Friday, January 20, 2017

Food for Thought

This is the weekend I'm doing a lot of catching up.  Catching up on un-decorating the house - the 18 y.o. got the tree down, shoved into its bag and dragged to the basement.  Catching up on actually putting the decorations away, they are "staged" outside the store room.  Catching up on finishing the basement clean-up.  Catching up on going through my clothes for donation.  Catching up on getting my 2017 calendar filled out.  Catching up on menu planning and grocery shopping.  Catching up on getting all the giveaways in the laundry room inventoried, boxed and dropped off.  Catching up on posting all the recipes I've done over the last few weeks.

With the two older boys away for the weekend on retreat I should be good to get a decent dent in that list.  Hubby's birthday is tomorrow, and while we will do something with him, the larger celebration will be next weekend when the boys are home.  We also have a hockey game, but the time is such that I can get a couple things in before heading out.

I found I had a lot of recipes I hadn't posted, even though I don't feel I've done much cooking lately, I broke them up or this would be one helluva post.


One night I needed a quick side, and found these Baked Parmesan Baked Potato Halves.  Holy cow they were good and so easy.  I added a couple extra potatoes, but would have been fine with the recipe as stated.  The only other seasonings I added was salt and pepper, but as the blogger states, possibilities are endless.  They reheated the next day for lunch, I added toppings to make them more meal like.


New Year, New Goals.  1)  Going meatless once a week and 2) More fish (it was going to be once a week, but I'm thinking twice a month would be more realistic.)  So, Monday arrived and brought these Chorizo & Sweet Potato Enchiladas (used my go-to Enchilada Sauce.)  They were warm and saucy with just enough cheese.  I loved the sweet potato, and bonus points to me for using the poblano pepper, something I'd have left out for fear of the heat.  I was pleasantly surprised they had a lot of flavor and not a lot of heat.



So this was supposed to be Slow Cooker Turkey Burgers, what it ended up being, because I didn't get them in the slow cooker before hockey practice, was George Forman Turkey Burgers.  While the slow cooker would have worked, the Foreman Grill worked just fine, and fast.  They were juicy and well seasoned.  I couldn't find the aoili recipe mentioned, but found a basic one and used that instead - still good.



Needed a dessert.  A fast one.  These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies came together fast, and because it made just a couple dozen, it was in and out of the oven before dinner was ready.  They were light, slightly chewy, and I loved the pops of cranberries - dried cherries would be awesome, too.



This Crispy Garlic Parmesan Salmon was my fish-meal for the week and OH MY GOODNESS.  It was awesome.  Everyone loved the crunchy top and the fish was moist and tender.  Tip - if you see the fat cooking out, it's over done and drying out.  15 - 17 minutes is what it took for mine.  They were fresh fillets and pretty big.



I'm a one-dish and done fan.  Skillet Chicken with Orzo and Olives fit that bill.  A flavorful dish for a handful of ingredients.  I doubled the recipe for in-law dinner night.  I love the idea of the bone-in-skin-on thighs, but the sauce just made the skin soggy.  I'll use boneless, skinless next time.  I'll still get the browning and the good bits, but much easier to eat.



I was pantry raiding when I made this Cajun Angel Hair.  I had it all on hand, though I subbed the white wine with chicken broth.  It was lovely and creamy, with just the right amount of cajun seasoning.  Great to serve up after shoveling walks.

I'm off to do more catching up.

Happy Friday,

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