Click on for the fabulous taste treat!

What you’ll need
1 teaspoon olive oil
1.5 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs trimmed of all visible fat (you could also use skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 onion thinly sliced (depending on the pallet of your audience, 1/2 onion works well too)
1 garlic clove, chopped (I love garlic and used three cloves, quite yummy for garlic lovers – and my kids were ok too)
3 plum tomatoes chopped (I used 4 large regular tomaotes, it was just fine)
1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed  (Idaho, Irish, or Maine potatoes all work fine   use others as you see fit!)
10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped (don’t use green olives, trust me on this).
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine (or 1 bottle dry white wine – drink the bottle & save 1/4 cup for the meal ).
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

What to do
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprikle the chicken with the salt and pepper and saute until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes.  Add the onion and garlic; cook until the onion is just tender, about 5 minutes longer.  Stir in the tomatoes, potato, olives, broth, and wine.  Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the potato tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil.

Prep to plate time is about 40 minutes maximum.

Calories and Fat
Serves 4
Breakdown per serving

• Calories, 306
• Fat, 9 grams
• Carbohydrates, 19 grams
• Protein, 36 grams

Ingredients

1 lb of fresh string beans (also known as green beans – depending on where you live)
4 whole eggs
1 Tablespoon (T) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Feta Cheese
1 to 2 teaspoons (t) of Garlic Powder

How to do it

Place the 4 eggs in a medium pot that has been filled 1/2 way with cold water. Turn the burner on and bring to a boil, then boil till hard-boiled, about 10 or so minutes. When the eggs are hard boiled, take the eggs in the pot off the stove, then rinse in cold water, let them cool while you make the rest of the meal.

While the eggs are boiling, prepare the string beans by cutting the tips off either end of the green beans, then placing them in a large pot that you’ve put about 1 cup of water into. Once you’ve cut the tips off all the sting beans, and placed them into the pot, cover the pot and steam lightly. You should be able to reach that point by turning the stove top on medium then cooking them about 10 minutes or less. You don’t want to overcook them, but you don’t want them crunchy either. They should feel fresh when you bite into one, but not overcooked. When the string beans are cooked take them out of the pot and place them on a large serving plate. I love blue in my cafe, but pink, purple, red, or any color you like would be just fine

With the string beans down on the plate, dribble 1T of extra virgin olive oil over the top of the string beans. Then, sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of the garlic powder on top of the green beans. When you’ve done that, sprinkle 1/4 cup of feta cheese on top of the green beans. Finally, peel the eggs, slice, and place around the bed of prepared green beans.

While you could eat this right away, it tastes best when you let this cool at room temp for about 10 minutes or so. If you have time to further cool it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, the taste is enhanced, but it’s really good at room temperature too.

Serve with a glass of chilled white wine or ice water and you are in for a wonderful delight!

Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side dish.
Calories per person is about 300.
If you’ve got a little issue with cholesterol, just take the egg yolks out.
Takes about 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients:
4 Pita breads (6 inches in diameter)
1/2 cup roasted garlic-flavored or regular humus (depends on who your kissing afterwards I’d reckon)
1 Cup crumbled feta cheese (4 ounces)
1 Small Onion, sliced
2 Cups shredded spinach
1 Large Tomato, seeded & chopped (1 cup)
1/4 cup sliced ripe or Kalamata OlivesOlive Oil

1. Heat over to 400 F. Place pita breads in ungreased jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch
2. Drizel some olive oil onto the pita’s surface
3. Spread hummus on each pita bread. Sprinkle with cheese.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top each pizza with onions, spinach, tomoto and olives

Get a nice glass of wine, and enjoy!

Salad of Love (also known a pile ofstuff whipped into a pot that magically produces potatoessalad)

* 1 bag potatoes boiled, then peeled (boiling ‘em first makes the peeling easier)

* Throw in two eggs while potatoes are cooking, to make them hardboiled

* Take peeled potatoes, cube ‘em and then toss into a bowl

* Shell eggs, dice, toss in same bowl with potatoes

* Finely chop &5 carrots and toss in

* Finely chop about 6 celery stocks & toss in

* Finely chop one onion, dice it up, toss it in to the same bowl

* Toss in some extra macaroni, or any other edible substance that has not grown mold or generated a smell reminiscent of your local waste management station.

