Dining Alone

Fry's Walnut Taco Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:02:00 +0000

My local grocery store sends out little pamphlets with coupons and recipes a few times a month and they usually have some tasty looking food. I saw this recipe for a taco salad that used walnuts instead of meat, I thought it sounded really interesting and I knew I had some walnuts in my freezer. I am so glad I gave this a try because it ended up being delicious and I didn't have to heat up my kitchen cooking anything.

You will need some walnuts that have been soaking in water for 2-8 hours, cumin and cayenne or taco seasoning, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, tomato, sour cream and some lettuce.

I made my own guacamole, which is super simple. Chop up your tomato and onion.

Mash your avocado with some salt, lime juice and a pinch of cumin. Stir in the onion and tomato and you are done. So easy.

Get your walnuts in a mini chopper or hand chop them and mix with the taco seasoning.

Chop until its kind of a meaty chunky texture.

Put it on top of the lettuce and then add your other toppings.

The recipe said to put the sour cream in a plastic bag and snip off the end. I made too big of a snip and it didn't turn out looking as nice as I'd hoped, but I know now for next time.

All put together and ready to eat. This was surprisingly filling and delicious. The walnuts taste great with the taco seasoning and you will not miss the meat at all.

The Person Behind The Plate #4

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:06:00 +0000

While I wish I could say I sit at home all day reading and cooking, I do have a job that I have been at for almost 13 years. I work in tech but I actually went to school for English education. My first loves were reading and writing. I still love reading and do it pretty continuously but don't write a lot outside of this blog. This past week I read Under the Dome by Stephen King and if you have not read it I highly recommend it.

Here is a look at my 'to read' shelf (well, one of them) in my closet. I have taken out several of those books since the picture was taken.

I haven't made the jump to e-books yet, but I am sure I inevitably will have to.

What is the best book you have read lately?

Singapore-Style Rice Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:08:00 +0000

One of the blogs I enjoy reading regularly is written by Joanne who also contributes to Marcus Samuelsson's blog. She posted a recipe for Singapore Style Noodles and I had to give it a try because Tom has actually been asking me to make him some 'spicy noodles with vegetables'. So to find the recipe, please Click Here. Also click on Joanne's name to visit her site, she is hilarious and makes delicious food.

For this you will need some kind of noodle that you like, I prefer Somen. Onion, cooking oil that can cook at a high temperature (I use rice bran oil), curry powder (or whatever spice blend you like), green pepper, red pepper, cabbage, garlic, green onion, broth, mirin, soy sauce and brown sugar. A lot of ingredients, but this is super easy. Get some water on to boil and lets start prepping!

Chop your peppers. I scored pre chopped green peppers on Manager's special at my grocery store, so I didn't have to worry about those.

Slice the onion.

Chop the cabbage. I used bok choy and I didn't use much because Tom was a little scared of it.

Chop the green onion.

Measure your curry powder. Remember that most important part to a successful stir fry is have everything ready before you start to cook.

Prepare the broth mixture and mince your garlic.

Get everything prepped at the stove so you are not running around.

Drop the noodles and let them cook. Somen noodles only need about 3 minutes.

Bail them out and lets get stir frying!

Get the oil nice and hot and drop in the peppers and onions. The key here is to stir or it will burn. Cook these for 3-4 minutes or until they are soft.

Stir in the curry, garlic, and cabbage. Cook this for about a minute.

Stir in the broth and the noodles and let those cook for about 2 minutes, then stir in the green onion and you are ready to eat.

The spice blend I used was HOT as heck for me, Tom said he could taste the spice but it was not hot. But he said he would definitely eat this again, woo! Thanks for the inspiration Joanne!

Salad Days

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:23:00 +0000

Thank you all for the birthday and anniversary comments. I feel like I haven't cooked in weeks. I had not grocery shopped before our weekend 'away' and came home from that weekend and promptly got sick. This week I can't wait to start cooking again. I will be headed to the grocery store as soon as I catch up on what has been going on with all of my blog friends. Since I have been a slacker, I thought I would share an old post from the blog for a delicious salad since it seems like finally warm weather is upon most of the US. It is definitely here in AZ, today's high is going to be 110!

