Wow- time flies when you have guests! My Mom and brother were staying with us for a few days and I wasn’t able to write up my recipes. I’ll do my best to remember all of them. We have a chalkboard on our cupboard door where we write our menus for the week, so hopefully I can remember all of them.

1- Stuffed Meatballs/Polpettone Ripieni: Food Network Favorites, Section- Mario Batali. 

Modifictions: I mostly followed the recipe! I did use mozzarella and provolone instead of the fancy italian cheese, since I couldn’t find it in stores. I also left out the strips of carrots and spinach. The Husband doesn’t like spinach and I had run out of carrots the day before.  It called itself a meatball, but really it was rolled like a jellyroll. It was very delicious, with prosciutto and cheese. Very rich though. It said to eat it at room temp, but I don’t enjoy meat that way. I would make it again. We had it with salad and leftover herb biscuits.

2- Deep Dish Pizza from Food Network Magazine- It was delicious. I added ham and used the last of the provolone from the rolled meatballs. Not many mods, just those couple. It made two pizzas. We ate one of them over a few days and froze the rest in pieces for lunches. The crust was a bit tough, but the cornmeal gave it a nice crunch.

3- Slow Simmered Curried Chicken: Crockpot Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes, Section: Winter Warm-ups. 

Modifications: I used yellow peppers instead of green, as I’m not a big fan. I used homemade salsa given to us by a friend and it made it even more delicious. The Husband added the last few spices, since he got home first and it turned out to be delicious. We ate it over rice. Nest time I might take the time to cook down the liquid to make a thicker sauce.

4- Popovers: Baking Unplugged by Nicole Rees, Section- Treats for the Beginning of the Day. 

Modifications: None. Baking is an area that I do follow recipes in, otherwise they don’t turn out. This was a good recipe, although it had you mix everything but the milk in at the same time, which caused lumpy batter. It worked out alright though. I had them with lemon curd and lingonberries. Mmmm…

5- Creamy Mushroom Soup: My Recipe Keeper, Section: Soups, Salad, and Pasta

Modifications: I think I added garlic powder. I wouldn’t make it again, although it was good. I apparently don’t like mushrooms in that form. I like them better in things, not being the complete taste of the meal. We had popovers dipped in olive oil and herbs and cooked veggies.

Now for a PSA: Don’t cut toward yourself! Especially when you’re cutting partially frozen chicken. Puncture wounds hurt for days! Here’s hoping  you learn from my mistake and avoid my experience.

 

There were lots of delicious sounding recipes that I wanted to use this week and it’s not done yet. This week we had a delicious roast chicken on Saturday that I used to make chicken soup later in the week. We’ve eaten most of the leftovers too, which is nice.

So here are the recipes:

1- The Ultimate Roast Chicken: Food Network Favorites, Tyler Florence section

Mods: Nothing, I actually followed the recipe! It was delicious. It included bacon strips over the chicken for the first 25 minutes.  Mmmmm…

2- Steak Fajitas: Retro Fiesta by Geraldine Duncann, Main Dish section

Mods: Made homemade tortillas from my go to recipe. I only had green peppers, not all three colors, which made it a little less pretty. I used flank steak and broiled it. If I was going to make this again, I would reduce the sugar by quite a bit, it had a total of 5 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. It was a bit too sweet for me. Everything else was good.

3- Neon Diner’s Chick’n Soup with Homemade Noodles: Retro Diner by Linda Everett

Mods: I added a few more veggies, green beans, and frozen corn. No other mods. It was delicious. The Husband said it was “What I always expect from a diner, but never get.” I was excited to use up some leftovers as well. The noodles were pretty easy to make and delicious.

4- Parmesan Herb biscuits: Pilsbury Best Muffins & Quick Breads, Biscuits, Scones, Popovers, and Doughnuts section

Mods: Dried parsley instead of fresh. I don’t think I will make these again. It seemed like they were under seasoned.

I had terrible luck taking pictures this week. We kept eating the food before pictures. It was too delicious to wait. I’ll work on it for next week.

 

I made up for not cooking much out of my cookbooks this week by using three new recipes just for today’s meals.

Earlier in the week I made one recipe:

1- Cheese and Basil Polenta from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. Section: Beans, Rice, and Grains

Modifications made were to use pre-cooked polenta, and pesto mozzarella, and fontina as the cheeses. I sautéed zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and red pepper in olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper as a topping and it was delicious. The Husband didn’t eat it. He is not a fan of zucchini and was working late anyway. That was fine, it meant more yumminess for me to eat. I would make it again, but would definitely try making my own polenta.

Today started off with a new recipe, pancakes for breakfast!  I made them diner style with a diner recipe and they were almost as big as my plate. I also had bacon and eggs and wasn’t really hungry for lunch.

