Changing it up...

A couple of weeks ago on some sort of whim, I thought I would check out a couple of Rachael Ray cookbooks from the library just to give myself something new to think about. Lately, I have been less than excited about making the daily dinner. Perhaps it's because I do it almost every day. I'm getting tired and in a rut. Maybe it's also because it's hot as Hades here, and who wants to cook?

I've always liked Rachael. I know she can be a bit over the top for some, but getting her in small doses can be fun. And her cooking seems doable to me. Yes, there can be some strange Italian ingredients from time to time, and I do think it would take some practice to be able to really make her meals in 30 minutes, but she has some interesting ideas and she is DIFFERENT than my usual.

So I've tried a couple of things. Both of them good.

The best dish of the two was her Balsamic Chicken with Pesto Gravy and Bitter Greens. It really was "Yum-o!" as Rachael would say. Enoch kept saying how good it was. It's a "15 minute meal" that I managed to make in about 30 minutes. The meat took longer to cook because mine had been frozen.

It got me thinking. What if I did my own little Julie and Julia experiment with Rachael? Maybe a little energy of hers could help me change up the daily meal planning. Don't think I'm over the top. I wouldn't do it for a year (although Rachael has so many recipes and cookbooks that I certainly could). I'm just thinking a month--and maybe only 5 days out of the week to allow for some consumption of leftovers, eating out and whatnot.

But not this month. Or the next. I need it to cool down. So many of her recipes require stovetop and/or oven, and on this week when we are supposed to be hitting 112 on several days, that sounds like no fun.

Which begs the question: Can't we just eat ice cream for dinner?

Orange Cashew Chicken with Broccoli inspired by Rachael Ray