I haven't been blogging about food lately.

You can blame Starbucks for that. Since I've been working I just haven't been cooking as much, and when I do get the chance to make a home cooked meal for Brent, we're not always eager to try a new recipe. I have been doing some experimenting, though, so here are some recipes that we've tried in the last several months.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe. Looks delicious, huh? It could have been extremely delicious, had my husband not bought me a juicer only a couple of days before I made this. The recipe calls for three whole lemons, juiced, and because of the novelty of my new toy I went a little juicer-happy and sent three whole lemons, rind, peel and all, through the juicing machine. The result was, I think, not what our dear friend Pioneer Woman had in mind when she asked for "3 whole lemons, juiced." I may as well have added a quarter cup of dishwashing detergent to my pasta sauce...it wasn't pleasant.

The chicken was good though!

So good in fact, that when Brent and I had managed as much of the sour pasta down our throats as we could, I dug around through the rest and salvaged the chicken to use in a later meal.

We will definitely be trying this dish again, with "3 whole lemons, juiced" with our hands...throwing away the rind, peel and seeds.

Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks

This was an extremely easy meal to prepare. It was satisfying but not too rich, and had that unique flavor of leeks sauteed in butter. I really like leeks. Unfortunately my Brent does not. So although I would recommend this recipe to those who like leeks, I will not be making this again.

Hmmm...except maybe I should try it with green onion. Oh my. Yes. That would be tasty.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

This is a recipe that my sis introduced to me when I was up helping her out earlier this Fall. She and Matt had already tried it and knew it was good, so she requested that I make it while I was up there. I did, fell in love, and made it for Brent soon after I returned home. He fell in love at first morsel as I did.

I love this recipe because not only is it incredibly easy (ESPECIALLY if you use a rotisserie chicken), but it also accommodates various food intolerance diets. It is, of course, gluten free, as the tortillas are made out of corn. The taquitos are also delicious when you omit the pepperjack and the cream cheese...I know, I made them for my brother who avoids dairy like the plague and he ate 12 in one sitting, plus or minus a couple.

The cilantro lime dressing is tricky if you're dairy free...I almost got away with dairy-less products until I double checked the ingredients list of the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing packet and saw that it has buttermilk derivatives or something like that. My brother ended up eating the taquitos dry, dipping them in *gulp* Italian dressing when he wanted to (that sounds disgusting), guacamole or pico de gallo. And he loved 'em that way.

Avacado Tomato Salad

This is a recipe my grandparents stumbled upon in their town's newspaper. They tried it and instantly became addicted, making it two or three times a week. Eventually they decided to share their treasure with friends and family and emailed the recipe to us. I was wary of it at first because one of the main ingredients is cottage cheese...I'm pretty hit or miss with cottage cheese and I know plenty of people who gag at the thought of it.

But my intrigue won over my fright and we tried it. I LOVE it, I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and grow deeper every moment in my affections for it. Ok, so that's an overstatement. A huge one. But the point is, this is WAY better than you think it's going to be and is actually quite delicious! I'm serving it up again tonight!

Brent is one of those people who is not merely "hit or miss" with cottage cheese, he just plain doesn't like it. So, his judgement on whether or not he likes the salad is an undecided one...but it's not NO.

Try it..you never know. This may be your new afternoon snack.

The recipe: 4 large ripe avocados, cut into 1-inch cubes ,4 large tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces, 1-cup cottage cheese, 2-3 teaspoons of garlic salt. Combine all the ingredients, serve after refrigerating one hour.