Having fun with cooking

I had been feeling like I was in a cooking rut. I was bored with everything that I made and really, I found no joy in making dinners like I used to. Then I went on Weight Watchers and it got even more tiresome because no one wanted to eat "healthy" with me. I had complaints of things not being fried or not a thick enough sauce, blah, blah, blah.

So I was shopping a little over a week ago and picked up a Weight Watchers magazine that was all recipes - something like five ingredient/fifteen minute meals. To some this is not a big deal, but for me it is because I HATE following a recipe. They annoy me. I like to concoct and create. I'm very comfortable and at ease in my kitchen but like I said, lately, it was just a chore.

Some of the fun things I've found in this magazine are a recipe for a Greek-style pork tenderloin (Very yummy), a Southwestern Spinach Dip (Also yummy and satisfied my need for dip), a low-fat Caesar salad (very good) and Moroccan-style Salmon (not my favorite, but Frank & Michael loved it). Out of 191 recipes, I've gone through and checked off 120 of them that I would make. My goal is to try at least two new recipes a week.

Another fun meal I concocted the other night was a shrimp fajita portabello mushroom pizza. It was so easy and so filling and I will definitely be making it again. Here's the recipe (feel free to try this at home): 2 portabello mushroom caps (de-stemmed and scraped out), 4 oz. shrimp, 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes with green chiles, frozen sliced bell peppers with onions, low-fat shredded Mexican cheese (the 4 cheese blend), 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 tsp. of minced garlic.

Preheat oven to 400. When ready, place mushrooms on a greased cookie sheet and let cook for 7-10 minutes (or until slightly softened). Saute the garlic in the olive oil and then add the peppers and onions (I used about a cup of them). Cook for 3 minutes and then add the shrimp. Cook until shrimp is almost done then add the chopped tomatoes. Stir through to coat everything. Take mushrooms out of the oven and place your fajita mix in to each cap and then top with a little bit of the shredded cheese (or a lot, depending on how much you like). Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and serve.

This was SO DANG GOOD! I was so full and so satisfied. I have some of the filling left over and so I ate it wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla and that was nice, too.

Happy cooking, everyone!