Recipes by Week - on track for my New Year's Resolution - Week 13 through Week 22
While I'm on track for my New Year's Resolution to make one new recipe per week, I've fallen a bit behind in keeping my blog updated. As much as I love to write, there are so many things that demand my time, it tends to sit on the back burner until I either find a quick moment, or put it on my to do list and force the issue with myself!
When it comes down to it, though, I write for fun and for enjoyment, and maybe to keep my family or friends up to date if/when the visit the blog. In the spirit of "this shouldn't be a task to dread," I'm going to catch up on all of my cooking in one fell swoop, with pictures and reviews galore!
When I last left you, I had made main courses, desserts, and a couple of sides. There continues to be no rhyme or reason, no pattern to the recipes I choose, other than 1) they sound like something my family would enjoy and 2) they fit into the time available for the week at hand!
Week 13 definitely came down to time available: I made a box cake mix that frankly had been sitting in the pantry for a couple of years. Ha! What a great opportunity to also finally use up some of those mixes purchased with such good intent! I pulled the Tastefully Simple Almond Pound Cake mix out, added the minimal ingredients, and voila! Dessert was done. Not bad, pretty plain, improved with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Week 14 was slightly more ambitious - it was another dessert recipe, but involved a few more steps. I went a little more low brow, using a Crescent Cheesecake Roll Up recipe from the Pillsbury website. They didn't turn out to be the most aesthetically pleasing thing I've ever made, but they tasted okay. Very, very rich, and a half of one would've been sufficient - and on top of that, it made a ton! While everyone ate these, this is a recipe I wouldn't repeat, so I guess it's okay that I can't locate it. Ha!
I kept plugging along, even managing to blog about Week 15 (All Purpose Biscuits) and Week 16 (Cinnamon Rolls!!) but by Week 17, I ran into another "I have almost no time" moment. Mixes to the rescue, again! This one looked so much better than it tasted; Samoas are my very favorite Girl Scout cookie, which was what had prompted me to buy this particular mix in the first place. Unfortunately, there's no substitute for the original, and despite its promise, this one ended up being tossed after less than half the pan was eaten.
Week 18 I did a better job of planning my time and my resources, and went for a double duty week! It's been a source of pleasure to read the articles from NY Times Cooking this year, and to browse the countless recipes they have online. When a group of recipes for enchiladas popped up one week, I bookmarked them and knew I'd come back to them as soon as I was able. With Justin's help, I made both Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde and Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Gravy for dinner! With two recipes, there were quite a few ingredients to gather:
Justin set to the task of shredding the rotisserie chicken, and I got to work on making the cheese enchilada filling and gravy. As we worked together, I moved through each step of the recipes, and he kept methodically shredding chicken. I think it was almost two pounds by the time it was done! I whisked and fried and stayed on my toes to keep everything moving along on time.
It was a little bit overwhelming to do both at once, but I had also decided that I wouldn't make everything from scratch for this recipe, which turned out to be a smart choice. We happened to have a jar of salsa verde in the cabinet, so no need to make that! the rotisserie chicken saved roasting a whole one ourselves, too, and was an excellent time saver. With quite a bit of back and forth between the stove top where I was frying the corn tortillas and the counter where I was assembling the enchiladas, I finally had two dishes of enchiladas ready to go in the oven.
While they were baking, I did the easy rice-in-a-box and canned beans sides that we typically have with Mexican food, and got the lettuce and tomatoes chopped and ready to go, too. They smelled absolutely delicious as they cooked, and once they were done and served up, they looked pretty good on the plate, too!
The chicken enchiladas were absolutely delicious; this is definitely a make it again recipe! The cheese enchiladas, on the other hand, were really rich and super cheesy, and the gravy turned out to be way too salty for my taste. If I ever make cheese enchiladas again, I think I'll go the much simpler route of canned enchilada sauce and a little less cheese in each rolled up tortilla.
On to Week 19, when I made a new dessert - Snickerdoodle Bars, John's choice from a list of options. This one came from the Betty Crocker website, and now that I've cooked so much this year, I'm learning that there really is a difference in sophistication of recipes from one source to another! These seemed so promising, as we all really like snickerdoodle cookies. They were pretty easy, too, with a straightforward list of ingredients and nothing complicated in the process of putting them all together.
The steps included putting a base layer of the dough down, sprinkling the cinnamon sugar filling over it, then dropping dollops of the remaining dough on top. I had a small container of cinnamon sugar and nuts left from the cinnamon rolls, which gave me a little moment of joy to be able to almost use it up in another new recipe!
