back in the saddle

i'm FINALLY cooking again. i still get a little nauseous thinking about food, but making it isn't such a big deal anymore. HALLELUJAH! i really do love to cook. i feel such accomplishment when i'm able to make something delicious and see the happiness on people's faces as they enjoy and savor each bite. i love to try all sorts of recipes. i think my favorite are ones that don't sound good when looking at the recipe initially, but after it's all made it turns into something wonderful.


for my husband's birthday last saturday i made this AMAZING red velvet cheesecake from scratch. this was my first experience making a cheesecake from scratch and i was rather impressed with how it turned out. i think i would take this one over something made at the cheesecake factory! here's a picture from the website i found it on (it turned out JUST LIKE the pic! how often does that happen?!):



Yummmmmmm!!!!
here's the recipe


I let my husband sleep in that day and decided on a whim to make him breakfast in bed. a long time ago, when i was in ninth grade and taking 'life skills' (home ec. in essence), a girl brought this recipe in for our group to make called 'pop oven pancakes'. they were so simple and always tasted fantastic. i have held on to that same recipe since that day, but since we moved recently and a good majority of our things are in storage, i was able to look up (pretty much) the same recipe online...only BETTER. they are MINI 'pop up' pancakes. they are SOOOOO easy! you mix the ingredients in a blender, pour them in a greased muffin tin, then throw em in the oven for 15 minutes. top them off with syrup, powdered sugar and strawberries and you have a very tasty (and pretty!) breakfast!



TRY IT!!! you and your family will love it.
>Click here for the recipe! (great site, by the way!)


so enough with the sweets....last night i made some super incredible pasta. my new favorite website for recipes is heart healthy living. healthy recipes that actually taste GOOD! my husband has high cholesterol, so this site comes in handy when looking for low fat, low cholesterol and low sodium foods. so, let's just cut to the chase. here's the pasta...WARNING....DROOLING IS PRETTY MUCH GUARUNTEED!





summer chicken and mushroom pasta recipe


i did alter the recipe a little because i know what i like and what my family likes. instead of the whole wheat or regular penne pasta, i used ronzoni garden delight penne rigate.





it's an enriched tomato, carrot and spinach blend pasta and it is just too delicious to pass up. i also used diced 'bello' mushrooms and instead of shredding the basil and adding sprigs of oregano, i threw them in my handy dandy little chopper so they ended up finely chopped. this pasta tastes fantastic both warm and cold. it has lots of garlic in it...i'm a sucker for garlic.


happy cooking! please feel free to share any of your recipes. i love to try new and different things!