2013 - Week 41

Hello everyone from Week 41 :) Thankfully, my husband fixed the corrosion issue on our second Wiimote so I could get back into my Wii boxing this week. It kind of kicked my butt, but it was fun to get back into it.

As for my new thing this week, I tried purple cauliflower for the first time. I really love cauliflower (especially covered in cheddar cheese), but purple cauliflower is even better :) Moms of the world, have your little ones caught on that "snowballs" really aren't snow balls? How about trying some purple cauliflower, or as I like to call it, "fairy puffs" :) I was worried that once it was cooked, the cauliflower would lose its lovely purple color like some other vegetables (I'm talking to you purple beans), but hooray, it stayed purple the whole time. What a wonderful vegetable :)

See, isn't it cool? 

It's even purple on the inside :) 

I also found some awesome recipes this week that I think you will all love. First of all, this super easy crock pot BBQ chicken recipe. I only had five or six chicken thighs, so there was quite a bit of sauce left over, but it was really good and went surprisingly well with the super easy cornbread that I made and the green beans :) I didn't have any creole mustard, so I just used regular yellow mustard and as my hot sauce was less hot than the Tabasco they were probably calling for, I put in closer to one teaspoon instead of the one quarter tsp that was listed. I put the partially thawed thighs in my slow cooker with the temperature probe set to 170 F on low heat while I was at work and when I got home, voila, dinner :) That cornbread recipe was one of the easiest I've ever made and it turned out great. Definitely a keeper :)

YUM

Now if you thought that recipe was good, just wait until you hear about the copycat truffle mac & cheese that I made. I was so bummed when I recently went to Noodle's & Company to get my free birthday bowl of noodles. Their truffle mac & cheese has quickly become one of my favorite dishes so when I saw the sign that it was being discontinued I was a little heartbroken. Since it was its last day, I figured I had better order it, but disappointment again . . . they were out of truffle sauce . . . oh no! So, I had to settle for something else, but I went home with the determination to figure out how to make it myself because it was just so good. Luckily, the blog Pretty Kitten's Kitchen made it super easy because she'd already figured it out for me. I didn't have any panko breadcrumbs, so that wasn't quite right, but the rest of the recipe was easy, and pretty spot on in my opinion. It's also not as unhealthy as I would have imagined. I even substituted skim milk for the cream and it still tasted good. Also, I used baby portobello mushrooms which I think is closer to what they served at Noodles & Co., but any mushroom you like would be fine I'm sure.

So, my task to you is to go try at least one of these fantastic recipes and let me know what you think. Unless you are a bit of a foodie, you probably haven't invested in any truffle oil, but you can always try one of the other recipes. And then go buy some truffle oil and make the mac & cheese . . . it's worth it :)

See you next week :)