Simple Saturday

It sure was nice out today with a record-breaking high of 52 degrees. This has been such a horrible winter that I'm seeing today as a glimmer of hope from the Devil himself trying to lift me out of my winter doldrums only so I can come crashing down again when it snows on Wednesday. This is just too weird for February.

We actually stayed in today. Paul's not feeling good. It's something with his throat. While he was taking a nap I stepped out into the back yard with Abby to breathe a little fresh air. Of course, when we came back in I had to clean the kitchen floor of the mud that she tracked in. Woof!

I wish there was such a thing as "smellinet" so you could smell the aroma of the huge pot roast that I put in the slow cooker this morning. I think it's driving Abby insane. She keeps just keeps staring at me. We're going to have a lot of leftovers off of this baby 'cause we bought it at Sam's Club. I'm envisioning BBQ sandwiches...beef & noodles.... and who knows what else. Yum-o!

Here's a peek at the final outcome...

What's For Dinner

Chicken Fried Chicken

Mashed Potatoes With Country Gravy
Green Beans

This was Thursday's dinner. I used another Rachael Ray recipe...sort of. Her recipe was actually for chicken fried steak. I have my own way of doing chicken fried chicken, but I used her way for the gravy, which really isn't any different from my way except she uses a combo of chicken broth and milk instead of all milk. I thought I would give that a try...pretty tasty. Her recipe calls for 1 cup of chicken broth and 3/4 cup milk. I used 1 cup of each...and a little more butter and flour. The beans are ones that I froze from mom's garden.

"Where's my chicken??"

Wow...Spicy!

I cooked the last of my experiment Rachael Ray meals on Sunday...kind of. I made the shrimp but not the Cuban corn because we decided to grill steaks and have steak and shrimp and baked potato. It started getting dark again, so I cooked the shrimp on the stove using a grill pan.


Paul took a bite of the shrimp and looked over at me and kind of grinned. He asked me if I tried the strimp yet. He said it had a little bit of a kick to it. I took a bite. Holy cow! The thing is is that the recipe calls for 2 pounds of shrimp...which is a lot of shrimp for the two of us. I didn't realize how much it was until I got home with it. I chose the jumbo shrimp (of which two pounds came to $22 by the way...ouch). I separated it when I got home into three bags of 10 shrimp each. So...I only used 10 shrimp, but I didn't cut the recipe by a third. The recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne peper. I used all 1/4 teaspoon on 10 shrimp. Whew! Paul loved it.

Some Things Are Just Better Fried

Since evening came much too early and I didn't get to the shrimp that was supposed to be Friday's meal, I'm pushing that forward to tomorrow and I went ahead and got back on track with the last meal of my experiment, which really won't be the last meal since I'm making the shrimp tomorrow. On today's menu was Cajun chicken fingers. There was a tip next to the recipe that said to go a little bit healthier you can bake these instead of frying them, which I did. Let me just say this...anything coated in cornmeal is better fried. The texture out of the oven was kind of grainy, but they still tasted alright I guess. For dipping we used Ken's Honey Mustard. Paul made some mac & cheese to go with it while I sauteed up some zucchini and seasoned it with a little Cajun seasoning and a little garlic powder. Not too bad.

Change Of Plans

Today's experiment was supposed to be coconut curry chicken. I emphasize the word "supposed." When I was putting together the grocery list for the week, I swear I asked Paul if we had any curry, and I swear he said yes. Well, we don't. He swears I never asked, and if I did, he would have said no. I don't know. Maybe I asked if we had any cumin. Sometimes I get the names of those two spices mixed up. Anyway, I started the rice cooking and chopped up the chicken. I rummaged through the spice cabinet looking for the curry just as Paul got home from work. That's when I discover we don't have any. Now what am I going to do? The rice is already in the rice cooker. I thought about just saving the rice and making fried rice some time later on and just going out to dinner. I came very close to going with that idea. Instead I went up to the computer and looked for another recipe for chicken and rice. I found this one...Aloha Chicken. I tweaked the recipe a bit and it turned out really good. Whoo-hoo!

Sorry for the blurry picture. I was hungry...didn't have lunch.

On tomorrows menu: Grilled shrimp with Cuban corn. Hmmm.

Just As I Expected

Day 4 of my experiment had me making the Slider Caesar Salad, and it was just as I expected...not all that exciting. We both thought it was just okay. The little burger patties on the skewers were a trip to make. Imagine how hard it is to flip the skewers in the pan without the little suckers falling off. I did good, though, and only lost one little guy in the process. The dressing was a little to mayonnaise-y for me, not very Caesar-like, and plain burger just isn't my thing...let alone in a salad. There wasn't much to this baby either. I think it left us both asking, "Now, where's the main course." Good thing we still had some of that peach cobbler left for dessert.

What's next you ask? How about some coconut curry chicken? I'm not too sure about this one either, as curry is hardly my favorite spice. Paul orders a dish similar to this all the time at Cheeseburgers In Paradise, so I'm hoping he'll like this one. We shall see.

