Is this not the yummiest-looking food-on-a-stick you’ve seen today? And, my gosh, they were every bit as good as they look… and so easy!

I got a new barbeque grill! I’m very excited about it. I’ve been scoping out craigslist for a grill for a couple months. I saw my stainless steel dream listed for $100 and called immediately. No answer. I left a message. No response. I called back the next day and the guy said he lowered the price to $80 since he thought the plates needed to be replaced (awesome – I still would have paid $100). I told him I could be there in 30 minutes. When I show up he shows me the grill and tells me all about his sons and his wife. He had to get a new grill because he was hosting a graduation party for his son and needed to be able to barbeque more food. He also tells me he got the barbeque at CostCo a few years ago for $400. Score.

After looking at it for a bit, he says “tell you what, give me $60 and it’s yours” (awesome – I still would have paid $100). His son helped me load it into my car and I gave him $30 as a graduation present. The new stainless steel grill plates cost me $60 and I love, love, LOVE my new grill.

Barbeque Chicken Kabobs

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5-8 large cherry tomatoes
1 package mushrooms
2 peppers (green, red or orange)
1/2 onion
nonstick cooking spray
salt & pepper to taste

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Cut into large cubes
2. Cut the peppers and onion into large pieces
3. Spray your skewers with nonstick cooking spray
4. Thread the chicken, tomatoes, onions, peppers and mushrooms on the skewers
5. Add salt and pepper to entire skewers to taste
6. Put on preheated barbeque until chicken is cooked through

So, I’ve only brought my lunch one day this week. BUT in my defense, I had 2 lunch meetings and 1 lunch date this week too, so I’m doing pretty good. The important thing is that I haven’t *paid* for lunch at all this week… right?

This salad recipe is inspired by one I had at Nordstrom Cafe. It is so yummy. Although I couldn’t quite get it right until I found this dressing. I grabbed it by mistake when I thought it was a different dressing I like, and when I tasted it I thought “that’s the Nordstrom dressing!” – and trust me when I say it really makes this salad.

The bring it to work, I put the mixed greens, chicken and walnuts in one tupperwear container, all the berries in another one, and the blue cheese crumbles in a small tupperwear container. I bring the dressing in the bottle (until I can buy a fancy alternative).

Three Berry Salad with Chicken and Walnuts

2 cups mixed spring greens
3/4 cup cooked chicken, chilled (seasoned with salt and pepper)
1 cup berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries)
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tbsp blue cheese crumbles
1 tbsp light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (by Wishbone)

Combine all ingredients – enjoy!

For the record, I brought my lunch in this fancy bag:

Fitting that I brought my Nordstrom Cafe-inspired lunch in a Nordstrom bag, huh?

That’s a little arugula leaf as the heart… cute, huh?

This salad is so yummy, and really easy. But it’s not very filling and it doesn’t have protein so if you don’t eat it as a side salad, you’ll be hungry again.

Arugula Side Salad

2 cups Baby Arugula
1 Fuji Apple (diced)
1/2 tablespoon Champagne Pear Vinaigrette with Gorgonzola dressing from Trader Joe’s

Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my first guest blogger! My adorable dad took it upon himself to not only write this post about his *original* Nutella Stuffed Strawberry recipe, but to also provide original pictures.

Take it away dad!

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• as a garnish for French toast, waffles or pancakes.
• what could be better than a thick strawberry smoothie with a stuffed strawberry garnish? 
• serve them individually in a shot glass.
• cut off the pointed end of each berry so they will stand up, and place a dozen berries on a plate.
• get some of those tiny little ketchup cups you find in fast food restauants.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Pretty good, huh?

By the way, that picture on the bottom right is a “properly stuffed strawberry,” according to my dad.

I’m baaaaack!!! Wow – I needed a break. I probably wouldn’t have taken one, but I’m staying at Chez Sister and my routine is all off. How do you people with kids get anything done? They always need to be fed and bathed and they want to be read to and played with… I’m not even doing any of those things and it’s stressful. Thankfully the “Auntie Jeannie is living with us!” novelty is wearing off a bit and I am able to walk around without two kids trailing behind me. Although, now I miss them.

Sorry about doing another “Make It Yummy” post. I have some fun things in the works. Please stay tuned.

This is a great recipe to practice chopping veggies!

Clam Chowder
source of recipe here

3 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams
1 cup minced onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart half-and-half cream (or milk)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar - this is the special ingredient!!
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper to taste

1. Drain juice from clams (see tip below) into a large skillet over the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. Add water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender. I chop my veggies in order of longest to shortest cooking time: potatoes, carrots, celery, onions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.
3. Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

TIP: Wash your cans before you drain the clam juice over the vegetables. Who knows what lurks on the tops of cans, and whatever is there comes in direct contact with the juice.

Spoiler alert: these steps are VERY similar to Part 1 – Potatoes 

These crummy pictures do not do the beautiful carrot cubes justice! But, they will give you the idea.

First, a tip: look for square carrots (if you’re buying them individually). The carrots that come to a point are much harder to cut.

I’m grateful for so many things… so, so, so many things. Have I ever mentioned our roommate, Graham? No? Well, I’m grateful for him. He’s funny and nice… and he has a boxer too (named Jack) and he’s handy to have around (to do things like pick up a Christmas tree!) and… a very good thing about Graham is that he is a culinary student!

If you can’t imagine how cool that is, allow me to paint you a picture: he has gadgets (like special peelers and tools and a food processor), he likes to practice new dishes (and share them, of course), he has very sharp knifes and he has know-how! I’ve learned so much from him… I can call and ask him how to poach an egg or steam lobster… whatever I want! Whenever I want!

He taught me how to chop vegetables. He’s much (much, much) better at it than I am, and he’s much faster too (although, he didn’t have to stop to take pictures) so his potatoes didn’t look dingy. But I thought it would be fun to share:

Stay tuned tomorrow for carrots!

We are obsessed with acai smoothies right now. So much so, that we buy the ingredients from CostCo in bulk! These tasty treats are easy to make and really yummy…

Acai Smoothies

1 cup Acai juice
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
2 cups frozen berries (blueberries and/or raspberries are good)

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

This is a super yummy soup recipe that I usually double so I can freeze or just have for leftovers for days and days.

Creamy Chicken Rice Soup
original recipe here

1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 (14.5 ounce) cans reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups cooked long-grain rice
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender.
2. Stir in flour until blended, and then gradually stir in broth.
3. Add the rice, chicken, salt, pepper and garlic powder; bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and wine if desired.
6. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until heated through.

This is what Joe does as I cut the chicken for the soup:

I made these and brought them to a Christmas Cookie exchange (they were Christmas-y in a funny way) recently. These no-bake cookies are super yummy and can be bundled together for a fun gift to give to kids.

Reindeer Poop Cookie Recipe
Original recipe found here

Dry Ingredients

3 cups oats (quaker oats)
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 1/2 ounces flaked coconut

Liquid Ingredients

1/4 lb butter (not margarine)
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk (not skim milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, stir together well.
2. In a large pot, bring the liquid to a boil.
3. Then take off the stove and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients INTO the DRY ingredients and mix well until everything is wet.
5. Use a teaspoon to spoon the cookies onto waxed paper.
6. Let them cool and they will harden somewhat–that’s it!