pomegranate martini

25 Şubat 2013 Pazartesi

Better than Wendy's Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

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Once upon a time I was fortunate enough to live next door to a Wendy’s. I bought dinner there just about every night. Why? Well, I was a 20 something, it was close, it was cheap and I had a love affair going on with the honey mustard dipping sauce. A double stack with cheese plain, a value fry and 3 honey mustard dipping sauces was dinner almost every night. All for $2, thankyouverymuch!

I used to just dip my fries in the sauce. Then one day it occurred to me that if I ordered the burger plain, I could dip it in the sauce too. Oh how I love that sauce. To date, I have never found a honey mustard dipping sauce at a fast food place that I like. Nothing can compare. I remember before they started charging for sauce, I would even get extra and store them in my pantry.

You would be surprised at all the things that can be dipped into honey mustard and how many sandwiches are so much better with honey mustard. Well, last week I made chicken nuggets for Munchkin. She asked for some “dippin’ sauce” and quite frankly the thought of ketchup and chicken nuggets kinda makes me gag.

I remembered bookmarking a recipe for honey mustard that looked promising. I was skeptical, but oh my, it is better than I hoped for. That honey mustard sauce is sweet, mustardy, and perfectly delicious. We devoured the whole first batch and made a double batch after dinner. I was hoping for a copycat of Wendy's. It is even better than that. I have big plans for that honey mustard sauce. Just wait until you see what I did with it next!

Enjoy. With love from our Kitchen Table to yours. XOXO

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Don't miss our favorite dipping sauces! Click on the link or the picture to open in a new window.

Light Blue Cheese Dip is loaded with herbs and spices. Creamy and flavorful, they will never know its light!

Homemade Chipotle Lime Mayo and Dipping Sauce adds a smokiness and just the perfect amount of heat to chicken, burgers, fries and more!!!

Simple Barbecue Ranch Sauce is a great fry dipping sauce, great on burgers too! If you like Red Robins Campfire Sauce, you'll love this!!

Better than Wendy’s Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined. Allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator. You may use immediately, but the flavors meld overnight and become a fantastic creation! Serve and enjoy.

Adapted from All Recipes

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com

Broccoli Cheese Soup with Chicken and Rice in Just 25 Minutes

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Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Chicken and Rice goes from prep to plate in under half an hour. Loaded with delicious ooey gooey cheese, nutty jasmine rice, chicken and did I mention cheese? Oh, broccoli too. I almost forgot about the broccoli with all the cheeeeeese in there!

Thick, rich, and delicious are 3 perfectly fantastic reasons to make this soup. Need more? How about a scrumptious one pot meal with only 10 minutes of active cook time? That's what I am talking about. Trust me, you want this for dinner. Tonight!

~Get the recipe and read the article after the jump~ <<Click here

Check out these fantastic, quick and easy dishes from our Simple Kitchen: Creating delicious meals in a snap! Click on the image or the link and it will open each one in a new tab.

Fully Loaded Parmesan Frittata for Two in Just 15 Minutes. Serve up this show stopping meal to your sweetie! Breakfast, brunch or dinner!

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Italian Sausage, Pepper, and Potato Skillet starts with creating your own sausage flavor using lean chicken breast. This dish goes from prep to plate in just 30 minutes.

Broccoli Cheese Soup with Chicken and Rice
serves 8 (1 cup servings)

Active Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Cook Time 25 minutes

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
½ tsp ground black pepper
...
click here for the whole recipe
Heat an 8 quart pot over medium high heat. Dice chicken into bite size pieces.

Add olive oil and chicken to pot. ...
click here for the whole recipe

Perfectly Peach Frozen Margarita - Margarita Cocktail Link Party

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It's Ladies Night Slow Roasters! We are so excited to be hosting our second weekly Cocktail Link Party here at TSRI. This week we are celebrating National Margarita Day! It is a paid day off right???? Well, wishful thinking. I guess no one is going to pay you to sip margaritas. Drats! Maybe... Jose Cuervo is giving their people a paid day off for National Margarita Day.

