MMMM....DELICIOUS!

People who know me well know that I hate to cook and that I am not really all that great at it. But this pregnancy must have done something to me, because suddenly I am loving trying new, easy recipes that I read about on blogs or see in magazines. And I am getting better about "winging it" on some things and not always going directly by the recipe. (My mom is SO good and this and even creating her own yummy recipes by making her variations to things.) Anyway, some of the yummy things I've made lately (that may be simple to all of you, but that I have never made in my life!) are homemade mac and cheese, potato wedge fries, homemade chicken salad, "goulash," sausage omelettes (I've tried before and always failed...this time, they turned out yummy and perfect!), stir fry, cinammon roll cookies (super easy!) and the most recent yumminess.......

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Cheesy Lemon Pepper Asparagus.

I crave asparagus these days, but I have never known how to prepare it that well. I found a recipe online and tweaked it a bit, and YUMMY! I have made it about 4 times now. And the Sweet and Sour Chicken was super easy and delicious, too. You can find the recipe HERE at one of my favorite blogs, Hip2Save. (Although this recipe says 6-8 boneless chicken breasts, I just used one package from Kroger that had 3 large pieces in it and it was perfect with the rest of the ingredients.)

Here is what I did for the asparagus:

I melted 2 TB of butter in a skillet and added some mushrooms. While those were cooking a bit, I washed a snapped the asparagus. (Tip on the asparagus: I read online that instead of cutting off the ends, hold the asparagus and gently bend it. It will naturally snap off somewhere towards the end of the stalk, leaving you with only the "not hard part". Nice technical term, huh?) Then, I added the aspargus to the mushrooms. After the mushrooms and aspargus have cooked a bit, I drizzled a bit of olive oil over them. Then, as they cooked a bit more, I sprinkled on garlic salt and lemon pepper seasoning. No real measurements. I just kinda guess each time and go by taste. Then, I poured a bit of lemon juice over the veggies as well. When the asparagus is done to my liking (some like it crisper than others), I put the asparagus / mushroom mix in a bowl and add parmesan cheese....and sometimes add a bit of mozzerella cheese on top as well.)

So, anyway, there you go. I'm kinda liking this cooking thing these days! We'll see what else I come up with before baby comes and I lose all gumption again. :)