In honor of my hubby!!!!

Today the princess (my daughter) and I will be attending a building dedication at my Mother's church. You are probably wondering why I've titled this "in honor of my hubby" So I'll tell you! This building is their new fellowship hall. My hubby designed and drew the plans for this building so this is just "one" of his babies. The princess and I are so proud of our Daddy!!!! He works so hard to provide for our family and we really appreciate him and his hard work and dedication. So, I thought that since I was thinking about him and honoring him I would post one of his favorite receipes. I don't cook this much during the summer but we sure eat it a lot in the fall and winter!! He actually named it, I just called it Potato Soup but he thought it should be personalized so it's Mel's Potato Soup! BTW, he's the dude that started calling me Mel!! We think I should open a restaurtant named "Mel's Diner" :)

Without further adue here's the famous Mel's Potato Soup! I love you hubby!!!

Mel's Potato Soup

8 to 9 potatos, peeled and diced
6 to 8 slices of bacon
1/2 stick of butter
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup half & half
3 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 cup sour cream

Cut bacon into small pieces and fry. Drain the bacon on paper towels. Add the butter to the bacon drippings and melt. Add onion and cook until transparent. Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add potatoes, mild, broth, salt, pepper and heat throughly. Stir in half & half and parsley and cook until potatoes are almost done. Stir in sour cream and cook until potatoes are tender.

**You may add the bacon back into the soup or sprinkle it on top of your soup with some cheddar cheese.

Recipe of the week

Well the diet is going well and I'd like to share a Weight Watchers recipe that I fixed on Tuesday night, it was delicious!! BTW I've lost 3 pounds since Monday!!!!!! :)

Grilled Cuban Chicken with Black Bean and Mango Salsa

1/2 cup orange juice (Tropicana now has one that has WW points figured on it)

1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped

3 Tbsp fresh lime juice

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp table salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

1-1/4 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 5 oz pieces

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup mango, fresh, cubed

2 Tbsp red onion, chopped

2 sprays cooking spray

In a small bowl, combine orange juice, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper; remove 1/2 cup and place in a large zip close plastic bag. Add chicken to bag and turn to coat; seal bag and refrigerate up to 12 hours.

To make salsa, add beans, mango and onion to a bowl with orange juice mixture; toss, cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours.

When ready to cook, coat grill or grill pan with cooking spray; preheat over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade. Grill chicken turning as needed, until cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer chicken to serving plates and spoon salsa over chicken. Yields 1 piece of chicken and about 1/2 cup of salsa per serving.

Points value: 5

This was really good and different. I've never had a mango salsa but I really enjoyed it.

Recipe of the week

Okay, I'm gonna start something and try to do this once a week. Each week I'm going to try a new recipe for dinner and if it turns out good, I'm going to post it! I absolutely LOVE to cook!!! I try all different kinds of stuff and make up my own!! Here goes nothing!!

We had this for dinner last night and it was a hit!! After I got this idea in my head, which was after the food was gone, I happened to think that I should have taken a picture of my finished product. So I will do that next time.

Basil Grilled Chicken
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
4 chicken breast halves (I used a boneless skinless breast)
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves, plus 2 tablespoons freshly minced basil leaves
1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) butter, melted, plus 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Prepare grill.
Press the coarsely ground pepper into the meaty side of the chicken breast halves. Stir the chopped basil into the melted butter. Brush the chicken lightly with this mixture. In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, minced basil, Parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Beat on low speed or just mix together with a spoon until smoothly blended.

Grill the chicken over medium coals for 8 to 10 minutes on each side, basting frequently with the remaining butter mixture.

Serve the grilled chicken with the basil-butter mixture. I just spread my butter on top of the chicken breast.

I got this recipe from www.foodnetwork.com.

It was wonderful!!! Even my six year old was talking about how good the chicken was!!