This is another guest blog from my friend, Melissa. She shares two recipes that she's tried and really enjoyed and they sound delicious. For some reason as soon as I read these recipes I pictured eating them over candlelight while holding hands with my hubby, so I think they make a perfect date night meal. And a great addition to Love and Marriage month. Enjoy!

One of the things I love about Bethany’s blog lately is the discussion of food and recipes. I love food. My husband actually makes fun of me about it and says it never fails that if you put food in front of me that I am about to eat I will have a huge smile on my face… and he’s pretty much right.

So I enjoy watching Food Network tv and learning cooking tips and trying new recipes. Sometimes I really get in the mood to cook and CREATE something, almost like an artistic endeavor. So sometimes I search www.foodnetwork.com or other websites or magazines for interesting recipes and for something new to try. A lot of the recipes take a little more work than your usual week night dinner. Some of them have been big flops. I remember I tried one homemade roasted tomato soup recipe. About 3 hours and two whole sink full of dishes later I had a bowl of soup that basically tasted like Campbell’s canned tomato soup. So disappointing after all that work! But I’ve picked out two recipes today that while they do take a little effort, are well worth it, at least in my opinion.

Chicken Tetrazzini by Giada

Ingredients

• 9 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt

• 1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 5 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 4 cups whole milk, room temperature

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature

• 1 cup chicken broth

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 12 ounces linguine or spaghetti noodles

• 3/4 cup frozen peas

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

• 1 cup grated Parmesan

• 1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbs

  Click here to get the directions for the recipe.

My little tweaks/recommendations

• Like I said this does take a while to prep, so I cooked the chicken ahead of time.

• I did ½ pound of white button mushrooms and ½ pound of crimini mushrooms, just because I love the meaty smoky flavor of the crimini

• Definitely try and use the fresh thyme if you can, the fresh herbs just make all the difference

• I don’t normally buy whole milk so I just used a little less milk than the recipes called for (2% is what I used) and a little more heavy cream than was called for in the sauce and it turned out super creamy and delicious!

This second recipe is a special occasion dessert I found from the local newspaper around Christmas time. It too takes several steps but I really enjoyed it. It really lives up to its name. Obviously if you’re allergic to egg whites or don’t like meringue better skip this one.

Cherry Berry on a Cloud

For meringue

• 6 egg white, room temperature

• ½ tsp cream of tartar

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 ¾ cup of granulated sugar

For middle layer

• 6 oz cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 cups heavy cream, whipped

For topping

• 1 can (16 oz) cherry pie filling

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 2 (15 –ounce) packages of frozen strawberries in sweetened syrup, thawed

To make meringue shell, preheat oven to 275 degrees. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until frothy. Continue beating gradually adding sugar and continuing to beat until stiff and glossy, about 10 minutes. Spread into greased 13x9 inch glass baking dish. Bake 60 minutes. Meringue should about double in size and be a golden color. When done, turn off oven but leave in oven to cool completely. (Now me being the impatient cook that I am didn’t allow it to “completely cook” and the meringue kinda collapsed and cracked in places, but even with that it was still good! Next time I’ll try to find my inner patience and allow to “cool completely” )

When shell is cool, blend cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Spread this mixture over meringue shell and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

When ready to serve, mix topping ingredients and spoon over cream-cheese mixture. If you want to go the no preservative more natural type of route I would try skipping the packaged cherry pie filling and frozen sweetened strawberries and just mashing up some fresh strawberries mixed with sugar for the topping. I’m sure that would be just as delicious.

This recipe has just the right amount of creaminess with the middle cream cheese but doesn’t get to heavy because the meringue is so light and fluffy. It really is like biting into a delicious heavenly cloud!

Tips for whipping cream: If you haven’t whipped cream before I let you in on the trick that my husband had to teach me. Everything needs to be cold. The cream, the bowl you are going to use to whip it, and even the beaters. So put the bowl (glass or metal) and beaters in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you whip the cream. I always use an electric stand mixer. If you can do it my hand you get the elbow grease award!

I'm a Christian, wife, medical professional, and soon to be mother from Phoenix, Arizona. I am fascinated with the physiology of our bodies, love almost all things food, and love to travel when I get the opportunity. I often find myself trying to find a balance between two very different ideas i.e. the science of western medicine and the methodologies of Eastern and naturopathic medicine, having a "family bed" vs "Ferberizing" my baby, fighting between champagne taste and a beer budget, etc. I feel like there is a ying and yang to everything and and my journey right now is about trying to find that balance... that and doing all the other everyday chores that need to be done.