Stunner

Dream dress:

Skinny B-tch

I often turn to Mexican when I want a no-fuss weeknight meal that will taste good and do good for my body. My latest find: Old El Paso (Chicken or Steak) Fajitas. With only 4 ingredients to be purchased at the grocery including the kit itself, fajitas have never looked so good, and to be honest I've never felt so good... about a weeknight meal.

 I pair mine with refried beans (out of the can) and sliced avocado.  It's delightful, beyond simple as it takes around 15 minutes to make, and best of all, you wake up the next morning feeling skinny-mini! It's my kind of meal.

Here's what to look for at the grocery:

And here's how beautiful your meal could look:

Dinner doesn't have to stress you out! Just go the Old El Paso route.

PC: Old El Paso, Kalyn's Kitchen

Chicken Salad Veronique

After whipping up a batch of chicken salad for lunch today, I realized that I had to share it with my readers since it's absolutely perfect for that mid-day fix or lunch.  It's so good that my husband even requests to have it in the fridge at all times. 

The recipe: Chicken Salad Veronique by none other than Ina Garten.

A word of advice: since the chicken has to roast for 45 minutes and you have to allow time for it to cool, plan ahead. 

Use low fat mayo to cut down on the fat. 

PC: Ina Garten

A Menu Card that sings to me

PC: Cynthia Warren,

Seasonal Delight

With Chelsea Market around the corner it's never been so easy to buy local fruits and vegetables (and even meat) that is in season from sustainable farms.  Sustainable agriculture amazes me.  I love knowing that the food I buy supports local farmers (and their families) and that the food I consume is fresh, unprocessed, and comes from a humane environment (re: animals).  It's a way of life that I've come to love. 

Now that it's Fall there is so much produce to celebrate like my favorite fruit, butternut squash.  This kind of winter squash is sweet and nutty and adds so much flavor and depth to every dish it graces.  Here are a few recipes that I can't wait to try:

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna:

Twice Baked Butternut Squash:

Mac N' Cheese with Butternut Squash:

Squash Potstickers:

PC: Martha Stewart

Where Farro Thou

I recently tried Fine Cooking's Roasted Broccoli and Farro Salad to discover that I have a new love in Farro.  Who knew such a healthy grain could be so delicious?  I served it alongside my (grandma's) stuffed cabbage and it was a perfect meal. I left out the feta since I haven't been able to eat it since Greece (overload) and still loved it. 

So what is farro, you ask? Farro is actually the Mother of all grains; the original grain from which all others come from including rice, barley, wheat and rye.  When cooked, it has a chewy texture and nutty taste making it ideal for soups, sauces and salads (hence the salad above).  And  unlike wheat, it's high in fiber, vitamin b, and protein, so eat to your heart's content (but try to stick to a serving size).

Here's a pic of my salad:

PC: Fine Cooking 

Smells like Team Spirit

PC: Target, Amazon

My Next Dinner Party:

This month's Food & Wine (October 2010) is one of the best issues I've seen yet.  Not only does it feature Batali's mouth-watering Italian-American classics like bucatini all'Amatriciana and butcher's ragu with fusilli but the winning dishes from Tyler Florence's exclusive Twitter Contest.  In case you're in the dark or don't belong to twitter, the food network star agreed to tweet his top recipes to his 200,000 followers (like yours truly) and after 20 days of posting, we (followers) voted for the best recipes that should appear in the Food & Wine October issue. Each recipe looks better than the next and I plan on making the Roast Lamb with Ricotta Gnocchi and Morels for my next dinner party.  I'll serve it with an arugula salad to start with peaches and figs, and Tyler's towering coconut layer cake for dessert.  What an elegant meal!

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PC: Food & Wine, Blue-kitchen, the gerber baby blog,

Tutu Time

All I can say is that this is just tootoo cute. Pink + orange + tutu's = Perfection.  I would have loved this theme as a kid!

PC: Kerri King from Kara's Party Ideas