I found out this week that my diabetes has completely gone away! Phew. I also found out this week that I have to give up dairy, nuts, soy, and eggs, because dear little Darcy is apparently allergic to some or all of them. I get to add them back in little by little to see what I can and can't eat. So, that should add a fun new dimension to my recipe selections!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week!? What the heck? Macy's even has Christmas decorations up already. Sigh. So, to help us get ready, here's a list of Rachael Ray's Thanksgiving recipes. I included both full menus and individual recipes. The ones I make every year are the Southern Green Beans and the Apple and Onion Stuffin' Muffins.

Okay, Spring really is here now. The April issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray has hit newsstands with features like Spring Cleaning Secrets and a cover photo with happy Spring flowers. Can I just say for the record that any magazine with "Bacon Beyond Breakfast" on the cover is a winner in my book?

Ah, the New Year, full of promise and opportunity, until your first McDonald's craving. Don't worry, you are not alone. Just check out the gym this week and a month from now if you want any reassurance.

It appears that Rachael Ray knows that many of us start the new year with a goal of eating healthier. In a recent newsletter sent out by her magazine, the following 30-minute meals were offered as good opportunities to aviod take out and make your own good food:

Tuna Steaks Provençale

They must be very efficient over at Every Day with Rachael Ray. I swear I just got my February issue and what shows up in my mailbox last night? Why, it's the March issue!

Before we dive into this month's issue, you should know that the magazine started a "Cooks Hotline" where you can submit a question and have it answered in an upcoming issue. Have a question about one of the recipes featured in the magazine?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so you must already have your meal planned right? We just decided we'll be hosting this year's festivities, so my menu is still in what we'll call a "development stage." However, I'm already planning ahead to what I will do with the leftovers.

Like my mother, I can only cook Thanksgiving for 15 people, even if I only have 5 attending, so it's all about unique ways to reuse that turkey and the sides. Here are few that I am thinking of trying out this year. If you try any of these, let us know in the comments so we know for next year!

We only have less than two weeks to plan a Valentine's Day menu! But don't panic. Rachael Ray has put together some Valentine's Day menus that even a rookie chef can make. We always stay home for V-day because really, how can you have a romantic dinner when the restuarant is packed and the waiters are all stressed out from the crowds?

Steak and Scallops is usually the menu of choice in our house (here's last year's). This year I'm looking to mix it up a bit, so I did a bit more searching than usual this year. It's gotta be something healthy and luxurious all at the same time. Let me know if you have any great ideas for me. In the meantime, check out these Valentine's Day menus from Rachael Ray:

Last year, I did a whole week's worth of Rachael Ray Christmas related posts all at once. This year I decided to space them out a bit so as not to overwhelm you (or myself) with all the choices and planning! I also wanted these posts to serve as an update to the last round, so I won't be including recipes I previously posted about. To check out last year's brunch recipes, go here.

Another week with five all new episodes. Here are the highlights and recipes from Rachael Ray's talk show this week. For the recipes from this week's shows, check out the shopping list and the recipe archive.

It's Super Bowl time again! We're having a few friends over for the game and I'm just now starting to figure exactly what to serve. I try to have at least three or four different things that are good at room temperature, so people can pick at them throughout the game. Now, serving chips and salsa just seems too easy, so I try to avoid that. For me, the Super Bowl = dips!
Here are a few ideas I have for this year, taken from Rachael's recipe collections on the Food Network, her talk show, and her magazine:

Ahhh, a topic close to my heart: Rachael Ray's Christmas cocktails. Ever since Every Day with Rachael Ray started being published, we have a whole new source of cocktail goodness. And these aren't your average cocktails, either.

I have been such a lazy blogger lately! However, the last of our visitors (let's be honest, they are really Darcy's visitors) are leaving this weekend, so we'll be on our own! With all the help around the house, I was able to do some cooking this week, which was really nice. I made the old favorite Buffalo Chicken Chili and tried two new recipes - Hula Chicken and French Bread Pizzas. All of them were hits and I'll be posting reviews.

Here are some Rachael Ray posts from around the blogosphere this week. If you see a post that you think would be good for the Roundup, or you write one yourself, e-mail me so I can be sure to include it.

Like Rachael Ray, I'm not much of a baker. I made Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake once, and I can make chocolate chip cookies, but that's about it. I understand many people find joy in it, but baking stresses me out!

However, in honor of my Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake success, I'm thinking I might try out a new Rachael Ray Christmas dessert this year. I'm leaning towards the peanut brittle, but I have a few other options in mind, too.

Hey look! It's McSteamy! Another week with five all new episodes this week. Here are the highlights and recipes from Rachael Ray's talk show this week. For the recipes from this week's shows, check out the shopping list and the recipe archive.

Rachael Ray is looking awfully flirty on the cover of her December-January Issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray, don't you think? It's only appropriate though, since this is the New Year's issue. I sad to say that this is a double issue, which means we have a long wait until the February issue hits the stands.

Come back tomorrow for some of Rachael Ray's recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers! In the meantime, check out this 15-minute meal that might be good to make Wednesday night, in anticipation of being in the kitchen all day Thursday.

What a week! Only three weeks to go until I go on maternity leave and things are definitely heating up at work. It's kind of like everyone just realized I'm going to be gone soon! Maybe I need to wear more outfits that show off my belly more, as a better reminder that I am, in fact, not going to be there for awhile!

Anywho, other than that, things are going great with Baby Miller. My gestational diabetes is still under control, but I am looking forward to a donut once it's gone! Alright, back to what's going on with Rachael Ray this week.