So if you want a quick salad that will fill you up and not heat up your whole house, check out this Steak salad with grapes and blue cheese.

What will be or was the highlight of your weekend?

Birthday and Anniversary Weekend at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 02:35:00 +0000

Last Thursday was my birthday and this past Sunday was our wedding anniversary. We decided to do a little 'stay-cation' at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. As a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright I have always wanted to stay in this hotel that he consulted on the design of. They really showcase his style throughout the hotel and grounds.

This is the front of the hotel, it is just gorgeous.

All of the grounds are just amazing to look at, they take such good care of it, which is hard in the desert!

This stained glass is in the main lobby, so bright and colorful.

In the evenings the pools were practically empty, so we really got to relax.

We tried some fun cocktails, including this one called Lavender and Lemons. The purple stuff in the bottom is candied lavender leaves.

This is a short rib macaroni and cheese that I got and I could not even finish half because it was so rich. But it sure was delicious!

Tom got fries and a taco, but it was a PORK taco, which he has never tried before. He liked it. (Sorry for the blurry phone pic)

We ended up getting pizza two nights in a row because it was so freaking good. We have ate at this restaurant a few times, so I didn't feel so bad getting pizza. Twice.

I hope you all are having a great week and if you ever get a chance to come to Phoenix I would definitely recommend the Biltmore!

Pineapple Basil Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 28 May 2013 20:03:00 +0000

This recipe comes from the cookbook called Thai Cooking and More that I picked up at a book outlet years ago. Every recipe I have tried from this book has been a winner, including this simple but delicious Pineapple Basil Chicken. I cut this recipe in half.

For this recipe you will need, chicken, pineapple, corn starch, a hot pepper, oil, garlic, basil, cashews, soy sauce and fish sauce.

The most important part of making a successful stir fry is to have everything measured and ready to cook before you even turn on a burner. Measure out your pineapple, juice and nuts.

Mix the corn starch with the pineapple juice.

Chop your pepper and your green onion.

Chop your basil, garlic and chicken.

Once everything is staged near the stove, you can start cooking.

First things in the pan are the chicken, garlic and hot pepper. Stir fry these for 3-4 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked, add in the green onion for another minute.

Stir in the pineapple and cornstarch mixture and stir until it thickens.

Add in the pineapple, cashews, basil, fish sauce and soy sauce. Let this cook for another minute or two and you are ready to eat!

Delicious and so simple. You could easily do this with mandarin oranges as well. I am definitely going to experiment more with this dish and make more recipes from that cookbook.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:54:00 +0000

Here in the US it is a long weekend for most of us. Memorial Day is often celebrated by grilling up some good food and spending time with friends and family. I love a good hot dog and burger, but if you are looking for something a little different you might want to check out these recipes for grilled curry salmon and macaroni salad. As you can see below, it looks delicious and is a nice change from the regular cook out food.

I hope you all have an awesome long weekend!

Favorite Things #52 - Cooking Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:47:00 +0000

I cook a lot more than I actually blog about, and I love Sundays when I can do cooking for the week and make a meal that doesn't need to come together quickly.

This is what my kitchen usually looks like on a Sunday morning.

By the end of the day it is all cleaned up again and ready for the week. This Sunday I made some Thai Meatballs with noodles that Tom actually ate with me and really liked.

I will share the recipe soon because I know I want to have these again soon!

The Deen Brothers' Marinated Chicken Gyro Wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:14:00 +0000

Have I mentioned that I have way too many cookbooks? My Mother In Law used to manage housewares at Dillards and they would get in a lot of celebrity chef cookbooks. She picked up a Deen Brothers cookbook and it has some really good recipes in it. The one I chose is a chicken gyro. I love all the flavors in a gyro and this just lightens it up by using chicken. Of course Tom would not eat this because of that vexing protein so this was cut in half.

This recipe is in two steps, the marinade and then the cooking.

For the marinade you need chicken, olive oil, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.

Cut your chicken into 1 inch pieces.

Get it in a bowl and add your garlic, I just used my garlic press to mince it.

