*SIGH*

Once again, a blog neglected.  Man - you'd think I had 3 kids or something!!

Okay, since I announced it on my other blog, I WILL be attempting a few new recipes this week, so stay tuned...

White Bean Dip

I'm a dipper.  I like dipping chips, carrots, whatever.  Maybe it's because it seems less "dry" when you dip things...or it could be just because it usually makes it taste better!  :-)  Anyhow, my favorite dips are usually also pretty heavy on the calories and/or the fat.  Not very encouraging when you really WANT to eat healthy!  So I found this recipe and finally got around to trying it this morning.  I LOVE it!  And it's so tasty that I feel like I'm indulging, when I'm really not.

White Bean Dip
1 (15.5 oz) can cannollini beans, rinsed & drained
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Blend it all in a blender and serve chilled!  If you look online you'll find LOTS of different variations, but this one is SO simple but full of flavor.  (Probably the garlic...) 

Winter Pasta with Kale

So...it's not that I haven't COOKED in 9 months...but I really haven't done anything new lately.  Life is just SO BUSY! 

Anyhow...we had recently made some toscana soup and had WAY too much leftover kale.  But WHAT do you do with kale?  It's supposed to be a "superfood" but the only time I see it used is in a soup similar to the one I made.  Then I found this one from 101cookbooks.com: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/winter-pasta-recipe.html

I would imagine that if you had this all on hand, it would be SUPER easy to to make on a whim.  I myself, didn't use goat cheese - I used parmesean.

This all put together very quickly - I suggest peeling the garlic and shallots while the water is heating to a boil.  I did end up adding a tablespoon of hot water, and a splash of lemon juice.

My pictures aren't NEARLY as nice as the original blogger, so PLEASE check out the link for better photos. 

MY REVIEW:  I think next time, I'll add more salt & pepper, more lemon juice, and hold the thyme.  The thyme was OKAY but I didn't really need it.  I was actually really surprised that it didn't have a stronger taste after using 4 garlic cloves and 4 shallots, however I'm guessing that's because they are boiled in the water, not crushed. 

Everyone but Caleb liked the recipe!  And I definetly recommend eating it fresh & warm.  Mine ended up re-heated, which was fine but not great.

Sausage Rice Casserole

This was a hit with the family tonight!  Check out the recipe on Taste of Home's website:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Sausage-Rice-Casserole-2

I have the book for freezer recipes.  I halfed the recipe since I wasn't freezing the second dish - just cooking it right away.  It calls for sausage, but I could see it easily working with any other favorite meat.  Of course, the sausage has a certain flavor so regular ground beef may be a little bland.  Anyhow, it was good!

Baked Basil Fries

Courtesy of Taste of Home...

Ingredients
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 medium red potatoes

Directions

In a bowl, combine the Parmesan cheese, oil, basil and garlic powder. Cut potatoes into 1/4-in. sticks. Add to bowl, and toss to coat.

Place in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes on each side or until crisp and tender. Yield: 4 servings.

My review:
VERY yummy!  Especially when dipped in some ranch dressing. ;-)  Chris and Brandon liked them, so I'd consider 3 out of the 4 of us a good number!  Of course, Caleb doesn't entirely count cause he's pretty picky.  LOL  I took them out after 10 minutes the second time...I didn't want them to get burned.  This was definetly an easy recipe and something I would do again.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

Pastry for two-crust pie

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

6 cups blueberries

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp stick margarine or butter

Heat oven to 425.  Prepare pastry (or in my case, unroll it from the box it came from)

Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in large bowl.  Stir in blueberries.  Turn into pastry-lined pie plate.  Sprinkle with lemon juice.  Dot with margarine/butter.  Cover with top pastry that has slits cut in it; seal and flute.  Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.  Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.  Cool in pie plate on wire rack.  Serve warm if desired.

I apologize - I forgot to take pictures while I was preparing it, but it really was very simple!  I've never made a pie before and blueberry is my favorite!  I can't wait to try this out tonight, with a bit of cool whip on top.  YUMMY!

What NOT to do...

I've decided that I am just UNABLE to cook meat.  I don't think I've ever really been able to get it right, which is sad, because I know Chris would really LIKE some good meat!  I found a recipe for oven-baked bbq pork loin ribs.  Here's the meat...all pretty!

I gathered all the ingredients for the sauce...it was looking promising!  The recipe said to just cover the meat with the sauce and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour (uncovered).  So, that's what I did!

 

In the meantime, I had one of those seasoning packets where you just drizzle some oil over potato wedges, sprinkle the seasoning on, and bake!  Easy, right?!  Here they are...ready to go in the oven!

This is what the meat looked like...

...after I yanked it out of THIS:

And my potatoes...well....they didn't fare any better:

I thought that at least the potatoes would've survived!  Unfortunately, they didn't.  Fortunately, Chris is very forgiving and just appreciated that I tried.  Looks like I need to take some cooking classes...