Thursday, September 25, 2008

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

From Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious October 2008 (subscriber only)



Ingredients:
ground beef
onion (I used minced onion flakes. I was being lazy)
ketchup
mustard
pepper
lettuce (used romaine, because that's what I had)
tomato
cheese (recipe says processed cheese, but I used shredded cheddar)
bacon
pickle slices (left these out. too weird)
(I also forgot to make the crutons out of hamburger buns. My bad.)

Comments:
Neat how they make this look like either a really healthy burger substitute or a not-so-healthy salad. Eh. The concept is interesting and the execution is easy. I'm not saying it tastes like a bacon cheeseburger, but it's better than just plain lettuce. I think we'd add this to our rotation with chicken caesar salad.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Baked Chicken & Asparagus Casserole

From Clean Eating Summer 2008.



Ingredients:
cream of broccoli soup
wild rice
asparagus
chicken breasts
Monterey Jack cheese

Comments:
I just this second noticed that the rice was supposed to be pre-cooked. No wonder it didn't turn out so well. I'm not a fan of wild rice in the first place, but this was especially icky. Overall, the concept of this dish isn't very far off from one of my staples: this chicken rice bake. Switch out the kind of soup and rice and add some veggies and cheese and there you go. I don't know that I would make this version again. It didn't go over too well with either of us.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Beef Macaroni Skillet

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
ground beef
onion
green pepper (left out)
V8
macaroni
Worcestershire sauce
pepper
(I also added some cheddar cheese)

Comments:
When Adam asked me what was for dinner tonight I told him "some beef macaroni thing." He said, "Does it have cheese in it?" Well, no, it didn't, but that doesn't mean I couldn't just throw some in. So that's what I did. I also was short on the V8 (I was doubling the recipe and forgot that when I went shopping) so I partially cooked the pasta before putting everything together in the pan. That seemed to work nicely. Overall, it was a little bland for my tastes. I'm not sure if maybe some Italian seasoning or salt would have fixed that. Something to play with next time I guess.

Penne Chicken

From Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking September 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
water
wine or chicken broth (I used the broth)
chicken bouillon (I actually used part of a ramen noodle flavor packet)
chicken breasts
penne
mushrooms (left out)
sun-dried tomatoes (I used a seeded plum tomato)
shallot (I used onion)
cornstarch
milk
tomato paste
salt
Parmesan cheese
peas
basil

Comments:
Aside from all my substitutions or omissions I pretty much followed the recipe. Heh. It turned out really well and tasted great. I ate the leftovers already. All of them. I'd definitely make this again. Although perhaps I'd make sure the chicken wasn't frozen before I tried to poach it. Hmm. It might have gone faster that way...

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Hot Ham 'n' Cheese Sandwiches

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
mayo
kaiser rolls
cheddar cheese
ham
mozzarella cheese

Comments:
These were so good! The original recipe calls for bacon along with the ham, but even I have limits on the number of pig parts I eat in one meal. So I skipped that. I ran out of foil after two so the third sandwich got packeted in parchement paper. It didn't seem to make a difference in the end product. This recipe will definitely remain in rotation. Yum!

Italian Spinach & Chicken Skillet

From Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking September 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
egg noodles
mushrooms (left out)
olive oil
garlic
diced tomatoes
cream of chicken soup
spaghetti sauce
chicken breast
spinach
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
mozzarella cheese

Comments:
This was a great new dish to try. The flavor is varied and the texture is thick enough to eat with or without the noodle base. I, of course, like anything with chicken and noodles, but Adam's harder to convince. Even he liked this one. So score!

Mexican Manicotti

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008.



Ingredients:
manicotti
chicken breast
salsa
ricotta cheese
olives (left out)
parsley
pimentos (also left out)
green onion
garlic
hot sauce (yep, that's right, left out as well)
Monteray Jack cheese

Comments:
I was kind of skeptical of a manicotti dish made with salsa rather than spaghetti sauce. It was kind of neat how the salsa turned the ricotta cheese filling a cute pink color. Luckily the end product was mighty tasty and not too hot for my wimp of a tongue.

