Skinny Caeser Dressing

Personally, I love Blue Cheese Dressing...Marie's Blue Cheese Dressing to be exact. However,  there comes a time when you have to make a change for the sake of your waistline and arteries....and up until now, I really couldn't find anything that was a decent substitute. But this stuff is good...really good!  2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil in the whole recipe makes it artery friendly.

I adopted this from skinnytaste.com.  A blog I have mentioned several times.  I love her low cal stuff and I don't really like low cal stuff, so that's quite a compliment.
 I modified this recipe a bit, to increase the yield and I used anchovies paste opposed to a jar of anchovies.  Anchovy paste will last a good long time, a jar of anchovies...not so much.

The first thing my blogging muse, Rob said to me when I told him I made this is:  'ewwww Anchovies, I hate Anchovies!' (just want you to know, he said it like a girl).  Now I love Rob, but he doesn't  'do fish',  so I don't think he properly represents the  Anchovy.  Let me just say, if you do not use Anchovies in this recipe, I do not see the point in calling iti Caeser.   Caesar dressing IS all about the Anchovies. It is what made you fall in love with the dressing in the first place!  If  you choose to ignore me and make it anyway,  it will still be good, but it will not be Caesar, it will be Creamy Dijon with Lemon.  Do whatever, I'm  just sayin'...


Ingredients

1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 large garlic clove
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon anchovies paste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

Directions:
In a food processor or blender, add the cheese, lemon juice, garlic clove, mustard and  anchovies paste. Blend for about 20 seconds. Add the oil and yogurt and blend for another 30 seconds or so.

Makes about a cup.
 
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Chicken Enchilada's in Creamy Avocado Sauce

Another home run recipe from my pal Rob...he is a bloggers best friend!  Rob knows that the best recipes come from home cooks and he finds a lot of his favorites on Pinterest and, if they are a winner, he sends them on to me to post...like I said, a bloggers best friend! Rob found this recipe on  Closet Cooking. It is my new favorite blog.  He has some really easy, yummy stuff. 

I used store bought Rotisserie Chicken for these Enchilada's.    I'm mildly obsessed with Rotisserie chicken. (can you be 'mildly obsessed' or is that like being a 'little bit pregnant'?)  I've even dedicated a Pinterest Board to it, ( not to being a 'little pregnant' but to Rotisserie chicken...jeesh, where am I going with this???)

I modified this recipe slightly.   The original called for fresh Jalapeno.   I knew it would be too much heat for my family.  Turns out Rob excluded the Jalapeno as well and achieved the same great results.  But, if you want more heat, seed and chop a Jalapeno,  toss it in the food processor with the rest of the sauce ingredients.  Either way, give this recipe a try!

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Black Bottom Cupcakes

This is a tried and true recipe.  It has been around since at least 1982. And how do I know that?  I know that because my parents had a small restaurant and I used to bake these cupcakes every morning.  Yup,  just me and the crickets that found there way under our refrigerator from the pet store next to our restaurant...oh yeah, those were the days. Who wouldn't wanna eat at a restaurant with crickets and cupcakes?  We did serve Starbucks though, one of the first restaurants to carry it south of Seattle,  and I'm sure the first to serve it with crickets.

My little sister Kelli and I cooked and ran the restaurant. We were famous...famous for arguing all day and stealing beer all night.  I'm happy to say, we sold the restaurant after few years, we started buying are own beer and my sister and I are pretty good pals.

The good thing about running my folks restaurant is that it culminated  my love of cooking...the second thing is it taught me to never, ever, ever consider opening up a restaurant of my own!  It is back breaking work and unless you have a trust fund with an endless supply of cash,  I suggest you get a real job and feed your foodie needs with a food blog!  
Back to the recipe.   Super easy and no frosting required!

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Skillet Pasta with Italian Sausage

Another Skillet Dish recipe!  The working girl (and guy) has gotta love these.  One pan, a few common ingredients and dinner is on the table.

I adapted this dish from Country Cooks magazine.   A subscription I sometimes love.  Not all their recipes works for me, which is a bit bizarre since the entire premise of the show and magazine is that each recipe be honed to perfection...tried and retried, using every method possible until they reach recipe perfection! So why don't they work for me?  and why do I keep up my subscription and why do I continue to cook from it? 
I guess I keep hoping that one day, that nice man in the round glasses and bow tie will put out something that cooks up just the way he says!  I'll certainly let ya know if that ever happens...but in the meantime, I've performed my own 'test kitchen' on this recipe and it's pretty close to perfect!

You could certainly change this up a hundred different ways by using different pasta, meat and sauce but keep the liquid measurements the same or you might get some underdone pasta.

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