Our cocktail creation for this momentous occasion is the Perfectly Peach Margarita. A sweet, frozen, peachy margarita is just what I needed for this celebration. Pure peach sweetness! Imagine a fresh Georgia peach, perfectly ripe with a heavenly summer aroma transformed into a margarita.

What more could you ask for on National Margarita Day? Perhaps a chance to link up your own margarita creations, appetizers and treats! Be sure to pop over to check out our co-host's Greg and Katherine from Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide favorite pick for Ladies Night. Are you a featured favorite? Make sure you grab a button to post on your site!

Happy National Margarita Day! Kick 'em off and pour yourself one. XO

Peach Margarita
serves 2

1 cup peach chunks (fresh, frozen, or canned)
3 ounces tequila
3 ounces peach schnapps
1 ounce triple sec
1 ounce sugar
1 ounce sweetened lime juice
3 cups ice (adjust to personal preference)
lime slices (garnish)

Add ingredients to blender (except garnish). Blend together until mixture becomes a thick slush (add more ice if necessary).

Pour into margarita glasses and garnish with a lime slice! Serve and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com

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LADIES NIGHT COCKTAIL LINK PARTY FEATURES

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Red White and Blueberries Flirty Candy-Tini

Sun-dried Tomato and Chicken Penne Pasta in Just 30 Minutes

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Recently I came to terms with the fact that it is quite possible that cheese is my favorite food. As they say... absence makes the heart grow fonder. One time (ONE TIME) cheese and I broke up in an attempt to cut dairy out of my life and see if I felt better. It was a heart wrenching break up and I vowed never to do that again.

I enjoy cheese several times every day. 2% cheese slices on my egg white omelets, shredded fat free mozzarella on my afternoon salad and cheese incorporated into dinner.
Truthfully there is only one other thing that I eat and enjoy as much as cheese... SUN DRIED TOMATOES. Good heavens. I am addicted. I sprinkle them into my breakfast omelet, a handful sprinkled over my salads or a small handful as a snack and a beautiful sun-dried tomato sauce over penne pasta. Is this heaven? It sure tastes like it.

This pasta dish is bursting with flavor, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, chicken and penne come together in just 30 minutes to give you a Sunday dinner on a Monday night. It doesn't get much better than that.

Sadly, my three year old is not quite as enthusiastic about the sun-dried tomatoes. Although she devoured this pasta, when I leave them whole she tells me "Mommy, I don't like mo-matoes on my pasta". I assured her that she is mistaken. She is my child. Of course she loves tomatoes. Silly girl!

Enjoy. With love from our Kitchen Table to yours. XOXO

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Check out these fabulous meals that feature sun-dried tomatoes; ready in 30 minutes or less. Click on the link or the picture to open in a new window.

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Sun-dried Tomato Penne Pasta with Chicken
serves 8

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (washed and trimmed)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 (16 ounce) box penne pasta
1 (8.5 ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes with Italian herbs packed in olive oil
4 cloves garlic, quartered
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into bite size pieces
1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
kosher salt
pepper

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.

Fill an 8 quart pot with water, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add a small handful of salt to boiling water and cook pasta until al dente (about 7-9 minutes).

Meanwhile, drizzle oil in hot skillet and immediately add chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Remove from pan and set on cutting board to cool.

While the chicken cooks, combine contents of sun-dried tomatoes and garlic in a blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth, scraping blender down as necessary.

Drain pasta and pour into a large serving dish. Pour sun-dried tomatoes over pasta, add basil and stir to combine.

Cut chicken into bites size pieces and add to pasta. Add mozzarella and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com

22 Soups and Stews - Comfort Food in a Bowl

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A list of 22 of the best soup recipes I have ever had. Thick soups and stews, broths and soups, and chili and bean soups made the list. There is truly something for everyone! 30 minutes soups, crock pot stews and an oven roasted tomato soup that is so good it will make your tastebuds dance.

