NFA: It's gonna be a long one.

Well, for whatever reason, the picture of the chicken phyllo bundles would not load to my blog, thus causing me to postpone the blog for DAYS. We have continued to eat, and I have continued to take pictures.

New Food April is beginning to spread like wildfire. My friend Josh Guth told his wife that they need to hvae New Food May. We were having Tagine Style Chicken at the time and she replied, "We're not having this!" But I'll get to the Tagine Chicken later. There was some talk about who I would have play me in the movie... it was Beyonce. But there's lots to catch up on, so I'd best get started.

Let's see... after phylo chicken bundles was Vodka Cream Pasta.

This picture cannot adequately describe how much food there was. Again, you guessed it, Rachael Ray was the conspiritor. I kid you not, on the recipe, it says makes two servings with some left over. Well, being the thinker that I am, I knew that it would be more than that, but Josh and Nakita were coming over. So, I "halved again" the recipe. Five days later, there's still some in my fridge. But you know, it was awesome!

There was salad. There was bread. A good time was had by all.

Following vodka cream pasta was chipotle chicken rolls. They were supposed to be with avacado dipping suace, but it was not until I was cutting into the avacados, that I remembered I don't have a food processer. I was running late, so those avos went right into the guac, which was as usual, devine. We had the chicken rolls (Shhh, I used turkey) on Sunday for Josh's birthday party. Lots of friends came to the Rivas House to hang out and eat TONS of food. We had a great time and my love was blessed. I forgot to take pictures, but that's ok, because, while they tasted good, they were not pretty. I got to use some new ingredients and that was fun. Well, one really. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The recipe said one and I didn't really think that'd be enough, but trust me when I say that it was!

Moving on... (I told you it was gonna be a long one!)

Monday was one of my favorites! It might go into the permanent rotation. Wait for it....! German Potato Salad with Keilbasa!

OH

MY

GOSH!

It was so good and easy, that 2 days later I still remember the recipe:

2lbs new red potatos, quartered and boiled until just fork tender

1 med. red onion, quartered and sliced thin

1 cup beef stock

3tbsp red wine vinegar

8 strips bacon cooked and chopped

1 keilbasa cut in half moon slices

1 head kale coarsely chopped

you put the reds on to boil and put the bacon in to oven to cook (at 400) they get done at around the same time. next you take a sautee pan and toss in some EVOO (thanks Rach) and the onions. When they're tender, you toss in the kale until it's wilted just a bit, then add the stock and vinegar and take the pan off the heat. Next you cook the keilbasa in another pan until its crispy on the edges and warm through. Everything's basically done at this time so, drain the reds, chop the bacon,put the reds back in their pan, add the onion stock mixture and the bacon, then fold in the keilbasa. At this point, I added some flat leaf parsley to make it look pretty and thanks to RR's exuberant use of it, I have begun to love the taste... Be careful that you don't start to smash the potatoes, and salt and pepper according to your doctor's reccomended sodium intake levels.

Seriously, to a girl who grew up with a German mama making stuff like this up in her head all the time but not quite turning out every time, this recipe is what a good memory tastes like. It was a winner!

And, last and quite possibly least was last night. Quick Tagine Style chicken with couscous.

If you're like me, you didn't know that Tagine is pronounced: tah hee nee.

That's all I have to say about that.

When I read the recipe, I discerned that it was of Mediterranean origin. I still don't really know where it came from, and that's ok. I went to winco to get the necessaries, and found the prunes white raisins, and couscous in the bulk section. A thing for which I am eternally grateful, because we will most likely never have need for prunes or couscous again. I also spent some dough on some spices I probably won't ever use again, but on the off chance that I, someday, participate in a game where I have to shout out the spices in my cupboard and I win with turmeric and corriander and saffron (one of these I didn't use in this recipe, you have to guess which), I will look back on this day and rejoice!

You know what I don't like? Oatmeal.

You know what else I don't like? Sand.

Couscous is like eating a cross between soggy sand, and dry oatmeal. Why would you do that? If you are reading this and couscous is a staple in your diet, don't be mad at me for deriding your eastern pasta. If you've never tried it and my Adventure is spurring you to embark on your own, I give you this warning: Don't buy couscous!

There, I've done it. I'm caught up. Now I have to go make some tomato basil pasta nests. Honestly, I'm not really feeling it tonight. We've had a lot of Italian food lately and ( I hate to say it) I'm a lottle pastad out. It's not a typo, don't tell me. I mean it and I'm not afraid to say it.

One thing I love about NFA is that it is really making me want to have people over to share it with us. I never used to consider myself a very hospitable person, but now I find myself thinking up ways to get people over and feed them something awesome! I like what I'm seeing take place in my life and I really think it's a God thing.

Coming soon is london broil and burbon pecan smashed sweet potatoes... Uh HUH! Also, I heard a rumor about pineapple rum chicken, but I can neither confirm or deny such a menu item.