Add in the oregano, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Cover it and put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

After it has marinated it is on to round 2, cooking and eating. Preheat your oven to broil and lets gather ingredients. You need pita bread, dill, onion, greek yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, tomato, cucumber and lettuce. I didn't have lettuce so it didn't make it on my gyro.

Chop your dill and onion.

Get the yogurt, dill, onion, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a bowl and stir to combine.

Get the chicken out on a tray, I used nonstick foil on mine for easy cleanup. Pop it under the broiler for about 6-8 minutes.

While the chicken cooks chop up your gyro toppings.

Smear your sauce on a warmed pita and you are almost ready to eat!

Get the chicken out of the oven and layer some on the pita with your veggies.

This was so good, and so easy to make. I made way too much sauce but Tom helped me take care of it by using it as a veggie dip for the leftover cucumber. If you don't make the whole sandwich I would definitely recommend making the sauce as a light and tangy dip.

The Person Behind The Plate #3

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:03:00 +0000

One of the main reasons I started this blog is because I love to cook and Tom is definitely not into food. When I first met him he lived off of chips, subs, nachos and pizza. There might have been a hamburger thrown in every once in a while with lots of fries. He was basically eating the dream diet of most 12 year old boys.

According to his Mom he has been picky forever. Everyone loves the story that even before he could talk he could tell the difference between orange juice brands and would fling his sippy cup down if it was not Donald Duck OJ.

I imagine the caption of this picture as, "What do you mean you don't like chicken?!" That would be Tom surrounded by family members at the dinner table.

Fast forward 35 years...

Yep, still does NOT like chicken. I figured that it was breaded and deep fried, who doesn't love that?! Him.

Over the last 13 years I have been slowly getting this food hater to at least try some new things, and the blog is here to share all of the wonderful things that he still isn't ready to try.

Andrew Zimmern's Ramen Noodles from People Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:01:00 +0000

I love magazines and have since I was a kid. Growing up the only magazine we got regularly was the TV Guide. When I was in junior high my sister got a job as a cashier in the local pharmacy and I would spend evenings there at a small card table reading all of the magazines in the store. I vowed that when I grew up and could afford it I would subscribe to every magazine I wanted. Well, one of the guilty pleasures from those days persists and I read People magazine every week. I was excited when they started including recipes and so far all that I have made turned out great. This recipe for Ramen Noodles is super easy and delicious, and guess what, Tom even ate it because I substituted beef broth for the chicken broth.

For this tasty soup you will need carrots, green onion, broth, soy sauce, ramen noodles (toss that nasty flavor packet), sesame oil, sriracha, ketchup, sugar, lime and an egg.

Juice your lime and whip up your egg.

Chop your green onion.

Get your water on to boil.

Measure out your broth.

Mix together soy sauce, ketchup, sriracha, sugar and sesame oil.

When your water is boiling drop in your ramen. I break mine up just so it is a bit easier to eat.

Ramen noodles only need to cook for a couple of minutes. Get them out and drain them and set them aside.

Put the broth into the pan.

When the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and stir in the soy sauce mixture.

Add the carrots and cook for one minute.

Slowly stir in the egg.

Add the noodles back in and let those cook for about a minute.

Get the pan off the burner and add in the lime and green onion and you are ready to eat.

This was so good, and spicy! Tom liked it too but said it wasn't hot at all. Apparently I am still a wuss when it comes to hot food. Tom also added a handful of peanuts because he wanted a little crunch in his soup. He said it was a great addition.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!

Corn Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:48:00 +0000

I love old cookbooks, the older and funkier, the better. I also love when I get a cookbook from a thrift or antique store and there are recipes tucked in the pages. This cookbook is the best of both worlds. It is an old cookbook and in the front are envelopes filled with clipped and hand written recipes. I was so excited to go through them all.

Here is what the actual cookbook pages are like, it seems like this was a build it over time kind of book, where you would get mailed new sections.

I decided to try one of the more simple recipes and I love a good casserole, so this was my first pick from this book. I cut this recipe in half.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lets grab some ingredients.

