11.30.08 Grilled tomato, smoked turkey and muenster sandwich

This grilled sandwich recipe is from Cooking Light. Only substitution we made was using olive oil instead of butter on the outside of the bread.

11.21.08 Pecan crusted chicken tender salad

For those of you know me, I am not the kind of girl who eats salad as an entree. But this recipe from - guess who, Rachael Ray! - is delicious. The pecan crusted chicken tenders are very moist, and the orange maple BBQ dressing is so irresistible my husband and I argue over who gets to lick the bowl. I skip the radishes, but follow the rest of the recipe as is.

11.15.08 Steakhouse rib-eye and tomato stacks

Another one from Rachael Ray, this recipe is for a steak dinner at home. The rib-eye is simply flavored, while the tomato stacks pack all the punch with it's horseradish dressing. We used smaller sized tomatoes than beefsteak, and the portions were plenty. The sauce definitely has a kick, but we all thought it was delicious.

11.14.08 Tyler's Ultimate BBQ Ribs

I'm trying something new tonight - baby back ribs! This recipe is from Tyler Florence. When I watched this episode on the Food Network, two things caught my eye - 1) the flavors in the sauce sounded delicious, and 2) the ribs are cooked in the oven instead of a grill or smoker. It doesn't get any easier than that! I made the sauce early and refrigerated it because I was going to be cooking away from my home and didn't want to lug all of the ingredients around. Also, after reading the viewer comments, I am going to extend my rib cooking time to 3 1/2 - 4 hours. I'll be serving these with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and salad.

Editor's note: We weren't impressed with the ribs. I think there are too many BBQ joints that do ribs really well - they smoke them for hours and hours - so this is something I'll leave to the professionals in the future. The sauce was delicious though, and would be great on chicken.

11.06.08 Spicy beef tenderloin

This delicious recipe is from Tyler Florence. I halved the recipe and it was large enough to feed 4 adults. I served it with Cephie's Famous Salad, named after my mom - it is romaine lettuce, bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, banana peppers and your dressing of choice. (Sorry, no photo - I didn't take one and there wasn't one online).