Tag: pasta

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup · Uncategorized

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

Fancy was very excited this week, she got two new dog treat recipes made for her! Sadly, the vet thinks she may be allergic to chicken and if that’s the case, she can’t have one of them. We’re keeping her off chicken for a few weeks to see if it helps her ears and feet heal. I’m finding other recipes for her though.

1- Apple Crunch Pupcakes by Lola Bakes. http://blog.candiquik.com/apple-crunch-pupcakes/#more-6534

The pupcakes ended up being a trip. I used coconut flour and had to call a friend in a panic because the mixture wouldn’t stop expanding. I think I will not use coconut flour again. Fancy loves them, she won’t even let me get the paper off of them normally before she starts licking them. This is good because with the expansion of the flour it made 24 big cupcakes and two pans of minis. I froze them, as they started condensing a lot in the containers.

Here’s what the flour looked like in the bowl:

And a mini pupcake:

2- Mushroom Stroganoff Tortellini from Food Network Magazine, Oct. 2017, V. 10, N. 8

I saw this recipe when I got the magazine and the picture made me say “yum!” I used cheese tortellini instead of beef, since it was what we had. We always have the Kirkland/Costco brand tortellini on hand for quick dinner. One set will generally get us four separate meals and it keeps very well.

It was a little rich for me, but it tasted good. The Husband liked it a lot and said we could definitely make it again.

3- Vegetarian Chili, loosely based on this recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/72508/the-best-vegetarian-chili-in-the-world/

I read the recipe, sort of, and then threw everything into a pot and cooked it for a few hours before work. Meat has been causing me issues lately. I haven’t wanted to cook or eat it, so this was a good option for lunch. I am the only one eating it too, so I am going to freeze it for lunches later. I used pinto beans instead of garbanzo beans. I also used a home-grown jalepeno. It was lovely and had just the right hint of spice.

4- Chicken Sausage with Spaetzle from Food Network Magazine, Oct. 2016, V.9, N.8. 

First off, this was in the weekday dinners section and I have no idea how they thought making spaetzle was a weekday thing. We didn’t eat until 8:30 the night I made this. Second thing, if I am going to make spaetzle again, I need a different colander with bigger holes. Also, three more arms, so I can rotate when they get tired. I have actually always wanted to try making spaetzle, so I was excited to do it, but man were my arms tired.

It tasted good though and I had a craving for chicken sausage, so was happy with it. It was relatively easy too, just awkward when trying to hold the colander and smoosh it through.

5-Freezer Cafe Rio Chicken from Freezer Meals by Juliana Sweeney. 

I don’t have a picture, as we ate this on different days. This meal saved my behind this week when I forgot to take anything out for dinner. It thaws for an hour before cooking and that’s it. It was surprisingly good. I thought it might be weird as it had Italian dressing and ranch seasoning, but it was actually good. We had it with rice.

My friend, Kayla, got us this book and it has been great! I have had a much easier time prepping dinners and using the crockpot more because of it. Tomorrow, I will be prepping more of them to freeze as I am almost out.

I’m pleased with my meal prep and execution this week. Sometimes it’s hard to feel like cooking after work, but I do get a lot of benefits out of it.

Any suggestions on techniques or recipes I should try? I’m trying to be more adventurous lately. I have to top the duck!

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.