What's Cookin'? No Guilt Momma's Meal

Most nights I'm cooking for someone else. Of course, I am eating, too, but I have to think about something semi-healthy for the kids and my husband likes big, filling, must-have-meat meals.

I somehow ended up eating on my own tonight and here's what I came up with–a frozen broccoli and cheese chicken, some crackers with a Laughing Cow chipotle spreadable cheese wedge and a pickle.

Now, I have to say that the pickle was the best part of dinner. My friend Jess told me that making pickles was as easy as sticking a cucumber in the jar of pickle brine. So with our abundance of cukes, the kids and I ate enough pickles to make room for our homemade pickles. It was quite tasty–much lighter than the ones that have been soaking in there for who knows how long! 

While the pickle may have been the best part of the meal, it was certainly not the best thing that I ate. Paired with my espresso martini, my cupcake made a fantastic dessert. (Have you tried these Cupcake Wars-winning cupcakes? You really should!)

A big thank you to Branford Patch Editor Nicole Ball for surprising me with a half dozen to choose from! Though I'm sure you'll notice in the picture that by dessert-time, I was down to four choices. I went with the super chocolatey one with the brown sprinkles, though the cannoli cupcake was a close second.

There's always tomorrow to try the rest...as long as I hide them from my husband.

Quick Fix for Homemade Pickles

What You Need

• A jar of pickle brine 
• Cucumbers

What to Do: Eat the store-bought pickles or put them in a separate container to make room for your cucumbers. I tried to pick them from the garden when they were small. Stick the cukes in the brine. Let them sit for a couple days and then crunch away!