I like to watch the Food Network while I’m on the treadmill so I can fantazise about all the delicious things I’m going to eat when I’m skinny.  But when I saw Ina Garten cooking up this lobster mac and cheese, I decided waiting to be skinny wasn’t going to cut it and had a casserole dish made within a week’s time.

Lobster Mac

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On a lonely Saturday evening, I decided to order out at Osteria Del Figo (or just Figo) for pasta. Figo is an Atlanta pasta chain that allows you to create your own dish by selecting the pasta type and sauce. With more than 15 types of pasta and as many sauces, the possibilities are endless. It’s also pretty cheap, so it’s perfect for my new grad student budget. This time, I tried artichoke ravioli in 4 cheese sauce:

Artichoke Ravioli in 4 Formaggi Sauce

I think I have a pretty good sense of when I don’t want my mom in the kitchen…those days when the kitchen can never be cleaned up enough, or no one appreciates that she cooks every day…so on those days I like to try and have something on the stove before she even gets home from work (along with a margarita in the freezer ). Rachel Ray’s quick meals are great for times like these. Her chicken with wild mushrooms and balsamic cream sauce is especially good because I usually have most of the ingredients (aside from the mushrooms) in my cabinets anyway, so it’s always really easy to throw together.

Chicken with Wild Mushrooms and Balsamic Cream Sauce

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Spencer and I visited longtime Baton Rouge/LSU favorite The Chimes this week for lunch. Surprisingly, I can’t find any historical information on the Chimes and why it’s so well-loved, other than that it’s a college bar with an extensive beer selection and great food. Does it even need anything else?

The Chimes

When my mom gave me her debit card to go grocery shopping last weekend, I took the liberty of picking up ingredients for a personal favorite from my Rachael Ray cookbook.   This one does easily qualify as a 30-minute meal–simply grill/broil steaks and make a quick and delicious bleu cheese cream sauce to toss with spaghetti.

Steaks on the grill

What the recipe calls for, and what I’ve always done, is to use a broiler pan (basically an oven rack inside a pan) and cook the steaks under the oven broiler for 5-7 min/side.   But my dad has this big fancy grill outside, so why not use it?  After he showed me how to use the grill for future reference, I got started on the bleu cheese sauce.

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