c. of stock, stir gently, and simmer until all the liquid is soaked in. Repeat this, 1/2 c. of stock at a time until all the stock is gone. In a seperate pan, heat the peas and shrimp until hot. Sprinkle with garlic powder and some S&P. Stir the parmesan cheese into the rice, then add the peas and shrimp. Serve and top with parmesan cheese.

This made a TON of food, and I’m excited to bring it for lunch tomorrow! The only thing that would’ve made it better would’ve been mushrooms, but we all know how Adam feels about those. Maybe next time…

Thankful Thursday

I know many of you have done “Thankful Thursday” for months, even years now… but I feel the need to jump on the bandwagon this week. I just have to let you all know how very thankful I am to have Adam in my life. He never ceases to amaze me with little ways to show me he loves me, and no matter what BS I may be going through at any given moment, he’s always there. I love you, Adam, and can’t wait to be your wife in a mere 78 days!

And with that amount of cheesiness, I’m signing out. Happy almost Friday!

Technorati Tags: cheese, dinner, food, gourmet, Italian, seafood, thank you, vegetables

21 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, September 11th 2009 | Tags: cheese, dinner, food, gourmet, Italian, seafood, thank you, vegetables
Posted in Italian, fish or seafood

Pure Genius!

After writing my Tru recap last night, it was 8:15 p.m.

And I went to bed.

The stress of switching from camp to school always gets to me for some reason and I become an anxious mess, or “mood ball” as my mom used to say. Everything was making me cry, and just the upload speed of my post last night made me far too annoyed for any normal night.

Adam reminded me that EVERY year, the night before the kids come to school, I’m a moody mess because of the same reasons that the students are:

“What if they don’t like me?”

“What if I can’t find something to wear?”

“What if the kids are mean?”

And then I remember:

This is NOT my first year teaching. It’s my 7th.
It’s ok if the kids don’t like me, possibly even preferable.
I have plenty of work clothes that feel binding after the whole summer of yoga pants and tank tops, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fit.
I’m good at my job. No need to worry!

So I went to bed at 8:15 and was dead asleep by 9 p.m. I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the first half-day with students. The day went by quickly, and I spent my lunch hour (it’s the ONLY student day where we get a full hour) eating Chinese food leftovers and reading blogs. It was nice to actually have time to comment! (Some of your blogs, by the way, are blocked on my school’s server, so I read on Google Reader but can’t comment!)

Back to my point: I was reading blogs, and came across a fantastic post by Joe & Betsy. The lovely Miss Betsy made a pesto using minimal nuts and oil and was bulked up with (get this) steamed broccoli! At that point, all I could think about was making this with some high fiber whole wheat pasta and diced chicken for dinner tonight. I was so glad it made so much because now I have some to freeze and eat later!

The recipe was simple:

2 – 3 cups steamed broccoli (I didn’t measure)

1/4 C fresh basil leaves

2 cloves of garlic

small handful of walnuts

1/2 C Parmesan flakes

Combine all of these ingredients in a food processor, then drizzle in…

1/2 C olive oil (good quality) – this may vary depending on how much you steam your broccoli

Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

It turned a lovely creamy green, and I mixed it with some Amish Naturals fiber rich pasta that I found in the organic aisle at the grocery store as well as some diced and sauteed chicken. The result? AMAZING!

Betsy is a genius! I’m sure there are other broccoli pesto recipes out there, but the combo of walnuts, parmesan, olive oil, and broccoli made for a satisfying and delicious meal. The amazing thing was that, even though there were 2 packages of cooked frozen broccoli in my food processor, the basil and garlic flavors permeated and it tasted no different than regular pesto! Thanks so much Betsy!

One of my favorite things about my school days versus camp days: the time at which I’m “done” for the day. For example, on a typical camp day, I was home at 6:30, cooked dinner, and if I was lucky, ate by 7:30. I’d clean up, blog, and finally be “done” at about 8:30. Tonight? I was home at 3:45, went to the grocery store, back from that by 4:30, made dinner, served, ate and blogged all by 6:45 p.m.!

Tomorrow is the first FULL day with students, complete with 6 class periods of 47 minutes a piece that I’ll be talking about rules and regulations. Must. Bring. BIG. Water bottle!

A nerdy-teacher question for you: Do you have ONE teacher you specifically remember for positive reasons? What’s your favorite teacher story?

My favorite teacher ever was (go figure) my middle school Spanish teacher. She was always my advocate, and when things socially got really rough, she always found things for me to do after school when the hallways were their busiest so I didn’t have to deal with what usually happened. So, Mrs. Josephson, if you’re reading… thank you!

Technorati Tags: chicken, dinner, Italian, pasta, school, simple, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables

16 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, August 26th 2009 | Tags: chicken, dinner, Italian, pasta, school, simple, simple recipe, thank you, vegetables
Posted in Italian, chicken/turkey, simple recipe

I’m No Chicken

27 Comments

Simple Genius

20 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving!!

7 Comments

Bachelorette Party Recap!

19 Comments

Showered With Love

22 Comments

365 Days (Giveaway Post)

151 Comments

Stuffed!

23 Comments

One Last Hurrah (Giveaway Post)

46 Comments

Home Cookin’

21 Comments

Pure Genius!

16 Comments

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