The other day, I was thinking about the way I used to eat. Back when I was in college and shortly after I graduated. Let's just say it wasn't very healthy or very delicious. Looking back, I think there was a period of time where I just completely forgot that I knew how to cook a decent meal. Plus, I couldn't really be bothered. Like a lot of people, I had the misconception that cooking a real dinner out of real ingredients would be too expensive and take too much time. So we'd boil a box of pasta and mix it with a jar of sauce and some sausage. Or we'd try to be "healthy" and make a chicken stir-fry, but we would totally ruin it by using store-bought marinades that were loaded with sugar. For a special treat, we'd buy a box of zatarain's mix and make jambalaya.

I don't miss the other stuff at all, but I do kind of miss the jambalaya. And with Foodbuzz pledging to donate $25 to the Greater New Orleans Foundation (helping fishermen who were effected by the oil spill and their families) for every Gulf-Inspired post this weekend, it seemed like the perfect excuse to make it. Of course, I wasn't going to resort to using a box - I know better than that now! (And a quick look at the back of the box confirmed my suspicions — 21% of your RDA of sodium? MSG? Sodium dioxide?? No thanks!) No, this jambalaya is 100% real food and 100% real flavor. Sure you have to spend a few minutes chopping vegetables, but other than that it really isn't any more difficult or time consuming than the boxed stuff. And the final product is so much healthier and so much more delicious that there really isn't any excuse to take "shortcuts"!

Looking for more Gulf-inspired flavor? How about a nice, steamy bowl of gumbo? Gumbo is very similar to jambalaya, but it's prepared as a soup enriched with a roux. In gumbo, the rice is cooked separately from the other ingredients and added in the final step instead of cooking along with everything else and absorbing all of the flavors.

I'm often asked how I eat the way that I do without spending a fortune at the grocery store. One of these days, I'll get around to doing a full post about that but my number one tip is to plan ahead. That way you can plan to reuse ingredients (no use letting half that bag of vegetables go to waste) without feeling like you're eating the same thing over and over again. This orzo salad is a great example — it uses many of the same ingredients as the Greek Burgers with Tzatziki that I posted last week, but it's an entirely different meal. Just plan to have this two or three days after you make the burgers, and you'll be able to use up any feta, red onion, cucumber, and fresh dill that you might have left over. (Of course, it works the other way around too if you want to make this salad first!)

But, burgers aside, I really do recommend this salad. It's so easy to make — you can even make it ahead and have dinner waiting for you when you get home from a long day at work — and it's loaded with fresh flavor. I don't know what it is about this type of dish, but there's something about them that I love — even though everything is mixed together, each individual ingredient maintains its integrity. You can eat it all together, or pluck out specific items and eat them one by one for entirely different flavor experiences. Some other examples of recipes that I find to be similar include my Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce and my Roasted Shrimp with Orange and Fennel. In my head, I always think of them as "picky recipes," both because you pick at them with your fork while you eat and because you'll likely find yourself picking extra items right out of the serving dish when you're dine with what on your plate. In fact, Shawn and I probably polished off another half serving of this salad between the two of us just by continuing to eat after we had finished what was originally dished out.

After I posted about BBQ Baked Lentils, a few people noted that they had never used lentils except for in salads and soups. To be honest those — and Indian dishes — are where my mind immediately goes when I think about lentils too. But you probably won't see much in that respect as I continue explore the world of lentils over the next two weeks. First, because two weeks worth of soup, salad, and Indian food would be boring — both to read and to eat. Second, because I wanted to look at this as an opportunity to challenge myself. To think outside the box and come up with some really fun and creative recipes. Rest assured, if the recipes aren t delicious you won't see them here.

Since lentils are so often used in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine, I decided to mix things up and try using them in a southwest style dish. I also wanted to play with texture a little, so these southwest lentil cakes were born! I really loved the way these turned out — they actually reminded me a little of falafel. I was nervous that they might be dense and dry, but I shouldn't have worried. The slightly crispy outside gave way to a light and fluffy center that was full of moisture. The creamy lime dressing played up the Southwest flavor of these patties ad balanced out some of the heat from the jalapenos that I added to them.