You need some corn, ground meat - I used chicken to lighten it up from the original recipe, tomatoes, green pepper, shallot or onion, an egg, bread crumbs and butter.

Chop up your veggies and melt your butter. You can also see my favorite seasonings hanging out in the back, garlic and paprika. I added those guys to the chicken while it cooked for some more flavor.

Break your egg and whip it up.

Combine your breadcrumbs and some butter to make the topping.

Now lets start cooking! Melt your butter in the pan.

Add in your meat, onions and pepper. You can add some garlic or other seasoning here if you want also.

Cook the ground meat until it is all browned.

Stir in the egg.

Make a layer of corn, I had a lot less corn than I thought, but that is ok. I was just cooking for me so it didn't have to be perfect.

Layer half of the meat mixture on top of the corn.

Add half of the tomatoes.

Repeat the layers and top with the bread crumbs. You can season the bread crumbs if you'd like as well. I am all about adding in flavor where I can.

Bake this for an hour and you are ready to eat!

This was tasty and unlike a lot of the old school casserole recipes there were no cans of soup involved. I am looking forward to trying more recipes from this fun little cookbook.

The Person Behind the Plate # 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:57:00 +0000

I suppose I will start at the beginning and tell you about where I come from, and why I am interested in food and cooking. I grew up in Western PA in a pretty rural area. My Mom passed away when I was pretty young so I was raised by my Dad, Grandmas, and some Aunts helped out as well. Nobody in my family was all that adventurous with food. I ate a lot of meat and potatoes, casseroles, spaghetti and regional food like Pierogies and Kielbasa. My Dad rarely cooked for us, he would make only a few things like steak, ribs and chili. He was definitely the person that got me into food, though. He was always eating 'weird' things like herring and crabs. He was so excited when we finally got some bigger grocery stores that could order him seafood. I can still picture him sitting at our kitchen counter with a half dozen crabs in front of him spread out on newspaper. I never was brave enough to try them but I recognized how happy this food made him. At about that time I started watching Yan Can Cook and the Frugal Gourmet on TV and really wanted to start cooking. I then went to college and was living in dorms and eating dining hall food with no access to a kitchen. Finally after I moved to Arizona I got cable, and I got the Food Network. I was hooked, and that is when I really got a passion for food, ingredients, cooking and eating.

My Dad passed away many years ago, and as much as I have learned and branched out since I was a kid, my last meal would definitely be his oven baked BBQ ribs.

Finally here is a photo of me with my older brother and sister, I am the one in the middle looking totally thrilled. I can only imagine someone tried to slip some cilantro in my milk and that face is the result.

I hope you all have a great week!

Michael Symon's Grilled Salmon with Shaved Carrot and Peanut Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:31:00 +0000

The weather in AZ the last few weeks has been amazing, sunny and warm most every day. This weekend we might hit triple digits but I really don't mind the heat. I took advantage of the great weather and did a little grilling of my favorite fish, salmon!

This recipe is from The Chew cookbook. If you have not seen The Chew it is a cooking show that airs on ABC and the hosts are Mario Batali, Carla Hall, Daphne Oz, Clinton Kelly, and my favorite, Michael Symon. I have eaten at two of his restaurants and his food is really good so I knew this recipe would probably be a winner. Preheat your grill and lets get cooking.

I must have been so excited to make this that I did not take a picture of all of the ingredients. The first thing you need to do is chop the onion. I bought pre shredded carrots but if you cannot find those go ahead and follow the instructions to shave up some carrots.

Toast your cumin seeds. Anytime you are toasting spices or nuts, keep a close eye on them as they can go from toasty delicious to burnt in seconds.

Toast your peanuts and admire that my stove is actually clean!

Mix together the carrot salad dressing ingredients.

Mix the dressing with the carrots, nuts, cumin, and onion. You were supposed to add mint to this but I wanted Tom to taste it and there is no way he would try it with mint in it.

Season your salmon with salt and pepper and brush or spray with olive oil.

Get it on the grill! My grill might need a little cleaning. On the left you can see Tom's steak that he was having for dinner. He has only started eating steaks within the last year or so, before he would only eat ground beef or fajita style beef. Of course he likes it cooked all the way through, which I find totally a waste of a good steak, but at least he is eating it. Leave your salmon alone for about 2-3 minutes and then give it a flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes depending on how thick the salmon is.

