Mmm Mmm Mmm

Last night for dinner we had one of our favorite dinners, Strip Steak & Candied Walnuts Salad. (not from a recipe, just a thrown together mix)

fresh lettuce from the garden
organic grass fed flank steak - seasoned, grilled & then cut into bite size pieces
feta cheese crumbles
Girard's Light Raspberry Vinaigrette
candied walnuts - in a skillet cook walnut pieces & butter for a couple minutes until golden brown. then add brown sugar, cook a couple minutes on med-high until melted & browned, then pour onto wax paper, let cool & break up into bite size pieces. Use approx 1 1/2 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp brown sugar to every 1/2 cup of walnuts.

Mix it all together & enjoy!

What else is cooking in our kitchen...

Quinoa Salad with Chicken, Grapes & Almonds, this is an awesome dish, we liked it so well, when my mom had Bunco I made this & it was a HUGE success.

Another current favorite is Apple-Cheddar-Squash Soup from the Food Network. Very interesting taste & sooo addicting! Of course I've tweaked it a little bit, I use 6 golden yukon potatoes, 6 apples, 1 cup of apple cider, 1 cube of butter, veggie broth vs. chicken broth & I add a giant zucchini.

My mom's friend Robin turned me onto some new vegetarian cookbooks, so I've been visiting the local library & checking out different Moosewood Restaurant & Mollie Katzen Cookbooks. I've really enjoyed the recipes in these books & they have given me more confidence to try new things.

For more simple, kid friendly meals try Deceptively Delicious or The Sneaky Chef. Most of my family is picky, including myself, so a few years back I stumbled upon The Sneaky Chef on amazon & thought to myself, when I have kids, I'm going to need this book. So onto my wish list it went, it's still there by the way(I love books & have quite a big wish list of books to add to our already overflowing bookshelves). Anyways, my sister-in-law Rose got the Deceptively Delicious cookbook & raved about it, so one day I was at Marshall's & found it for a few bucks & decided what the heck. We've tried a couple different homemade chicken nuggets(I baked them instead of frying) & they turned out very yummy. I also love the Sweet Potato Pancakes & the Cauliflower Eggs, such a delicious & filling breakfast.

Anyways, I have to go cook now, because this post made me hungry!!!