On to dinner with the these Sugar Pumpkin, Feta and Cilantro Quesadillas from Bon Appetit. Yay cheese! Yay tortillas! The recipe calls for a sugar pumpkin or a butternut squash which as you guessed I had to use a butternut squash since I couldn’t find sugar pumpkins. This was super duper simple to assemble and I served with a side of black beans. My only critique was that I thought this could use some sort of spice maybe cumin or cinnamon or something along those lines to give it a little more pizazz.

I’m menu planning now and we’ll see what comes up for the next three days and next, I’m doing a week of recipes from my favorite food blogs out there. Can’t wait!

Photos from cookinglight.com and bonappetit.com

Still going strong folks! No caffeine, no processed foods and I’m still feeling good. I started my day with a smoothie made of frozen peaches, almond butter and honey plus a red apple. They have a bounty of the Jazz variety at my HEB and I’m loving its extra crispy, tart taste.

For lunch, I had my leftover serving of the chicken and cucumber salad from last night. Now onto the main event – dinner. I decided I would have one red meat night this week and I chose to cook with lamb. Through my work with The Tri-Lamb Group I have learned to appreciate lean, nutrient filled lamb. I know some people go “awwww how could you?” when I say the word lamb but trust me people just give it a try and you will be saying “yummm, how couldn’t I?” If you are still not convinced, more for me then. 😉

Now I still wanted to choose a healthy lamb recipe and I hit the jackpot with this Lamb Chops with Pomegranate and Dried Fig Relish from Bon Appetit’s Fast, Easy, Fresh section and was also labeled low calorie and high fiber. I couldn’t find pomegranate molasses at Central Market so I decided to go ahead and use regular molasses for the relish…oh, the relish. The pomegranate seeds burst in your mouth with each bite and the molasses, balsamic vinegar, dried figs and fresh mint complemented the lamb perfectly. I also loved the cumin seeds on both the lamb and in the relish. I wish my camera worked because this was a visually stunning dish too with the colors of the red pomegranate seeds, fresh green mint and figs served over the lamb chops.

This truly was fast, easy, fresh and utterly delectable. There was nothing on my plate after I snarfed this down. Tomorrow is my total vegetarian day so we will see how it goes. Stay tuned!

So still no caffeine and I’ve limited my amount of processed food intake for the past two days…I’m feeling good!

I started day two with a blueberry and almond milk smoothie and then an apple. For lunch I had the leftover Fiery Coconut Curry Soup but this time added fresh slices of avocado and really loved this new addition to the dish.

For a snack I had almonds and freshly, sliced mango. For dinner I tried this Cold Sesame Noodle Salad with Chicken and Cucumbers from Cooking Light that was really fresh and very satisfying. I used whole wheat spaghetti instead of udon noodles and I also served – as recommended – with a simple side salad of spinach and radishes. I really liked the crunchy peanuts and fresh cucumbers and the dressing was really simple to make and delicious.

I halved this recipe and then saved a serving for my lunch tomorrow. Day two down!

So for the first day in my week-long journey on a diet shake-up, I started with a simple mango, coconut milk (light) and pineapple smoothie with a smidgen of honey plus a red apple.

For lunch, I made this Fiery Tofu and Coconut Curry Soup from Cooking Light and all I have to say is “fire in the hole!”. Yowza, this thing had some spice too it and it probably had something to do with the 1/4 cup of red curry paste in the soup. I have to say for a veggie tofu soup this was really good, but if you are not the heat lovin’ kind you might want to lower the red curry paste a bit.

For dinner, I made this Sauteed Halibut with Lemon-Pesto Butter (come on now, I had to have butter somewhere in my day) from Cooking Light and it was del-i-cious! The butter mixture was perfect over the halibut and I served this with a sauteed kale recipe from Bon Appetit magazine minus the nasty capers. The two dishes combined were perfect together and I highly recommend giving this a try. Also, if you haven’t explored the world of kale, this article from Molly Wizenberg might convince you.

Day one down and stay tuned for tomorrow!

I was supposed to make Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese from Cooking Light and it looked like a fairly simple recipe, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it. Instead, I wanted a BIG salad and I remembered coming across this salad in Everyday Food and decided to give it a try.

Starting on Tuesday, I’m going to take a healthier approach to my diet – for a week. After scanning my favorites here on Cooking Inside the Lines I noticed a lot of red meat, cheeses, BACON and bread products. While I like to think my diet is balanced, I’ve been feeling a little off-kilter recently and am thinking a week of a little more “clean” eating might do me some good, this also includes no wine or caffeine at all…at all…at all. So, no wine, caffeine or processed foods if I can help it, plus more fruits and veggies and vegetarian and fish options for a week. I’m hoping after the week is over not only will I feel better, but it might serve as an inspiration for me to continue to eat a wee bit healthier moving forward.

I love slow cooker recipes, especially as the fall time draws near, well in Texas we consider “fall” anything below 100 degrees. Seriously though, I have to admit that I severely dislike summer for a myriad of reasons, so I love any reason to start the fall season as soon as I possibly can. Something about the smells, colors and of course the food of the autumn season just makes me feel comfy, cozy and so happy. Ok, I’ll shut-up now!

When I realized that I didn’t have the September issue of Cooking Light in my already overflowing stack of past issues, I checked the Web site to see what was up. Well, turns out that the magazine has gone through a redesign and they have a nifty little video that explains it all.

When I read the words “redesign” I made that awful sucking noise you make through both of your cheeks when you see something gross. You see dear readers, redesigns on magazines can sometimes make my skin crawl. Imagine you’ve enjoyed being with a loved one for years and years and one day they get massive plastic surgery and just look fake and their attitude has completely changed; of course you still love them but boy do you miss the original. In fact, this happened to me with Fitness magazine years ago and I still haven’t recovered. This is also what happens when you love magazines too much!

Now, I had to come up with some reason to grab this from the stands immediately, which ended up being cat food, yes, I “needed” cat food! I ran through Randall’s on my way home to purchase overpriced cat food and found the September Cooking Light. I got home and the first thing I did was read it from stem to stern and then, I read it again.

As a devout reader of Cooking Light magazine my message to the editorial staff is…I completely approve! The magazine is now divided way better than the old version. The recipes listing is now in the front (similar to Food & Wine) and the recipes are sectioned off so they read so much easier, from 20 Minute Meals to Dinner Tonight (quick dinner options under an hour) that have a shopping list and a game plan for ensuring your meal gets done on time. Also, they have an Enlightened Cook section with tips and tricks and recipes you can use. They still have all of the nutrition and fitness tips you love, but now it has kitchen gadgets and other fun items for you to peruse. Finally, there is now a photo with every recipe, yes dear readers, every recipe. I applaud the staff for their efforts!

I have to test some recipes from this new issue – I earmarked about 14 – to see if they are back and in business on that end. Also, I’m interested to see how following issues will be, especially the ever-crucial holiday issues in November and December. I recycle past issues of the magazine but I never get rid of the holiday ones. Stay tuned lambs!