Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

I think I’m sort of back in a cooking routine again. It’s been weird being home, but still working. I lose track of how much time I need to actually make things before having to retreat to the basement to start my telehealth sessions. I think I’ve managed to get out of my cooking rut at least. I made homemade puff pastry to top a steak and mushroom pie for Pi Day, for example!

I was impressed with myself! This is even the cheater version and it still has super flaky layers and loveliness.

I’m spoiled now and plus, I have all this butter… I see more puff pastry in my future. The puff pastry recipe is here: https://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/rough-puff-pastry

We used the Instant Pot to cook the filling! I left out the bacon as we had none thawed and surprisingly, the Husband liked it without it! He said to leave it out next time too. Apparently, there should be several next times for this meal. 🙂 The steak and mushroom pie recipe is here: https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/steak-and-mushroom-pie/

We also had baked chicken thighs with a spicy rub. The Husband had a salad and rice and I had buttered, herbed brussel sprouts.

An old favorite made an appearance, spaghetti! This one was cooked on the stove. This time I used two cans of tomatoes and two cans of sauce and that seems to be the perfect stove top method for us. We like it a little more saucy.

We, of course, had lasagna, after the spaghetti. I used my favorite french bread recipe to make herbed bread. Don’t tell the Husband, but I used the Sandwich Sprinkle in the batter and it was lovely.

I made Chicken Bacon Ranch pasta with the leftover from the chicken dinner. It was a fun recipe to try. I wasn’t sure how I would like the combo of spices, but it was fun. I made my own ranch dressing spice mix. The Husband is interested to try homemade ranch with the spice mix soon too. We would probably eat this again.

The recipe is here: https://thetoastykitchen.com/chicken-bacon-ranch-pasta/

Another fun recipe that I have had on my list to try for a while is Shrimp Hushpuppies from Tasty Kitchen. Since we had some extra time this week, I whipped up a batch.

They were pretty good and a fun recipe to try. We were thinking of other things to try in the batter. They reminded me a little of the corn fritters that my Mom used to make. Here’s the link: https://tastykitchen.com/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/shrimp-hushpuppies/

These were the other pies we had on Pi day! We used this recipe to make apple turnovers. https://anitalianinmykitchen.com/apple-pie-breakfast-turnovers/

They were yummy! My inlaws helped the Husband move a server cage into our house, which at one point involved taking off the doors so the Husband could stand in the middle of it to get it down the stairs. Fancy tried to rescue him when it ended up hitting his shins. It was a circus, but the turnovers helped make up for it.

To finish off on an even sweeter note, here’s the latest homemade ice cream experiment. When we cleaned the freezer, we discovered a sad looking bowl of strawberries that were obviously in need of rescue. Since they didn’t look like they would be good to eat, we made ice cream instead! It was delicious and made with no eggs!

We needed a chocolate sauce, so I made a chocolate ganache and we ate it over Ghirardelli brownies the next couple of nights. It was amazing with both! Here’s the recipe: https://theculinarychase.com/2012/06/easy-homemade-strawberry-ice-cream/

Yum! I’ve made a few more fun things, including some new treats for Fancy, but those will be in a later post, as I don’t have the pictures yet. I hope you’re finding time to experiment with fun foods and things to do! Stay healthy!

Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

Mmm…crepes. They weren’t as good as my friend, Steph’s, but they were still delicious. She spent a year in Switzerland and learned how to make perfect ones there. I’m still learning. 🙂

My usual goal of 2-3 new recipes was definitely met this week. I surprised myself a little with how many I made.

I also made a second batch of the Pinch My Salt cinnamon ice cream, but this time, left it just vanilla. It was still so creamy and delicious. My plans for today include making another batch, but adding cocoa powder to make it chocolate.

So for new recipes, I used 3 online ones this week and one from a cookbook. Two were from Pinterest, one from a sewing blog, oddly enough. I’ll start with the one I have no pictures of. It wasn’t the prettiest of dishes anyway, so it’s probably okay.

It was Creamy Slow Cooker Portobello Chicken from Cutefetti.com. https://cutefetti.com/2015/04/portobella-mushroom-chicken-slow-cooker-recipe.html 

It needed more mushrooms, but I hadn’t had time to get more, so only had half. I also got nervous and added some water to the slow cooker and didn’t really need too. It was alright, not the best thing I had ever eaten, but not something I will probably make again either. The Husband agreed.

The next recipe was a hit. It was Spicy Beef Tortellini Soup, from The Slow Cooker Gourmet. https://slowcookergourmet.net/slow-cooker-spicy-beef-tortellini-soup/

The Husband thought it had a kick, but I didn’t really find it. There’s a chance I’m turning into a chili head without realizing it. It was a nice meal on a cold day. The stew meat was mostly frozen when I added it in, but it got so tender by the end that it just fell apart. I used my frozen tomatoes too. The Husband doesn’t like the skins on the tomatoes, so next time I use them, I’ll have to pull those first. He did like the soup though. I’ll keep this one in the soup rotation.

We also tried Salt and Pepper Chicken from Sew Petite Gal. http://sewpetitegal.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-08-17T12:38:00-07:00&max-results=2&start=32&by-date=false

While it felt a little weird to make a cooking recipe from a sewing site, it was a good recipe. The chicken was coated in cornstarch before being fried, so it was a new technique for me. It was also double fried.

We had it over rice and I added a bunch of veggies to it. It needs a sauce, I think. I’m pretty sure it’s meant more as a snack, rather than a meal, but it was easy enough to make a bigger amount and add veggies. It tasted good and wasn’t greasy, like I feared it might be. I’ll keep this and start experimenting with it. The Husband liked it and is requesting more fried foods.

The recipe we used from a cookbook was from Good Housekeeping, section: The Story of Meats. We had bacon wrapped burgers with sautéed mushrooms and onions.

We the Husband cut the onions and mushrooms and did an excellent job. You can just see Fancy’s feet in the corner, she was very jealous and grumbled and whined throughout the entire meal. We ignored her, but did laugh a little first.

We had a couple of leftover meals this week, so this was pretty much all we ate. It’s nice to have leftovers. I had intended on making longevity noodles yesterday to celebrate, but was sick with nasty migraine, so we ended up having the beef soup again instead. We have a shopping trip to the Chinese market today to get party foods, so we’ll probably have the noodles tonight.

I never got Fancy’s new collar made, as I kept forgetting to get the last part I needed. If I’m honest, my organizing work in my fabric this week has made me realize I can’t be trusted at fabric stores when upset, or when in a shopping mood, so I never went back to get it. I might have something that will work downstairs though, so I’ll look. She may just get a pretty bow to wear with her party harness. Either way, she will be thrilled to see everyone.

Stay tuned for party pictures on Monday and quotes tomorrow!