Meal Plan Nov 12th

Instead of typing up an email each week for the meal plan I decided to start posting on here for a while and see how I like it.

Dinner:

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti and Meatballs with Artisan Bread in 5
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
Black Bean and Rice Patties with Roasted Cauliflower

Lunches/Snacks/Other:
Potato Chowder
Banana Bread
Pumpkin Cake (I'll let you know what I did, if it works!)

Artisan Bread in 5

I know there are several copies of this floating around the web, but I have been loving the Artisan Bread in 5 recipe. It's such an easy way to have fresh bread with minimal work and minimal time!

It literally takes about 5 minutes to mix up and the dough lasts for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. Per usual, I don't follow it to the letter - I usually bake it at 350 degrees and forego the the pan of water in the over. Using half white and half wheat works well too, but sometimes requires a bit more water to be used.

Here are some of my favorite variations to the recipe so far:

Italian Herb Bread - starting with the basic bread dough add 

1.5 - 2 TBSP of Italian seasoning

1 tsp of garlic 

sprinkle loaf with a bit of garlic salt prior to baking for an extra touch

Rosemary Bread - starting with the basic bread dough add 

2 TBSP dried rosemary 

1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Serve with olive oil for dipping.

Garlic Thyme Bread - starting with the basic bread dough add 

1.5 TBSP dried thyme

1 tsp of garlic

Soon I want to try it for pizza dough so I will let you know how it goes when that happens.

Now go bake some bread!

Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas

I haven't been doing much blogging lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I tested out the Angel Food Cake with Mango Sauce and it was delicious. I had to use frozen mangos due to the time of year and living in McCall, but it was quite tasty. The second was Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas, again it was quite tasty. Truly there's only been one recipe that was just so-so thus far, but there are so many yet to try! The problem is narrowing it down to which one first...

Happy Cooking!

Catch up

Not catsup, but catch up! I haven't been very good about blogging lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I have tested several new recipes from So Easy and they are still so easy! The first was Tri-pepper Steak. I was a little worried about this one as Travis doesn't like peppers, but much to my surprise he loved it. And I quote "(she) makes nasty green things taste delicious."

Second was a first attempt at cooking shrimp. I believe the recipe called for pre cooked shrimp, but there was a sale on fresh shrimp at the store so I decided to try something new and learn to shell, devein and cook shrimp. I didn't quite have all the ingredients the recipe called for, so I shall have to try it again sometime and perhaps with pre shelled shrimp!

Third was a berry cobbler. Simple and delicious.

I think that's all for now. Happy cooking!

New Tuna Noodle Casserole

Recipe number two is down and I can't say that it impressed me as much as the first one. It was just okay and I probably won't be making it again anytime too soon. But as Nana says "it fills the holes" and now I am one recipe closer to cooking through the whole book!

Pork and Beans

Not a very creative name for my first recipe, but the taste far surpassed the name. Pork and Beans will definitely be a make again recipe. And so easy, too! I guess I should have expected that, though, from a cookbook entitled So Easy! And to round out the meal I made corn bread muffins and a spinach salad. I love cooking!

I was contemplating yesterday whether or not I had to follow to recipe exactly for it to count as having made it. But after much thought I decided, no, that would not be necessary. If I did it that way it would take away a lot of the fun of it, and if it's not fun then really, what's the point? Therefore, substitutions will be allowed. However, if the afore mentioned substitutions are so immense the recipe becomes completely unrecognizable or the substitutions were poorly chosen and the recipe tastes bad then the recipe shall remain on the list of ones yet to be tried. That is my consenssus.

Inspiration

A new cookbook for Christmas, combined with watching Julie and Julia creates a desire to cook through an entire cookbook. Probably not Mastering the Art of French Cooking that seems like a bit much and a bit costly (lobster is not commonly found in McCall, though the cow's foot might be a bit easier to come by). However, I am seriously considering taking up the task with the cookbook I did receive entitled So Easy by Ellie Krieger. Doesn't that sound so much less daunting that Mastering the Art of French Cooking? I thought so too. Plus, it only has just over 150 recipes, not 524, also much less overwhelming! As for a timeline, I don't think that I shall actually be setting one, unless it's dragging on for decades and then it might be necessary to impose a time frame to expedite the process. But for now, it will happen when it happens. Though one thing I would like to add to my project is to actually rate the recipes as I make them so I can recollect if it's something worthy of making over and over, or perhaps just now and or if it should be never attempted again. Because really, even 150-ish recipes is a lot to attempt remembering which ones you did and did not like for future reference!

Yes, the idea was inspired by Julie and Julia and yes, there are probably hundreds of other people in the United States right now with the very same plan in mind. But, if it is something that seems fun and pleasurable does it really matter how many other people are doing it? I think not. And thus the cooking shall commence!