Ponderings on a Snowy Sunday

But not as snowy as it's been in D.C. lately, thank goodness! I am about SICK of snow, so to take my mind off of it I decided to make a delicious batch of one of my favorite soups to take for lunches this week: Tomato Bisque.

I use this recipe from Food Network, and I alter it a bit to improve on the healthiness. I use organic chicken broth, Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend, turkey bacon, and fat free half & half. It's so good. Matt even likes it. When I mentioned to him today that I was making this soup for lunches (for like the 5th time this winter), he said, "Good. We were winning more games when I was eating tomato bisque for lunch." I laughed.

I don't have a pretty picture for this soup, and if I did have a picture, it wouldn't be pretty because this isn't really a pretty soup.

On the menu for this evening: chicken cordon bleu, cheesy corn & mac casserole, and broccoli. This is our Valentine's dinner. This meal has me wondering why it's called cordon bleu but doesn't use bleu cheese. Hmmm...something to ask Google.

I'm doing a baked version for the chicken from All Recipes, linked here. The casserole recipe is one of my grandmother's, which I will post below. It's a family favorite, and we eat it at almost every holiday meal. Again, I'm altering it to make it a tad healthier. Smart Balance butter blend, no salt added canned corn, 2% milk Velveeta, and whole-wheat macaroni.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheese-Corn-Mac Bake (from Joan Shufelberger, a.k.a. "Gram")

Ingredients:
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole corn & juice
1 cup uncooked macaroni
1 cup cheese cubes (American or Velveeta)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons minced onion

Method:
Mix together all ingredients and bake in a greased casserole dish for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Can be mixed ahead of time. Refrigerate then bake as needed.