Get it off the grill and you are ready to plate.

Top the salmon with the carrot salad and enjoy. Tom loved the carrot salad and even asked me to make it again. I might have to change the name of this blog soon. I really loved this whole dish, it was colorful, simple, and delicious. Michael Symon comes through again!

Favorite Things #51 - Horseradish

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:26:00 +0000

One of the blogs I read often is My Bizzy Kitchen and today she had a lot of horseradish going on in her post. I love horseradish and have since I can remember. Recently I discovered that my favorite chip company from back East, Herr's, can now be found in AZ. I seriously had a moment in the grocery store when I saw them and may have squealed a little.

Of course I snagged this flavor, sorry for the blur but I wanted to include my little stalker in the background. Here is the amazing part, Tom tried these and he LOVED them. I always knew he would like horseradish if he would just try it and these chips were the perfect vehicle.

Are you a fan of horseradish, if so what is your favorite way to eat it?

The Person Behind the Plate #1

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:08:00 +0000

As I was contemplating what I wanted to do for my next themed posts, I realized I needed to think about what it is that keeps me reading other people's blogs. Clearly, I love getting great recipe ideas, looking at gorgeous food photos, and sharing my thoughts in the comments. But the blogs that I really love to read are the ones where you feel like you know the person who is writing the posts. I realized I don't even think my first name is on my blog anywhere, so hello, my name is Rhonda.

When I started this blog a lot of my followers knew me through my other blogs but now I have a lot of new readers who may not really know anything about me except that I love chicken thighs and my husband is afraid of most food. So I thought I would start a series where I actually share a bit about me, my family, and my life here in Arizona.

I hope you like this series and I look forward to sharing lots more food as well. To start, here I am with Tom doing one of our favorite things, watching baseball.

America's Test Kitchen Roast Cornish Game Hen with Cous Cous Stuffing

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:05:00 +0000

Game hens are so perfect for people that dine alone. They are easy to work with, portioned perfectly, and often on sale at a lot of grocery stores. This recipe from America's Test Kitchen's Cooking for Two cookbook is perfect for dining alone or for sharing with someone. Tom finds these little hens quite frightening, so he won't even be in the area when I am making them. But trust me, they are absolutely delicious. That being said, I cut this recipe in half.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and lets gather our ingredients.

You will need a game hen, of course, some broth, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, ginger, parsley, brown sugar, lemon, shallot or onion, cous cous, currants or cranberries, and pistachios or pine nuts.

The first thing to do is to toast the pine nuts or pistachios. Pay no attention to my dirty stove...

Chop up the onion or shallot.

Measure out your cinnamon and ginger.

Measure your broth, cranberries, and chop up your lemon. Prepping is the most important part of a successful meal. If you have everything ready you don't have to scramble.

Cook the shallots over medium with the cinnamon and ginger for about 3 minutes.

Stir in the cous cous and cook for about 2 minutes, this smells so good you won't believe it!

Stir in the broth and bring to a simmer, get it off the heat and cover it with a lid.

That is a lid in my house, Corelle has many functions.

Once that has hung out for about 5 minutes get it into a bowl and fluff with a fork.

Stir in the nuts, cranberries or currants, lemon juice, and parsley. Add some salt and pepper and you are ready to move on to your hen.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and place a rack on it. I am just using one of my cookie cooling racks.

Behold the little hen that terrifies my husband.

Stuff that bugger with your cous cous stuffing.

Cross the legs and tie them together. I have always just used embroidery thread to tie up my chickens and hens, I don't own butcher's twine. I am sure that there is some horrifying chemical in there but so far I have suffered no problems from doing this. Season the outside of your bird well and make sure it is breast side down on your rack. Put the hen in the oven for about 25 minutes.

While the hen is in the oven we can make the balsamic glaze. I made almost the full amount of this glaze because I knew I would love it. Measure out the ingredients.

Get the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat and let them simmer for about 2 minutes. It will thicken and reduce down.

