Love is in the air! Oh, wait…that’s not love. What is that??? Oh man, the dog dragged one of my husband’s socks under my desk. Whew! I knew love couldn’t smell quite that bad. Excuse me while I go find the Febreze.

There. Now that we have that taken care of, how are you? Are you surviving the winter blahs?

I have a fun challenge for you, something to break up the monotony of winter. I want you to look at the menu from your favorite restaurant, pick something you love from that menu and find a way to create a healthy (or at least healthier) version at home. For instance, I absolutely love the Parmesan-crusted chicken salad from Macaroni Grill, but can you believe it weighs in at 1,080 calories and 48 grams of fat? I was floored when I learned that. I mean, come on…it’s chicken and lettuce, for Pete’s sake! Those things are supposed to be good for you! I have no doubt I could make it much healthier in my own kitchen.

We’ll call this challenge the Restaurant Menu Remake. You have until March 15 to submit your recipes to the Miscellaneous category (type Restaurant Menu Remake into the notes section), then somewhere around March 20, I’ll draw a name at random from the submissions for a prize of some sort. Enter as many times as you’d like; each submission counts as one entry. Just don’t enter recipes that you’ve already submitted, as these need to be fresh and new!

While reviewing the existing recipe requests on our submissions page, I discovered that Nutty Desserts still needs some love. We’re looking for candies, fudges and syrups loaded with nuts; brownies with pistachios, macadamia nuts or cashews; almonds clusters, candied nuts and hazelnut brittle; and cakes with nutty fillings…maybe even a festive whoopee pie. This is for a holiday-themed issue, so think about Christmas treats when you’re brainstorming. Submit your nut-filled treats here.

Happy cooking, my friends!

Sue Stetzel

sue.stetzel@tmbi.com

PS: There were questions last month on Facebook about what makes a recipe original. Our November 2015 newsletter covered this topic, too, so you might want to save it somewhere to refer back to in the future.