This recipe is Eleanor approved.  (Note that all the good stuff is gone from the salad, and most of the lettuce remains)

This recipe was suprisingly good. Remember how I cooked a 24 lb turkey last December and froze it? Well I still have some. I have mainly been using it in thinks that have to be cooked as I worried the flavor would not be all there. I was wrong. I used some in this salad and the turkey complimented the dressing quite well. I didn’t make the bread, we had croutons instead. I also used more than just romaine. We have red lettuce and baby spinach that needs using up.

I am very excited to have leftovers of this tomorrow!

I love a little alliteration with dinner.

I have to say this was a favorite. Every person in the house liked it. That never happens. Ben liked he so much he ate the leftovers for two meals. Yeah, never happens. Perfect winter meal!

Peppery Pork Pinwheels
(The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)

3 small sweet red or yellow peppers, finelt chopped (we used red and green)
3/4 c finely chopped onion
3/4 c finaly chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
3/4 tsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp ground red pepper
3/4 tsp paprika
3 tbl vegetable oil (we left this out)
3 (3/4 lb) pork tenderloins
1 1/2 tbl fennel seeds crushed (we left this out)
1 1/2 tbl lemon-pepper seasoning

-Saute first 7 ingredients in hot oil until tender
-slice each tenderloin lengthwise down the center, cuttung to, but not through the bottom.
-Place each tenderlion between plastic wrap and pound to 12×8″ rectangle
-Spoon 1/3 of the pepper mixture onto each tenderloin, spreading within 1/2″ of the sides. Roll up and tie with heavy string (I didn’t need the string). Combine fennel seeds and lemon-pepper seasoning; run on top and sides of tenderloins.
-Place tenderloins, seam side down, ona lightly greased rack in a shallow pan. Bake, uncovers, at 325 for 1 hour or until meat reaches 160.
-Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

The best part? A whopping 164 calories per serving! (serves 10, or a family of 4 for a day or so)

I made these for Corbin’s class, I left out the expresso powder and the coffee considering these are for pre-K children. They don’t need the energy. Trust me. I used peppermint taffy from Whole Foods on the top of each one. The frosting was amazing and was very light, a nice compliment to the chocolate. I forgot to take a picture of the pretty ones, but you get the idea with a cast off .

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We got both of these tables for $15 total of Craigslist.  My grandma has something similar when I was a kid so I was very excited to ass these to my “antique” room.  A little bit of stain and they were good as new!  Ignore the couch, we returned it after a week .  I’ll post pictures of the new couch when I finally get the covers for the throw pillows done…..

All I have to say is yum. I saw this post and knew I had to try it. I don’t use box mixes so I used this recipe from Food Network. I also added an extra tablespoon of pumpkin to the icing to make it more orange, though it does not show in the picture. They were so moist and so good!

My only problem was that I used a pumpkin shaped cupcake pan and could not get them in the shape of a pumpkin. So they were funny looking, but they were for pre-schoolers. Pretty sure they did not care.

I don’t really like fennel, but this recipe also had shrimp and carbs, so I was willing to over look that. Ben could not find the large puff pastry so he bought mini ones. They worked great and turned this recipe into 6 servings, which is plenty filling. The fennel even tasted pretty good. Though it did not get the “goodest dinner ever” rating, I enjoyed it!

So I have not been very good at cooking this week, there are too many things going on in the evenings. I will be lucky to have 3 of the 5 recipes made this week. So I will carry over what does not get made.

“Mommy, this is the goodest dinner ever” -Corbin Glaser circa Monday night dinner

I really liked this recipe. I didn’t make the pasta, as I am boycotting that until I ge tthe pasta attachment for my kitchen aid. I bought the pasta from Costco, the spinach and cheese that is in the cheese area. Love it. It was a pack of two so I have big plans for a fatty sauce to go with the other pack. But back to this post. I left out the walnuts as they are really high in points and I don’t like them that much. I see no need to waste points on things I don’t like. I did not miss them. The apples gave a good flavor to the pasta. Super easy dish.

So overall I think it has saved up money and got me to try meats that I would not normally. Pork chops were one that we never buy, so the change was kind of nice. I am hoping overall this is giving me ideas to try things outside of my bubble.

This recipe is supposed to serve 4?? This is a 4 quart stock pot, full. So if you feel the need to eat a quart of soup this is 3 points. If you are not someone who feels the need to eat that much in one sitting, I would put this down as a 1 point soup. I ended up freezing most of it for later.

I can’t decide what would go good with it, cheese? tortilla chips? Any ideas?

I tried to get a picture of the yummy goat cheese, as you already know, photography is not my thing.

This was really very good. The goat cheese melted and the mustard was a great addition. Beats cheddar cheese in an omelet anyday!