I have a "no baking" rule.. but...

This recipe from SmittenKitchen might be enough to make me give up my embargo against baking...
O.M.G....
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/brownie-roll-out-cookies/#more-493

Thyme is on my side (yes it is)..

Organic herbs were buy one get one free at King Soopers this weekend, so I grabbed a few containers... (last night was a simple macaroni with some e.v.o.o., fresh basil, and grated parmesan.. simple and perfect... The H loved it..)
So, tonight is "Thyme night" and my plan is to grill some balsamic glazed chicken breasts (a simple and yummy favorite around our house) and then serve with the butter from this recipe - but added at the end, (think hotel butter on a great steak) to melt down over the sliced-before-serving breasts...
We will have it with roasted broccoli topped with a dollop of the cheese sauce I reserved and froze from last week's mac and cheese (Just a spoonful of cheese helps the broccoli go down, at least in The H's case)...

::Sigh::: why is it by lunch time I am always sitting at my desk and daydreaming about the deliciousness of dinners to come....


Follow up notes: I really liked this chicken... the balsamic glaze on the outside was crispy and dark from the grill, and the thyme butter melted and gave the inside of the chicken a fresh lemon/herby flavor that really made each bite something yummy and different from typical grilled chicken breasts... The H scraped his thyme off without even tasting it (thanks a lot, buddy), but he cleaned his plate... he really loved the mac and cheese sauce on his roasted broccoli; I opted for red pepper flakes and salt on mine...

I would make the chicken again - especially if I don't accidently kill my thyme seedling before it "grows up"... it would be really good over a green salad - with a dressing made of balsmic, honey, thyme and evoo.....

A more mature mac n' cheese...

So I was trying to think of something really special to make for the H tonight, since he has been great while I have been fighting this seriously funky cold... It looks like we have a winner in a Rachel Ray-by-way-of Liz idea for some refined mac and cheese... Of course I will tweek it around myself, just as Liz did to Rachel's original recipe (it doesn't take more than a quick glance at my explination of my meals to see that Keri does NOT follow recipes.. my brain just does not compute information in that order)
I will probably use some chicken sausage I have in the freezer for tonight, actually, and just make a sauce similar to Liz's (yum - florentin-y, one of my favorite adjectives! HA!) to use with pasta.. (Hey, I boarded a train to snot town with a one way ticket on Sunday morning... I have been hitchhiking back in Zicam's beatup Yugo for most of the week... I am *almost* back... Homemade meatballs will wait for another day...)

Follow up to OP - I made my own version (See crappy pic above) and it was a huge hit! The H isn't a fan of the fennel ("No seeds in mine") so using the pre-fab sausage in place of the meatballs was a no brainer.. I thinnly sliced and browned the chicken sausage to give it a satisfying "snap"..

I followed RR's sauce directions pretty much, (except you KNOW I'm not going to measure all that... I just eyeball it...) which say this:

"...in a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt butter, whisk in flour, cook 1 minute then whisk in stock and milk, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and thicken 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup grated Parmigiano and reduce heat on lowest setting. "

I also added some broccoli florets to the pasta the last couple of minutes of cooking, and tossed in a handful of ripped up fresh spinach with the sausage when it was off the heat, covering to let wilt... (I have to sneak veggies in every place I can for the H, who is 37 going on 4)

The H loved this... it will be made again and again, in many incarnations, I am sure.. delish....

One of my favorite cheat nights...

By Friday even I am usually too worn out from the week to have any desire to make some fancy-pants complicated dinner.... but we are also usually both too pooped to really go any where that involves thought...
This means we end up at one of a handful of restuarants at the end of our block over and over again, or (hopefully) that I have planned ahead for some quick and easy dinner to whip up...

One of my favorites (thanks Kraft Food and Family Magazine!!) is the cheapy frozen pizza made into a delicious treat by the simple step of cooking on the grill!!

Buy the store brand, no frills, super simple pizza with toppings of your choice (We do pepperoni for H, and then I like to add other things that I have to mine.. maybe fresh tomatoes, spinach, roasted garlic, etc.. something to dress it up)...

Heat up your grill like you would for anything else, toss the frozen pizza on there and close the lid
on your grill and let it go for like 5 minutes... give it a quarter turn and let it go another 5 minutes or so with the lid on - or until it looks done (it's a frozen pizza, not a suffle, you know what it looks like when it is done)..

The crust turns out like it came from a restaurant pizza oven... Cut it up and serve it with a side salad (sometimes H will eat salad, sometimes not... but I offer it to balance the meal out anyway..)

Trust me - this is sooooo good and so easy, you will always keep a pizza on hand "just in case"...

Stupid kiddie display Walmart camera...

An example of the pics my awful camera takes... Which is a bummer, because this is actually a beautiful meal... We always love the taste of sausage and peppers, but last night I noticed how pretty it all was on the plate...
The smoked chicken and apple sausage was charred from the grill, the peppers bright and colorful - it really did look as good as it tasted..
I *must* get a new camera...

Just to confuse Jessica Simpson..

So last night I had two things going on - 1. a piece of pork loin that was thawed and needed to be served, and 2. a hankering for buffalo sauce..

I cooked the pork loin, which had been hanging out in a balsamic/herb mixture overnight, in the slow cooker with some chicken stock, drained the liquid after 6 hours, and shreaded the pork.. Then it got a coating of my spicy buffalo sauce (a heaping teaspoon - from the table, not the measureing set - of ketchup, two or three of the same device full of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter, a dash of red wine vinagar, a few shakes of garlic powder, and as many shakes of Frank's hot sauce as it takes for me to feel the burn when taste testing - all heated through together in a sauce pan).
I put the shreaded buffalo pork on buttered, toasted buns, sprinkled a little blue cheese on top and afixed the tops...

I would have prefered something like an iceburg wedge salad along side, but alas, DH's desire for starch won out, and we had home-fried potatoes with the sammies..

It was damn good... I wish I had a camera that wasn't a piece of junk, because they even looked pretty...

The humble chicken wing is always a-ok with me, but buffalo pork loin will see an encore in our house for sure!!

Soup is good food..

Ok, the current snowy scene out my window is not exactly making me crave the big salad that I had planned for dinner tonight... So, my mental inventory of what was in my freezer tonight kicked into gear, and I actually think that this might solve a problem I was pondering last night as I pulled things from the freezer to defrost for the week...
I have some of Costco's delicious frozen ravioli left in there, but not enough for a meal by any means...

HOWEVER - it will be a perfect addition to a yummy chicken and veggie soup for tonight!!

I will just take some of my frozen chicken stock, toss in a couple of cubed chicken breasts, the end of the ravioli, and some herbs and veggies and *poof* problem solved and belly warmed...

My mouth is watering suddenly... and that Ruffio Libaio Chardonnay would be yummy with it too...

Come on clock, keep ticking .... I want to go home and cook!

Not living up to my usual standards...

..Maybe it is starting the new job here at work or something, but I have been downright shameful in the kitchen the past few days...

Modany night I made quesidillas on the George Forman and served them with white beans smashed up with some diced jalepeno; Tuesday it was Cheddarwurst and frozen diced potatoes with a palmful of herbs de provence sprinkled on top; and tonight I have an HOA meeting, and I am leaning towards leaving H's balsamic glazed steak and my salmon for tomorrow night and getting a pizza on the way home!

Culinary slacking - SHOCKING!!

(Good thing my asperagus is all safe in a Debbie Meyer green bag, it will last a few days longer while I get my mojo back on line..)