The patties and dressing were great on their own - I also think they would make a fantastic wrap-style sandwich — but to make them into a healthy dinner I built a salad around them. Some chopped romaine hearts tossed with fresh corn, diced tomatoes, creamy avocado, and a little extra cilantro topped with the lentil cakes and dressing made a wonderfully light yet filling dinner.

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My Mom makes awesome lemon chicken. This isn't it.

I'm not allowed to make hers anymore. See, I tried to make hers once - years ago before I had a decent kitchen or knew how to cook. I called and got the recipe, gathered the ingredients the best I could (wine had to be omitted since I was underage and couldn't get any), and set off to make a delicious dinner. I'm not sure what happened, but what I ended up with wasn't delicious at all. It was actually pretty gross. Shawn, who loves my mom's version, has never let me live it down. Occasionally I'll say something about wanting to make lemon chicken, but he just gives me a look and begs me to please just make something else.

This time I promised him it would be different. I wouldn't use Mom's recipe. In fact, I would make it as different from hers as I could, and the only similarities would be that it included lemons and chicken. He hesitantly said ok, so I came up with this recipe. It was a success!

The highlight of this dish is the sauce, which is a lot more like a gravy than my mom's version. The sauce is very bright, and the lemon flavor is extremely powerful without being at all tart or sour. I kept the seasonings simple, with just some thyme and leeks, which I cooked right in the pan with the chicken so they would soak up the lemon while infusing the sauce with their subtle flavor. Together, the lemons and the leeks scream "spring!" and this is the perfect dinner for a rainy March or April night. I served this with rice, but mashed or roasted potatoes would also be nice with the sauce.

We don't make fritattas very often, and I really don't have a good excuse for that. They're healthy, super easy to make, and so much more convenient than omelets if you're cooking for a crowd. Since you don't have to worry about folding it, it's easy to pack it chock full of vegetables - I like to think of the egg as a binder for the veggies rather than as the main component of the dish.

You can use whatever vegetables you have around, which makes fritattas a great way to use up leftovers, but I always try to include eggplant when I make them. It doesn't sound like it would go well with eggs, but trust me — it's delicious. For this Mediterranean version, I also added some sun dried tomatoes, a few spoons full of pesto, and a light sprinkle of feta cheese. The resulting dish was phenomenal! The tomatoes and pesto really kicked things up a notch and made this fritatta special.

I forgot to put the spinach I had in it, so I made a little salad with it on the side. Since the fritatta was so savory, it went really well together. If you want to add more bulk to your eggs though, you can wilt the spinach with your vegetables.

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One day last weekend, I was looking for an excuse to not leave the house so I decided to braise something. I feel like although I've been doing a lot of braising this winter (thanks to Julie and Julia, which has us all craving Boeuf Bourgignon in August!!), I hardly ever use my oven. I obviously use it when I bake, but it's so rare that I do something like roast a chicken and the oven just never gets used for cooking. I takes so long! You have to wait for it to preheat, then it takes forever to actually cook your food.... so it's the stovetop for me the majority of the time. Every once in a while if I'm snowed in (or want to pretend I'm snowed in!) I take advantage of the time at home to make a delicious braised dish. Like these short ribs, which simmer away all afternoon until the meat falls right off the bone and is tender as can be.

Instead of doing a traditional Italian braise, I decided to put a southwestern twist on my ribs, using beer and tequila as my liquids and adding a jalapeno and some chili powder to the pot. The flavor turned out great - it wasn't spicy or beer-y at all, but it had a nice little southwestern kick. In order to develop the recipe I used the "Create your own" feature on the Fine Cooking web site. The feature walks you through the recipe and lets you drag different combinations of ingredients into the "pot" - then at the end it gives you a recipe that you can follow to recreate the dish n a real kitchen. I always play around with the feature, but I had never actually cooked one of the recipes before. I was impressed! Although you ned to pay attention to what flavors will go well together and make sure you have a good balance of richness and acidity, it's a great way to put a fun, personal twist on a recipe that you aren't that familiar with.