With all the crazy weather during the last few weeks I have had comfort food on my mind. Needless to say I have received a lot of emails, calls and texts requesting my favorite soup, stew and chili recipes. I though you would enjoy them too! I truly love to see my friends and family post on Facebook how much they loved the recipe. After all, they are the reason this blog began. It has become so so much more!

My personal soup favorites are all in this list. Chad's recipe for chili is even included in this list. Gigi's Chicken Noodle Soup and Nana's Hearty Beef Stew are family favorite recipes that I am so excited to be sharing with you!

Enjoy. With love from our Kitchen Table to yours. XOXO

Do you ❤ love ❤ TSRI? Don't miss another recipe. Click here to Subscribe to The Slow Roasted Italian by Email and receive new recipes in your inbox every day!

THICK SOUPS AND STEWS - Comfort food at its best. Thick and delicious, stick to your ribs delicious soups and stews!

Broccoli Cheese Soup with Chicken and Rice is a scrumptious one pot meal that goes from prep to plate in 25 Minutes!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup ready in 30 minutes. This scrumptious soup is loaded with ham, chicken, cheesy soup and crispy garlic croutons! YUM

Nana's Hearty Beef Stew is a family recipe with a secret ingredient to really make the flavors POP!

Simple Crock Pot Chicken Dumplings is easy as can be and so homemade it may transport you back to your moms kitchen table. Just like moms.

Enjoy your baked potato in a soup, this FULLY LOADED Baked Potato Soup features potato, bacon, cream, and cheese! Warming and delicious!

Homestyle Chicken Stew and Dumplings, thick, creamy, flavorful and absolutely delicious!

How does a thick and creamy Chicken and Dumplings done in 30 minutes sound? No, its not a dream and no canned soup!

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup - it replaces the cans and tastes so good you can eat it alone! A necessity in your cookbook!

BROTHS AND SOUPS - broths, noodle and Italian soups that will warm you from your lips to your toes!

Ever wonder How to Make 'Meaty' Vegetable Broth? This special ingredient really makes the broth more rich and hearty.

Italian Lentil Soup: A fabulous lentil soup with Italian flair, inspired by my mom. Rich and hearty even though it is meat free, shhh! You are going to love it!

Fall comfort food vegetarian style. Easy Tortellini and Vegetable Soup is so thick and delicious, you can just about eat it with a fork.

Hearty Pasta Fagioli - a traditional Italian dish so thick you can stand a spoon up in the pot. On your table in 30 minutes!

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup - hearty, flavorful and delish! Its chock full of chicken, veggies and noodles on your plate in 25 Minutes!!!

Light Italian Meatball Soup is loaded with veggies and lean meatballs cooked in a light tomato broth. Ready in just 30 minutes.

5 Ingredients and 40 minutes to Gigi's Simple Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. It is delicious!

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup. Deep roasted tomato flavor and sweet basil. Sometimes all you need is a good bowl of soup and a spoon.

This Chicken Pot Pie Soup will warm you from your lips to your toes in just 30 minutes! Rich and creamy, loaded with veggies and chicken.

BEAN SOUPS AND CHILI -Comfort food in a bowl!

A hearty vegetarian chili? No, its not a dream. It's The Best Ever Power Packed Vegetarian Chili. Loaded with flavor&completely satisfying!

A fabulous lean side dish or main dish with no meat? Italian Style Crock Pot Beans are a fabulous soup or flavorful enough to enjoy on their own.

Cowboy Up! It's Chili Time! Quick-Draw Cowboy Chili is loaded w/ southwestern flavors, 3 kinds of beans, chorizo & beef. Ready in 30 Minutes

My favorite Italian Chili: Flavorful, delicious chili with an Italian flair! Fabulous freezer meal.

