'hamburger helper'

i've been cooking a lot recently, like a lot a lot. our little family unit has finally settled down into regular dinnertimes together, though most meals have at least 2 entree versions present at the table to meet our different proclivities and pickiness.

often times the things i make for todd and zane are entirely different from my own meal, based on carni-/herbi- preferences. i wish i could cook the same thing for all of us, but it doesn't seem in the cards at the moment. T&Z are very used to home-cooked being todd's mom's way of cooking, which is pretty convenience food-friendly and rather southern.

even the cookbooks i turn to for dinners are different from what i have always used in the past. my well-worn WW tomes, cooking light, and vegetarian compilations are sadly, gathering dust as i turn to plastic spiral bound volumes with titles like, the best 1,001 short, easy recipes and the get me out of the kitchen! cookbook. it's not exactly challenging stuff, but it's what my diners enjoy, so there but for the grace of god go i.

i can usually find some middle-ground of foodie and diner line chef on the foot network, which brought me one of the silly shows that i love - the next food network star. it combines my fondness for cooking programs with the guilty indulgence of reality tv, so really, it's pretty much win-win for me (although it's not quite top chef-caliber!)

over the lovely two snowdays we were awarded this past week, i randomly tuned into the new program of last year's winner, amy finley - the gourmet next door. she prepared chiliqueles with chorizo, and i watched with interest to see this dish, in which tortilla chips are actually cooked in a saucepan in "stovetop salsa". it seemed pretty cool, and actually really easy, so i tried it out this weekend.

man, oh, man. now all i want to eat is chiliqueles. as a veggie-saurus, i skipped the chorizo, and the warm dish was so yummy i didn't even bother with the extra accompaniments suggested in the recipe, like guac, red onion, and cheese.

i proffered my new culinary discovery to zane and todd, both of whom instead preferred tostitos and velveeta.

not that there's anything wrong with that.