Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

Hello! I hope your weekend is going better than mine. I started to get sick yesterday and it’s much worse today. I’ve slept for a lot of today. Fancy has been napping with me. She’s a good dog. 🙂 I’m hoping it’s just a cold, but my throat hurts a lot, so if it is worse tomorrow, I’ll go get checked out. I’ve been hydrating and taking it easy.

We had some friends over for dinner last night and grilled for the first time this summer. It was very good.

We had grilled boneless/skinless chicken thighs in gyro seasoning that a family friend gave us. Salad, pita breads, and hummus were also present. We had sweet potatoes too. We’ll definitely be grilling more.

The Husband made his own dinner tonight! Seared pork chops with apples and a pasta side. He seasoned them with the Chophouse seasoning from The Pepper Palace.

The Husband was very proud of himself for learning how to sear them and finishing them off in the oven. We may have cooking lessons on Saturday nights. 🙂

I had potato salad, which I made yesterday for lunch.

It was pretty good. I had a craving for it, but the Husband doesn’t enjoy it. I made it for my sewing lunch.

I made Blueberry Muffins from Gordon Ramsey’s In The Heat Of The Kitchen.

They were a little dense. Not sure why as I actually followed the recipe. My parents enjoyed them for breakfast while they were here.

Speaking of my parents, they really need to come visit more often. My mother went into low kitchen orbit and we had 2 loaves of french bread, a lasagna, and two loves of nissu in the kitchen. It was beautiful. I didn’t have to make anything for craft night at all.

So that’s this past week. We’re having French Onion soup tomorrow with some garlic bread made from my Mom’s bread. Sorry for the short post! My cold meds are making me quite sleepy.

Have a great Sunday!

Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

It’s Shark Week! I know I said that before, but I’m still enjoying it. I watch it for the science, okay! 🙂 No judgements!

Lunches, as well as TV, have been a bit more exciting for me this week. I’ve been terrible about preparing something ahead of time lately and decided to change it. This week I made two new recipes specifically for lunches. Both were vegetarian, so I didn’t have to share.

I used all Food Network Magazines this week by accident. The weeknight cooking sections have been surprisingly helpful and have only taken around 30 minutes or so. Normally with the “30 minute recipes,” it’s been and hour and a half and fifteen bowls and pots before we eat. They lie to us…

On to the recipes!

1- Slow Cooker Soy Citrus Chicken from Food Network Magazine, Jan/Feb 2015. V.8, N.1

Modifications: I added carrots and onions to the slow cooker. I also added more soy sauce. The Husband has figured out that he doesn’t like citrus flavors with meats. It was a decent dinner, but I probably won’t make it again. No pictures, since I had a different dinner at work.

2- Chicken Divan by The Husband’s Mom. This was the recipe he requested she give me for my bridal shower. (Don’t tell her, but he likes mine better because I leave out the broccoli. She’s still got me beat on pot roast though.)

Recipe:

Cooked Rice, 4 cooked and chopped Chicken Breasts, 1& 1/2 Tsp lemon juice, 1 & 1/2 cup Shredded Cheese, 2  10 oz packs of cooked frozen broccoli, 1 1/2 cup Mayo, 1 1/2 TBS Curry Powder, 3 cans Cream of Chicken Soup, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Spread cooked broccoli in casserole dish. Top with chicken. Combine soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry powder. Pour over chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Modifications: I leave out the broccoli and serve a salad on the side. I also normally cut the recipe in half and use two cans of soup. I like it, but not for too long. And it helps keep down the leftovers or waste.

3- Lentils with Watercress (Spinach) from Food Network Magazine, October 2016. V.9, N.8. 

Modifications: This was a lunch recipe. I used half broth and half water for more flavor. I used spinach instead of watercress, as it was what I had. Also, I am the only one eating this and it seemed wasteful to get a whole thing of watercress. I’m guessing the Husband will not like it. It was good. I would make this again, but would probably have it with a hard-boiled egg or something. I was hungry soon after eating it.

4- Curried Egg Salad from Food Network Magazine, April  2017. V. 10, N. 3

Modifications: My second lunch recipe. I used garlic powder and cut the recipe. I would have eaten it with crackers instead of bread, but forgot them. It was interesting. I’m not sure if I liked it or not. No pictures, I forgot to take them at work.

5- Lamb Shoulder Chops with Carrot Puree with Cucumber Salad from the above Food Network.

Modifications: Dried cilantro in the puree, instead of fresh. I didn’t blend the puree as much as it told me too. I got impatient with the stick blender.

When I served it, the Husband said “Hooray baby food!” Oh sarcasm… it was pretty gross though. I don’t know that I like purees.

The lamb chops were good, as was the cucumber salad. I would make both of those again.

6- Couscous Tabouli, Method by me.

Recipe: Cook the couscous per package directions. Add chopped parsley, mint, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Mix well and enjoy warm or cold.

