A melt-in-your-mouth selection from Outback Steakhouse. Wood-fire grilled Ahi Tuna. Perfection.

room to grow...

Dinner a few nights ago consisted of rice, a can of cream of chicken soup, and cubed chicken breast. Toss it all together, adding pepper and Italian seasoning, and there's your dish! I honestly ate it just like that with no sides, but next time I'll do it right with sides and the whole bit. =)

Ooh...and last night we had rotisserie chicken with mac n cheese and green beans...yum-o.

Black Bean Lasagna from BHG

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beans/black-bean-lasagna/

I haven't tried this yet, but it looks so good and I thought I'd go ahead and share...

Dinner:

Tilapia:
~tilapia fillets
~(about 1tbsp per fillet) evoo (confused right now?) =)
~thyme
~pepper (red or black--very little if red)
~splash of anything else green in your cabinet...
~squirt of soy sauce
Heat pan (for about 30-40 seconds), add oil, then fish...cover both sides w/oil, then allow to begin cookng on med. Season up-side, flip, lightly season other side. About 1 minute before it's done, splash some soy on top, but mostly around the sides of the fish and let it cook in just a little bit.
Tip: if using red pepper, do NOT sprinkle onto fish directly from bottle! Try sprinkling on palm, then lightly blow it towards the pan and allow it to fall on fish. If you can barely see some on there, it's perfect.
Note: fish does like to fall apart when you flip it...be sure to use a big enough spatula and get it turned in one, swift motion.

Serve w/ rice, any veggies... beans, corn on cob, gr beans, asparagus, parsley potatoes, etc...

Wanna try it!

Want a random bit of useless information?
...In 2007, OKC was the fast-food capital of the U.S. and ranked in the top 10 in '99, '03, and '06(tied for No. 3 with Memphis and Charleston/Huntington, West Virginia. in '06)...
...Oklahoma City ranked No. 15 in the latest survey of "America's Fattest Cities" by Men's Fitness magazine...
...Portland [Oregon] (about the same population as OKC) residents are among the least frequent patrons of fast-food establishments in the nation, along with Anchorage, Boston and Portland, Maine...
Very random, I know...but you love me for it...and you think about what you're stuffing as you read this.

And, to balance out your craving for McDonald's fries right now, I'll give you a recipe for an alternative side from one of my new favorite sites: www.recipegoldmine.com

Dijon-Roasted New Potatoes
Coating the potatoes in Dijon mustard and a small amount of olive oil helps make them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
1 spray cooking spray 1 teaspoon
olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 pounds uncooked new potatoes, quartered
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Whisk together oil, mustard, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl; add potatoes and stir to coat.
Transfer potatoes to baking dish and roast 15 minutes; stir and roast until tender on inside, about 15 minutes more.Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.
3 Points(weight watchers); 4 servings

It wasn't me...

If you saw some girl on the VegAll website typing her home address into the recipe of the month section, it wasn't me. It was some other chick with totally rockin hair and Converse shoes (which, btw, are the number one selling shoe of all time and came out in like 1917!) But it wasn't me so I don't know that bit of useless information about Converse.

Veg-All Mysteries

The question has been asked:

WHAT IS "VEG-ALL?"

This time it was asked by my sister, cilla, in a comment on this blog. About a month ago, I was the one asking that question when my husband told me to pick up a can of it at the grocery store for his soup.

Based on that experience, I have a definition for you - mixed vegetables in a can.

But even my answer begs the question, what is veg-all, really?

So, I looked it up. A little self-organized research project

with the help of... *drumroll* ...google.

My findings are as follows:

My personal definition is acurate, nearly to the letter - Canned mixed vegetables.

Based on my recent experience at the grocery store, I know how hard it is to shop for something you've never seen before, so I thought I'd be generous today and let you

have a peek before you seek.

This is to what I refer when I say "veg-all."

Upon conductiong an extensive search, however, I found that there are other species of this can I so recently discovered. One information specialist put it this way:

"When you think of Veg-All, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a can of our original mixed vegetables; that delightful combination of corn, peas, beans, potatoes, celery, carrots, and lima beans in a light onion broth.
But many of the same delicious vegetables that come together to create Veg-All's original mixed vegetables are also packaged individually, making them the perfect choice as a recipe ingredient or delicious side dish."

(www.vegall.com/products/)

I also discovered that, in addition to the original mixed vegetables, they also make Hot n' Spicy as well as Cajun mixed vegetables.

After all of this interesting information found it's way to my computer screen, I couldn't help but wonder, "what do the people think about this product line?" Based on my findings, I am convinced that Veg-All is "one of America’s most cherished products" and is "the greatest canned food in existence." After all, any food that has people saying that it is “engagingly good!” wins my vote in the election.

Perhaps the most interesting find is that the festivities go far beond canned vegetables. As any respectable canned food company does, Veg-All has their own website with favorite recipes for you to enjoy. But they go just a bit further. There is a recipe of the month club that, if you give them your name and address, they'll send you a recipe straight to your house. And now, they even offer a Veg-All recipe box for ONLY $7.50!

HURRY! Quantities are limited!

No, really...read it. It's well worth your time and you'll come away wondering what it would look like in your kitchen!

http://vegall.com/special/

Don't forget, there is a link where you can leave feedback and share your e-pinions with the Veg-All family.

And finally, Veg-All is owned by Allens.