Enough about me, what do you think about me?

You need to know a few things about me to appreciate my posts about things that make me happy. Firstly, I am crazy about my four daughters, Gwynne (26), Rebecca (23), Anna (20) and Meghan (17). Secondly, I am incredibly frugal at heart (ie. CHEAP). I think I inherited this quality from my parents... and I'm not ashamed of it :). Thirdly, I love to make things with my hands. While my girls were little, my only creative outlet was cooking, but now that they are all growed up (boo hoo and yay yay) I have become super crafty and over the weeks, I hope my blogs will reflect that. And finally, I LOVE FOOD! This worked well for me all my life until I turned 45 (nine years ago) at which point my love of food began to catch up to my tall lanky body (which is still tall and lanky but with a inner tube around the middle... ) Ah well, life is short and you can't change a live to eat person into an eat to live person!

So this blog is about my favorite meal this week. So, I made Carolyn Reed's California chicken this week - YUM and served it over Farfale, my favorite pasta. The recipe is:

Boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders thawed (you can cut these in chunks if you want) and placed in roasting pan
One can of artichoke hearts drained and cut in quarters add to chicken
Pour one batch of good seasonings italian dressing (made from envelope) over those.
Marinate for a while.
Add: one can of diced tomatoes, one cup of pitted kalamata olives (or fresh button mushrooms or both)
Sprinkle one envelope of onion soup mix over all and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Serve over pasta with fresh grated Parmesan.

But there is more!  After eating leftovers of this 2 times, I felt like I couldn't serve it again. So... I mixed the small amount left with 3/4 of a jar of leftover vodka sauce. I spread a cup of Basmati rice in a 9X13 in pan and poured 1.5 cups of water over it, I added my leftover "sauce" evenly on top, covered with foil and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, I followed my friend Lynne's recipe for eggplant. Slice eggplant about 3/8" thick, spread each slice with mayo then top with 1/2 T Parmesan (from a can works well for this) and 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning. Bake for about 20 minutes until soft.

Served together with a nice lightly dressed green salad and voila! Frugal meets delicious.