Dress Up Plain Old Chicken Noodle...

I came across an article in Real Simple magazine about dressing up the ordinary pre-packaged things we buy and making them a little fancier. I tried this one on Chris last night, and he couldn't believe it when I told him I was feeding him Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle!

Thai Coconut Soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes!!

2 cans of chicken noodle soup
1/2 cup of coconut milk
2 teaspoons lime juice
fresh lime wedges
cilantro sprigs

Bring the soup and coconut milk to a simmer in a saucepan.
Then add the lime juice, stir it all together.
Garnish with fresh lime wedges and cilantro sprigs (These really make it, so resist the temptation to skip the garnishes!)
ENJOY!! To make a complete meal, you may choose to serve dinner rolls and a salad. Chris was full on one small bowl and two rolls!

There is also a Chicken Tortilla Soup which is much the same except that you add a teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce, a cup of frozen corn kernels and cook til heated through. Then serve with avocado slices and tortilla chips on top!

The idea of dressed up store-bought stuff really appealed to me. I'm all for making things from scratch, but sometimes a little cheating is in order.
To read the rest, which include upgrades for marinara sauce, rice pilaf and pound cake, among others, go to the Real Simple website.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Allrecipes.com

If you don’t know about Allrecipes.com, then you are missing out on one of the greatest secrets in the world of cooking and baking.

I love this website for so many reasons. One reason I love it so much is because I’m always looking for new and fresh ideas for things to bring to Regen. It is very easy to browse through the website and find the perfect dip, or get a new cookie recipe. Another thing I love about it is that each recipe has a rating on it. When I see a recipe that has four or five stars on it, then I know it has been tested by other people and proven to be a solid recipe. With the ratings, I know that I am not wasting my time on a recipe that isn’t very good.

And, it gets even better! When you click on a recipe, there are a bunch of reviews at the bottom of the recipe. I love scanning through the reviews and seeing the modifications that people have made to the recipe. By looking through the reviews, I have learned a lot of ways to make recipes healthier, and the recommendations that people have for making the recipe even better.

Another reason I love Allrecipes.com is because it has a really cool search feature. You can type in the ingredients that you want to use (or do not want to use), and then it will come up with recipes that have all of those ingredients. This comes in very handy when you have food that has been sitting around for awhile, and you don’t want to waste it, but you just don’t know what to do with it. I have come up with some very yummy meals but using this feature.

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