Products I love

In the spirit of Oprah, here is a partial list of products that I love -- things that are really delicious and/or make cooking SO much easier!!

1. No boil lasagne noodles -- either Barilla or San Giorgio are great. And I promise you, you'll NEVER know the difference. You can also get fresh lasagne sheets in a lot of grocery stores, but they're much more expensive and, in my humble opinion, don't make any appreciable difference.

2. Herbs de Provence -- a great herb mixture that makes for a catch all seasoning for pork, poultry and lots of seafood -- mix it in with juice of one lemon and twice that amount of olive oil, and you've got a fabulous marinade.

3. Spinach pasta -- toss it with a little bit of olive oil and garlic salt, and it's a fabulous and foolproof side dish any night of the week.

4. Apple cider vinegar -- a truly underappreciated vinegar -- makes for fabulous marinades and salad dressings.

5. Costco -- not a product, but especially in a place like Virginia, where local grocery stores don't carry too many specialty Italian items, Costco has the best assortment of the meats and cheeses necessary for a good antipasto platter.

6. Swanson's low-sodium chicken broth -- great for making so many dishes, and better tasting that even much more expensive brands.

7. Tastefully Simple Garlic, Garlic! and Onion, Onion! See earlier post about Tastefully Simple.

8. Pork tenderloin -- so quick and easy too cook and comes off as a much fancier company dish than it really is. Marinate it in lemon juice, olive il and herbs de provence (as above), throw it on the gril for about 20 minutes, and dinner is ready!

9. Chicken thighs -- by far, the most flavorful piece of the bird. Very under-rated cut of meat. Cooks quickly, especially if boneless, and it's almost impossible to cook them in a way that renders them dry.