Alright…so I mentioned last week that I wanted to make homemade ricotta. There are a ton of recipes out there, all easy, but I chose the simple one that uses ONLY whole milk, salt and lemon. I went to Whole Foods and bought the cheesecloth necessary, and came home to get to work.

I got my milk simmering, put the lemon juice in it so it would start curdling…and then realized I DONT HAVE A SLOTTED SPOON! (It felt like a “taste the soup” moment from Coming to America)

How am I supposed to get the curds off the top of the milk if I dont have a slotted spoon? I tried using a spatula, I tried using a fork. Nothing. So, I’d say I got 6 curds total, sitting in my cheesecloth, and have a pot of what is now warm milk.

FAIL.

This is why I guess its good I’m getting married in 5 months. Slotted spoon on the registry..Check.

I was craving a Chicken Pot Pie the other day, but with my current diet, eating one that was made as they usually are (fatty, multiple sticks of butter, etc), was out of the question. I Googled low fat chicken pot pie recipes, and the first one that came up was on About.com. Each serving was 280 calories, 5.8 grams of fat. It wasn’t drowning in buttery goodness, but for a healthy Pot Pie, it was pretty good, and super easy too! Totally reasonable for a filling dinner. And now I get lunch tomorrow!

I may not be much of a cook on my own right, but man can I follow a recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken (white meat) – I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables – I opted for the peas, corn, carrot mix
• 1 10.75-ounce can 98% fat-free, reduced-sodium condensed mushroom soup - Campbell’s of course
• 1 cup reduced fat all-purpose baking mix – I used a healthy Bisquick
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 1 egg – I used egg beaters

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine chicken, frozen vegetables and undiluted soup in an 8 x 8-inch baking dish.

Whisk baking mix, milk and egg together until blended. Pour over chicken and vegetables. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Cut it, and enjoy! Seriously…It was delish.

Per Serving: Calories 280, Calories from Fat 52, Total Fat 5.9g (sat 1.7g) Cholesterol 89mg, Sodium 793mg, Carbohydrate 36.1g, Fiber 3.8g, Protein 21g

Courtesy of Mick and his genius in the kitchen, I had this for dinner this evening. Tasty for sure.

How he did it:

Corn tortillas

Ahi Tuna Steaks from Whole Foods – prepared in olive oil, salt, pepper and lime juice

Cole Slaw- 3 different shredded cabbage (red, white, purple), shredded carrot, kosher salt, pepper, olive oil mayo (the only way to go), lime juice, ginger, wasabi and garlic

With this new and improved (slowly) blog,  I have decided to incorporate different topics, even if they are not necessarily about kids or crafts. If the mood suits me, I will have new themed entries : What I had for dinner.

There will be a sense of DIY in these posts however, because they will all have to do with the meals that Mick and I had, all prepared by us.

This one, the goat cheese pizza with tomatoes, pesto and asparagus is likely my favorite home made pizza to date.

OK, so making your own crust is fun, and maybe you feel a sense of accomplishment when you do it…but don’t knock the Boboli. Seriously. Its 2g fat, tasty, and browns perfectly.

I will preface this by saying that I got the recipe out of a Weight Watchers book. Each slice is 7 points, and it yields 6 servings. This may, no will become a regular part of our diet. (I will discuss the meal plan that Mick and I are on at a later date).

1 Boboli
3/4 cup goat cheese
2 plum tomatos -sliced
8 asparagus spears
pesto – Mick made this, though store bought pesto would work too.

we put some sliced garlic on it as well

Cook for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, and if you are using a crappy oven like we were, and the olive oil drips off the pizza, your oven will catch on fire.

However, that fire made for a perfectly crisp, delicious dinner, and what will be a re-heated delight for lunch.

(originally posted August 20, 2009)