Breaded Cod with Spinach

I adapted this recipe from one I saw in Woman’s Day a few years ago. It’s delicious.  I serve it with a side of boiled red potatoes or boiled noodles with a bit of parmesan and olive oil.
Ingredients:
4 cod fillets
1 cup panko bread crumbs, Italian-flavored
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb. spinach
2 [...]

Peanut noodles with chicken

Now that Fall is here, I’ve been cooking again.  I found this basic recipe in Good Housekeeping magazine, and doctored it up a bit.  Everyone liked it – Emma even took leftovers of it to school for her lunch. (And her friends asked for copies of the recipe.)
1 lb. spaghetti or linguine
1 clove garlic, thinly [...]

Best slow-cooker pork chops ever

No, I really mean it.  Even Emma liked it, and we know she’s not a big crock pot fan.  (Margaret liked it too. David not so much, but he’s going through a non-meat phase.) I found the original recipe on www.allrecipes.com, but I modified it a bit.
Ingredients:
4-6 pork chops (I used bone-in pork chops, and [...]

Pasta in a flash

I made this baked pasta dish for Margaret’s birthday gathering on Sunday. It was so easy, and delicious. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef, and I added an onion, sauteeing it with the ground turkey and mushrooms.  I added a bit of sugar to the sauce, as I like my stewed tomatoes a [...]

Easy appetizer that appears fancy

I made this appetizer last night for a family gathering. I’ve made it before, and each time, everyone raves about it and thinks it’s fancy. And that’s my goal – fancy.
Ingredients:
1 Frozen Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheet, thawed
1 Round of brie cheese
Preserves (can be apricot, peach, or if you want to be really fancy, something [...]

I’m not feeling pampered

I love everything about Pampered Chef products except the experience of buying them. (I just heard a loud “click” created by all of the men closing this post. That’s okay, I’ll try to make the next post about sports. Or not.)
To clarify, I like the Pampered Chef party part a lot. (I think I’ll say [...]

The easiest, fastest, best chicken recipe ever

Yes, really, I promise you it is.  The whole family loves it.
I found this recipe about 7 years ago in the New York Times Magazine, and it is my family’s favorite chicken recipe ever.  You make a sauce with low -fat sour cream, low-fat mayonnaise, lemon juice, chutney, and curry and pour it over chicken [...]

Easy penne with salmon and dill recipe

I made this easy dish for dinner on Sunday night. I wasn’t sure whether the kids would like it, as they’re not crazy about salmon.  (So why did I make it, you ask? Ah, you forget that it’s all about me.)  The good news…everyone loved it.  I had made baked salmon the day before (yes, [...]

Easy pork loin crock pot recipe

This is the best pork loin roast I have ever made, and also one of the easiest.  The sauce was delicious (although two family members still put barbecue sauce on it, as they do with everything. And yes, it’s the two family members who are OVER the age of five.)  (I originally got the recipe at www.allrecipes.com, [...]

A special edition of odds and ends

1. This has to be one of the cutest commercials I’ve ever seen:

2. This really makes me want to drink Coke:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/clean_a_toilet_with_coke.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
3. An oldie but a goodie from The Ad Contrarian (Bob Hoffman). I just love #10 on the list:
http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-10-bullshit-professions.html
4. Part 3 of an interesting Slate.com series by Sarah Wildman on the [...]