Get in my belly!

For a skinny b*#%h, I really love to eat. Like, really. Snacks before dinner. Seconds of dinner. Dessert. And then the second dessert that I sneak after hubby goes upstairs to shower. "Hmm? What cookie crumbs? Honey, I really think your age is starting to affect you.." I've already opened the one bag of Easter candy we got to put in plastic eggs. I'm an addict. Luckly, I also really enjoy (now that I know how) to cook. For one thing, it's the one time during the day that I get to myself. No little monkeys or monkey daddies in the kitchen while Mommy is cooking. Do not test me. ;) Also, sometimes I cook with wine. Like, in the sauce. Like a glass full, right? I mean, it's in the recipe...
I also enjoy taking pictures. I'm really inexperienced, and have never really taken the time to sit down with my camera and figure it all out. But it still makes me happy. So I like to cook, put wine "in my sauce", and take pictures of dinner. Kenz is going to grow up thinking that before any meal is served, it must be properly photographed. It's like saying Grace in our house. Anyway, I've collected some foody shots and thought I'd share them, as well as brief recipe descriptions, with you guys. And no, I'm totally not eating cookies as I write this. They have lemon in them, so I'm counting it as a serving of fruit. Several servings.

Cheesy Polenta Sausage Bake
Ingredients:Packaged polenta, sliced
sausage, I use vegetarian, italian style
one green pepper
onion
handful grape tomatoes
mozzerella cheese
vodka sauce
olive oil
fresh basilSlice polenta, dice half the onion, shred the basil and put in baking dish, drizzle with olive oil. Broil on high, until onions look brown on edges.

Meanwhile, add sliced sausage and the other half of onion, roughly chopped, to skillet. Cook until cripsy brown, adding diced pepper toward the end.

Add sausage mix to polenta, slice tomatoes, and pour about half a jar of vodka sauce over. Top with mozzerella cheese (mmm, use plenty!) and bake, at 375, until cheese is bubbly.

Top with fresh basil, and invite me to dinner.

The next dish is a Barefoot Contessa recipe. I think it's meant to be a side, but it has all the dietary needs of an entree, so we eat it as such. And it's so pretty.

Lemon Orzo with Roasted Vegetables and Feta
Ingredients:
Orzo
Feta, cubed
two non-green bell peppers, roughly chopped
two japanese eggplants, roughly chopped
red onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced
pine nuts
fresh herbs, chopped
additional fresh basil, shredded
lemons
olive oil
Add all veggies, garlic, herbs, and olive oil to roasting pan. Roast at 425 for 40 mins.
Meanwhile, cook orzo- al dente.
Combine orzo and roasted veggies in bowl, making sure to get all the gooey brown pan-leavings.
Add juice from two lemons, fresh basil, salt, pepper, toasted pine nuts, and cubed feta cheese.

I guess I forgot to say grace that night, as I don't have a picture of this plated- but I put fresh rosemary sprigs on top and lemon wedges to the side. It's a good spring/summer dish and I believe we ate this with sangria.
Lastly, what we had for dinner tonight:


I don't actually have a recipe for this, nor preparation pics, but it's pretty self explanatory. Broiled Ono (fish) fillets, on greens, with a sauce of lime, teriyaki, a touch of beer (really, just for the sauce!), some chinese 5-spice, and salt/pepper. I cooked this with mushrooms and added mandarin oranges in the pan towards the end. The side is wild rice Inari (stuffed sweet tofu skin.) The fish was a tad overcooked, to be honest, but eating it with the sauce and juicy oranges made it ok. The preperation was a definite keeper, though it was originally supposed to be Ahi, and I should've stuck to the plan.

And for those of you who skipped all the food mumbo-jumbo looking for that picture of MacKenzie, here it is. This is what I do to little girls who come into the kitchen while I am cooking.......