Here are some Rachael Ray posts from around the blogosphere this week. If you see a post that you think would be good for the Roundup, or you write one yourself, e-mail me so I can be sure to include it.

I can't believe October is almost over, but I won't let my denial stop me from sharing some Rachael Ray Halloween recipes. I tried to put together a mix of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and cocktails.

For my Halloween dinner, I'm definitely having the Curried Carrot Soup, but I'll try to do a better job with the spider web than I did last time.

Enjoy:

Only one new episode this week, on Monday, but it looks like a good one. Here are the highlights and recipes from Rachael Ray's talk show this week. For the recipes from this week's shows, check out the shopping list and the recipe archive.

I hope you have a wonderful Rachael Ray recipe filled Christmas tomorrow. Today, I'm baking (!) Cherry Breakfast Cake for Christmas Day and some Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake to take over to our Christmas Eve hosts. That will be the extent of my time in the kitchen, since we will be on the road, flitting between here and the Bay Area for our Christmas celebrations.

So, if this picture is any indication, green peas like to float. Who doesn't love a good mug of chicken soup? If you throw a biscuit on top like Rachael Ray suggests in her recipe for Chicken Mug Pie, you have a real treat on your hand, my friends.

This is one of those recipes I make all the time. Now, there aren't many recipes like that (much to my husband's chagrin), because I love trying new recipes all the time. However, I make an exception when it comes to Rachael's recipes for comfort food, because they really can't be beat.

This recipe is also easily made in 30 minutes, even if you stink at chopping. You only have to chop celery, onions, and carrots. And do us both a favor - don't try to make them pretty. As long as they are all about the same size (so they cook in about the same amount of time), that's all you really need to get the job done.

Here's the recipe with my comments in brackets:

It's time for the Oscars! I will be traveling to a wedding in Arizona, so won't be hosting any sort of Oscar shindig this year, but I couldn't resist sharing some great stuff on throwing an Oscars party from Every Day with Rachael Ray. The good thing is that this list of recipes is intended for a last minute party, so you're not out of time yet!

Three more weeks until Baby Miller's due date! My, how the time has flown. The amount of cooking I've done recently has been disgraceful, but carrying around a baby all day in your belly can be pretty tiring, I guess. When I have been cooking, it's been recipes that I already know and love, such as Creamy Tomato Soup and Italian Patty Melts. Maybe I'll get motivated this weekend, but I wouldn't count on it!

As the big baby day approaches, I've made arrangements for my friend Kate to put up a post announcing her arrival, so I hopefully won't just disappear for awhile without any explanation....

Here are some Rachael Ray posts from around the blogosphere this week. If you see a post that you think would be good for the Roundup, or you write one yourself, e-mail me so I can be sure to include it.

A few weeks ago, I addressed the Great Garbage Bowl Debate, so when I ran across an article where yet another journalist decided to show us that Rachael's meals can't be made in 30 minutes, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the Great 30 Minute Debate.

I often feel like I don't take advantage of the recipes on Rachael Ray's talk show enough, but there are just so many of them! And not all of them are 30 minute meals, so it does take a bit more research to find one that will work. I definitely found one that worked when I found the recipe for Paprika Chicken Stew with Potato Pierogies.

Even before I found out that I had gestational diabetes, we tried to steer towards whole grains, so I used the suggested egg noodles (whole wheat) instead of the potato pierogies. (I made this meal before my GD diagnosis, but I bet I could still eatit as long as I limited the amount of noodles I ate....). Although, I think it would be pretty darn good with the pierogies, so I might give them a try next time.

So how was your Valentine's Day? I hope it was a good one, especially if you tried any Rachael Ray recipes. After a request for a "garlicky shrimp pasta thing" from my husband, I went with a combo of two recipes. I made 4 Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp and the Spaghetti Aglio Olio (Garlic and Oil).

The spaghetti recipe includes a Spicy Shrimp recipe, but the 4 minute one just looked better to me for some reason. A normal person would have thought they were similar enough and just printed one recipe, but I have never professed to being normal! While not as fancy as our usual Valentine's Day meal, it got rave reviews. To round out the meal, I made some Roasted Asparagus.

Aren't you proud of how many posts I did this week? It's almost like I'm back in the world of the living. Now, I'm still not sleeping for more than three hours at a time (we've had a few nights where the baby slept five hours and I was in heaven), so please don't expect too much from me!

This week, I managed to do a little bit of cooking, mixed in with some frozen meals from Dinner MyWay. I made Go Green Chicken Sammies, but failed to take a picture of them. Bad blogger. I don't have photographic proof, so you'll have to trust me when I say they were very good. As you'll see below, Cate at Sweetnicks made them too this week. Great minds think alike! I also made Sliced Steak Gyros, so look out for a review of that recipe in the coming weeks.

I love a good MYOTO recipe, don't you? That would be Make Your Own Take Out for those of you who are behind on learning your Rachael Ray lingo. The recipes for Thai Glazed Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Hot and Cold Sesame Noodles are among my favorite Rachael Ray recipes. In fact, I might even go as far to say that the Hot and Cold Sesame Noodles are my tied as my favorite with John's Fish.

I should warn you that if you add the amount of hot sauce called for in the recipe, the noodles really are hot. Since that's how I like them, I go for all of it. With the peanut butter and sesame oil, they create a flavor combination that will meet your take out craving. Mine are dark in the picture at left because I use whole wheat spaghetti to make mine.