Fuzzyred's Marvelous Reading Nook

This week, I made meatloaf from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I used dry bread crumbs, one very small onion (probably still more tham a quarter cup), roughly 1 teaspoons dried parsley (because I didn't have fresh), sage, and 800g ground beef (which is almost 2 pounds rather than 1 1/2). My pan was also closer to a 9x4x4, which worked out well because I had slightly more meat mixture than expected. The instructions on this one were easy to follow, and the dish came out rather well, even though I totally forgot to add the pepper.

It was very tasty and I think I shall make it again. This was my first time making meatloaf, so I wasn't sure it would be worth it, but it turned out well enough that I will keep this in mind for the future, especially since it's so little work up front, and the long oven time gives me the ability to do other things at the same time. I do need to figure out how to make the top crispy though; the ketchup mixture stayed more liquid than I expected, and I really like the caramelized texture that happens when my gram makes meatloaf.

This week's dinner is a simple pasta dish from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( Fettuccine alla Carbonara )

Thoughts and Variations
I used linguine, milk, and margarine because that's what I had, and left out the parsley and pepper; the parsley because herbs from the store always go bad before I can use them all and I don't miss them, and the pepper because I plain forgot it (and I also don't like pepper that much).

The pasta and bacon parts of this recipe were dead easy, and putting the ingredients for the sauce in the pot was easy enough. However, I had to try twice before I got the sauce to work and I still don't think it was right. When it says, "do not boil," it really means it. The first time, I was cooking before my therapy appointment, and though I had my burner (gas stove) on medium, I was a bit distracted and the sauce simmered which is apparently enough to cook the egg whites and give me bits of egg floating in the sauce; that batch went down the sink. The second attempt (after therapy) went better, although I had a hard time telling when it was done and I think I went just a touch too far, even though it was only 6 minutes on medium on my simmer burner and there were no bubbles at all.

The dish was tasty enough and bacon is always a good thing, but unless you know how to cook a sauce with eggs without cooking the eggs, I'd be very careful with this one. I'm pretty sure I felt the sauce start to thicken at about 5 minutes and I think I should have pulled it then. I can never quite tell if things are actually thicker though or if I'm just imagining it, ao I left it for longer since the recipe said 6 minutes. If I do make this (or something similar) again, I'm definitely going to watch the sauce veryyyy closely amd take it off as soon as it thickens even a little bit.

This week's recipe comes from a "new" cookbook, Desperation Entertaining by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross. I think it was a gift from my mother in some previous year, but it's equally possible I bought it myself; I no longer remember. *laugh* It focuses on last minute entertaining though, so most of the recipes are quick or can be made ahead, and this chili only took about 30 minutes.

( recipe for chili )

Thoughts and Variations
I bought a 24 ounce package of lean angus beef meatballs, and used roughly 3/4 of the bag. I eyeballed th oil, so I was probably a bit heavy handed. I chopped one large onion and didn't measure the amount, but in my experience, I always end up with twice the amount of onions requested if I listen to the book, so I think I'm fine. I used 3 cloves of fresh garlic and minced it. I started off measuring my cans of Chili Seasonings dice stewed tomatoes, but in the end I only had about 3 or 4 ounces left so I ended up dumping in the last of it (the cans were each 540mL, roughly 19 ounces). The tomato sauce can was 14 ounces, while all the beans were 19 ounces (thank you American recipes and Canadian stores -.-) and I used Dry Pigeon Peas instead of navy beans because I couldn't find canned navy beans in my store. The pigeon peas looked roughly the same size as navy beans though, so I figured it'd probably be okay. I also added a bit of paprika, necause I used straight chili powder and not a seasoning mix.

I chopped the onions and garlic last night to save time, so I dumped everything in the pot at once and it seemed to work fine. I also let the meatballs defrost in the fridge overnight so I didn't bother microwaving them. Everything came together real easy, and I think it only made about 4 dishes (the pot, the knife, the stirring spoon, and the container for the onions) so that was really nice. The spoonful I tried was really tasty, although I probably could have added a few more spices. I will be having a proper bowl of chili with tortilla chips and probably shredded cheese when I get home from my therapy appointment and I'm really looking forward to it. This is definitely a nice and easy recipe for chili that I will keep in my repetoire, although I am going to have chili for *ages* now. Hmmm... I should probably freeze some of it...

I didn't cook anything last week because reasons, but I decided to venture a bit out of my comfort zone this week and cook with lamb. This recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I had a little less than 2 1/2 lbs of lamb (I didn't realize lamb was so expensive!), I used dried oregano and dried thyme (I couldn't find marjoram), 1 medium carrot and some baby carrots and 1 bundle of fresh spinach. I didn't read the ingredients list thoroughly, so I chopped the carrots and celery, rather than slicing them, though I think they were still a fine size.

This was a fairly easy soup to throw together, and despite my original uncertainty I did like the lamb. It was kind of fatty though (not sure if it was just this cut or if that's true of all lamb) so I think if I made this soup again I would use beef or pork instead. It was a very good soup, and a nice base for making adjustments to, if I felt like it in the future. I did try it both with and without the Parmesan cheese, and found it tasty both ways. All in all, I'm happy I made this one, even though I don't think I'd make it with lamb again.

This week's recipe comes from the tasteofhome Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2010 cookobook.

( Read more... )

Thoughts and Variations
I used 2% milk instead of fat-free, and slightly less than 1/2 cup because I didn't quite have 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in the house (oops). I used four chicken breasts, but they were closer to 6 or 7 ounces each than 4, so they maybe weren't as flat as they should have been. I used a whole small onion, rather than having a half onion left over, although after making the dish, that might have resulted in too many onions. I used chicken broth, as I don't generally have any cooking wines in the house.

