Food Network is Dangerous

I love watching Food Network.

I blame my 15-year old daughter for getting me hooked on programs like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and the Canadian version, "You Gotta Eat Here" and other programs that catch my attention. I say "blame", but I'm quite glad she started watching it and said it was really good and got the rest of us watching it.

But, it is dangerous.

Dangerous because it gives ideas. Ideas to my daughter of her one day opening a diner of her own (she's already decided it will be a gluten-free diner). Ideas of what we could be eating instead of what we are eating and feeling rather blah about eating the same ol' same ol'.

This danger does come with a good side: My daughter and I will be spending more time trying gluten-free recipes and other things she thinks she might potentially try to serve in her own place one day, and feeling very tired when it came to supper and not knowing what the heck to make today, I put together something I've never made and didn't even really have a recipe to go off of. (I'm finally learning at the tender age of 38 to be a little more experimental in the kitchen!) I forgot to take a picture, naturally, but it turned out very good, with even my husband commenting after supper, "That was really good!" Yay! Even my picky son, who was clearly worried at first because he didn't take much, ended up going back for seconds.

What was it? Well, I wanted to make chicken, peppers and onion kabobs and bake them. (We still have snow on the ground. Barbecuing can be done, but...) I looked in the cupboard and the skewers we have had for years are apparently completely depleted. So, I took my new-found Food Network knowledge and put it to good use. I heated up the pan before putting in the oil (I have no idea why you're supposed to, it was just said on one of the episodes today :P), cut the chicken somewhat like if I were making kabobs, put that in, let it cook a while. When it was nearly cooked (another thing I learned from Food Network today), I put in the pieces from a red pepper and and orange pepper, also cut as though I were making kabobs. I then quickly found the red onion that I bought weeks ago for a recipe I was going to try (and haven't a clue which recipe it was now...), cut some large pieces, threw them in and turned the heat up even more. This helped all the pieces get some browning on them, like they were being grilled. I added some Braggs soy seasoning and honey (from a kabob recipe I found online), cooked it a little longer, and served it over rice. There wasn't much seasoning because I didn't put enough Braggs and honey, but it was very good. And I could easily make a veggie version with mushrooms instead of the chicken. The best part was it was sooo simple to make!

The next step in this whole process: Get my 15-year old in the kitchen with me more regularly so she can be doing the cutting and cooking and all that. (I left her off the hook today since she wasn't feeling well!)

Super Simple Veg Supper

We went on a field trip today, then spent some time outdoors and by the time we came back in and I did this and that and realized it was getting late and I didn't have any supper plans... I didn't know what to make for supper. I looked in the cupboards and came up with something super, super simple. And as veg as you want it:

*cook and drain spaghetti (or your choice of noodles)
*dump in casserole dish and mix with Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce
*sprinkle some Daiya mozzarella cheese over top (or, if you live in my household, split it up so that there is one casserole with regular mozza and then a little casserole for yourself with the Daiya)
*put in oven on 375 for however long you need (sorry, it's still cooking, so I don't know. :P 20-30 minutes?)

Serve with a salad and maybe some garlic bread (well, we do garlic toast: toast some regular bread, put dairy-free margarine on it and sprinkle with garlic powder).

Veg meals don't have to be complicated! :D (Yes, I'm reminding myself of that! lol)