Chez Bethie

As you all know, I love to cook. I especially love trying new recipes. Sometimes this goes well, and sometimes...not. I am happy to report that today I had not one, not two, but three resounding culinary victories! This is very welcome news since I've not been cooking much lately (lots of boards studying!) and was a little afraid I'd find my skills rusty.

I. Mint lemonade
Finding myself inspired by Angela's hunt for the perfect basil lemonade, I scoured the internet today for a minty variety of lemonade. Thank you, Bobby Flay and my voraciously growing mint plant. The original plan had been to drink this while laying out/studying in the backyard. Nick even agreed to refill my drink and spritz me with the hose periodically (yes, I think that would make him my cabana boy), but with a heat index of 105 degrees, I just couldn't do it. But I'm taking a raincheck on the cabana boy offer.

II. Sauteed chicken and zucchini with parsley-tarragon sauce
Yum and more yum! Cooking Light is notorious (in my humble opinion) for underestimating how long it takes to cook chicken. So yes, you can tell me all day long what a super-fast 20-minute recipe you have, but I just don't believe you anymore. I tried to get around this by pounding out my chicken breasts, and you know what? It mostly worked. Still took a little longer than the 4 minutes per side they instructed, but overall cut down on the cook time by a lot. And the light dredging of flour gave them a nice crust without seeming to heavily breaded. Wanna know the best part? This dish required one cutting board and one skillet, for which the dishwasher (aka my darling husband) is very thankful.

III. Buttermilk Parmesan mashed potatoes
My concoction is really more inspired by this Cooking Light recipe than actually following it. I 1) soured regular milk instead of using buttermilk 2) used plain Parmesan instead of Parmiggiano-Reggiano 3) used Yukon golds instead of russetts 4) tripled the butter and last but most certainly not least 5) added a clove of minced garlic. But tell you what, cyber-amigos, they were oh so tasty. Way better than the original recipe I'm certain.
No, no pictures of dinner. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to let a perfectly cooked meal go cold while I take pictures. But these are all going into The Book.

I'm hoping this turns into a streak. Nick's birthday is this week, so I'll be making the traditional chocolate cake at the birthday boy's request. However, I'm going to attempt fresh mint-Oreo ice cream to go with it. I'm putting the mint plant through its paces this week, huh? Wish me luck.