This has got to stop. Last night I broke out of my restricted Rachael Ray Rolodex of recipes and I made her Turbo Classics Rosemary Lemon Chicken with Pesto Mashed Potatoes. I really can’t explain why I never made this before as it was ridiculously easy to make. I think I have an aversion to buying fresh rosemary because I never use it all and it ends up going bad.

Anyway, please do make this for dinner if and when you want something warm, comforting, and most importantly absolutely delicious. The smell of the chicken as it comes out of the oven is mouth-watering. And where did she get the idea to mash potatoes with pesto? Genius!

Recipe for the chicken can be found here. The potatoes recipe can be found here.

Note – I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breast as I find breast a bit too dry for my taste.

Makes 4 servings, is worth 4 points per fillet

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 tbsp honey (I used raw unpasteurized)

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed (I used 2 cloves cuz I love garlic so much)

4 (1/4 lb) skinless salmon fillets (I left the skin on the salmon and removed it during cooking)

Mix all the ingredients, minus the salmon, in a small bowl until the honey dissolves. Pour the mixture into an airtight container or ziploc bag and add the salmon. Coat the salmon well and refrigerate for 6-24hrs, turning it over occasionally. I think I might have only marinated the fish for 5hrs but it was still amazing.

Spray a ridged grill pan or nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. I just poured a bit of olive oil in a frying pan, worked just as well. Place the salmon fillets in the pan, keep the marinade, and cook about 5 mins on each side, turning the fillets and brushing them with reserved marinade. About a few mins before they were cooked I removed the skin. I think the skin added so much flavour the salmon.

While the salmon was cooking I made rice with leeks.

Earlier that day, when Jay and I went to buy groceries, Jay picked up a large bunch of leeks. “Those aren’t on the list,” I said. “I want to make soup at some point this week,” he said. We had a tiny fight at the grocery store because after I had spent an hour working on our weekly menu he decided to pick up the leeks and extra vegetables for a soup that was not on the menu. Then I noticed a tag on the leeks that had a recipe for rice and leeks. Easy to make. “Very well, Jay, we shall take the leeks.”

Recipe for rice with leeks, Makes 2 servings

1 tbsp butter (I used oil cuz I forgot to buy butter…sigh)

1 leek, rinsed and chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

Dash of oregano

Cooked rice, about 1-2 cups I’d say

In a pot, sautee the chopped leeks until soft. Add the tomato paste and oregano and combine. Add the rice and mix well. At this point, the salmon fillets were almost ready and I had extra marinade so instead of throwing it out, I poured the rest of the marinade into the rice until it was cooked and absorbed.

As I said, the salmon was amazing and the rice was perfect with a bit of grated Parmesan on top. The salmon had the right amount of salt and sweetness.

Anyway, the recipe says to use lean ground beef but I had left over ground turkey from turkey shepherd’s pie I made before. Here is how I made the sauce:

Recipe for approx 2-3 servings

200g Lean ground turkey

1/3 of a large white onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 pickled jalapeño peppers, chopped

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 cup of canned tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1 avocado, mashed

In a pot cook turkey meat and break it up and cook until it’s brown. Add the onions, jalapeño, and garlic, cook until soft. Next add the cumin and cinnamon, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds. Mix in the tomatoes and paste, bring to a boil and then lower heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. You can add salt and pepper but I didn’t add any. Remove from heat and throw in the cilantro and avocado until it’s all mixed in. Serve over cooked noodles.

The book says each serving is worth 5 points but I’m wondering if my version is worth less points because I used turkey instead of beef. But, because I used an avocado I probably brought up the points to 6 haha. No matter, it was very tasty.

Over the weekend I celebrated my birthday and I took that opportunity to make myself and my family this amazing cake. I don’t know why but I think I was a little intimidated by the recipe and the cake itself but after putting the finished product on my cake stand, I thought, “That was easy!” Well, for the most part.

Because I didn’t have 4 inch cake pans, I made two 9 inch cakes. This was probably the most annoying part because my oven is incredibly tiny so I had to bake the two 9 inch cake batters one at a time.

In the recipe it says to use “seedless chocolate raspberry” preserves and I had no idea what that meant and I also couldn’t find that at the grocery store. What I did was to melt about half a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and I mixed that with half a can of raspberry pie filling. I didn’t use rhubarb as the recipe says.

Overall, the cake was amazing but so very rich. I was struggling to finish my slice. As Jay said, “This is the kind of cake you can only eat one slice per week.” My little sister disagrees, “You can eat two slices per day.” I think I could probably eat one tiny slice per day. I’ll definitely be making this cake again but next time I’ll be changing the filling and I might make a lighter frosting.

Gorgeous, velvety lemony buttercream frosting.

White chocolate shavings on top.

The slice I couldn't finish.

I began by grating the zucchini and squeezing some of the moisture out of it as the blog instructs. Then I got down to making the batter and I couldn’t get over how wonderful butter, sugar, and vanilla smelled as they were creamed inside the mixer. In my version of the cake I used fat free plain yogurt and I think that, combined with my Pampered Chef square baker I used, is what led to problems.

After the required 35 minutes baking time at a temperature of 325F, my cake was more than just a bit jiggly in the centre. It appeared that the only areas that were properly cooked through were the immediate edges. I baked the cake 15 minutes longer, wondering if it would be dry by the time it was completely baked. 20 minutes later and the cake was still not set in the middle but at least it was getting firm.

Jay decided we should go rent a movie and I happily agreed, grabbing the opportunity to take my mind off this stubborn cake. I turned the oven off and left the cake inside the oven with the light on.

When we returned home, the first thing I did was check on the cake.

It was done. It was set. It was fantastic. It was so moist I was struggling to scrape gobs of it from the roof of my mouth.

Jay and I, I’m embarassed to admit, ate half the cake last night.