So as you all know, many of the conversations Kate and I have are about food, what we're making for the week, what we made last week that was delicious, what we want to try, etc.  So, because I was a slacker and didn't take photos of the things I have made thus far this week, I am simply going to provide the links to what I've made and give you my review.  It's basically what Kate and I do everyday on the phone so consider yourselves privy to our conversations.  JUST KIDDING. We don't take ourselves that seriously :)

Monday night:
The Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Chili

(This is Ree's picture.  Again, with the slacker thing, I forgot to take a pic)

My review: absolutely delicious.  I served this with cilantro, monterrey jack cheese, and avocado.  I highly recommend a dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top.  Mine was also a touch more liquid-y.  Oh, and I didn't have corn meal or masa to thicken this with so I used cornstarch and milk and it worked perfectly. Also, I roasted my chicken with the same spices she used in the soup (as opposed to boiling it) and shredded it by putting it in my mixer (which, shreds chicken beautifully). Served with cornbread. YUM.


Tuesday night:
Ina Garten's butternut squash risotto with greens

(as you can see, the greens were a little more buoyant, shall we say, than the risotto)

My review: light, healthy, and delicious for any occasion.  To me, risotto is proof that you don't have to cook with butter and cream to make something creamy and delicious.  Sure, those two ingredients make MANY things better, risotto being one of them, but are they always necessary to improve a dish?  I would argue that no, they aren't.  Because the arborio rice develops its' starchiness as you cook it, you really don't need much more than cheese to make it creamy.  Here is the recipe for this risotto.  One trick I must tell you about that I learned from one of my mom's friends: microwave your butternut squash wrapped in plastic wrap for around 2 minutes.  You're going to be peeling the skin, anyway, so the contact with the plastic wrap won't matter.  This process makes it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to cut that beast of a vegetable.  Thanks for that tip, Twila!

Wednesday night:

Robert Irvine's Red Curry

Forgive me, no pic.  

My review: Ok, so here's the situation: Wednesday night was a night where we were working with what we had, and I had the ingredients for Red Curry so that's what we ate.  It was good, not great.  However, in Robert's defense, I also followed the recipe incorrectly and so while it was perfectly filling (and moderately healthy because of the vegetables and cooking with the LITE coconut milk) I would like to try it again, and this time, follow it correctly.  I think this recipe had the potential to be great (it got 5/5 stars under its' reviews).  I definitely needed to add a squeeze of lime at the end, so make sure you do that if you make this!

Tonight: Chicken Parmesan 

I'll holler back later with the review!