Mac and Cheese, Comfort Food?

I regard the Baked Mac and Cheese dish one of those simple yet fulfilling "standard" meals american families can whip up in no time. It doesn't cost much money, time, and effort to prepare. I think it can belong up there with Tuna Casserole, String Bean Casserole and Creamed Spinach.

I was enticed by the beautiful picture and I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. Imagine that.

I was eager to sink my teeth into this dish, not knowing what to expect.

It turned out a bit bland for my taste.

I would probably add some peppers, mix up the cheeses, maybe throw in some broccoli and add more spices.

That's the only way I would make this dish again.

Thai Style Steak Salad

This dish is one of my go to recipes, I can whip up in less than 10 minutes.

It gives me all the protein I need and contains all the greens I care to eat to satisfy my daily requirement.

Through the years, there are some favorite meals I don't mind adding to my weekly/monthly menu. Most all of them have some sort of quick and easy sauce going on.

I try to stay within the bake/broil/steam cooking method. So sauce counts a lot for me.

This is one of those recipes.

I was able to pick up some wonderful prime rib eye from Costco the other day so steaks are bountiful in my kitchen this week.

From my neighborhood Trader Joe's, I snatched up a bag of mixed baby greens.

For the sauce:

fish sauce

sugar - and you can use Truvia or any calorie free brand

red pepper flakes

lime juice

olive oil - 3tsp

Whisk all the above ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Rinse off your steaks and pat dry. Spray your hot grill pan with oilve oil. Salt and pepper and grill your steaks.

In another bowl, throw in a big handful of your baby greens, and add any other extras you might have on your ref. I had extra orange bell peppers, so I threw those in.

When the steaks are done the way you like, remove from grill, rest them for a couple of minutes and then slice them on the diagonal.

Set them on top of your greens, pour, drizzle, or douse the entire plate with the prepared fish sauce.

Grab your beer, plop down in front of the tv - and mangia.

Promise, it'll be delicious.

Penne with Vodka Sauce

Ahhhh...vodka sauce! My favorite alternate sauce for pasta. I find vodka sauce to have a nice balance between a cream sauce and a tomato sauce. I happened upon this recipe in the Weight Watchers website so I thought I'd give it a go.

The recipe calls for a few ingredients - always a good thing for me, since I don't like to spend a heck of a whole lot of time in the kitchen. And, I had all of them in my pantry.

The recipe calls for:

1 tbsp. butter

1 shallots

2 cloves garlic

2tbsp. tomato paste

cream

parsley

vodka

salt/pepper

basil chiffonade(d)

I had dinner with a pal last Friday. Stuck a good dvd movie on, poured a glass of red, plopped down on the sofa and slurped down. We followed this up with a simple salad tossed with a mustard vinaigrette. Topped this dinner off with a coffee slush that called for vanilla ice cream and espresso.

Rubbed our bellies in delight as we enjoyed the rest of the movie and gossiped the rest of the evening.

All in all, not bad for a 9pt dinner.

Honey Mustard Pork

I have been wanting to try the recipes that call for pork chops in the book. Yesterday, I happen to find some really nice cuts so I decided to make them for dinner last night. The recipe calls for very simple ingredients: honey, dijon mustard, pepper and apple cider vinegar. I happen to like the Trader Joes brand because of its tartness. It took me 10 minutes to get the marinade done. Put the meat in a ziploc bag and kept it in the ref for about 5 hrs before dinner time.

I paired the meal with a simple salad of hearts of romaine lettuce and a drizzle of store bought champagne dressing.

Although the meat should have been broiled, I decided to use my griddle for faster cooking time and also extract any extra fat that I didn't want.

It was done to perfection in about 10 minutes.

There was no excess fat from the pork and I got caramelization from the marinade. Lovely.

This dish had no dominant flavors. The combination of the ingredients made for subtle hints of taste. Somewhat leaving just enough taste in your mouth to want to get more of it from your next bite.

It was substantial, healthy and a light dinner meal.

A nice cuppa tea at the end tied it all together for me.

Total points = 6pts.

Testing out the Weight Watchers cookbook

I was strolling around the Costco store one day and magnetized towards the books laid out on their large table. I am a voracious reader so, seeing books so enticingly displayed like this drew me in.

Not looking for anything in particular, I saw the large Weight Watchers cookbook.

I had already looked at the Rocco Dispirito cookbook - Now Eat This - recipes under 350 calories. I had read the table of contents over and over to see if I could find even just one recipe that I wanted to try. Then when I found myself reading more than trying the recipes - I told myself - this will not work.

So, when I read the Table of Contents of the Weight Watchers cookbook, it found itself inside my cart. There are enough recipes in it that I definitely want to try out.

This blog will be about the recipes that I have tried and what, if any, tweaks I did to the recipes to improve the flavor that pleases my palate. You may be the kind of cook that does not stray from the recipes, but I make adjustments all the time.

I will take pictures and post them. Be forewarned, I am not a food stylist, nor a chef - just like you, I cook for myself and family.

I will critique the recipes on flavor, difficulty in making, looks and ingredients.

I will welcome positive constructive comments should you feel like getting involved in this process.

I am hoping, by doing this I will have discovered a go-to cookbook that not only delivers excellent food, but is also healthy, low-cal, will help me lose the weight, & will be good enough to serve to friends who come over for food.