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Recipe Roundup

Belated Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

I currently sound like Darth Vader and have almost no appetite. Except of course, when my stomach abruptly demands food and then hates me for actually eating. I have a cold, which turned nasty, and has taken up residence in my lungs. Not exactly the best conditions for food blogging. I’m feeling slightly better, which is good, but still ended up taking a few days off to try to recover. Fancy is being very cuddly. She insists on sitting with me and keeps following me round to make sure I’m okay.

The Husband drove me to a vending event this past weekend and stayed to help me sell, which was nice. I ended up selling the Yoga Frog bag, which made me happy. I wanted it to go to someone else who would like it just as much. It was a nice event. I was not in the best shape to fully appreciate it, but it was still fun. I made some new flowers while there, but they are in a box waiting to have their picture taken.

Anyway, now that you are all caught up, on to the recipes!

1- Sausage and Mushroom Penne Skillet from an Oscar Mayer recipe card.

Modifications: I added a bunch more veggies, zucchini, onions, and multicolored peppers. We also used chicken sausage instead of Italian sausage. Also, we had pepperjack and smoked Gouda cheese, so I used those instead of all mozzarella. I was laughing a little when I made this, because this is essentially one of my quick meals, although I typically make it with no cheese. It was delicious! I think I will add cheese from now on.

2- Irish Stew from Crockpot Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes. Section: Spring and Summer Sensations

Modifications: None made. It was good. I didn’t have very much of it, but the Husband enjoyed it. I finally found lamb stew meat in the store. I might kick up the seasonings a bit, but other than that, it was good.

3- Pizza from Bernard Clayton’s Complete Book of Small Breads. Section: Pizza

Modifications: None. I was home all day when I made this, so I did all the rise times it requested. It’s definitely not a quick recipe, but it turned out to be very soft and pillowy. It was a Sicilian style dough shaped into a rectangle. The Husband thought this was the best pizza crust I had made.

I sort of followed the recipe for the pizza sauce that was included as well. I used half a can of diced tomatoes and two cans of tomato sauce. Added dried spices instead of fresh and that’s about it.

The pizza was topped with diced ham, mushrooms, green pepper, and onion. It was very good. We’ll definitely add this to the pizza rotation.

4- Chicken Stir Fry, method by me. This one was a miss. Stir fry is one of those things that I really need to actually follow a recipe. Otherwise, I mess up the proportions and everything is off. It was not inedible, but it wasn’t good either. I used a bag of frozen stir fry mix and some marinated chicken from the freezer.

We also had French Onion Soup from the crockpot, but I’ve talked about that recipe already. Tonight I am not feeling like cooking. I will probably have chicken soup and crackers. The Husband will have leftover pizza, I think, if there isn’t food at his meeting. Hopefully my body will start healing itself soon and I’ll feel up to cooking and crafting again.

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

This has been another long week, but I ended up making things that had lots of leftovers and we’ve pretty much eaten them all. Tomorrow is a rare Saturday morning that I don’t work until my staff meeting in the afternoon, so I’m hoping to get a head start on cooking things for the week. Maybe I will actually get around to making waffles for the freezer.

This week’s meals were pretty good. I don’t know if I’ll ever top the duck dish, but they were good.

Here they are:

1- Sunday Blue Plate Special at Rudy’s Beef Stroganoff from Retro Diner by Linda Everett. Section: Blue Plate Specials. 

Modifications: None, I followed the recipe! It was a bit orange though. I may have added too much tomato paste. When I say I followed the recipe, I really mean I eye measured everything. The Husband had it with a salad and I had it with buttered green beans. I’ve decided I need interesting things in my salads, like different greens and veggies. The Husband has a little salad with his ranch dressing and likes mushrooms, green onions, and carrots.

2- The Case of the Smothered Pork Chops from The Nancy Drew Cookbook by Carolyn Keene. Section: Time For Dinner. 

Modifications: I had set this up for the Husband to put in the oven. It called for the pork to be seared first and then cooked for an hour in either broth or mushroom soup. I was concerned that it might be too dry and it did turn out that way, he said, so if we make this again, I will either use thicker pork, or not brown it. It needed a little more water too. The rice on the edges was dry. I, of course, didn’t eat it, but the Husband liked it. It was a good one for him to make himself, just add the pork, soup, and water over rice and throw it in the oven. We’ll probably use it for my long days at work. No pictures, as I wasn’t here to eat it.

3- Savory Vegetable Chicken Strudel from The Market Fresh Cookbook. Carrot Section

Modifications: Added garlic powder, omitted the broccoli, used yellow peppers instead of red. I also made my own crescent roll dough because I could. Also, I don’t like the aftertaste from the kind from the can. I have not made it before and it was kind of a long process, but I ended up starting it on another day that I had trouble sleeping and had no appointments until the evening. So again, started in the morning, slept while dough was rising. I baked a chicken breast for it and it made an excellent second breakfast. It turned out very good and it reheated well. I would like to see how it freezes because I think it would be good to keep on hand for lunches.

4- Easy No Knead Crescent Rolls from Gather for Bread. Recipe found on Pinterest: http://gatherforbread.com/easy-no-knead-crescent-rolls/

Modifications: None, it was baking and a new recipe. It turned out delicious, nice and puffy, and buttery. It didn’t dry out when reheated either.

5- Pasta Carbonara from Bacon 24/7 by Theresa Gilliam. Section: Dusk

Modifications: Regular Parmesan instead of the fancier Parmigiana-Reggiani. I had just assumed they were the same and learned that the difference is where the cheese was made. Apparently the fancy kind can only be called that if it is from a specific region of Parma. Parmesan means different things, but is not always from the same region. You can substitute Parmesan for it and some day we will get the real stuff to see if there is a difference. Also, I had to re-cook the bacon as I went away for two seconds and came back to black, smoking bacon. I drained the grease off too before adding the sauce and noodles. It was making my stomach feel gross to even look at it. Very greasy bacon.

I’ve made this dish three times now with three recipes and this recipe was the easiest and worked the best. Before my eggs kept coming out scrambled it seemed. This one had you combine all the sauce ingredients first and then add them to the pan. It worked much better then adding them at different times. We had a salad and fruit as well. The Husband approved and it made good leftovers.

6- French Bread from Tasty Kitchen. I have the original recipe written down, so I don’t remember whose recipe it is. This recipe is my go to french bread recipe. The link is a very similar one, so it should work about the same. http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/no-knead-french-bread/

7- French Onion Soup by Kim (hi Kim!). I got this method from our friend Kim and it always works out perfectly. I used mostly shallots, as I have apparently used my huge onion. You caramelize  the onions the night before and then throw them in the crockpot with beef broth and spices. This time I added pepper, thyme, and a sliced garlic clove. It was very good.

Tomorrow we are having lamb chops, assuming I can find a good recipe. We may have fancy potatoes and some cooked carrots or a salad. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I also need to rotate out cookbooks again. I’ve used the same ones again. I marked a bunch of recipes in them, so that’s why, but I still have some that I haven’t even opened yet.