This Rock 'em, Sock 'em Chili features layers of flavors, and warm you to the bone properties that will keep them coming back for more!

24 Şubat 2013 Pazar

ONE Hour a Day

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I'm back at DePauw for the second half of my second year. This month I teach my Winter Term course on children's book writing, which is already off to a delightful start, with so many motivated and engaged students with whom I can share my life's passion. This intensive, concentrated course ends the last week of January; then I fly to Kansas City for a few days of school visits, and then leap into the spring semester, where I'll be teaching an upper-division philosophy course on the work of political philosopher John Rawls.

Over the break I made a plan for how to organize my work time in January. My Winter Term class meets every afternoon from 1-3:30. The course does not require much daily preparation on my part, as (a) I taught it last year in the same format; and (b) my whole entire life has been preparation. So that leaves the morning for me to make progress on other things. I decided that I'd spend an hour a day writing on a children's book, an hour on activities to promote my books, an hour on work-related LTs (Loathsome Tasks) so they wouldn't pile up, an hour on a scholarly writing project (I have many committed), and an hour walking. With ease I would accomplish everything on my to-do list, with evenings set aside for reading and time spent with friends.

So far, this plan is not working out.

There was too much accumulated stuff-you-need-to-do-to-live that I needed to face; plus, it is just too hard to switch gears in this way from one project to another. I've come to realize that I only have in me ONE hour a day that I can dedicate without fail to a designated project; after that, I lose my ability for that kind of laser-like focus on an activity. I guess this is why my blog is called "An Hour a Day" and not "Five Hours a Day," or "An Hour a Day Spent on This, Followed by an Hour a Day Spent on That."

The good news is that I can still get everything in my life done with my original system. Each day I'm going to prioritize ONE hour to give to what I need to do most that day - probably creative writing at least four days of the week, but a focused hour given to book promotion another day, and scholarly writing another day, and alas, an hour of LTs rounding out the mix. I will still do other work during the day, of course, but it won't be special hour-a-day work, just regular well-I'm-at-my-office-so-I-might-as-well-do-something work. For example, my do-or-die hour today had to be spent reading proofs for a scholarly article, and it's done. But I'm still going to work on one book-promotion-related task after I finish this blog. Which is right now.

Basketball Season

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Last night I spent the evening watching two basketball games: first, the DePauw women playing Kenyon College, and then the DePauw men playing our arch-rival, Wabash College. The women, undefeated in their season, won the first game handily; the men had to work harder for their victory. Wabash led the entire first half, but DePauw was on fire the second half, scoring several dazzling three-point outside shots with one satisfying dunk as well.

I sat with my friend Keith, asking him questions as the games progressed. This was how I learned that you can score three points for a basket shot from far enough away, and that T.O.L. on the scoreboard means "Time-Outs Left," and why sometimes a player would get one free shot for a foul and sometimes two (if fouled mid-shot).

Then I had a strange realization.

It occurred to me that there was probably nobody in the entire gym who was more ignorant than I am about basketball. And there was also probably nobody in the entire gym who had written and published not one but two books about basketball.

For I am the author of Gus and Grandpa at Basketball and of Mason Dixon: Basketball Disasters. I have to admit that both are short on the kind of lively, fast-pace sports action that would draw sports-loving readers to pick up the books. In both I had to conceal huge stretches of basketball ignorance (though I also had sports-loving friends help me throughout the writing process). In both I was more interested in the character's inner growth than I was in what happened on the court. Would second-grader Gus learn how to tune out the over-zealous parental voices in the crowd and concentrate on listening to his own voice within? Would fourth-grader Mason, the world's most reluctant athlete, survive his first basketball season, coached by his equally clueless dad, and realize that you can find enjoyment in unexpected places? (Spoiler alert: the answer both times turns out to be YES.)

So that was my odd little thought last night, as I sat watching the DePauw Tigers garner two mid-season victories.