Quinoa & Vegetable Saute

From Clean Eating Summer 2008. Doesn't look like they post recipes online.



Ingredients:
quinoa
water (used chicken stock)
canola oil
red onion
bell pepper (left out)
green cabbage
herbes de Provence
salt
peas
tofu

Comments:
Adam mentioned quinoa a while back as some kind of miracle food that is a great nutritional staple and we should eat it every day. So I finally got around to finding a recipe to make with it. Adam determined they look like baby fish eyes. How appetizing. The taste is not extraordinary, but I suppose that's not really the point. This recipe as a whole was ok. I think I'd cut the tofu into smaller chunks next time as it seemed to kind of take over the whole dish. Also, the picture in the magazine? Doesn't look like they even cooked it. Kind of misleading.

White Chocolate Raspberry Bars

From Recipezaar



Ingredients:
butter
white chocolate chips
eggs
sugar
flour
salt
almond extract
strawberry jam
sliced almonds

Comments:
I saw this recipe on a blog that I read and immediately thought Adam would like these bars. I showed the recipe to him and he agreed. So I went out and got the almond extract and almonds and went to work. I was afraid they were going to bomb when the first layer seemed so thin, but they bake up well. They were a lot sweeter than I expected, but Adam loved them and declared them to be addictive. They're all gone.

Honey-Mustard Chicken with Potato Wedges

From Everyday with Rachael Ray September 2008



Ingredients:
honey
mustard
vegetable oil
lime juice
chicken
potatoes
EVOO
salt & pepper

Comments:
This is another recipe that's meant for the grill but I just did it in the oven instead. This worked out fine for the potatoes, but the honey in the marinade for the chicken ended up burning and stinking up the house. Whoops. Other than that they turned out fine. I also swapped out bone-in chicken thighs for some boneless breasts that I cut into strips. I did this to decrease cooking time.

Black Bean Pita Pockets

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008



Ingredients:
black beans
corn
bacon
red pepper (left out)
mayo
celery
sugar
onion
cider vinegar
olive oil
pita bread
romaine (left out)
tomato

Comments:
Adam chose this recipe out of one of the magazines I got him to look through. Then when I made it he said, "I don't like black beans." Uhm. Ok then. He ate it anyway. The filling was very tasty and while we ate it for dinner with warm pita and corn, it's just as good cold. I did forget to pick up romaine so I had to leave it out. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would have made. Perhaps it would have been less runny with some lettuce to soak up some of the juices.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Home-Style Ribs

From Taste of Home.com



Ingredients:
pork ribs
onion
ketchup
water
brown sugar
vinegar (I used apple cider)
Worcestershire sauce
ground mustard
salt
paprika

Comments:
Once again, this has the food network to blame. We were watching "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" and saw all kinds of barbecue joints. This got Adam craving ribs. And when we went grocery shopping they just happened to be on sale so he picked up a package. I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website that didn't sound too gross. Threw everything in the crockpot this morning and had a wonderful dinner tonight. There are leftovers for his lunch tomorrow so he's pumped about that.

Grilled Summer Fruit Kabobs

From Cooking for 2 Summer 2008.

Pre grill

Post grill

On the plate


Ingredients:
peach
nectarine
plum
peach preserves
butter

Comments:
Since the grill was on for the brats anyway I figured this would be a good side dish/dessert. I only stabbed myself about a million times with the skewers while threading the fruit on. Those things are sharp! Anyway, the fruit gets really sweet as it cooks so I'd recommend using the optional pound cake and whipped topping to cut some of that. I didn't. I wish I would have.

Grilled Seasoned Bratwurst

From Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (link is to the original recipe, not the scaled-down for 2 version, which is a subscriber only link.)



Ingredients:
brats
beer
onion
fennel seed (left out - I don't even have this)
buns

Comments:
This recipe is very similar to a crockpot version that we like in that the brats are poached in beer and onions. This version then crisps up the outside on the grill whereas the slow cooker one just cooks them all day. Both are yummy. And easy.