There is nothing wrong with bringing the restaurant home

Wingers is famous for their sauce.

Olive Garden is famous for their salad dressing (and everything else)

Panda Express is known for their tasty Orange Chicken

Many restaurants are known for a certain tasty dish or sauce.  You don't have to go to the restaurant to partake of the deliciousness... its much less expensive (and healthier in the long run) to just go buy the sauce. Most restaurants who have a signature sauce like Wingers or Panda Express sell it. You can get the Panda Sauce in WalMart and many other stores. I have only ever seen Wingers sauces sold on their own property but considering how tasty it is, going to the restaurant is a small price to pay.

Buy the sauce and use it for meal after meal after meal instead of just one expensive night out.

Crazy Sexy Wellness

There is this amazing website that a teacher told me about.

Its pretty awesome! Modern, healthy, trendy, and a lot of good recipes. Check it out. 

http://kriscarr.com/

ENJOY!

Feta Cherry Salad

Summer is coming!  The time of swimming, picnics, and suntanning. Also, really summery food:)
This is one of the best salads I have ever had. It is super low calorie and delicious. I'm pretty sure I ate it every day last summer for lunch.

Chopped romaine lettuce
Dried cherries
Chopped chicken
Feta cheese
Sunflower seeds (optional)
Fat free poppy-seed dressing

This is crazy good! Seriously. Try it:)

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

So... we all love Olive Garden.  The best part, in my opinion, is the Alfredo sauce.

Try this and you will never eat that canned milky goo in the Prego bottle.

Olive Garden Alfredo

2 quarts heavy cream
1 lb butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 lb freshly grated parmesan cheese
4 ounces Fontina cheese
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

1.  On medium heat, add butter, garlic, and flour until butter is melted. Do not brown garlic.
2.  Whisk in the heavy cream until hot.
3.  Slowly add the freshly grated cheeses into the hot cream mixture. Finally add the salt and pepper. Stir often to make sure no cheese settles at the bottom.
4.  Simmer until all the cheeses are melted and the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Do not let this sauce boil, or it will begin to separate and the cheeses will become grainy.
5.  Serve with pasta and garnish with freshly grated Romano cheese 

No Cheese Allowed....?

My sister is currently in a situation where she cannot consume any dairy. For anyone who knows my family well... that is difficult to do, especially for my sister.   She is one of those people who can eat anything she wants, have three kids, and still looks like she did when she graduated high school at a size 6.

I find her calling me every once in a while because she has ran out of ideas of things to cook without everyone's favorite dairy product: cheese. We didn't realize how many meals have cheese in them. Other dairy can be replaced for a reasonable price such as margarine instead of butter and Lactaid instead of milk. Cheese however is expensive enough normally, try and find a dairy free cheese and the prices are ridiculous.

My sister is a good cook, and pretty creative (she has to be with all of her picky-eater children).  So she and I have come up with several meals that can be made without cheese and are still tasty. I will just talk a little bit about some of the simple ones  today and if you guys want more or want  to know more about any specific ones, feel free to comment :)

6 delicious dairy-free meals

Fajitas: all you need is meat, veggies, and tortillas

Lettuce Wraps:  My sister found the key to making super delicious and traditional lettuce wraps. Its called     Hoisin sauce. 

Grilled chicken or sausages:   Everyone wants to put cheese on hamburgers but a well marinated chicken or a delicious sausage is plenty good on its own. 

Chinese: Lemon Chicken, Orange Chicken, Pot Stickers, Egg Rolls, Low Mien.   All of these dishes can (and generally are) made without dairy.  (Just forget about the won tons)

Chicken Fingers: This is especially great if you have kids, like my sister. The little ones usually like chicken fingers or chicken nuggets and you can either grill some un-breaded chicken or fry/bake some breaded strips.  You can always put these with finger foods such as dip-able veggies, fries, tater-tots, or corn on the cob. 

Meatloaf: As long as you don't pair it with mashed potatoes loaded with cream and butter, this is a great meal that can be made dairy-free!

The Problem with Seasoning

I have had a lot of people ask for my advice on seasoning things. It can be really hard to figure out what to use and the majority of the time people stick to their three "go-to" seasonings and the other bottles just sit in the back of the cupboard.

I just have one piece of advice: smell it

Smell the food you have cooking and then smell the herb or spice. If it smells good together then it will taste good together.  This works for multiple seasonings as well. Smell them one after the other to see if they will work together in a recipe.

And if all else fails, do what I do. Garlic Salt.  Of course, I LOVE garlic. I think it goes well with nearly everything (just don't over use it).

Fondue: the dippings!

Without a table full of delicious things to dip into Fonue... its really just a big bowl of boiling cheese.

My favorite things to dip are vegetables, french bread, and sausage balls.

Vegetables:
olives
baby carrots
broccoli florets
cauliflower florets
mushrooms


French Bread:
get a fresh loaf and cut it into large-bites sized cubes.

Sausage Balls: these are my absolute favorite
take a lb of sausage, 3/4 cup of Bisquick and a cup of shredded cheese ( I like sharp cheddar)
 mix it all together and shape into bite sized balls
place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for about a half hour (the time depends on how big you have made them)
when they are done, cut one in half to check that they have been cooked thoroughly