New Recipes this week

I made a goal a few months ago to try at least one new recipe each week. I have a recipe from my favorite site, http://allrecipes.com , emailed to me every day and I usually print a few out each week. However, the time actually comes to cook and I default to the same old stuff (tacos, chicken honey-nut stirfry, apricot chicken, stuffed bell peppers). However, my Mom and I just started doing Weight Watchers (unofficially, who wants to pay $40/month!), and I can't really eat most of my normal meals anymore, unless I starve myself all day.

So, two new, lower-fat recipes I tried and enjoyed this week:

Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

INGREDIENTS
5 slices bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 cups beef stock
1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 medium apple, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine (I used chicken broth and a splash of red wine vinegar)
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, coarsely chop, and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute white onion and garlic 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in beef stock, pinto beans, tomatoes, celery, and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the apple in the red wine until soft.
Mix bacon, apple, and remaining red wine into the soup mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until well blended.

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic and Garlic (we don't like mushrooms so left them out, but I think it would be even better with them, if you actually do like mushrooms)

INGREDIENTS
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute the chicken until it is nicely browned on one side (about 3 minutes).
Add the garlic. Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the mushrooms over them. Continue frying, shaking the skillet and stirring the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter and cover with foil. Set aside. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat for about 7 minutes. Swirl in the butter or margarine and discard the bay leaf. Pour this mushroom sauce mixture over the chicken and serve.

Grant's Trouble!

Grant 30 minutes into his nap time (pretty unsuccessful nap, huh?)

Grant has decided that he doesn't need naps anymore. Or, he's just too busy to want to nap. We put him in his crib and he rolls over and gets on his knees. Yesterday, he pulled himself up in the crib to stand. So, we lowered the crib down (hence the wrench-- Grant was such a good helper). It didn't do anything, except maybe make him a little safer. Grant still pulls himself up. There's one more setting, all the way down, which I think we may have to do to discourage him from standing when he should be napping. Grant also crawled for the first time last week. He's all over the place, mostly where he shouldn't be. He goes straight for the Wii and PS3, Lily's toys, and the stairs. He could care less about his toys. I think my days of easy parenting are over!

Ohhh. That (the camera) looks like something good to chew on! Let me have it!