But I don't like salads!!!

It's true. If the measure of being a girl is dependent on me loving and always eating salads...then someone's gonna be revoking my girl card any minute now, although my shoe collection might just save me. I just don't like them. I like the stuff in salad, just not lettuce in general.

Like most things in life there is an exception. There's a bar/restaurant in Houston called Cedar Creek Bar and Grill. It's one of a family of 4 bars/restaurants and this particular one is my favorite. Anyway, at Cedar Creek there are 4 things I love to eat: the Wimberley Salad, the Hill Country Burger, the French Fries, and the BLT. Yep, there's a salad on that list. Sometimes I go there and order the Wimberley Salad with a side of fries. I'm soooo not a typical girl.

The Wimberley Salad is baby spinach topped with applewood smoked bacon, dried cranberries, blue cheese and red onions. Hello! All tasty treats. I usually add grilled shrimp to it because Sarah G. now has me well-trained to eat lots of protein. (Aren't you proud, Sarah?)

Tonight I decided to duplicate this salad at home. Now, there's no real recipe, but I can certainly share the steps and the final result...wanna see?

Start by soaking your skewers if they're wooden! Wouldn't want them to burn on the grill!!!

Rinse the baby spinach -

Dice the red onion -

Cook the bacon - (anybody sick of watching me cook bacon yet? No? Good, because I'm a pork fat kind of chick! ;D )

Devein and shell the shrimp and then thread it onto the skewers-

GRILL!!!! I love this part....can you tell?

And the final salad? And, yep, that's a Cape Cod ready to drink in the background. ;D

Oh, and I like it topped with this Cranberry Balsamic Dressing but you can use whatever you like best.

Tonight's Sous Chefs....

The weeone, as always -

Lucy (my parent's puppy that I'm puppy sitting) and Maggie (our dog) -

That dinner was....yum....but can someone bring me a side of fries?

K. Thanx.

Fall...My favoritest time of the year!

All of the seasons have one name, except for Fall. It's so special it gets two! So no matter whether you call it Fall or Autumn - it's a great time of year. Now, granted, in Houston, TX we get no "leaf peeping" or "crisp, cool air", but we do get a break from the heat. And, I find that if I venture out early in the morning I can pretend that I'm still back in Pennsylvania and it's a Fall afternoon!!!

This morning the breeze was great, so the weeone and I trekked out around 7:30 to head to a local produce market. If these sights look familiar it's because I blogged about this market about a year ago in Fruits and Flowers and Veggies, Oh my! We visit this market about once a month, but always find ourselves here when it's time to buy pumpkins! The back lots are full of vendors with pallet after pallet of pumpkins of every size, shape and color. We ended up with about 15-20 total. Yippee for pumpkins!

So, today we bought pumpkins and squash and strawberries and green onions and spinach and apples for bobbing and all sorts of other goodies. I love it here, but it's such a great experience for the weeone, too. She's at an age now that there are certain foods she'll ask if we can get, so I hand her some money and off she goes to negotiate with the vendors...it's a math lesson sometimes, that's for sure!

So here's a few sights from the market and few sights from our prep for our Pumpkin Carving Party tomorrow. Fun, fun morning. Now for a nap!

Garlic...it's not just for warding off Vampires!

Apparently, there are those who think that garlic will ward off Vampires. In this house, we know better. But we have all sorts of super secret intel on vampires around here, well, just once particular group of sparkly vampires... but I digress.

Garlic. It's what's for dinner most nights. The weeone loves it as much as I do, so we use it a lot and in almost everything. I will say it hasn't made it's way into cakes or muffins, but I fear it's just a matter of time. Will someone come have an intervention with me if I post about garlic cookies or a garlic chocolate cake? K. Thanks.

I had some flank steak and the weeone said Friday night is a good night for Chinese (it's like she's my kid or something). So our Garlic Beef Two Ways was born.

I started out with about a 1 pound flank steak. I sliced it against the grain in about 1/2 inch strips and trimmed so they were no more than about 2 1/2 or 3 inches long.

Then onto the sauce. I sliced green onions....

...while the weeone combined soy sauce, a bit of sugar, dark sesame oil, and tons of minced garlic. The green onions were added to the sauce and then poured over the cut flank steak. We prepped this early so we put it in a storage container and stashed it in the fridge for a while.

When tummies started rumbling, the weeone took to cooking some rice (she's now rice proficient) and separating red leaf lettuce for me.

