Since we lacked a kitchen when we first moved into the house, we found ourselves eating out a lot. Of course this is not very economical, and it gets tiresome quickly. I've made a conscious effort to cook at home more. The problem is, I tend to fall into the trap of preparing something on the spur of the moment, usually resulting in the same boring meal of grilled chicken breast, rice, and corn. I'm a decent cook when I give a little bit of effort, but I can never remember if a recipe I've tried is a hit or miss. I started keeping a notebook of recipes I've cooked to resolve that issue. On one side of the page, I write the recipe. On the back of the same page, I record any changes or substitutions I made, an out-of-5-star rating from each person who eats it, and any changes to the recipe I and the other people suggest to make it better. I know my mom is always on the lookout for new recipes and improvements to old ones, so I thought I'd share them with her and anyone else who's interested. So what's cooking this week?
Saturday: Indian-Style Chicken Breasts. Average rating: 3.75. This wasn't as sweet as I'd expected given the mango and raisins, but it was still pretty good. Marian and Ben used the leftover sauce later in the week and said they really liked it.
Sunday: Sage and Cream Turkey Fettuccine.
Average rating: 2.25. I used chicken instead of turkey. We both thought the sauce was pretty bland. Might be worth keeping with a reworked sauce. Perhaps just increase the quantities of the ingredients already listed?
Monday: Standing arrangement with coworkers at the Irish pub.
I'm pretty sure Clara is their youngest customer. Yes, we bring our baby to a bar. Don't judge.Tuesday: Oven Fried Chicken Breasts.
Average rating: 3.7. Made a lot of excess breading. You could probably cut the breading quantity in half and still have lots of excess. I used regular breadcrumbs instead of cornflakes. Marian and Ben each gave the chicken a 3.5 rating, but increased it to a 4 when they used the mango sauce from Saturday as a dipping sauce.
Wednesday: Chicken Lazone.
Average rating: 4.3. I used garlic salt instead of garlic powder and omitted the salt, but it was still very salty. Marian gave it a 4 but would give it a 5 with the adjustment to the amount of salt. Didn't have cream on hand so used milk thickened with flour instead. At least double the amount of sauce next time.
Thursday: We tricked our houseguests (my sister, her husband, and her 2 kids) into performing slave labor for us on Thursday, so we took them out to dinner at The Scioto Ribber. Yum.
Friday: Hamburgers. No recipe for throwing a frozen beef patty on the stove.
Saturday: Macaroni and cheese.
Average rating: 4.5. I added about 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced garlic to the sauce. I also used whatever cheese I had on hand, which was a Mozzarella/Provolone mix and a Mexican blend. I lightly dusted the top with breadcrumbs before baking. This was the first time I used the convection feature on my oven and was impressed that it finished cooking in half the time.
What's cooking in your kitchen?
11 comments:
You bated me to comment by talking about food and were reasonably sure I would... I'm not sure about Saturday's Indian Style Chicken Breast, it seems a reasonable combination of ingredients when read, but the brand of chutney used can vary significantly the taste. Catherine might be able to help you with that, she really got into the chutney's during her Senior/5thSenior year at LSU. You must have been expecting something a good bit sweeter. I know from buying them that mango chutney is sweeter than peach chutney, so don't discard the recipe until you check that out.
OK, so the Sunday's Sage and Turkey Fettuccine seemed to combine too many steps to make this recipe seem effortless. In the meantime it managed to sacrifice taste and I couldn't figure out why they would do that until I looked at the web site and found that it was for Diabetic's. Trying to make it as easy as possible for those needing to cut back on sodium, fats, carbs, prep time, etc...
This recipe states to cook fettuccine as directed on package, which would include approx a scant 1/4 t of salt while cooking. I think 1/2 t sage seems like way too much for less that 1/2 lb meat and didn't seem like there was enough "gravy" to combine it, which would also have a pinch of salt depending upon whether the chicken stock had been salted. I would not have combined and cooked the meat and vegetable together--even in stir fry's those are done in separate steps due to the amount of time each takes to cook. It would have only taken about 5 minutes more to spray the pan or give it a teaspoon or two of olive oil and toss the vegetables in for a quick stir fry, salting and peppering them lightly during the process. (Salting the dish after completion is no solution to a bland taste--it has to be salted, peppered, spiced as you go, or you will be left disappointed.)Same goes for the meat you choose. I find that turkey seems to need more salt than chicken to enhance it's flavor, so I would have also lightly salted and peppered that while cooking it as well as using the sage once the meat was nearly cooked. Takes less than a minute to cook it until it releases it's fragrance. I don't think it unreasonable to have made twice the sauce that it called for in this recipe. Other than that......
Can't help you with Monday, but Tuesday's Oven Fried Chicken Breasts are nearly the same as mine. When I marinade the meat in buttermilk, I add 1/2 teaspoon salt to it and let sit for 2 hours in frig. Take out, remove meat from buttermilk, and immediately roll in crumbs. Now, I don't especially care for or even have corn flakes, but I do have panko crumbs. My amounts are about the same, only its 1 c panko, all spices the same except I use white pepper (1/4t instead of 1/2) and add 1 t parsley. I can't believe anyone would not like this. I also spray the pan, then the top of all chicken before placing it in the oven. Additionally, if you don't have buttermilk, use slightly less than 1 cup of regular or 2% milk with 2 T vinegar or lemon juice, and stir until sufficiently clabbered. Should take 2-3 minutes.
I don't know what to tell you about that Chicken Lazone. I looked at all the pictures from all who cooked it and wondered whether all had followed the same recipe. Few of them looked the same, so I'm not sure which one to expect. None of the photo's made me want to cook it. I would have passed it up, and it might be the best one you cooked, considering the ratings it received.
I don't know what to tell you about that Chicken Lazone. I looked at all the pictures from all who cooked it and wondered whether all had followed the same recipe. Few of them looked the same, so I'm not sure which one to expect. None of the photo's made me want to cook it. I would have passed it up, and it might be the best one you cooked, considering the ratings it received.
Saturday's Mac and Cheese recipe is nearly identical to one of mine. Differences in cheeses do make a big difference in taste. However, no one here likes the addition of crumbs to the top, except for me. Without knowing about all of this, I made Chicken Fingers with comeback sauce and Mac and Cheese for Sunday dinner. How funny. Of course I deep fried those fingers and served them up with english peas and cranberry sauce, milk and more Texas sheet cake. Yum, Yum.
I just went back and re-read your entry, and I misread it. I thought you were asking for my opinion and critiquing of the recipes. Well.....I realize that wasn't what you were doing. Sorry..maybe some of my comments will be helpful. Love, MOM
Tonight's fair was Chicken Salad on a lettuce leaf, sliced tomatoes, chips, ice cold milk and a banana. Way to hot (100 again today) to be cooking up anything in the kitchen. The chicken salad was excellent, it had chicken, celery, red grapes, red onion, olive oil mayo with Tarragon Vinegar, salt and black pepper. Yum. Yum. If you need the recipe, let me know. Love MOM
PS---You haven't said whether you have received the edger, yet. Want to know all about it.
OOps--it also had toasted walnuts....
Dear Sarah,
Please get some new content. I am stealing your mac n cheese recipe because I want some that does not come out of a blue box. Maybe I will cut up hotdogs and put them in it for a classy touch.
Xina
Time for an update, all of us are bored---can't tell you how many times a day I pull this up, only to find the same ole, same ole.....GOOD GRIEF........Give us some relief. MOM
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