June was a fun month to try a couple new recipes. I wound up making a couple things off Facebook posts, got around to a few really old recipes, and tried on from my Girl Scout leader! Here's the scoop:
Years and years ago, one of my good friends gave me all her Cooking Light magazines when she was done with them. I must have pulled 100 recipes out of them and then they sat...for about 10 years until we started this crazy challenge. Later, I subscribed to the magazine myself and we've found lots of great recipes there, but these are two from the early days, circa 2005..well aged in the recipe folder for a good 10 years!
Cavatappi with Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Feta is a meal that I've wanted to try a long time but I was reluctant because I didn't think anyone in the family would eat it. They did, but no one really liked it. Despite the spinach, which was the primary offending ingredient (at least to the under 12 crowd), this recipe had way too many garbanzo beans, and no real good flavor. The feta added a little, but not enough in my opinion. While we were at dinner, I said I'd make it again, but more likely for a pitch in...now that I write this, I realize that I have so many other good recipes in my cupboard that I can throw this one away and never miss it!
The next one from the Cooking Light archives is Chicken Spiedini and this one was worth the wait! Wow, this combo of breaded chicken with mushrooms and prosciutto was delicious! The kids picked out all the mushrooms so that made more for me, and I gobbled up the leftovers a few days later too! I couldn't find this recipe online, so if you'd like it, just leave me a comment (make sure your email address is attached to your profile or in your comment) and I will happily send it to you.
Last up in the old recipe category is a recipe I received in a cookbook that my Girl Scout leader gave me when I graduated college...so that is now 20 years old! I really thought we'd made this before, but the whole family swears we hadn't. In short, it was delicious! You cook up the taco meat with cream cheese and then put it into the cooked pasta shells, cover them with cheese and taco sauce and bake for a while. It is a lot of steps, but totally worth it! We all loved this and must add it to our rotation of semi-regular meals! On this one, I am also happy to share the recipe if you'd like it.
Now we will move on to the brand new recipes. Both of the last two recipes came across my facebook feed recently and looked too good to pass up. The first is Slow Cooker Smothered Chicken with Bacon and Onions. With those ingredients in the title, I couldn't pass it up! It was really good, but will be a tricky one. It requires prep work to cook the onions and bacon before you start the crock pot and then only cooks for 4-6 hours, which is too short a cooking time for a normal work day. We had this one on a weekend and it was perfect. We'll have to keep it in mind when we have a busy weekend afternoon and want an easy dinner at the end of it. The flavor was very good.
Saving the best for last...my mom shared this recipe on her facebook page and I immediately saved it...what's not to love about Snickerdoodle Donut Muffins. Jenna and I made these while the boys were at Boy Scout camp for the weekend and they are the cutest and most delicious mini-muffins I've ever had! We had a great time cooking together and Jenna learned a lot about reading instructions carefully. We could have eaten all of them when they were warm from the oven, but we did save a few for the boys :)
Hope you're hungry now! Have a great month and go try a new recipe!
Years and years ago, one of my good friends gave me all her Cooking Light magazines when she was done with them. I must have pulled 100 recipes out of them and then they sat...for about 10 years until we started this crazy challenge. Later, I subscribed to the magazine myself and we've found lots of great recipes there, but these are two from the early days, circa 2005..well aged in the recipe folder for a good 10 years!
Cavatappi with Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Feta is a meal that I've wanted to try a long time but I was reluctant because I didn't think anyone in the family would eat it. They did, but no one really liked it. Despite the spinach, which was the primary offending ingredient (at least to the under 12 crowd), this recipe had way too many garbanzo beans, and no real good flavor. The feta added a little, but not enough in my opinion. While we were at dinner, I said I'd make it again, but more likely for a pitch in...now that I write this, I realize that I have so many other good recipes in my cupboard that I can throw this one away and never miss it!
The next one from the Cooking Light archives is Chicken Spiedini and this one was worth the wait! Wow, this combo of breaded chicken with mushrooms and prosciutto was delicious! The kids picked out all the mushrooms so that made more for me, and I gobbled up the leftovers a few days later too! I couldn't find this recipe online, so if you'd like it, just leave me a comment (make sure your email address is attached to your profile or in your comment) and I will happily send it to you.
Last up in the old recipe category is a recipe I received in a cookbook that my Girl Scout leader gave me when I graduated college...so that is now 20 years old! I really thought we'd made this before, but the whole family swears we hadn't. In short, it was delicious! You cook up the taco meat with cream cheese and then put it into the cooked pasta shells, cover them with cheese and taco sauce and bake for a while. It is a lot of steps, but totally worth it! We all loved this and must add it to our rotation of semi-regular meals! On this one, I am also happy to share the recipe if you'd like it.
Now we will move on to the brand new recipes. Both of the last two recipes came across my facebook feed recently and looked too good to pass up. The first is Slow Cooker Smothered Chicken with Bacon and Onions. With those ingredients in the title, I couldn't pass it up! It was really good, but will be a tricky one. It requires prep work to cook the onions and bacon before you start the crock pot and then only cooks for 4-6 hours, which is too short a cooking time for a normal work day. We had this one on a weekend and it was perfect. We'll have to keep it in mind when we have a busy weekend afternoon and want an easy dinner at the end of it. The flavor was very good.
Saving the best for last...my mom shared this recipe on her facebook page and I immediately saved it...what's not to love about Snickerdoodle Donut Muffins. Jenna and I made these while the boys were at Boy Scout camp for the weekend and they are the cutest and most delicious mini-muffins I've ever had! We had a great time cooking together and Jenna learned a lot about reading instructions carefully. We could have eaten all of them when they were warm from the oven, but we did save a few for the boys :)
Comments
Have fun with your next months recipe challenge!