Pineapple-Rum Chicken

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #95



Ingredients:
jasmine rice
pineapple
onion
garlic
red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
rum
chicken stock
boneless, skinless chx breasts
parsley

Comments:
This was not quite as easy as the previous couple, but it still wasn't bad. I had some pineapple juice issues (as in I dropped the pineapple back into the container and doused myself with the juice) but in general it went smoothly. It was spicier than I like (it's those red pepper flakes I tell ya) but it tasted great.

Pan-Roasted Garlic & Herb Chicken Breasts

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #165



Ingredients:
garlic
parsley
EVOO
salt & pepper
boneless, skinless chx breasts

Comments:
Another easy one! The first four ingredients form a quick marinade of sorts for the chicken which is then browned quickly on the stovetop and then thrown in the oven to finish cooking. In the book it is supposed to be served with some icky sounding salad. I skipped that and just made some mashed potatoes instead. I've done that quite a bit it seems - made the main course and skipped the less-than-appetizing side dish. It works and it also eliminates some of the ingredients needed. :)

Angel Food Cake

There's no way I can take credit for this. It came straight from a box. All I did was bake it. But it sure tastes good and I felt like taking a picture and this is my blog and I can do whatever I want so there.

:)

Columbus' Pork Chops

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #265



Ingredients:
thick boneless pork chops
salt & pepper
strawberries
basil
balsamic vinegar
EVOO

Comments:
Once again pork is something I won't eat so I made this for Adam so he'll have to comment on the taste. From what I can tell from his reaction, it tasted pretty good though :) It was easy to make. Few ingredients and most of the time was spent macerating or coming to room temperature. It smelled pretty good too.

Mom's Meatballs

Don't remember where this came from. I thought it was Food Network, but I can't find it on their site.



Ingredients:
onion
ketchup
lemon juice
worcestershire
saltines
ground beef

Comments:
This is one of my stand-bys for using up hamburger. I had some leftover from making the Aussie pies so I threw together a batch of these. They taste great and only take about 15 minutes to make.

Aussie Meat Pies

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #201



Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
salt & pepper
EVOO
butter
ground beef
onion
flour
worcestershire
tomato paste
brown sugar
beef stock
seasoning & ketchup

Comments:
This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment recipe choice. I was just looking through the book to see how many recipes I had made when this one caught my eye. It was once again totally simple. I love this cookbook! The flavor the worcestershire adds to anything is amazing. It was kind of interesting, the texture the puff pastry adds. Rachael calls it a "ritzy version of a sloppy joe." She's right. It tasted great.

Salmon Fillet en Papillote with Julienne Vegetables

From Alton Brown's Food Network show, Good Eats



Ingredients:
Salmon
Fennel
Leeks
Carrots
snow peas
salt & pepper
coriander
an orange
vermouth

Comments:
I don't like fish so I won't eat this, but I made it for Adam. It's pretty simple to make. Prep consists mostly of chopping the vegetables. Of course I managed to chop my hand twice in the process. Cooking's not cooking if Martha doesn't shed some blood... Anyway, it was easy to make and hopefully it will taste good too. Adam should comment tomorrow - he's taking it to work for lunch.

Just a note here: We couldn't find any regular oranges sold singly so we had to get a blood orange. That's why it's red and it looks like the fish is bleeding. Uck.

Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic Dill Fries

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #235



Ingredients:
Frozen French fries
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
EVOO
a lemon
oregano
garlic
salt & pepper
butter
dill

Comments:
Another really simple recipe. It was originally supposed to be served with a chunky salad of cucumbers and onions and stuff but I decided against that and just used up some broccoli we had in the fridge. It works. There's really not much effort needed to prepare this. I wasn't sure I (or Adam) would like the fries, but they are actually really good. No ketchup needed!

Food Processor Update

So apparently I'm an idiot. Granted, it did take me an awful long time to figure out how to put the damn thing together. I took the chute thingy off since the zucchini wouldn't fit in the slot there. I guess the machine doesn't run if the chute isn't on. Adam got home last night and messed around with it for a while. There's this white lever thingy that has to be pushed in in order for the motor to turn on. Whoops. On the bright side - I don't have to try and return it! We'll see when I have another opportunity to use it. *sigh* All this fancy schmancy machinery is too high tech for me...

Zucchini and Bow Ties

From Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats - #304



Ingredients:
Bow-tie pasta
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil in Rachael-speak)
garlic cloves
zucchini
grated parmesan cheese
salt, pepper
basil leaves

Comments:
This is a very simple recipe. It has a small number of ingredients with little to no fancy prep work required. I was originally going to use my food processor to julienne the zucchini, but when I got it all assembled and went to turn it on nothing happened. I don't know what's up with that, but apparently I got a defective one. This was the first time I was going to attempt to use it and it took me about 10 minutes to get the damn thing assembled so I was mighty ticked when I hit the button and nothing happened.

Anyway, I tried to make matchsticks with my awesome knife but gave up after about 1/2 a zucchini. I decided to just chop it up kinda small instead. Improvisation is key. :) I had almost as much fun grating the cheese. All in all, a quick and simple meal that tastes yummy. You'll notice I left off the basil leaves (they're supposed to be torn up and sprinkled over the top.) I forgot to get them at the grocery store yesterday so I kind of improvised again and added some dried basil to the garlic and EVOO base. Heh.

The Welcome Post

Welcome to my cooking blog. I considered posting entries in my other blog but decided it made more sense to create a separate blog for this subject. I'm not sure what copyright laws I might be brushing up against, but most of these recipes are probably available somewhere on the internet anyway. Rachael Ray has tons of them on the Food Network site. I haven't decided if I'm going to post full recipes or ask interested parties to e-mail me if you want a specific one. We'll see how things go.