The new year started with a great new recipe! One of my Christmas gifts was an oven proof skillet, so I have a small queue of recipes ready ready to try :) (Just a side note...it is kinda funny to me that my husband does most of the cooking, but I ask for the cooking implements for Christmas...guess that makes them the gift that just keeps giving!!)
This is a recipe I actually made, on January 1st! It was awesome. Everyone in the house liked it and we will definitely make it again...next time, we will add a little more bacon! It is the Chicken-Broccoli Mac and Cheese with Bacon from Cooking Light. The best part for me is that it is just the right amount of cheese - not crazy cheesy, but flavorful. I guess that's the part that makes it "light."
Next up was a cookie recipe that I planned to make for Christmas but never got around to. I had all the ingredients in the house and I actually had picked up this recipe twice (once from a cookie exchange, and once from a magazine)! The Death by Chocolate cookies were the featured treat when I had my quilt bee over at the start of the month, and boy, were they good! I am not a real big chocolate/chocolate fan, but I could make these every week! I used almonds in them as the optional nut and they were perfect (plus, that's what I had in the house!). I am sure they'd also be good with walnuts or pecans.
We tried three new dinners after that, all from a cookbook that one of my quilting friends gave me when we were doing our first year of the cooking challenge.
First up is Balsamic Flank Steak. This was good and everyone in the house liked it. I will be interested to try it again when it is warm enough to grill. The balsamic vinegar was a little strong for me, so I think it would be a little better on the grill.
Next was Greek Turkey Burgers (I love turkey burgers and I am always looking forward to a new way to make them, plus I had some feta cheese I wanted to use). These were good - the kids had them without the feta and tomato topping. I am not sure they are the best turkey burgers we've had, but they were solid, and I liked the tangy topping.
I saved the last recipe for the best. It is called Crunchy Top Ham and Potatoes Casserole. This makes a full 9x11 pan of cheesy, potatoey goodness. The kids thought it was okay, but Mike and I LOVED it! I had a cold the week that we made it, and I think I ate it three days in a row because it was such great comfort food. This would be a really good recipe to make someone who just had a baby or surgery and you're taking a meal to. I would split the recipe in two and keep one pan for us though :)
Despite the fact that I was sick for half of the month, I think we did pretty well in trying out some new things. My plan for this year is to try out some online recipes and dig a little deeper into the cookbooks we have, since we just scratched the surface on most of them in the first year.
This is a recipe I actually made, on January 1st! It was awesome. Everyone in the house liked it and we will definitely make it again...next time, we will add a little more bacon! It is the Chicken-Broccoli Mac and Cheese with Bacon from Cooking Light. The best part for me is that it is just the right amount of cheese - not crazy cheesy, but flavorful. I guess that's the part that makes it "light."
First up is Balsamic Flank Steak. This was good and everyone in the house liked it. I will be interested to try it again when it is warm enough to grill. The balsamic vinegar was a little strong for me, so I think it would be a little better on the grill.
I saved the last recipe for the best. It is called Crunchy Top Ham and Potatoes Casserole. This makes a full 9x11 pan of cheesy, potatoey goodness. The kids thought it was okay, but Mike and I LOVED it! I had a cold the week that we made it, and I think I ate it three days in a row because it was such great comfort food. This would be a really good recipe to make someone who just had a baby or surgery and you're taking a meal to. I would split the recipe in two and keep one pan for us though :)
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