For any of you that have never had short ribs before, it's similar to pot roast with a slightly firmer texture - fork-tender and succulent meat, with vegetables that cook down into a nice sauce. I served these with mashed potatoes (with sour cream instead of milk) to serve with my ribs. They were a great way to soak up the extra sauce! [....]

I'll admit that the first time I heard of a potato taco, I wasn't impressed. It sounded like a dense, heavy, carb-fest. Then at the Foodbuzz festival last November I had the opportunity to try a potato and chorizo taco from tacolicious. My mind was changed - they were one of the highlights of the street food fare and I've been anxious to try them again ever since. When I saw that my local grocery store started selling their own house-made tortillas, I knew that the time had come to try making these at home.

For something that's whipped easily up in 15 minutes, these are phenomenal. The potatoes are mild and really let the flavor of the chorizo shine through - you don't really taste "potato" at all. What I really love about these though are all of the contrasting textures - soft potato, chewy chorizo, and creamy avocado. There's not really much more to say about them than that - they're very simple with bright flavors and a fresh feel. I don't know what more you can ask for in a quick meal. [....]

Now that the Foodbuzz Festival is over, I've been given the go-ahead to share my winning cioppino recipe with you all. I'm really excited that I can finally post this dish - as I've mentioned before, I thought it was amazing (and from the feedback that I got at the festival, a lot of other people thought to too!). It's also crazy easy to make. I was honestly worried about how I was going to fill the time in my 35 minute demo, because this essentially just requires dumping everything in the pot and letting it do its thing. Because it's so fast, easy and elegant, it would be the perfect thing to make for weeknight entertaining. [....]

I got some super exciting news today - thanks to Bertolli Sauces, we're On The Menu at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival next month!!

When Foodbuzz announced last month that there would be a few sponsorship opportunities to cover the cost of travel and accommodations for the Festival and that the first would be offered by Bertolli Sauces, I knew that I had to submit an entry. I was excited but I never thought that I would actually be chosen! Entrants were asked to develop to 2-course menu using to different Bertolli Sauces products - I wanted to do something different since I figured they would be flooded with Italian recipes, but it didn't take me long to come up with my menu.

Since the Festival is being held in San Francisco, I thought it would be fun to start my menu with something representative of the city. I don't know what says San Francisco more than sourdough and cioppino! But I didn't want to make just any old cioppino - it needed to be different! So I used Bertolli Sauce's Fire Roasted Tomato and fish stock as my base, and added lots of garlic, celery, onion, and other traditional cioppino flavors. The to make it even more different, I gave it a Spanish spin by adding saffron, shrimp, and mussels. The final dish has a markedly Spanish flavor that's slightly spicy and a wonderful aroma that ignites your senses the moment you bring the fork to your mouth. Sourdough was the perfect tool for sopping up all of the extra broth. We ate every last bit and I've been itching to make more ever since.

From the minute I tasted the final Menu Item, I knew that it was a winner. This was SO GOOD and it's killing me that I'm not allowed to share the actual recipe with you all (yet). But here's the deal: Foodbuzz and Bertolli Sauces tested my recipe and I made it into the Top Eight. That means I won the sponsorship and get to go to the Festival for free (whoo!) and that this dish is On The Menu. BUT only THREE of us get to actually demo and serve our Menu Items at the Festival. This menu item is fabulous, and I really want to share it with my fellow bloggers. This is where I need your help: The top three recipes will be chosen by a vote from the Foodbuzz Community. So, can I count on your vote? Pretty please?

Voting starts tomorrow, Friday, October 23rd and runs through November 2nd. I'll post the final details when I receive them.

Don't you want some of this??