Eating Out: Leona's

I was first introduced to Leona’s in the mid-90s.  I was immediately in love after they brought out a fresh loaf of bread with a whipped butter.  Actually, that’s one of the things they’re known for.  The other is their fantastic lasagna.

Eventually I moved out of the city (actually about 5000 miles away) and Leona’s became a distant and fond memory.  Then we moved back, and 4 miles away from our house is a Leona’s.  My husband found some special coupons (80% off actually – oh yeah) on Restaurants.com and we planned our meal.

What was eaten:  Chicken Parmiagga – Alfredo & Mushroom

They give you two options for meal size – pleasing and plenty.  Either option comes with two side dishes (depending on what you order, you get to pick 1-2 items from their side listing).  I went with the “Pleasing” size because I was planning on ordering dessert too. 

First, let’s get out the obvious… I wasn’t concerned with calories, fat or sodium when I ordered this meal or selected the sides.  Second, I know you’re thinking that I mentioned their “fantastic lasagna” yet I didn’t order it, but you can order that as a side, so I never order it as an entrée. 

The chicken was perfectly breaded and cooked and it sat on the creamiest mushroom sauce I think I’ve ever tasted.  At first I was concerned that there was too much sauce, but I think the plate made it look like there was more than there actually was.  It was so good that I think I would order it again instead of trying something different from their large menu.

Cajun Shrimp Lasagna Roll-Ups

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – March 3, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Simple & Delicious, December/January 2011.

I love lasagna.  I love Cajun food.  I love shrimp & cheese.  This recipe could have quite possibly been written with me in mind.

That being said, I hate having to make rolls.  They never turn out as pretty as they are supposed to be.  Also, it usually is ridiculously messy.  Add to that, REGULAR lasagna is time consuming to make because you have to cook the noodles, make the sauce, make the filling and assemble.  However, the attraction to the cheesy, Cajun, shrimp with lasagna noodles blinded me to all of this and I excitedly started this recipe.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Cajun Shrimp Lasagna Roll-Ups

Look at this picture and tell me you don’t think it looks delicious.  I’ve been flipping back and forth between my picture and the published picture and I gotta tell ya… it looks pretty close.

Corn, Black Bean and Pepper Jack Burritos

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook - March 1, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in All You, February 2011.

My husband LOVES Chipotle.  Seriously, it’s one of the only foods that he’ll drive for 30 minutes, one way, in rush hour traffic to get.  In fact, if he had to use ChipotlAway, he’d probably still eat it.  By the way, if you don’t like South Park or gross humor, just skip this video.

Also, I’m looking for more vegetarian meals to make.  Don’t get me wrong, I love meat, but I’m not a blind omnivore that thinks there’s nothing wrong with eating my weight in steak every year.  Vegetables are good for you, and frankly, I need more of them in my diet.  If I can make a filling meal out of veggies, I’m there.

Flipping through my All You, I stumble upon a recipe for Corn, Black Bean & Pepper Jack Burritos.  Could it be?  I read through the ingredient list.  Yes, it is.  This is going to be as close to Chipotle as I’ve ever gotten.

My finished meal:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Corn, Black Bean & Pepper Jack Burritos

It looks very close to the recipe… and Chipotle.  Well my husband's version of Chipotle - I like rice in my burrito.  My burrito does look thicker and appears to have more cheese than that of the published recipe.  I’m okay with that.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook on February 26, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Simple and Delicious, December/January 2011.

I have to be honest; I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.  If I do get a craving, it is usually in the morning and can be taken care of with a cup of coffee with cream & sugar.  Of course, that isn’t the healthiest option and doesn’t leave me full to make it to lunch.  Because of this, I am always looking for easy to make and semi-healthy morning pastries.  I don’t try to fool myself: Muffins, bagels, donuts are not the healthiest option for me, but every once in a while, I just gotta have one!!!

I was really excited that this recipe used a whole wheat flour blend.  I really want to start cooking with more whole grains, and this was a great place to start.  Simple and slightly healthier than normal – I’m in!

Asian Chicken Skillet

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook - February 25, 2011.

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Simple and Delicious, December/January 2011.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m kind of a cynic.  I am especially critical of the Fantastic-30-Min-That-Is-Good-For-You-And-Easy recipe.  When I see these types of recipes, I usually roll my eyes hard enough to make me dizzy.  That doesn’t mean I don’t try to get it done in the time specified though.  When I see a 30-minute meal, I find it a personal challenge to get it done.  See, I fancy myself a moderately good chef.  I can’t create recipes but I can cook (and yes, there is a BIG difference), so I should be able to cook a 30-minute-meal in the time specified.  Alas, that is very rare for me.