The Husband thinks I should have a Gordon Ramsey week, but I’m not sure if I have enough recipes. I only have one of his cookbooks. I’ll do some research and see what I can do though, as it sounds fun.

Since there is a monthly review coming up, I’m going to be checking on which cookbooks need to still be used. Ramsey’s cookbook is one of them. It’s kind of intimidating. He might end up with more reasons to call me a muppet if I mess things up…

This is Fancy’s face when I make a new recipe lately. She’s been getting very nosy. The featured picture is her when we open anything in a bag or box. I just love her ears!

Monthly Review

Happy 2 Month Anniversary!

Wow! It’s been two months already. How did that happen? I am feeling particularly cute today because I’m wearing my strawberry dress, which I finished specifically to get a project done for the blog. I thought I should take a minute and review what I’ve gotten done so far. It doesn’t seem like it’s that much when thinking about it, but I suspect I’ve gotten more done than I thought.

Food/cookbook Review: I went back and counted up my cookbooks that I used. 28 new cookbooks were used in the past 2 months! I didn’t completely finish any, but I might be close with Retro Diner. I seem to only have a few more sections of it to use. My most used cookbooks were Food Network Favorites and Better Homes and Gardens, both with 4 recipes. They were all from different sections though. I thought there would be more repeats, but I’ve done pretty good.

I’m getting better about figuring out recipes before I need to start working on them. I’m learning that sometimes it is better to follow the recipe and sometimes I need to go with my gut and make modifications even if it doesn’t call for it. The Husband keeps telling me I should be thinking about going on Masterchef and threatens to have friends bring over random foods for a Chopped style dinner party. I think that the Chopped dinner party might be fun, but am not sure about Masterchef. I still have trouble with planning sides and cooking things at the same time.  The Husband still claims that all I have to do to cook is to wave my arms and food magically appears. He is fairly gracious about eating a little later so I can get everything done, but I suspect it would do me in on a TV show. Plus, Gordon Ramsey might call me a muppet and I might never cook again…

I did find picture of the Wolfgang Puck pizza (Food Network Favorites) that I hadn’t posted and it looks delicious. It was very good and definitely will be added to the pizza night menu. This pizza was one of the favorite meals for the last couple of months. The Curry Chicken Salad (Food Network Favorites), Blackwood Hall Muffins (Nancy Drew), Buttermilk Fried Chicken (Better Homes), and the Stuffed Meatballs (Food Network Favorites) were all favorites.

Recipe misses were Chicken Risotto (A Quilter’s Christmas), and Creamy Mushroom Soup (My Recipe Keeper). I think everything else I would make again, just with modifications.

I still have this week’s Recipe Round up to write, but thought I would do a review first. Those recipes will be  written up tomorrow or Sunday.

Craft Project Review:

So far I have finished one baby quilt and the Rainbow Snowball quilt top, and started another scrap quilt, which I haven’t taken pictures of yet. Here’s the Rainbow Snowball sewn together. Excuse the wrinkles, I have not ironed it yet. I can’t decide on a border fabric, so it probably won’t get one, unlike the original look. It would make it too busy, I think, and I’m not a fan of white borders. It’s going to be quilted with buttons in the diamonds and probably backed with either a fleece or a red flannel. It does have a home, just have to get it done.

I made or completed 5-6 tea wallets for my Etsy store and vending. Some of them just needed a specific thread color to finish the final seam.

I added bias tape to complete the strawberry dress and made a complete dress from scratch in 5 hours for a Dita Von Teese show. The strawberry dress is not the McCall’s pattern that I thought it was. It has princess seams that I had forgotten about. I’m still going through patterns to see what it actually is.

Also, I discovered my dog is afraid of the dress form when it is undressed. Fancy is a terribly vicious pitbull, you know. 🙂

Finished three belly dance hip wraps from the project box. These are all put away in their box, but I did post a few pictures last Wednesday of the black and blue ones. I haven’t gotten pictures of the pink and silver one yet.

Finished two bags, the red and black Record Bag (only in progress pictures so far) and made a dinosaur 6 pocket tote bag.

It’s been a little easier to do more things with food, as we have to eat. Crafting seems to take a backseat, partially due to how ridiculously messy the craft area in the basement has become. It’s pretty cold down there right now, so I have just been down there to find specific things and not working down there. I’m ashamed to say how messy it is, but I really need to focus on getting it into better order. Potentially getting a space heater will help too because then I won’t be taking over the dining room table with all of it. We cut up almost all of our moving boxes and I’m planning on swiping the side flaps to wrap fabric around in hopes that it will help keep things a bit neater and help me to know what I have. I’ll probably post some in progress pictures to help keep my motivation going.

So there it is! Looking back at this list, even though I can see some room for improvement, I’m pretty proud of what I accomplished.

28 new cookbooks used and 15 craft/sewing projects completed in two months. That’s a good use of my time, I think.

Hopefully you’ve had fun following along and will stay tuned for more crafty and cooking adventures.