Whew! I always forget how much I depend on electricity. We have a gas stove, but it has electric starters, so unless we wanted to light it with a match, we had no stove for a few days. We were out for about two days. Now we have power again and I have done some cooking. Here’s the recipes:

1- Slow Cooker Chinese BBQ Beef from Food Network v. 8, n. 10. 

Modifications: I used full strength soy sauce and just reduced it a little. We’ve not had good luck with finding a reduced sodium soy sauce that doesn’t taste horrible. Next time I would also reduce the Chinese 5 spice. It was a little too licorice flavored for me. I ate this on the second day since I had put it in the crockpot the night before while working. The Husband said he liked it and had it over rice. It was good, but I don’t know if we liked enough to make it again.

2- BLT Mac and Cheese from Bacon 24/7: Recipes for Curing, Smoking and Eating by Theresa Gilliam. I bought this book for the Husband for our first anniversary (paper) almost four years ago and haven’t used it at all! This is a perfect example of why I decided to write this blog. I kept looking at it and saying I needed to make things from it, but never did. We are planning on making our own bacon this summer, when it isn’t snowing outside. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures.

Modifications: I tried to half the recipe, but forgot halfway through and ended up making almost the whole sauce recipe. The sauce turned a little red, from too much tomato sauce, but it evened itself in the end. I used dry basil, no fresh to be found, and used the rest of the romano cheese as well, instead of just all Parmesan. I also had a freak out moment where I couldn’t figure out where the bacon went in the recipe. I made the noodles and the bacon ahead of time and saved part of the bacon grease in the fridge. The Husband kindly pointed put that I was supposed to make the bacon and then add the cheese sauce ingredients directly on top of it. It worked out in the end and tasted very good. It was less cheesy than most mac and cheese, but the sauce did thicken up. I would like to try it with fresh basil, so may make it again in the summer.

3- Grilled Chicken Over Spinach from Taste of Home: The Market Fresh Cookbook. This is another cookbook I’ve had for a long time, but haven’t tried a lot out of it. Mostly veggie recipes are included in it, which might be why. The Husband doesn’t like a lot of veggies and I tend not to cook extra recipes just for me. This book is where I get my pear bread recipe from and it is delicious.

Modifications: I broiled the chicken instead of grilling it, since it was way too cold. The seasoning was very nice, kind of Italian based spices and olive oil. I also added more garlic to the spinach and made a smaller amount. This was a really fast recipe after a long shift and I would make it again. I picked it because I had a bunch of spinach in the fridge and was tired of seeing it go to waste. It made good leftovers the next day too and I think the spices would make the chicken good for leftover recipes like potpie or chicken salad.

4- Roasted Turkey with Smoked Paprika from a Meijer recipe card.

Modifications: It’s only been a few years since I have been able to eat turkey again. I had some bad experiences with cafeteria style turkey and fake mashed potatoes and couldn’t stand it for about 6-7 years. I wouldn’t even eat my Mom’s apple cider and bacon turkey and she makes excellent turkey. I still bring a few slices of ham to my inlaw’s house for Thanksgiving to this day. We’ve discovered that the less it tastes like turkey, the more I will eat it, and I don’t like it if it’s been frozen. (I know, for a food blogger, I sound so picky.)

The Husband tried a sample of this in Meijer one day and said I had to taste it and he was right. The spice rub is extremely full flavored with smoked paprika, garlic, and Italian spices. I reduce the recipe for this one, since it’s originally for a whole turkey. We normally have it on turkey breasts or tenderloins. We’ve had this a couple of times and it’s been good each time and is on our “quick and easy” list. We had this with mashed potatoes, and roasted carrots and butternut squash in olive oil and spices. No pictures because we were both starving and the carrots took longer, so things were not ready at the same time.

I think you can find the recipe on Meijer’s website as well. Tomorrow for Pi Day (3.14) I am making a chocolate cherry icebox pie that would have been made last Thursday, had there been power. I work late again, so it will be eaten after my shift ends and should be delicious. I’ll be sure to take pictures before we eat it all.