I do love the smell of baking desserts in the house, and when these came out, I was excited to try them. It was a bit of a bummer, though, when we did - I'd probably say, three out of five stars. Just a little too thick, a little too soft, and a little too doughy to properly mimic snickerdoodles. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but this one won't show up in the dessert rotation in the future!
Careening into mid-May and Week 20, I went for another two-for-one Saturday evening, since one of the recipes barely qualified as such. The Roasted Salmon Glazed with Brown Sugar and Mustard didn't have measurements for the glaze recipe, it was so simple! I'd bought some lovely salmon fillets at Festival Foods earlier that day, and the main course came together in just a few minutes.
The effort came with the Summer-Squash Casserole, inspired in part because we had both summer and zucchini squash in the fridge that were teetering on the edge of edible, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to try a side dish recipe to go with the barely-counts main dish.
As I've used more and more recipes from the NYT website, I'm learning to read through a few of the notes before starting. While I try to stay true to the recipe as written for my first attempt, I'm also gaining a little bit of confidence in the kitchen and am willing to make modifications as either I see fit or others recommend. Some of that is driven by the fact that I don't have a food processor. Many of the recipes have steps that call for it, but I'm not quite ready to buy yet another appliance for our packed cabinets and countertops! When recommended for use, I now tend to check the comments or think of other ways to prepare the ingredient that will still have the desired end result.
A little bit of stove top action, stir everything together and put into a baking dish, and when it comes out of the oven, it is a lovely, VERY rich casserole that went really nicely with the salmon. I can certainly see making this one again, but would consider pulling back on some of the ingredients that made it so rich, like the heavy whipping cream and cheese.
Week 21, I was so excited to have Shauna and Irene here for the Memorial Day weekend! As a last minute plan, they road tripped up to Wisconsin, and we planned to meet them in Madison for the day on Saturday. As of Friday, I hadn't yet made anything new, so I picked a very simple recipe that could go in the crockpot and be ready for when we got home. Using an actual hard copy cookbook (imagine that!), I tried a taco meat recipe that was about as simple as it can get!
Unfortunately, crockpot cooking didn't improve this one - the meat probably would've been just fine out of the skillet. By the time it had cooked all day long, it was dubbed "weird meat" by the kids. What was fun about this one, though, was that I got to use a pepper sauce that had been part of a Christmas gift of a line of spices a few years back, but never opened. Always an upside in this resolution!
As I have done many times, I've managed to knock out two weeks' of recipes in the space of two days, cooking on both weekend days every once in a while. For Week 22, I had so much fun cooking alongside Shauna, making a simple Sheet-Pan Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers. Another opportunity to use something I'd never cooked with before - boneless, skinless chicken thighs are apparently a thing, because they were right there in the meat section at the grocery store! It's been funny to me that what I consider new and unusual ingredients are frequently readily available. Definitely learning a lot along the way with this resolution!
As usual, ingredients gathered for prep - another lesson - the prep is key when cooking! If the recipe calls for diced this or chopped that, do the dicing and chopping as pre-Step 1 to keep everything moving along smoothly!
Chop; mix; blend; put on the pan; put in oven. Straightforward but sophisticated in its own way!
Man oh man, were those roasted vegetables delicious!! The chicken was good, too, though the next time we make this, I'll probably stick with chicken breasts, as everyone in our family prefers white meat to dark. The other discovery with this one was that sheet pan meals don't need a recipe at all - I think I could easily apply the principles of this one to whatever we're in the mood for or have in the house. And that's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to learn this year!
So there you have it - all of the cooking and baking over the last few months, caught up and accounted for. I plan to make something new again tonight, not because I haven't made anything this week, but because I have discovered how much fun it is to try new things and explore new techniques and ingredients. It's also been great for the family to have something new to try - we're definitely beyond the five-idea-meal-rotation rut!
Now that the warmer weather is upon us, I'm also looking forward to finding some ideas for the grill. Caroline and I plan to cook and bake together this summer as part of her work on the New Cuisines badge for Girl Scouts, too. This is a resolution that has provided benefits so far beyond the original intent! If you didn't make any resolutions or didn't write them down, I'll keep encouraging you to do so! Who says they have to just be in January? Do it now, and let the fun begin!
When it comes down to it, though, I write for fun and for enjoyment, and maybe to keep my family or friends up to date if/when the visit the blog. In the spirit of "this shouldn't be a task to dread," I'm going to catch up on all of my cooking in one fell swoop, with pictures and reviews galore!
