First things first, I need to congratulate Debbie Lynne of On the Banks of Stony Creek on winning the Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007. Debbie, please let me know where I need to send your cookbook. You can e-mail me at kristines.25 at charter dot net.

Second, I’m proud to announce that I actually have a recipe to talk about this week. Yes, I tried something new! One of the main problems I have is finding side dishes I like that use vegetables. I’m a meat and potatoes girl, and I’m not prone to making a side of corn or peas to go with my meal. To get around that, I try to find side dishes that use veggies.

I found this recipe for Mushroom Rice Pilaf on Allrecipes. It’s very simple and quite tasty. I used orange peppers and fresh mushrooms. I also omitted the salt and used no sodium bouillon. This cut the sodium content quite a lot. I also added a bit of Italian seasoning, which I thought pepped up the flavor a bit. The dish cooked in about 20 minutes and made a nice meal when paired with a baked chicken breast. This was an easy recipe to make and was quite flavorful, so I’d make it again.

If you’re interested in trying Mushroom Rice Pilaf yourself, you can find the recipe here on Allrecipes.

Now that I’ve finally discussed a recipe on Foodie Friday, I have a question I want to ask all of you. What do you prefer when you read a post about a recipe? Would you prefer a link to the recipe online if that’s possible, or do you like to see the recipe written in the post that discusses it? I’m new to this whole food blogging thing, so some advice would be appreciated.

I guess I’m in a giving mood this week.  First I decided to give away a Cooking Light cookbook on my other blog, When I’m Thin, on Monday.   Then, today, I decided to give away another Cooking Light cookbook on this blog in honor of Foodie Friday.  Heck, who cares that I don’t have a recipe story to share this week, I’m giving stuff away.

To give you some background on the cookbook I’m giving away, I have to first tell you that one of my favorite magazines is Cooking Light . This magazine has terrific recipes and has been a great help since I’ve been trying to learn to cook and eat in a more healthy manner.

If I have any quibble with the magazine at all, it would be that a lot of their recipes are still too high in sodium for my current diet. It would be nice to see more recipes aimed at specific dietary issues like gluten or sodium intake, but I do understand that the magazine has to appeal to as many readers as possible. Even with some of the recipes being outside my dietary restrictions I can always find one or two that fit right in. I’m actually building my own cookbook by keeping a binder of Cooking Light recipes that I’ve tried or want to try. Anyone who wants to eat healthy can learn a lot from that magazine.

Anyone who wants to eat healthy can learn a lot from their cookbooks too. Once a year they publish an Annual Recipe cookbook, which contains all of the recipes that came out in the magazine for that year. If you haven’t been getting the magazine, it’s a great way to get all the great recipes that you missed.

This week, in honor of Foodie Friday and because I want to share a great cookbook with those who read this blog, I’m giving away a copy of Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007: EVERY RECIPE…A Year’s Worth of Cooking Light Magazine. As the title says, this is a year’s worth of recipes from Cooking Light Magazine. Think of all the great meals you could make using these recipes.

To be entered for the cookbook giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post recommending one thing I could do to make this blog and/or Foodie Friday more interesting. It’s that simple. Leave a comment and you’re entered. The giveaway will take place next Friday, so you have a week to leave your comments.

When I wrote the 40 things list, I knew at least a few of the things on it would have to do with food.  In the past year I have spent a lot of time working to retrain my taste buds and to readjust my thinking about food.  I’ve always been a meat and potatoes girl.  I like cheese sauces and heavy cream and salty things and, well, everything that is basically bad for me and a recipe for a heart attack.

I knew the diet I had been following wasn’t a wise one.  Sure I loved Idaho pizza, after all who wouldn’t love mashed potatoes covered with bacon, cheese and sour cream, but it wasn’t a healthy way to eat and it wasn’t doing my heart or the rest of my body any favors.  I needed to learn to eat more mindfully, and with more of a focus on nutrition, but I didn’t want to give up the flavors I loved or the fun of eating food that just tasted good.  That’s why item number two made it on to the 40 things list.

My goal is to try a new recipe every week.  Some of them will be elaborate.  Some will probably be very simple.  I want to build a new list of reliable recipes that are both good tasting and good for me.  I’d also like to figure out how to redo some of the recipes for dishes I currently love but which are really not nutritionally sound.  I’d love to make a more healthy version of Idaho Pizza for example.  I’m just not entirely sure how I would go about doing that.

I obviously have a lot to learn about food and about eating healthy, which is why number two made it on the list in the first place.  I’ve been doing some research on my own, but I’d love to know from where you all get your healthy recipes.  Also, if you have a favorite recipe, please do share.  We have a lot of Foodie Fridays to get through before the 40 Things project is complete.