Just a Girl with a Kitchen

There are people in our lives who are "kindred spirits", according to Anne Shirley (of Green Gables).  These friends are just good for my heart, and I love how, no matter how much time passes between visits, we always just pick up where we left off.  This weekend, I have the pleasure of spending time with a kindred spirit, Norma, who has been one of my dearest friends for twenty years!  She is staying at my apartment while she's in Dallas for a conference, and I am thrilled to have her here.  So far, we've stayed up way too late talking, tried to catch up on the last seven months, and (of course) eaten lots of food.  My wonderful friend also happens to be a lover of yummy, healthy recipes, so we like to cook and talk about recipes when we're together.  It's HOT in Texas in June, so I decided we should have something cool and light for dinner.  I recently tried farro for the first time, and I've been itching to make something with it at home, so I start...

Tonight's dinner was inspired by my good friends Rebecca and Jeremy.  They are grilling gurus, so when I go to their house, we often dine al fresco on something delicious they've grilled up.  The last time I was there, Jeremy grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp, and I've been drooling over it ever since. Maybe it's the heat or maybe I'm just craving something different, but I have only been hungry lately for food cooked on a grill.  One of the (few) downsides of living in an apartment is that I can't have a proper grill.  Sure, I could trek all the way to the common area grills, but the heat, bugs, and my summer clothing style (best described as homeless chic) aren't something I want to deal with in public.  So, I've been trying to come up with a creative way to replicate bacon-wrapped goodness that doesn't require actual grilling skills or totally bust my calorie allotment.  I finally tried it out tonight with chicken, and it was amazing!  I love being a...

For a long time, I've wanted to publish a blog so I could share the healthy recipes I've created.  However, I know I'll want to say a lot more here than just sharing recipes.  Being healthy is a journey; it's about so much more than just food.  I think it involves putting myself out there and having new experiences and making the world a better place.   I've set a goal to experience something new in Dallas each month of 2013.  So, each month I'll blog about my new adventure and hopefully post some photos.  In between, I'll share healthy recipes and maybe even some book reviews.  Oh, and don't be surprised if you see occasional photos of my cat, Lola, my reactions to BBC dramas, and stories about my nephew.  These things are part of my adventures too. I started out as a journalist and writer, but I quickly turned to teaching as a way to earn an actual income.  In the ten years since I finished undergraduate school, I've missed writing, ...