When I last left you, I had made main courses, desserts, and a couple of sides. There continues to be no rhyme or reason, no pattern to the recipes I choose, other than 1) they sound like something my family would enjoy and 2) they fit into the time available for the week at hand!Week 13 definitely came down to time available: I made a box cake mix that frankly had been sitting in the pantry for a couple of years. Ha! What a great opportunity to also finally use up some of those mixes purchased with such good intent! I pulled the Tastefully Simple Almond Pound Cake mix out, added the minimal ingredients, and voila! Dessert was done. Not bad, pretty plain, improved with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Week 14 was slightly more ambitious - it was another dessert recipe, but involved a few more steps. I went a little more low brow, using a Crescent Cheesecake Roll Up recipe from the Pillsbury website. They didn't turn out to be the most aesthetically pleasing thing I've ever made, but they tasted okay. Very, very rich, and a half of one would've been sufficient - and on top of that, it made a ton! While everyone ate these, this is a recipe I wouldn't repeat, so I guess it's okay that I can't locate it. Ha!
I kept plugging along, even managing to blog about Week 15 (All Purpose Biscuits) and Week 16 (Cinnamon Rolls!!) but by Week 17, I ran into another "I have almost no time" moment. Mixes to the rescue, again! This one looked so much better than it tasted; Samoas are my very favorite Girl Scout cookie, which was what had prompted me to buy this particular mix in the first place. Unfortunately, there's no substitute for the original, and despite its promise, this one ended up being tossed after less than half the pan was eaten.
It was a little bit overwhelming to do both at once, but I had also decided that I wouldn't make everything from scratch for this recipe, which turned out to be a smart choice. We happened to have a jar of salsa verde in the cabinet, so no need to make that! the rotisserie chicken saved roasting a whole one ourselves, too, and was an excellent time saver. With quite a bit of back and forth between the stove top where I was frying the corn tortillas and the counter where I was assembling the enchiladas, I finally had two dishes of enchiladas ready to go in the oven.
While they were baking, I did the easy rice-in-a-box and canned beans sides that we typically have with Mexican food, and got the lettuce and tomatoes chopped and ready to go, too. They smelled absolutely delicious as they cooked, and once they were done and served up, they looked pretty good on the plate, too!
On to Week 19, when I made a new dessert - Snickerdoodle Bars, John's choice from a list of options. This one came from the Betty Crocker website, and now that I've cooked so much this year, I'm learning that there really is a difference in sophistication of recipes from one source to another! These seemed so promising, as we all really like snickerdoodle cookies. They were pretty easy, too, with a straightforward list of ingredients and nothing complicated in the process of putting them all together.
Careening into mid-May and Week 20, I went for another two-for-one Saturday evening, since one of the recipes barely qualified as such. The Roasted Salmon Glazed with Brown Sugar and Mustard didn't have measurements for the glaze recipe, it was so simple! I'd bought some lovely salmon fillets at Festival Foods earlier that day, and the main course came together in just a few minutes.
A little bit of stove top action, stir everything together and put into a baking dish, and when it comes out of the oven, it is a lovely, VERY rich casserole that went really nicely with the salmon. I can certainly see making this one again, but would consider pulling back on some of the ingredients that made it so rich, like the heavy whipping cream and cheese.
As I have done many times, I've managed to knock out two weeks' of recipes in the space of two days, cooking on both weekend days every once in a while. For Week 22, I had so much fun cooking alongside Shauna, making a simple Sheet-Pan Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Peppers. Another opportunity to use something I'd never cooked with before - boneless, skinless chicken thighs are apparently a thing, because they were right there in the meat section at the grocery store! It's been funny to me that what I consider new and unusual ingredients are frequently readily available. Definitely learning a lot along the way with this resolution!
As usual, ingredients gathered for prep - another lesson - the prep is key when cooking! If the recipe calls for diced this or chopped that, do the dicing and chopping as pre-Step 1 to keep everything moving along smoothly!
So there you have it - all of the cooking and baking over the last few months, caught up and accounted for. I plan to make something new again tonight, not because I haven't made anything this week, but because I have discovered how much fun it is to try new things and explore new techniques and ingredients. It's also been great for the family to have something new to try - we're definitely beyond the five-idea-meal-rotation rut!
Now that the warmer weather is upon us, I'm also looking forward to finding some ideas for the grill. Caroline and I plan to cook and bake together this summer as part of her work on the New Cuisines badge for Girl Scouts, too. This is a resolution that has provided benefits so far beyond the original intent! If you didn't make any resolutions or didn't write them down, I'll keep encouraging you to do so! Who says they have to just be in January? Do it now, and let the fun begin!
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