but I really love to go out!

pecan bonanza last night for dinner:

pecan-crusted chicken

roasted asparagus with pecans and sun-dried tomatoes

bulgur

On Wednesday, I was privileged to attend the monthly "Women's Night Out," a wonderful meal with fabulous, entertaining friends. The promise of this get-together sustains me throughout the month, with the knowledge that big fun with some of the best women in the world is on the way. 

On this night out, a couple of the women at the table ordered the special, "pecan-crusted chicken salad". When the salad arrived, it did look delicious, but the promised encrusting of pecans was nowhere to be found: the chicken was naked. Slightly crestfallen, my good friends gamely enjoyed the salad anyway, though I know they were wishing for that crunchy pecan crust. I understand why they so looked forward to the promised dish, because actual pecan-crusted chicken was coincidentally on the menu at our house for this week, and it is fabulous. 

The recipe for this delicious dish is from The Flavor Point Diet by Dr. David L. Katz, a book of super-healthy menu ideas and recipes. The premise is that if you eat food with a single flavor theme in a day, you will eat less. There's lemon day, tomato day. . . pecan day. I purchased this book and followed the diet a couple of years ago. It worked back then, but, of course, any "diet" takes an impossible level of dedication for moi to follow it forever. And this one was a little expensive for a family of 5.

On the bright side, reading the book and incorporating many of the fantastic, healthy recipes into our menu has transformed how our family eats. Thanks to this great book, The Willis Family Cookbook (by Aunt Claire) and my other favorite, The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, we are blessed to be enjoying some of the best food I've ever tasted: the meals we have out on the town can't touch the fare we get at home. Except for Indian food, which I crave in an out-of-control manner but have not yet mastered at home. For those wonderful, spicy flavors, we still get to go out.