Paula Deen Dinner Night

Okay. I love Paula Deen. She is the grandmother that everyone wants. (I still heart you too Nana) I love watching her shows on Food Network. She just seems like so much fun be around. I usually try to avoid her recipes because of the butter/fat content. Not that I am the healthiest eater in the world, but I do try to avoid recipes that feature butter as the primary ingredient.

Last Sunday, I splurged and had Paula Deen dinner night. I made Chef Jack's Corn Chowder and Paula's Garlic Cheese Biscuits. I did make several attempts to try to make the recipes a little better. I used fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth instead of regular and fat-free half and half instead of regular. I also substituded heart smart bisquick and cheddar made from 2 percent milk in the biscuits. Everything was worth the effort and the result was true comfort food. Van especially liked the biscuits and they were super easy to make. Both recipes ended up being keepers.

House Hunting

As much as I love my HGTV, I have to admit I hate trying to find a house in Northern Virginia. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I had no idea how stressful this whole entire process would be. We have spent countless hours looking at all types of houses in all of the different suburbs in our area. I feel like we are being realistic about what we can afford. We're obviously not trying to find a place one block from the metro with all the bells and whistles for $300,000. Although, we would be ecstatic if that did exist. Maybe today will be the day...