Now, I present to you a one-pan recipe with 7 ingredients that can be done in 30-45 minutes.  I know what you’re thinking.  My BS detector went off almost immediately.  However, it actually happened.  I think this is the first time on record (for me that is).  I actually finished making it in 41 minutes with minimal equipment.  Is it “good for me?”  Well, it isn’t the healthiest dish I’ve made, but it wasn’t bad either.  I think for using convenience foods, this is probably as good as it’s going to get.

My finished meal:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Asian Chicken Skillet

This dish looked and smelled fantastic.  In fact, I considered eating it right off the serving spoon.  The chicken looked great and that came as a surprise to me.  To me, it always seems to dry out in a skillet.  I was glad I bought a stir-fry blend that had red and green peppers in it.  It gave the dish a little color (and flavor – of course)

Eating Out: Sonic Drive-In

Even though I enjoy cooking and prefer a homemade meal, I must say that I do like fast food.  Sometimes I crave it.  In fact, on occasion I’ll get a taste for something stuck in my head and can’t focus on anything else until I’ve eaten it.  I’m like my neurotic Chihuahua when I pull out her favorite toy… gimme gimme gimme!!!!

When my husband and I lived in Hawaii, I used to be tortured with the commercials for Sonic.  Yes, I enjoyed the local Hawaiian fast-food-goodness of Zippy’s, and got to experience the deliciousness of Jack ‘n’ the Box (we both grew up where Ronald McDonald is king & Jack is nowhere to be found), but the ice cream and drinks from the Sonic commercials haunted my dreams. 

Okay, that last bit was a little dramatic, but I really did get semi-upset that I didn’t have access to one.

When we were moving back to the mainland, we joked that we were only going to move where there was a Sonic.  Of course, my husband, being the intelligent and practical one in our marriage (I supply the spontaneous excitement and goofiness), wouldn’t stick to the Sonic plan and moved us back to where we grew up, the Chicago area.

Shrimp and Tomato Linguine Toss with Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – February 24, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Shrimp and Tomato Linguine Toss recipe originally published in Simple & Delicious – December/January 2011.

Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits recipe originally published in Gourmet – October 2008.

So the question has now been answered… no, I haven’t actually fallen off the face of the Earth.  I really hate it when people disappear and when you finally catch up with them they say, “I’ve been really busy.”  Like the rest of us aren’t busy.  All I can say is this… when I started this blog; I was pretty much a housewife occasionally seeing clients out of our home.  I was “busy” but it was busy on my own time and it was much easier to write, cook and photograph food.  It was also a little hard to buy said food since there wasn’t much money coming in.

Then I got a job where I was SUPPOSED to be working 18 hours a week.  It became slightly harder to post every day, but I was managing several posts a week at least.  Suddenly, the 18 hours became 30 hours and I had to drop down to one post a week.  About a month ago, I was promoted and I’ve been working 65+ hours a week for at least the last 3 weeks.

So comparatively speaking, I’ve gotten much busier and that’s why posting has been nonexistent for several weeks now.

Now that I’m working so much, it is pretty hard to cook meals with seafood.  Fish simply tastes better when it’s freshly cooked and I’ve found it makes terrible leftovers.  Therefore, to get my seafood quota, I’ve been making a lot of shrimp.  The Shrimp and Tomato Linguine Toss seemed to hit the spot.  Of course, I wanted to make some bread and the Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits sounded delicious.

My finished meal:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Shrimp & Tomato Linguine Toss with Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits

I was really proud of the way the pasta turned out, although, I think the original picture looked yummier.  Still, it looked yummy enough that I couldn’t wait to eat it.  I was kind of disappointed in the “biscuits”.  I use parentheses because frankly, they weren’t biscuits at all.  They were more like crackers.  Still, expecting something else aside, they still looked and smelled great.





 

© Taste of Home

Obviously, I used different pasta – wheat.  Their picture just looks more fresh and light with a tad bit more color since they used the fresh basil on their dish.  There was no picture for the biscuits, which was a big reason why I didn’t realize they weren’t fluffy bread.  Of course, had I read the ingredient listing a little more closely, I still wouldn’t have made that mistake.

See, when I don’t follow my own rules, bad things happen.