Reserve some glaze for serving.

After 25 minutes pull the hen out and brush with glaze. Flip the hen over.

Brush the other side with the glaze as well. Put them back in the oven for about 20 more minutes. Having an instant read thermometer is a really good idea if you are making whole birds like this.

Crank the oven up to 450 degrees and pull the hen back out and give it one more glaze. Put the hen back in for about 10 minutes or until your instant read thermometer says 160.

Get the bird on a cutting board and give him one more balsamic bath with the glaze you reserved. Don't be alarmed if the hen looks a little over cooked, it is just the darkness of the balsamic.

I served this up with some asparagus and it was absolutely delicious and not nearly as hard as I had thought it would be. It is all about timing and making sure you have everything prepped and ready to use when you need it.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:25:00 +0000

After this week I think we all could use a little comfort food. I don't really have much to say about what happened in Boston because it makes no sense to me at all. I will just try to provide some comfort through food instead. I always go to my slow cooker when I want something warm, simple, and delicious. I am sharing this recipe from Taste of Home for BBQ Chicken Sliders.

I cut this recipe in half.

This recipe has you brine the chicken first, which I have never done before. Here is what you need for the brine. Liquid smoke, thyme, water, salt, brown sugar and some garlic.

Mix it all together and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Reserve some brine for later, put a lid on it and get it in the fridge.

Pour the brine over the chicken in a resealable bag. Put it in the fridge for about 18-24 hours.

When you are ready to put everything in the crock pot grab your reserved brine and your liquid smoke and add it with the chicken. Discard the brine the chicken was in. Put the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours.

Pull your chicken out, it should be falling apart at this point. I tasted the chicken and it was full of flavor even before adding the sauce.

Grab some buns and your favorite BBQ sauce.

Shred the chicken and get it back in the crock pot.

Stir in the sauce and let it heat through, about 20 minutes on high. While it heated I just made a quick side of some peas with salt and olive oil.

This is a great and easy comfort food dish that really has a lot of flavor. I will make this one again for sure, hopefully during a less crazy week.

Favorite Things #50 - Game of Thrones and Ommegang Brewery's Iron Throne Beer

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:51:00 +0000

This week I am combining two things into one post because they go hand in hand. Ommegang Brewery has brewed a special blonde ale called Iron Throne in honor of the book and TV series called Game of Thrones. I love this book series, I love the TV series and I love a good beer.

I am all ready with my sriracha popcorn, Iron Throne beer and Game of Thrones on the TV.

Are you watching this series or have you read the books?

Hungry Girl Fancy Fish Foil Packet

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:08:00 +0000

I am still loving the foil pack cooking method and several of you said you like to make fish this way. I gave it a try and it works perfectly, I can't wait to do more combos.

The recipe is again from Hungry Girl. Preheat your toaster oven or regular oven to 375 and grab some ingredients.

You don't need much for this meal, just some butter, parsley, garlic, salt, asparagus, a fish filet and some lemon.

Trim the woody ends off of your asparagus.

Slice up your lemon.

Mix the butter, parsley, garlic and salt in a bowl. I also added some paprika for flavor and a nice color enhancement.

Spray your foil with pam or grab a sheet of non-stick foil. Lay the asparagus out.

Top it with the fish.

Top the fish with the yummy butter mixture.

Cover with the lemon slices.

Fold up your foil packet and get it on a cookie sheet. Here is a quick youtube video I found of how to do the foil packets Click here for video. Put your packet in the oven for about 15 minutes for a thin piece of fish or about 20-25 for a thicker piece like the one I used.

Cut the foil packet to release the steam and then plate. This looks and tastes delicious with very little work and hardly any clean up.

I hope you all have a great week!

Best Thing I Ever Made - Guilty Pleasures

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:54:00 +0000

This is the last of the 'Best Thing I Ever Made' series, so I thought it better go out with a great recipe. The topic is Guilty Pleasures and mine is for sure cheesy pasta dishes. I love cheese and pasta and gooey casseroles so much, it is just perfect comfort food to me. This recipe is for Beef Noodle Casserole and it is so delicious. It came from Taste of Home magazine, which is always full of great comfort food meals.

