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Vegetable-and-Cheese Strata

This is very tasty and simple to make, especially because all the prep work is done ahead of time. Don’t worry if it looks as if there’s very little egg compared to the veggies, cheese and bread: it all bakes up nicely. One note: I substituted a few shallots for the onions in the recipe […]

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Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake

I’m not a big fan of smoked cheese so I don’t know why I thought I might go for this recipe. It’s sort of like going on a date with someone you know you only like as a friend: kind of pointless and a little bit sad. Ok, it’s not that it’s bad. There ARE […]

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Chocolate Haystacks

I’m averse to most low calorie dessert recipes. The majority of them are based on Cool Whip (which I’ve never been a fan of) mixed with other, powdered stuff. Peanut Butter “Mousse” = Cool Whip + dehydrated peanut butter.Oreo Fluff = crushed Oreos + sugar free instant pudding powder + Cool Whip.This one (scroll down) […]

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Glazed Chicken with Carmelized Onions

Mmm, mmm! Steamy chicken goodness. The original recipe is called Caramelized Onion Chicken but, frankly, this recipe doesn’t have enough onions in it to justify that name. I doubled the amount of onions called for, and it still was pretty skimpy. So if you like onions (and I do), throw in two to three medium […]

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Stovetop Mac-n-Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes

Two things I have been doing far too much of lately: Watching The Real Housewives of Orange County and craving, then eating, cheese. The former will be soon remedied (Housewives‘ season is ov-ah! but lives on in reruns & TiVo) and the latter: oh, I don’t know. I’m not usually a big fan of cheese […]

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Roasted Balsamic Sweet Potatoes

If I had to marry a vegetable dish, this would be the one: Mr. Right. Roasting these sweet potatoes with a bit of balsamic, butter, and brown sugar gives a greater depth of flavor to their sweetness while adding complexity and a hint of richness. Simply put, they are superb. Run, run, run to the […]

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Simple Roasted Asparagus

It’s a gorgeous day. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, it’s going to get up to SIXTY degrees today! (I didn’t wear a coat to work.) The promise of spring is in the air, even if it’s only going to get into the 30s tomorrow. So let’s celebrate with early season asparagus! Roasting […]

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Chicken, Corn & Black Bean Stew

This is an adapted Everyday Food recipe and, I must say, it’s a very nice winter meal that comes together fairly quickly. (It’s also the first recipe I cooked using my new toy — a non-enameled Chefmate Dutch Oven. Only $25!) The recipe calls for lima beans (yeeccch) and Worcestershire sauce (none in the house) […]

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Dark Chocolate Chunk Banana Cake

This is a community recipe from the WW recipe board (“From the kitchen of JOANNA_K”) and is one of the few that doesn’t use margarine, cool whip, or instant sugar free pudding. (Margarine, cool whip, or instant sugar free pudding: sounds like a Sandra Lee recipe, doesn’t it?) The only problem was that the recipe […]

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Vegetarian Chili

On Monday, I played with a Goya recipe and came up with veggie chili. Now, I am not a fan of veggie chili. I don’t usually think chili isn’t chili until it has pounds of artery clogging (yet responsibly raised) beef in it. And kidney beans? No thank you. But maybe I’m changing my tune. […]

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