For 2: Chicken Ranch Roll-up

Easiest dinner ever!  We had these chicken ranch roll-ups before tennis practice the other night and they were really good.  Spinach, tomatoes, onion, chicken, cheese and a tortilla – yum!  Served with some cut up fruit, yes please!  This went from ingredients to a meal in less than 15 minutes and the kitchen didn’t get crazy hot; huge plus!  

What are your favorite things to put in a roll-up? Or wrap as fancy people call them…

Sincerely Loving Food,

Lainey

2 handfuls of spinach, 1/4 of an onion finely diced, 1/2 a tomato seeded and diced

2 Grilled Chicken breasts sliced

 Throw it in the bowl with some ranch dressing

Give it a toss

In a tortilla with some pecorino romano

YUM!

Stolen Recipe Success

The number one question people ask me is where I get the ideas/inspiration for my recipes.  Well, I read food blogs and watch Food Network like a crack addict. Today I am sharing with you 3 links to things I have made recently that were huge successes.  This first is an awesome Steakhouse Burger made by Josie at Pink Parsley; then one of the best breakfasts I have ever had: a Croque Madame by Jessica at The Novice Chef; and the last is a delicious Steak Arugula salad by (my idol) The Barefoot Contessa.

I first saw this Steakhouse Mushroom Burger on Pink Parsley and then again when The Pioneer Woman featured her a couple of weeks later.  I knew that the husband would LOVE this and who am I kidding – I would too!  I didn’t have all the ingredients for the Creamed Spinach Sauce so I left it off and we used normal buns instead of Texas Toast, but it was still delicious.  Other than that I followed her recipe, and man was this good!  Check out Josie’s blog – I really need to get some photography tips from her!  Sorry this picture is terrible - I forgot to take one till I was half way done...woops!

Jessica at The Novice Chef posted this amazing Twist on a Croque Madame back in November. Coincidentally the FH and I had just registered for a waffle maker – well we got the waffle maker and this little gem was the first thing we made with it.  DELICIOUS!  Jessica is too funny – you should add her blog to your reader!

Finally, I LOVE Ina Garten.  Whenever I have an ingredient I want to use or the beginning of an idea I always check out her recipes for what to do.  Our friends, Joey and Crystal, gave us an AMAZING wedding gift – a ton of stuff from Omaha Steaks!  Earlier this week I pulled some filets out of the freezer and went to foodnetwork.com to see what ideas Ina had for them.  I selected this grilled filet and arugula salad – freaking delicious!  Served with a little bruschetta – it was the perfect summer dinner!  And oh yeah, I used pecorino instead of parm because I am cheap, but it was still so, so good!

I hope you enjoy these recipes!  And I am looking for blogs to add to my reading list, please let me know about your favorite blogger, TV personality, and recipe!

Sincerely Loving Food,

Lainey

Easy Cheater Meal

I have written before about my love for Chinese food, it's like my favorite - stir fry, dim sum, egg rolls, lo mein...I love it all!  Tonight we are having Chinese food and I am super pumped!  Have you tried these:

I think they are pretty good!  I mean not like the best Chinese Food I've ever had or anything, but considering they $7 and take like all of 8 minutes to make and only gets one pan dirty in the process, I call it a winner!  Tonight we are trying the Beef with Broccoli.  Last time we had Kung Pao Chicken and it was good, so I am excited to try a new one.  I have some Kroger Premium Select Brand Crab Rangoons (pretty delicious) which bake in the oven for like 10 minutes chilling in my freezer so I think those will be our appetizer - fancy, huh?

I know this isn't the most impressive meal ever, but sometimes you I have like 58 thank you notes to write and not alot of time to make dinner so I gotta do what I gotta do.  And if you are going to take a short cut in my as well bein the realm of your favorite cuisine, right?  Do you turn to the freezer section when you need a quick dinner?  What is your easy meal favorite?  What is your favorite international cuisine?