EveryDay with Rachel Ray

Let me say this first - the chef is not a fan of Rachel Ray's recipes. He says they are always one too many ingredients and that time spent on the recipes is at least doubled from what the recipes notes. SO even though I was fully aware of this I could not resist the recipes in the new "EveryDay with Rachel Ray" magazine's issue - especially the "Your Weeknight Meal Planner" - it is fantastic!!! It's like it was made for ME, well, my taste!

Let me introduce you to summer perfection of - "mozzarella and grilled pepper salad with croutons". It was truly great - summery, fresh, soft and chewy - a little bit of everything for everyone. To make it more fauxfoodie friendly, the chef marinated a chicken breast in mojo dressing and grilled it to perfection to complement the salad. I believe the salad is meant to be the complete meal, but in fauxfoodie fashion, we needed something a little more.

This is how we eat these days - one of us is holding/feeding Mili-Mali, and one of us is enjoying dinner....

Serves: 4 Prep: 20 min Grill: 15 min (double the time)

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup EVOO

3 bell peppers (mixed colors)

1/2 pt. grape tomatoes, quartered lengthwise

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1/2 large baguette, sliced crosswise into 3/4 inch thick slices

8 oz mozzarella cheese cubed

1/3 cup torn basil leaves

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl, combine the garlic and EVOO. Let sit while you prep and grill the bell peppers.

2. pre-heat a grill to medium-high. Cut the bell peppers into flat panels. Lightly oil the grill grate and grill pepper pieces, covered and turning occasionally until just softened about 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch squares and transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the tomatoes, onion and vinegar; season with salt and pepper.

3. brush the bread slices on both sides with the garlic oil. Grill, turning once, until well marked and toasted, 2 to 4 minutes. Cut into large cubes.

4. Stir the remaining garlic oil into the salad. Add the croutons, mozzarella and basil; toss.

Run don't walk to make this salad, you certainly won't regret it - I promise you!

So onto the baby stuff - have you ever wondered how things change when the baby comes - mobile entertaining home office after hours looks something like this...

I got everything I need - my trusted bouncy chair, mac, iphone, water bottle, external hard drive oh and the baby!!!! It works quite well and everybody's happy - baby, mommy, mommy's boss = the work gets done)!!!

I think some work is waiting for me....

xoxo, The Faux Foodie Girl