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Please check back tomorrow for more about my adventures with cooking!

Hail To The Chief

The last time I actually cooked a meal was Friday evening. If you read that post, you will know that was something big in the Atkins household. Number one, I never cook on Friday's and number two, the grannies were in town. When they're in town, we look for the next restaurant where we will eat.

On Saturday evening, my husband and I attened the Tennessee Democratic Party's Jackson Dinner dinner. You see, I lucked out and received the tickets free otherwise, he would have never agreed to go (as most of you know, I am in a house divided on politics). Actually, my husband does not align himself with either party but, since it was a fellow Arkansasan speaking, he went without much fuss. Bill Clinton was a good speaker but, the food was lousy. As I sat there, I imagined how I could have catered this better myself. I thought about the chicken I would havae served or maybe added a fish dish. What? I thought you might say that! Yeah, I know after a few blogs and a few successful meals, I now think I am the new Julia Child. Well, that's not true. I know good food when when I taste it. Hello, I am not trying to loose weight because I inhaled too much air!

Anyway, this evening (Sunday) I cooked the rest of the spinach pasta and added shrimp to it. Oh please, don't become overly excited. It was Gordon's Fisherman shrimp. We did not go to the store for actual groceries and that was an easy meal. I do have ideas for a few dishes this week. As my friend reminded my, she stuck quite a few recipes in my mailbox some months ago. I know we will have my favorite lady peas (cook it in chicken broth and it rock your world). Hey, remember that song? Oh, I guess as usual I digressed.

Let's Toast To Another Year

My mother in-law is celebrating her 74th birthday and I wanted to make something special for her. Keep in mind when she and my mother visit, we normally go out to dinner. I never cook at home. It's just never been a part of my DNA and given it's a Friday evening, hey, what time are we leaving for the restaurant!

Tonight, to everyones surprise, I made a nice elegant dish. It was a chicken breast cooked in champagne sauce (I was really to use a dry white wine but there was none in the house) over rice with black and green olives served with green beans and cherry tomoatoes. Sound pretty fancy? Well, I am here to tell you it was not. Once again, my good friend provided me with the recipe. I was writing it down on my way home this evening and then got to the store and realized I left the recipe at home. Anyway, I guess when you are me, you get used to these things happening.


Let me tell you about the recipe, you brown the chicken in olive oil, once that is done, remove the chicken and brown an onion with one table spoon of flour. Add the chicken back into the skillet and at some point you are to add a little lemon juice (1/2 cup I think), wine and chicken broth to cover the chicken. Somewhere, I screwed up the recipe because I think the sauce was to be a little thick. Add the olives and serve over rice. Really, it did not matter because the family enjoyed it.

You know, the trick to this culinary experince is to enjoy your hits and misses. You can always try the dish again and correct what you believe you did wrong to improve the dish the next time.

Oh, now I really am going to need a divine weight loss interention. My mother looked at my legs this evening and asked me when they got THAT BIG!!!!!!

So, here is a toast to a Friday evening dinner.

Oh Me, Oh MY!

I hear that pesky flea buzzing around my head as I type this. The flea is saying, "it is only the third day and she has given up"! I say, no you pesky little flea, I have not given up, I just didn't have anything at home to cook for dinner! Before the flea can speak again, I slapped the shit out of him. (Maybe that's a bit strong--I really don't want to hurt the little flea, just shut his BIG MOUTH!)

Anyway, we ended up eating out at I-HOP this evening and maybe it would have been fun a week ago, but not tonight. The food just was not good. I wanted to be in my kitchen preparing somthing new. I really wanted the feeling out of stressing out whether or not the dish would turn out okay and more importantly, would it be edible! The excitement of creating somethjing new.

Oh me, Oh my! We will have to wait until the weekend to find the joy of cooking. If you are interested in my adventures, check back on Sunday evening or Monday morning. In the meantime, how many Weight Watchers points would an I-HOP omlette be???????

Visitng Sweden

This has been one heck of a day. First, I realized that I made a mistake. Yesterday, I typed I was 46. Now, if you ask how could I make a mistake like this, it is very easy. For me, age is really just a number. My entire life I have done everything late. Married in my early thirties and had a child in my late thirties. If I had any sense, I should be upset that I am short, fat and still finding myself. But, you know what? It will all be okay (I hope). My other issue is that I feel as if I have a watermelon in my stomach. For those that know me, I am always complaining about a stomach issue. I truly believe I am this way because of the huge greasy turkey leg I ate while attending the Wilson County Fair--our friends took a picture of me with that darn turkey leg. It was a great piece of meat but very greasy and probably too salty (could that be the reason Scooby Doo keeps biting me? That darn dog thinks I am a big piece of meat). Let's just say, I am still suffering from both ends! Too much information? Too bad, I fell like CRAP!

Let me tell you, my new adventure is quite a joy. Len and Davis are loving it. Okay, so it is only day two. Give me a break! This evening after picking up Davis, I prepared Swedish meatballs, red mashed potatoes and broccolli (why is it that I can't spell the names of food?). Anyway, a person who I consider one of my best friends gave me the recipe. It was so easy. Groud beef, crackers, sour cream, 1 egg , chopped onion and seasoning. Form meatballs. Once they had cooked in the oven, I added the meatballs to beef boullion cooking on the stove and cooked a little longer. Mashed the potatoes and aded the vegetable and you have a comfotable cozy dinner. This entire meal took 50 miniutes. I must say, I was very nervous because making meatballs is so foreign to me. I prayed the entire time making them. I also had the phone number for the pizza place handy in the event I had to order a pizza!

So, once again, I don't know how to calculate the Weight Watchers Points. You know, I am going to overweight hell. I need an initervention!!!! My goal was to swim with friends before it gets too cold but, at this point Shamu has a better chance of swimming in their pool than I do!

Spinach Fet

I can't believe I am actually doing this. In fact had anyone asked me last week would I ever "Blog", I would have said never. You see, last Friday, I went to the movies with a friend of mine and saw the movie Julie and Julia. It was a cute movie and I must say a little inspirational. Julie kind of reminded me of me. A little lost, never finishing anything (let me take that back, Julie actually started things), I start them in my head and that's as far as they go. As of today, I am starting something that hopefully will continue. This blog will document my hits and misses through everyday life as I raise a son with my husband, work and at 46, learn how to cook!

Tonight I made resemary chicken with spinach fettuchine (did I spell that right?) Hell, who cares, all I care about is that it was edible. And, guess what? IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!! I changed the recipe and instead of adding half and half, I used diced tomatoes and it was wonderful. Even my picky eater son loved it! To tell you truth, I forgot to season the chicken, just a small thing though. Hell, you can always add the salt later. I was so happy, I took a picture with my digital camera. My only concern is how many Weight Watchers Points I used. In fact, I was supposed to have a vegetable. Do you think because it was spinach fettuchine (I have to learn how to spell that word) that counts as a vegetable?

First POST

Wow. It's like I am IN the movie...

Yvette is Norma

My name is Yvette, but you can call me Norma. I just watched a movie. It's not important which movie. In fact, it's none of your business. But after watching this life-changing movie, I realized, I can cook and I can blog and I have very, very important things to say.

Read my blog every day, because reading my insightful posts and recipes, peppered with my enromously awesome perspective will make you smarter.