Reckless Abandon Preview

Last week I caught up with some girlfriends from my sorority who just happen to live here now too! One was from here, and the other recently moved from Dallas shortly after I did. After months of trying to coordinate everyone's schedules we finally got together for happy hour. It was awesome catching up after so many years had gone by since college (well not so many - but enough to get lost in all the things that have changed since then). At HH, we decided we should do a cooking class with our friend Rachel, who happens to have her own blog,  Reckless Abandon, which is all about recipes and cooking.  Her recipes are easy understand and even better, easy to make (for the most part), so who better to learn to cook from in our new city.

With having to entertain family and friends more frequently with the holidays coming up fast and furious, what better time to learn how to cook yummy meals that won't break the bank then the NOW?!

We got together last night for a little cooking tutorial on how to make Rachel's spinach stuffed chicken with blistered tomatoes featured on her blog here.

It was super simple and VERY yummy I must say.  I just hope the next time I get around to cooking (which isn't really that frequently let's be honest), it tastes just as good!

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Foodie

This weekend when I was at home I got to chow down on some GREAT meals prepared by a fantastic chef.  My Mom.

She was raised in Louisiana and picked up all sorts of great recipes throughout her life that I have the benefit of learning. However, I am someone who HATES spending more than 20 minutes on a making a meal and having to do grocery store runs throughout the week to make sure I have all the right ingredients.  I prefer to hit the store 2x a month, picking up the necessities (milk, bread, cereal, pasta, frozen dinners), and then running there again in between if I ABSOLUTELY need something for a meal I am dying to have. Are you the same way, or am I just that lazy?

Getting back to my point, I love Caesar salads.  I especially love the Caesar salads my mom concocts when I go home.  This time however, Walt and I got in at 8:15 for a late dinner, and she didn't have the time to put one together. Sad.... right?

I wasn't going to visit home without getting a great Caesar salad in my belly, so I opted to make my own.  Turned out pretty great if I do say so myself, and the family loved it! Shocker! I ended up making it three times this weekend believe it or not.  One of the times being a trial period where I didn't coddle my egg and just threw the whole thing in the batch and ruined it. Oops.

I decided that BECAUSE  it was so delicious (not sure if it is very healthy, I'd assume not), that I'd share my steps with you.

Want to know how to make it?

You will need:

• Hearts of romaine lettuce (packaged or make fresh like I did)
• 3/4 cup of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp of worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard (you can find this in the spice section in the grocery store)
• 1 clove of garlic crushed 
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (I freshly grated it above)
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 egg (yolk after coddling)
• Freshly ground pepper
• Anchovy paste (optional)
• Garlic Croutons

Now for the directions:

1. Break up the lettuce if did not buy packaged
2. Pour olive oil, red wine vinegar, dry mustard, worcestershire sauce, salt into a large salad bowl
3. Add crushed garlic clove and a squeeze lemon 1/2 (stick a fork in the center and squeeze to get the most juice - see above)
4. Coddle your egg (not cuddle like I initially thought), boil water and place egg in the water for 1-2 minutes.  Remove with a spoon and run under cold water. Break the egg and put yolk in a separate bowl to avoid dropping the yolk in the sink or egg shell in the salad (see above).  Add the yolk into the dressing bowl with other ingredients
5. Add anchovy paste if you want
6. Stir ingredients and add romaine lettuce.  
7. Add remaining ingredients (pepper, parmesan cheese, and garlic croutons)
8. EAT!!!