Meanwhile, I heated some oil in a cast iron skillet. I don't have a wok. I used to, but when you live in a 1940's cottage, space is valuable and I found I didn't use the wok often enough to warrant storing it. I'm sure a Chinese food chef would argue it's necessary, but, well...I don't lose arguements often, so I'll just do it my way, thanks!

In went the beef and sauce, and I stirfried it for about 4-5 minutes. I decided to throw in some shredded carrots near the end just because I had them and orange is a pretty color. I know. I'm easily distracted by shiny objects. I can't help it.

The finished product? Well the weeone is lettuce-free - a bed of rice with garlic beef...and the big clothespin-like cheater chopsticks. ;D

My way? Red leaf lettuce topped with a bit of rice then the beef mixture. Colorful, tasty, perfect.

Garlic Beef - 2 Ways

Serves 4

3/4 pound flank steak

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

2 1/2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

1 1/4 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

Canola Oil for stirfrying

4 cups cooked white rice

16 leaves Red Leaf lettuce

Cut the flank steak across the grain, at 1/2 inch intervals. Combine the steak slices with the green onions, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and sesame oil. In a cast iron skillet or wok, heat a tablespoon of canola oil. Stirfry steak mixture 2-4 minutes or until meat is cooked through. Add 1/4 cup rice, 3 slices of steak plus sauce to a leaf of lettuce and roll up to serve.

Serving Size - 4 filled leaves

Cal: 498, Fat: 14.8 (sat. 2.7g, mono 6.8g, poly 3.3g), Protein: 25.2g, Carb 62.2g, Fiber: 3.2g, Chol: 28mg, Iron: 8.7mg, Sodium: 581mg, Calc: 88mg

What do you expect from an Italian Chick?

The Weeone and Pasta Face - Who can resist?

Pasta. That's what you should expect. Yes, we had Mac and Cheese last night. Yes, we had pasta again tonight. It's my right as an Italian. Plus, I have applewood bacon on hand and when I have something in the fridge that I don't always keep on hand I try to use it in as many recipes as possible. And as a result, tonight's meal? Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon

Now, we're trying to eat pretty healthy in this house so you might think that means no rich and creamy foods. Sarah G. would tell you otherwise, right Sarah? She'd tell you everything in moderation and with proper portions in mind. She'd also tell you that if you deprive yourself you'll eventually cave. What do I have to say about it? It sounded good and I have a fairly healthy version that's quite tasty....that's what I have to say about it.

To start, I boiled some fresh fettucine and reserved 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. I think fresh pasta is better than dried. It tastes better, cooks quicker, and did I mention it tastes better? It does. Buy it. Or if you have more free time than I do, make it (and then bring me some, mkay?).

Next...applewood bacon. I know, you've seen this process before...so I used a different pan and cut the slices in half. Doesn't that make it infinitely more interesting? Aren't you captivated?

In the pan with the bacon drippings I added a teaspoon of minced garlic. Now I have a great garlic press. It's from the Pampered Chef and it works wonderfully, but ever since I found this jarred minced garlic, my press has been put out to pasture. It's just easier and it's just as good. So, if you're short on time, skip the garlic hands and go for jarred!

Once the garlic had done its solo dance in the pork fat, I let a tablespoon of flour join the fun, stirring constantly. You're basically making a roux with these three ingredients to start as the base of your alfredo sauce.

Once I had my roux smooth and bubbly, I slowly added 1 cup of milk - I used 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup fat free half and half. Again, keep stirring on this step. No one likes scalded sauce!

I reduced the heat once the sauce was bubbling and added 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, stirring it until the cheese melted completely.

The end was in sight when I added the 1/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid, stirred it in and then tossed the fettucine in to coat it thoroughly.

When I plated the pasta, I topped it with the applewood bacon crumbles and fresh parsley. From start to finish? 25 minutes. Perfection. Serve this with a fresh Romaine salad and dinner is sublime!

Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated fresh fettuccine
• 2 slices applewood-smoked bacon, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
• 2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.

2. While pasta cooks, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings. Add garlic to drippings in pan; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Sprinkle flour over garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly; cook 2 minutes or until bubbly and slightly thick, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Gradually add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in salt and reserved 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add hot pasta to pan; toss well to combine. Sprinkle with bacon, parsley, and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

339

Fat:

11.7g (sat 5g,mono 3.8g,poly 0.7g)

Protein:

17.3g

Carbohydrate:

38.4g

Fiber:

2g

Cholesterol:

22mg

Iron:

0.5mg

Sodium:

833mg

Calcium:

291mg