2- Willy’s Diner Pancakes from Retro Diner by Lind Everett. Section: Rise and Shine

Dinner featured homemade rye bread for diner style patty melts, oven fries, and a salad. The new recipes were the patty melts and the rye bread.  Details down below.

3- Carraway Rye Bread from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. Section: Breads

No modifications made. It seemed undercooked, so next time I’ll remember to set a timer. It was delicious without being too heavy. I halved the recipe to make one loaf.

I think my kitchen is too cold for bread to rise properly. This weekend I had trouble with it too. A trick I use when it’s too cold for bread is to turn on the oven to 350 and then leave the bread dough in there for about two minutes while it pre-heats and then turn the oven off and leave the door closed. It generally works pretty well to jumpstart the bread.

4- Blue Moon Diner’s Patty Melt from Retro Diner by Linda Everett. Section: Sandwiches From the Counter

Modifications: Changed the cheese for Muenster instead of Monterey Jack.  They were delicious! I would definitely make them again. The homemade rye bread made them taste even more like diner food. The Husband liked them too. We think that neither of us has had patty melt before, so it was fun to try.

I’m going to attempt to get a better handle on meal planning this weekend. I’ve been picking out recipes just a day or so in advance and it’s a bit stressful. I like to have at least a few to pick from for the week. So fr we’ve only really had the one miss recipe and one so so recipe, so I think we’re on a good streak.  Wish me luck that it continues!

 

 

I have a confession to make. I rarely follow recipes. Unless it’s baking, I can’t seem to help myself from tweaking the recipe, even if it’s the first time I’ve tried it. I blame my parents for this, they are excellent cooks and tend to cook more with smell and taste than a recipe. The family joke is when someone proudly announces that they made a new recipe and then has to admit that “well, I mostly followed the recipe…”

Baking is different, of course. There’s a lot more chemistry that needs to happen and so I do follow those recipes.

I’ll be listing the recipes and cookbooks I use each week, but due to space, I’ll only be listing the modifications and if they worked or not. I may feature a recipe if it turns out to be a favorite.

So here’s the recipes for this week so far:

1-Fried Rice with Mushrooms- 400 Thai & Chinese Delicious Recipes for Healthy Living, Rice section

Modifications-Substituted Chinese white pepper for regular pepper because it makes me feel fancy. Delicious! Fried rice is another one that I follow pretty closely, otherwise it turns out bland. Not the prettiest to take pictures of.

2-Tagliatelle with Creamy Shrimp- Good Eating Pasta: Your Complete Guide to Cooking Perfect Pasta Every Time, Fish and Seafood section 

Modifications- made homemade pasta using the recipe from My Italian Kitchen by Luca Manfe, substituted chicken broth for wine. It turned out delicious, even with messy homemade pasta.

3-House Favorite Vegetable Soup- What Can I Bring? Cookbook, Appetizer and Soups section

Modifications-I made a lot of mods to this recipe. I thought it would be bland without them. I used fresh carrots, frozen corn, and onions instead of leeks and all frozen veg. If I had mixed frozen veg on hand, I would have just used those. I used tomato paste instead of sauce, more beef broth instead of water, and added garlic powder and oregano. The only spices it had were a bay leaf, sliced garlic, salt and pepper. I like my soups to have big flavors. Also used 80/20 ground beef instead of ground sirloin, since I had it already. It turned out very good. I would make it again.

4-Petits Pains A La Pomme De Terre (Potato Rolls)- Bernard Clayton’s Complete Book of Small Breads, Rolls section. No modifications made. Lovely taste and texture and used up leftover mashed potatoes.

5-Chicken Risotto A Quilter’s Christmas Cookbook, Main Dish section

About three years ago, the first time I made risotto I texted my husband and said “I’m making risotto and I keep expecting Gordon Ramsey to pop out of the cupboard and call me a muppet for doing it wrong.” So when I asked the Husband if I should try this risotto recipe for dinner, he said “Are you going to be a muppet?” So, of course, I had to make it. Sadly, it turned out to be a dud. I made a ton of mods to this too and it won’t be a recipe I will make again.

Modifications- The cook time is off. Traditional risotto takes about an hour or so and this recipe calls for maybe 30 minutes cook time. Added seasoning to the chicken as it was cooking, used both olive oil and butter to cook the mushrooms and toast the rice, and added garlic powder. It was still pretty bland and very dry, so I ended up adding an entire container of chicken broth during cooking, and 1/2 cup or so of cream, and shredded parmesan cheese at the end. It originally called for cheddar cheese, which would have been weird. It still doesn’t have the creaminess  that it should have, but it’s at least more edible.

I’m still working on figuring out exactly how to handle picking the recipes, so bear with me while I figure it all out. And hopefully my food photography will improve soonish too and I can post more pictures. I haven’t finished my craft list either, so that will be coming. This weekend is very busy, but I hope to squeeze in some crafting time.