Betty Crocker and the Internet

Last week Lenny and I went to a local Italian restaurant (Michael's) for dinner. I studied the menu for awhile and was deciding between Eggplant Parmesan and Chicken Marsala. I asked our server what he would recommend and he said the Chicken Marsala. Well, it wasn't that good! I was disappointed. I'm quite sure the mushrooms came from a can and the flavoring was bland. No zing, no pleasure to the tongue. What I call hospital food. (Nourishing, but lacking in imagination.) I'd never had Chicken Marsala before, but something told me it should and could taste better than what was served that night. Since then I've been looking up recipes and found one I'm going to try for supper tonight. Lucky Lenny! I got it from the Cooking Light Website. I love the Internet for recipes! All I have to do is think of something I'd like to try and if my good old Betty Crocker Cookbook doesn't have it, off I go to the Internet! There I can choose from plain to fancy, cheap ingredients to expensive ingredients, healthy to not so healthy. Plus pictures galore so I know how the finished product is supposed to look. That helps me immensely! And all sorts of tips for short cuts and substitutions. When home computers were first becoming popular my two sons were pre-teens. One of their pleas to encourage me to buy one for our home was, "But Mom, you can put your recipes on it." This was before the Internet and I saw no advantage to typing all my recipes into a computer when my recipe box was right on the counter in my kitchen! We eventually did get a computer, but I think the "I need it for my homework" argument was the winning one. Now, however, the recipe argument makes sense to me! But it's not my same old, same old recipes. It's a whole wide world of exciting and interesting things to make and eat!

Anyway, back to the Chicken Marsala. Off to the grocery store I went today. I found everything except shallots, but on the good old Internet I found I can substitute a mixture of onions and garlic. It took me 2 liquor stores to find the Marsala Wine. (All they had was a BIG bottle and I only need 3/4 cup!) The cook may have to taste the wine while simmering the onion and garlic!

...several hours later... I had great fun scurrying around the kitchen chopping, pounding, simmering, tasting...

Walla--Chicken Marsala ala Pam's kitchen (really better than Michael's)!