hold the cheese, please

It's no big secret, I love cheese. I put it on everything, most meals I cook include some form of cheese, and often times I'll just eat cheese slices as a snack. Totally delicious? yes. Healthy? no. My definition of a meal has morphed into "must include cheese" and I've made a conscious decision to try and change that back to something more normal.

The other night, an impromptu get-together to decorate my christmas tree resulted in our making dinner as well.  I had some veggies we needed to use and ry-guy had some chicken to bring, so we decided on a simple rainbow stir-fry.  It ended up being quite good.  I had some broccoli, a yellow squash, red pepper, and red onion (which really look purple).  We cut all of these up and put them in a big bowl with some marinade. Meanwhile, we attempted to thaw the frozen solid chicken breasts - first in a pan of water until mostly soft, and then some in the microwave. By the time the chicken was thawed enough to be cut up we were starving, so I tossed it in the bowl with the veggie marinade, and then threw the chicken only (yes, I had to pick through the bowl to find it all) into the frying pan. When it was mostly cooked I threw in the veggies, and started the rice (of the Jasmine variety). It was a deliciously colorful meal, without any cheese in sight.

This afternoon I was looking for something to eat, and I decided to make a pasta primevera. The same veggies (minus the yellow squash) plus some oregano, thyme, cracked black pepper, and a can of tomato sauce gave me another colorful cheeseless meal - just as tasty!!