* Toss it all together – if you use your bare hands it’s best.

* Take your fav mayo and put in about 5 big spoonfuls (big being your definition of big spoon)

* Add in some Italian dressing – just make it go around in a circle on top….your guess is as good as anyone’s as to how much is the best amount

* cover, refrigerate overnight – then whip out the next day at lunch and eat!

Calories? who the heck knows, and who’s counting! Serving size? By the plate! Taste? all children give this a thumbs up.

Salad of Science

(From page 107, Weight Watchers, “Simply The Best” recipe book)

Ingredients
(measurements are precise)

- 1/4 Cup plain non-fat yogurt

- 2 tablespoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise

- 2 teaspoons minced dill

- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

- 1 celery stalk, diced up

- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded & diced

- 2 hard cooked eggs chopped

- 2 scallions thinly sliced

- 2 small red potatoes, cooked and cubed

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, vinegar and black pepper. Add the celery, bell pepper, eggs and scallions; toss with a pair of salad tongs to lightly coat. Ad the potatoes and toss gently, again with the tongs.

Calories? 130

Service Size? One third of the batch as listed, serves 3. Taste? All children look at me questioning if this is potatoe salad, egg salad, or craft paste.

Though French Toast was fun for a "season" the real draw in my kitchen was (and still is) PANCAKES.  Pancakes are the ONE thing I can trust to get my brood up and around the kitchen table TOGETHER.  They may mutter something vaguely distinguishable as English when they ask for "coffee", or  look at each other through bloodshot eyes and grunt, acknowledging there is another body in the room.  But the key is we are all together around the table.  Pancakes get us there.

Here’s the recipe I’ve used for years, and just thought I’d share the pancake love with ya’ll:

These are from scratch   WHAT no Aunt Jemima?   Nah, I gave her the day off for this recipe.  This recipe is adapted from the recipe "Old Fashion Pancakes" on page 94 of "The New Laurel’s Kitchen".  Note, these are hearty whole wheat pancakes.  A few go a LONG way!

Ingredients:
1 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
2 3/4 c. 1% fat milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or 2 Tablespoons applesauce (this makes the pancakes moister.  The oil makes a yummier pancake, but the applesauce is a bit healthier and cuts the calories some).

1. In a LARGE bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.
2. Beat the eggs lightly & combine with the milk, then add to the dry ingredients & stir briefly.  Stir in the oil (or applesauce).
3. Heat the griddle. It should be hot enough so that when you sprinkle water drops on the surface, they dance or bubble about.  I find that on an electric stove, a setting of about 6 makes the surface hot without making it too hot that the cakes burn on the outside and then are mushy on the inside (sort of a stuffed pancake thing – very gross tasting unless you are hungover from the night before, then you have no idea whether your eating your tongue or your pancake).
   1. You probably won’t need any grease on the griddle unless you, a loved one, or a friendly neighbor have used it to smelt iron ore or burnt the surface horribly in some heat fetish for cooking food to a blackend char ("say honey, how about some Cajun blackened pancakes today?").
   2. Pour the batter onto the now nicely hot griddle.  I put 2 Tablespoons down and they come out nice and big and deeelicious.
   3. How the heck do you know when to turn them?   Well, after the initial pouring down onto the hot griddle top, the edges of the now nicely cooking cake should be a dry brown and the top should be all bubbly like the surface of Venus.  That means the heat has cooked through the batter!   Turn quick with a large spatula.

I always heat up some real maple syrup (not that bizarre food fad from the food lab, Maple Like Syrup they have in the asiles of our local grocery stores!).   Real maple syrup is not cheap – BUT – when heated a little goes a long way.  Give it a shot, hey it’s only a couple of bucks you cheapskate!!

If you feel very adventurous, once you try this recipe for a while, play with your food    Add blueberries or other lovelies to the mix.  Note, the more stuff you add, careful to add enough milk to keep the batter pourable, or else it hardens like concrete!