Film: It's Complicated - a good laugh

I saw this movie with some girlfriends on Friday night and was so pleasantly surprised. I admire Meryl Streep and always laugh when Alec Baldwin is involved, but it was even better than I expected. Streep’s character is beautiful to the core. Leaving I found myself wishing I were more like her – maybe that is because as a little girl I always wanted to open my own bakery, so I’m a little jealous, BUT I assure you it was much deeper than that. I love a woman who is beautiful and is found very attractive by the men in her life even though she's not the typical Hollywood perfect. Steve Martin in endearing like his Father of the Bride character and Alec Baldwin is your classic high-powered man who let himself go, but still has his charm. It’s light-hearted and will provide you a good laugh if you are looking for one, so I want to send my recommendation out into the world.

Watch the trailer

Recipe: White Wine Sage Chicken and Parmesan Cous Cous

This came out REALLY well and smelled fantastic while cooking. I came up with this trying to use up the extra fresh sage I had some my last big dish. I should have used drier wine, but I didn’t want to go out for it.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts thawed, trimmed, and halved

3 T. Butter

20 Sage leaves fresh, whole

1 cup dry white wine

S & P

½ cup cous cous

2 T. Parmesan grated

Recipe:

1. While making chicken, cook cous cous according to recipe on box. When cous cous is done, mix in parmesan

2. In medium saucepan, melt Butter, then add Sage leaves and Chicken

3. Brown chicken on both sides

4. Add half the wine

5. Once wine reduces, add other half

6. Chicken should cook in about 8 minutes

When done, serve chicken over a bed of the cous cous and top with jus from the pan.

Recipe: Farfalle with Roasted Butternut Squash, Sage & Brown Butter

A friend gave me a recipe for dish similar to this (thank you, Kendra :) ); I tinkered with it a bit and it turned out fantastically. It's super easy and fast. Serves 4 – 5.

Ingredients:

1 lb. butternut squash, ½ inch cubes

12 oz. Farfalle pasta

4 T. butter

15 leaves fresh sage

1 T. olive oil

salt

Parmesan to top, optional

Pine nuts to top, optional

Recipe:

1. Toss the cubed squash in olive oil and salt. Put spread out in a pan in the oven to roast for 20 minutes on 400 F, until golden brown.

2. While the squash is the oven, boil the pasta as directed on the box with 1 t. salt.

3. In a small sauce pan over low heat, warm the butter and the sage leaves with minimal stirring. Warm until butter browns slightly and sage becomes brown and brittle, kind of like well-cooked bacon.

4. When everything is ready, toss it together. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Serve topped with parmesan. You can also top it with pine nuts lightly roasted – it’s just not a preference of mine, but others love it.