We have a cook’s nightmare in our house.  My youngest is a vegetarian who doesn’t eat any meat including fish, but at least eats dairy products. My other two sons and my husband are big meat eaters.  Oh, they can tolerate a meatless meal about once a week, but that’s about all before I hear about it.  And I sway like the breeze with what I’ll eat because I’m about the only cook in the family.

Some nights after a long day at work, I give up!  Only one “extreme” gets fed, meaning I either make a meaty entree, and the vegetarian forages for side dishes and leftovers, or I make a meatless entree and be done with it.

But other nights I feel more creative and satisfy all of them. That’s what happened last night with this delicious dish.  It started from a recipe from Martha Stewart magazine called Wild Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Pecans.  It certainly sounded yummy enough, and I had a nice large container of fresh mushrooms on hand that needed using up.

I have been blessed with such a beautiful Mother in every way.  She is strong, loving, giving, funny, and very talented in anything she decides to do.  She is the wisest person I know!

Spices not only taste great, and are fun, easy, and colorful to grow, many of them have healthy benefits to boot. So go ahead and add them to your favorite dishes.

Something spicy sounded good to me. We love fajitas sold in our neighborhood Mexican restaurant, but at $15 per plate, it’s a pricey meal. Plus many times it contains too much oil and fat for my liking.

Let’s find creative ways to use leftovers to make economical tasty meals, such as fajitas.

Not only does using leftovers make financial sense, it’ll stretch your dollar even farther by using less meat to serve more people.