This was an easy dish to put together, and it went fairly quickly, although I did have to put two of the chicken breasts back in the pan. Because I don't think I got them flat enough, they ended up being undercooked. Thankfully, I caught that before I started eating them. Overall, I like the flavours of this dish, and it makes a good way to dress up chicken if you need a change from just plain meat. I would probably make this again.

Well, it's afternoons again at work, and after last week's Chicken Pot Pie, I was in the mood for something lighter. This recipe from the tasteofhome 2012 Annual Recipes cookbook fits the bill nicely.

( Special Occasion Salad )

Thoughts and Variations
I used one bundle of spinach and one package of arugula. I added a few extra cherries and almonds (which I didn't bother toasting), since it seemed like a lot of leafy things and not much else; I eyeballed the salt and pepper. This came together pretty quick, being a salad and all, the longest step being cutting the stems off the spinach since I think I ended up with the full grown kind and not the baby kind.

This was a pretty decent salad, especially since I wasn't sure I liked arugula, ot dried cherries *laugh*, but I found things meshed pretty well together. It *is* a lot of leafy things though, and I feel like the dressing needed to be a little more acidic to cut through the sweetness of the other ingredients. All in all, definitely a salad to keep in my repetoire, and to keep in mind for family get togethers.

This week it is past for dinner, with this Ginger Garlic Linguine from the tasteofhome Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2010 cookobook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I didn't have cayenne pepper, so I used a bit less than a 1/4 teaspoon each of paprika and hot chilli powder. I didn't weigh or measure the linguine, just threw in what was left in the pack. Since this recipe was for 6, having less is okay with me. I also used around 1/4 cup butter instead of a half. It seemed to still work with the lesser amount, possibly because I had less pasta.

It was pretty tasty. It only took about 20-25 minutes start to finish, so it was quick and it's also a nice variation on boring pasta. The flavours all seemed pretty balance, nothing outweighing the others so that was nice. I would make this again, although I might vary the spices depending on how I feel.

This week I thought I'd try something a little different, so I made Chicken Swiss Bundles, which are essentially homemade Hot Pockets. The recipe comes from the tasteofhome 2012 Annual Recipes cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I used about 1 cup of mushrooms, because I had portobellos in the fridge that I wanted to use up. I cubed and cooked two chicken breasts, so the amount of chicken was probably closer to two cups than one. I didn't have honey mustard, so I used half a tablespoon each of honey and dijon mustard and that seemed to work okay. I didn't know what kind of frozen dinner rolls the recipe wanted (though I suspect now that they wanted *uncooked* ones), so I simply bought a bag of 12 "pee wee bun rolls" and used those.

For cooking, I used oil with the onions and mushrooms instead of butter, and I accidentally threw the garlic in at the same time. Because my rolls were already baked (and they were puffy) they didn't flatten down very well, though the top bun was worse than the bottom. The filling came together rather nicely and is tasty all on it's own, though because of the rolls I used, it got a little lost in the finished product.

This one felt like more work than it was worth to me, though perhaps it would have been easier if I used actual frozen dinner rolls. I still don't know exactly what the recipe was looking for though; my best guess is that it meant frozen dough that was ready to cook into dinner rolls. The flavours were pretty good though, so perhaps I will make the filling again and simply eat it plain, or with rice or tortilla shells.

I'm a bit late posting this, but since I was on afternoons this week, Monday's meal was once again lunch time food. The recipe for these sandwiches comes from the tasteofhome Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2010 cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I didn't make a lot of variations on this one, though with the exception of the lemon juice, curry powder, and mayo I was a little under (chicken) or over (most of the other stuff) on the measurements. I did my best, but this is a recipe that doesn't really require great precision. I wouldn't mess with the mayo, lemon juice, curry powder ratio too much since that is your sauce basically, but even that has some wiggle room, especially if you like your chicken salad a little lighter on the mayo. I chose to skip the lettuce because I would have had too much left, but I don't think the sandwiches suffered any for not having it. The butteriness of the croissants worked well with this, though you could certainly use regular bread if that is your preference.

This was a really good recipe and I found all of the ingredients mixed really well together. It wasn't too heavy although it is on the rich side, but there was a nice balance of sweet and savory and crunchy and that little bit of something from the curry powder. Seeing as how I ate the left over chicken salad just by itself and not in a sandwich (and it was still just as delicious), I'm definitely going to mark this recipe as a make again.

This is three weeks delayed, but here is the recipe for the Grilled Chipotle Salmon Tacos I made on July 19th. The recipe comes from the healthy living section at the back of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I used salmon fillets, although I don't actually know if the were skinless or not, and I think I forgot to rinse them. I used red potatoes and regular chile powder since I couldn't find ground chipotle chile pepper. I omited the cilantro and used snall whear torillas instead of corn tortillas, since I didn't care for the corn ones last time I used them.

As I don't have a bbq or grill or any kind, I put some oil in a frying pan and did the fish that way. I used medium heat on a gas stove, and the recommended timing, and my fish seemed to come out cooked just fine. Putting it all together was easy, although I did forget the sour cream on most of the tacos, and I didn't serve it with lime wedges either.

It was a pretty tasty recipe, although the fish got a little lost in all the ingredients, and the potatoes seemed a little incongruous with the rest of it. I'm not sure whether I would make this particular recipe again, although it did have the affect of showing me that fish tacos *can* be delicious, so I may be more open to trying other fish taco recipes, or ordering them at restaurants. All in all, I would consider this recipe a success, even if it did have a few flavour misses.