Anyway, I was trying to think of something else I could share with you all besides photos from recent adventures (of which I am currently all out... but Steve's off this weekend so there will be more to come soon!) and I thought of all of the cooking I've been doing! Well, I only have to make dinner 3 times per week and never breakfast, so that means I can't possibly be doing all that much cooking... but for me, this is a lot!
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I'm also including the links to the recipes so you can check them out... because if I can successfully make it, anyone can! (I've included a little rating system for your benefit... all categories are out of 5. The "number of ingredients" category is a rating, not the number of ingredients required. Higher scores going to recipes requiring fewer ingredients, thus making them easier!)
So without further ado, here are the highlights of what I've made in January:
Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino: (translated spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, but doesn't the Italian sound so much better?) This was a super easy dish that I whipped up one day for lunch after we ran out of deli meat and I didn't feel like going to the store. I added chicken breast and it was a good meal. It would also be really good and make a full meal with a nice green salad and bread.
Ease: 5 (Super easy)
Number of ingredients: 5 (few needed)
Time required: 15 minutes
Taste: 4 (great flavors, but very simple -- that's part of the charm, really. But bottom line is that there's not too much to it... the appeal of this dish is definitely the ease!)
Meatball and Spaghetti Soup: yummm... Steve loves soup and I love pasta! I spied this recipe from a Facebook friend and whipped it up one night for dinner. We had 2 days worth of left overs if I remember correctly. I followed the recipe just as described and found the meatballs to be difficult to handle (they were really wet before I plopped them into the broth) but turned out good (albeit deformed).
Ease: 4 (Fairly easy)
Number of ingredients: 4 (quite a few ingredients, but most commonly found in the pantry)
Time required: 30 minutes or so?
Taste: 5 (this had great flavor... Steve loves his spices and he thought this was one of the less bland dishes I made. But wasn't too much for me, who likes my bland food)
Notes: I subbed star-shaped pasta instead of the short spaghetti because that's what I had (and let's face it, stars are so much more fun!). Bonus: this is a low-cal dish :)
Better-Than-Olive-Garden Zuppa Toscana: I told you Steve loved soup... and his favorite is Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden. He told me he'd love me forever if I could make it for him... so onto the internet I went and dug up this recipe! (Turns out he tricked me and said I had to continue making it for him to keep loving me... but the joke's really on him because he's stuck with me....hahaha!) Anyway, he liked it a lot although I couldn't get him to say it was better than OG's.
Ease: 3.5 (lots of chopping)
Number of ingredients: 3 (quite a few ingredients that I had to go buy)
Time required: > 30 minutes
Taste: 4 (this one was pretty spicy thanks to the spicy sausage... not too much for Steve but a little much for me. A bit salty for me, too.)
Notes: I ended up adding another potato and probably another cup of kale after the first time we ate it because I didn't think it was enough in proportion to all that sausage. Also subbed 1% milk for the heavy cream to no detriment.
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup: Another "stolen" recipe... this time from Panera. If you like their cream of chicken and wild rice soup, you'll enjoy this!
Ease: 4
Number of ingredients: 3.5
Time required: 30 minutes (roughly... by now you've noticed that everything takes me a half hour. It probably doesn't, I'm just bad at guessing how long something takes and how much time has passed. Which explains my poor time management skills!)
Taste: 5 (mmm, comfort food!)
Notes: I used half-and-half instead of heavy cream and found it to be almost too creamy. Next time I'll probably use half half-and-half (whoa, that's a lotta halves!) and half milk. I also added carrots and a healthy dose of celery to it, which I thought improved it.
Pork with Mushroom Dijon Sauce: Really easy and delicious twist on a classic. I still haven't figured out how to properly prepare pork chops so that they're not dry, but at least this had the yummy sauce to improve it! If anyone has any pork-cooking tips, please send them my way!
Ease: 3
Number of ingredients: 4
Time required: I'm not going to guess this time. The recipes says 25 minutes for prep and 25 for cooking :)
Taste: 4 (nothing amazing or spectacular, but yummy nonetheless)
Notes: I skipped the wine and it was still delish!
Cheddar Baked Chicken: Also known as the reason I had to find more recipes using Rice Krispies! This was really good and pretty easy... and I imagine that it's very kid-friendly, too. Can't go wrong with cheese :)
Ease: 4
Number of ingredients: 4 (mostly common pantry items)
Time required: < 1 hour
Taste: 4 (yum but not I-will-lick-my-plate)
Notes: I believe I skipped the step of drizzling even more butter on top and it was still rich and delicious.
Okay... this is longer than I thought it would be (see, told you I've been cooking!) so I'll post desserts and snacks next time. I've got some yummy treats that go well with coffee :) So come back later, okay?
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