July 17, 2008
On Failed Recipes
Is it is just me or is it really depressing when you spend a bunch of time to make a new recipe and then it tastes awful? I think this is one the main reasons I’ve never been a very adventurous eater. I find things I like and I eat them over and over. Maybe it gets a little boring to eat the same stuff, but at least I don’t have the disappointed (and hungry) feeling when I try something new and it turns out badly.
But the thing is I am trying to be a more adventurous eater, and I’ve actually been really lucky with all the new recipes I’ve tried since I started cooking. Until now. This week I’ve made two things that I just couldn’t finish eating. And …
July 14, 2008
Easy Enchiladas
Mexican and Italian are my favorite kinds of food. While I have a pretty good handle on cooking Italian food, I’ve always thought Mexican food to be beyond my reach. Until I found this recipe. Now, if you are looking for totally authentic Mexican food, then you need to be going to your nearest Mexican restaurant, because this recipe won’t be anywhere near as good as the food you get from there. But this recipe is easy and relatively low fat and despite those things it still very much fulfills my Mexican food cravings. It’s gotten to be a staple in my house and whereas we used to go out for Mexican regularly, we’re now more likely to stay in …
July 9, 2008
Chicken Cutlets with Herb Sauce
So this is one of those titular “30 Minutes Meals”, which is definitely what attracted me to this recipe. Well, that and the potatoes. I love red potatoes! The problem is that it took wayyyy longer than 30 minutes, but I fully attribute that to the fact that I’ve never made it before and that I’m just a slow cook. I have no doubt an experienced cook would totally knock this out of the park in 30 minutes, but it you’re like me, it’s probably going to take you longer.
I made quite a few mistakes with this one (though it still turned out well), so after the recipe I will include notes that go a bit more into my …
July 7, 2008
This weekend in food
Well, I didn’t get much of a holiday this weekend seeing as I had to work both my jobs all three days, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t celebrate. I made lots of food, to the point of overcompensation probably.
I celebrated the fourth by making Braised BBQ Beef from Simply Recipes, which was sooooo good and quite easy to make. I’ve never been much of a beef eater, but I’m trying to expand my horizons and this was definitely a good start.
I also made Oven “Fried” Sweet Potatoes to go with it. Really good, though perhaps a bit soft, even after following the instructions for making them crispier. That recipe is from Mollie Katzen’s The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without via Serious Eats.
July 3, 2008
Garlicky Red Beans and Sausage
This is my favorite new recipe. What’s really surprising about that is: (1) it’s dead simple (or at least I made it that way) and (2) it’s from the Weight Watchers cookbook. You wouldn’t think something like that would be so good, but I swear I could eat it every single night.
The main thing to note is that this my version of the recipe. I took some shortcuts and also switched the meat (but I’ve had it with the original meat and it was good that way, too). I’ll make notes where the changes are, though.
July 1, 2008
Fried Pasta
Have you ever heard of such a thing? I mean, I know you can fry pretty much anything, but fried pasta? I’ve never heard of that before. Well, I’m here to say fried pasta = yum!
A few weeks ago my boyfriend, Brandon, and I went to Copelands and we were basically blindsided with this item. We had ordered spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer and assumed that it would come with tortilla chips like every other restaurant we’ve ever eaten spinach and artichoke dip at (which is A LOT). But Copeland’s is not every other restaurant. The dip comes out with a plate of fried bow-tie pasta. At first we just looked at it in astonishment and even a little disgust, but neither of us are ones to turn …