It may not be the most gorgeous dish I have ever made, but it was absolutely delicious.

I hope you all enjoyed this series of posts. I am thinking for the next themed posts I do some retro recipes from some of my old cookbooks, does that sound fun to you guys?

Hungry Girl Buffalo Chicken Portabella Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:06:00 +0000

It is starting to get hot here in Arizona, this week we will have temperatures in the mid 90's. When it is hot here I hate turning on my oven so I start using my toaster oven more often. I have recently discovered Hungry Girl's foil pack recipes and they are perfect for making in the toaster oven. Another reason I like the Hungry Girl recipes is that most of them are for one or two servings. Today I am sharing a simple but super tasty foil pack using portabella mushrooms, one of my favorite foods.

Preheat your oven or toaster oven and grab your ingredients. You need some mushrooms, hot sauce, parmesan cheese, laughing cow cheese, some onion or shallot and some cooked chicken. You also need aluminum foil that is non stick or regular and some nonstick cooking spray.

Chop up your chicken.

Chop your mushroom stem and the shallot.

The recipe didn't say to do this but I scraped out the gills from the under side of the mushroom cap.

Mix together the chicken, laughing cow cheese, shallot and the mushroom stems.

Put the chicken mixture in the mushroom cap.

Top with the parmesan cheese.

Hungry Girl says to lay another piece of foil on top to make your pack, I just fold down the top.

Then I fold up the sides. Easy! Pop it in your pre-heated oven for about a half an hour. The only thing I don't like about this cooking method is you can't really smell your food cooking.

When it is done be careful of escaping steam, you can cut it with scissors to open easily and avoid steam burns.

I served this with some salad and it was delicious! The foil packs are a great idea for solo meals and there is hardly anything to clean up afterwards.

Do you cook in foil packs, if so what do you usually make?

Favorite Things #49 - Blogging Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 01:09:00 +0000

Earlier this week I came home to a package at my door which is always an awesome surprise. When I opened it I found a Pyrex divided dish in perfect condition...

Isn't it adorable? This is the Daisy pattern and I only have one piece in that set and it is one of my favorites. The package was sent by a friend that I know through blogging. We have never met but she was kind enough to send me this dish out of the blue just because she knew I would use it and love it.

I just wanted to take the time to thank Phyllis for the great package and to thank all of you that read and comment on my posts, it is what makes blogging so much fun for me.

The Best Thing I Ever Made - Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:26:00 +0000

This chicken dish is one that really hit home for me that I can make food at home that tastes even better than food at a restaurant. Granted this is just a quick Chinese stir fry, but it still sticks out in my memory as a triumph over my fear of making anything but the easiest of recipes.

The recipe is for Rachael Ray's General Tso's Chicken and it was absolutely delicious.

Do you have a dish you never thought you could make at home and you pulled it off?

Crispy Onion Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Dining Alone) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:10:00 +0000

This recipe is brought to you by my husband's love for french fried onions. We always have a can in our pantry and I have never used them. Well one day at Sam's club he decided he needed the giant bag of fried deliciousness and I have been staring at them in the pantry ever since. I came across this recipe in Taste of Home and decided to give it a try.

You don't need much to make this dish, just some chicken, worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, ground mustard, butter and a GIANT bag of french fried onions. Ok, a 6 oz can will actually work. Preheat your oven to 350, grease up a baking dish and lets get cooking.

Melt your butter and add in the worcestershire sauce, garlic, mustard and salt and pepper.

Crunch up your onions and get the butter mix in a shallow dish.

Roll the chicken through the butter.

Roll the chicken through the onions.

Pop the chicken in your greased baking dish and pour the remaining butter mixture over the chicken. Bake this for about a half an hour and prepare a side while it cooks.

I tried these Trader Joes asparagus that are in their freezer section. They were ok, a little too mushy for my taste.

Get your chicken out of the oven and plate it up.

I just squeezed some lemon juice on the asparagus and I was ready to eat. The chicken turned out crispy and delicious and the leftovers made an awesome stir fry later in the week.