i have been spending an awful lot of time in the kitchen lately. i've always loved food and wanted to become a great cook. i have thought about taking lessons, but there just isn't enough time is my schedule right now. i watch all the cooking competition shows like top chef, chopped, the next iron chef... haha. i love them. i also try to catch some of my favorite chefs on food network from time to time to get inspired.
my friend tracy helped me pick out a nummy recipe the other night when i was having a hard time deciding what to make for dinner. she has a very impressive blog full of recipes and beautiful pictures. she is my kitchen super hero. i decided to make her grilled lemon chicken along with, roasted sweet potatoes and a heirloom tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella salad. sadly the market was out of fresh basil so i went without. dinner was so tasty and everyone (including my picky mister eater) gobbled it up. oh and the roasted sweet potatoes are a long time kiddo favorite. i've been making them since my littles were wee high and they love them. they are so easy to make too. if you have toddlers you should give them a try.
i apologize for the very dark kitchen and dinner photos i've been posting lately. the overhead light in our kitchen has burned out and we have to go to a specialty store to get a new bulb and well, we just haven't gotten around to it yet. so we eat by the light of a 60's bubble lamp. it creates a nice calming mood but sucks for photographs.
i had a little ichat with tracy later after dinner and we talked about pretty much everything under the sun. i love this girlie let me tell you. i picked her brain a bit about cooking and asked her for some cookbook suggestions... she was more than happy to help out. she sent me a long list of some of her favorites. they are all now waiting anxiously for me to buy them in my amazon cart. yesterday i had to run to target for a thing or two and spotted one of the books from the list in their book section. it was 30% off so i grabbed it...
it's by one of my very favorite cooks, ina garten. i've seen her show many many of times and just love it. her house in the hamptons is jaw dropping and her backyard garden is a dream. i'm sure you've watched. this book is so good. first of all there is a picture for every recipe. i strongly dislike when cookbooks don't show you what you're cooking. it's also full of very simple yet delicious recipes that i can see would be easy to put into my regular rotation of meals.
i am very excited to start planning new meals. tracy and i have decided to do a little joint dinner from this book. we just have to pick out the recipes, easier said than done when there are so many good ones to choose from. but i'll keep you posted.
do you have a favorite recipe to share? i'm always looking for new things to try. xo!