Not So Good

Onto day 3 of my experiment. I was really looking forward to this one because I thought it looked really good in the picture in the magazine. Today's recipe was for Pork and Bell Pepper Stir Fry. Okay...first off, I've never made a stir fry using pork before. The recipe calls for pork loin. I didn't want to buy a whole pork loin for just the two of us, so I bought a couple of pork loin chops and chopped them up. Secondly...Paul's not a big fan of bell peppers, and I knew that going in. He don't mind them cooked with something, but he usually picks them out. Third...if you watch Rachael's show on the Food Network, 30-Minute Meals, and you hear her talk about how much garlic she uses, that is the truth. I have almost gone through a whole head of garlic in the past three days. This recipe called for four cloves...and that is where this recipe went to pot. I got all my ingredients nicely chopped and ready to go. I added the oil to the pan and was just about ready to throw in the scallions and the garlic. It said stir until "golden." Whatever. At about this time, Paul gets home from work. I throw in the garlic and scallions. Things are smelling good. I'm waiting for the gold. Paul takes off his watch and sets it down on the counter, and it falls to the floor...breaking to pieces against the ceramic tile. We both saw a piece fly in my direction, so he gets out the broom and sweeps around me, as I'm trying to stir what's in the pan. He picks up the pieces of the watch and realizes the piece that flew toward me must have been the battery because it's missing. The only place for it to be is under the stove. So I'm trying to continue to stir the garlic and scallions while helping him get the drawer out from under the stove to retrieve the lost battery. By this time, the scallions are no where near gold but the garlic is. I look at the recipe and it says to add the pork and cook until no longer pink. My thoughts here are the garlic and scallions should have come out when the pork went in because by the time the pork finished, the garlic was way past gold. Have you ever had burnt garlic? Yeah...it's bitter, and it ruins the whole dish.

I finished cooking everything and got it plated up. Paul took one bite and almost choked. Partly because of the bitterness of the garlic and partly because his brain was thinking sweet and sour when his taste buds tasted bitter stir-fry. Blech!

The good news is he wants me to try making it again sometime but this time be careful with the garlic (as long as he keeps his watch on...I'm just saying). We also both decided that it might be better with a touch of honey added to the sauce also. The pork was really tender, so that part worked out. I was disappointed. Like I said, I was really looking forward to this one. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Oh, and yes...we did find the battery. It was under the stove.

What's on the menu for tomorrow? Slider Caesar salad. I'm not too sure about this one.

No-Cook Tomato Sauce...Who Knew

It's now day 2 of my experiment, and today's dinner was Pasta with No Cook Tomato Sauce. I told Paul before I started this adventure that if the recipe turns out to be something that either one of us really don't like, we don't have to eat it. We can always make a frozen pizza or have a bowl of cereal. I served Paul up a bowl of today's pasta and he ran off to the living room (where we eat most of our meals since it's just the two of us). A minute later, as I was still plating mine, he came back in to get his drink that he forgot to get. He said something like, "So you said we could have pizza or cereal if we didn't like it?" I said yes, although a bit disappointed that he didn't like it and I hadn't even tried it yet. He said, "Good. You have the cereal or pizza, and I'll eat the rest of the pasta...I'll suffer," as he proceeded to try to steal my bowl of the stuff. What a stinker.


Review: He liked it a lot. I thought it wasn't too bad. Once again, the fresh herbs aren't making me jump up and down. I'm not a big fan of basil. Maybe it's just that I never cook with fresh herbs and just am not used to the taste. It was a nice break from traditional pasta and tomato sauce. Pasta with any kind of marinara isn't my favorite. I prefer like a light garlic oil, so this was more up my alley. I think this dish can also be called bruschetta pasta, as that's what it made me think of. It was similar to a dish Paul always orders at TGI Fridays...their grilled chicken bruschetta pasta or something like that. Anyway, this one is a keeper.

For dessert (I know...can you believe it) I made peach cobbler made with Splenda, which was a surprise to Paul to see when he came home from work. Boy was it a hit! He loved it. Whenever Abby eats something she particularly loves, she gets all excited and rolls around on the floor and moans. I was beginning to think Paul was going to start doing the same thing! I think he was just excited to get a dessert that he felt he can have without feeling so guilty. The recipe wasn't totally without sugar or carbs, but it could have been a lot worse...seeing how it called for a cup of sugar. Yikes!


Tomorrow's dinner: Pork stir-fry over jasmine rice. Wish me luck!

Experimenting

We've been saying for a while that we need to stop eating out so much and start cooking at home. It will save us a lot of money and will just be healthier all around. Of course, we always say that, cook at home for a couple of days, but then revert back to eating out. Since I've had all this time off, I've had the chance to watch the Food Network a lot, which really gets me motivated. Back when I first came home from the hospital, Paul was doing the grocery shopping, and he bought me a copy of Rachael Ray's magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray. In each issue she has a pull-out menu planner with seven recipes along with a shopping list already put together for everything you need. I decided this week I'm going to use the menu planner in the issue that Paul bought for me and cook each night, following the recipes from the magazine. I encountered a slight bit of protest from Paul, who much prefers to stick to things he knows he likes. He couldn't understand why with all my free time I didn't just gather seven different recipes from my multitude of cookbooks and put together my own menu of things that we know we like. I told him it's because I need to get out of my comfort zone and try some new recipes, and since Rachael had 7 days worth all laid out in her magazine, I thought it would be the perfect place to start. Out of the seven recipes listed, I only substituted one because it's something I know neither of us would like. I substituted a different recipe from the same issue, though, so it's still something new.

Anyway, I made Paul promise to be completely honest with me about whether he likes it or not. If he doesn't, it's not going to hurt my feelings because it's not my recipe in the first place. I'll just know not to add it to our list of meal ideas.

Today's recipe was for Grilled Garlic Skirt Stead with Bread Salad. I couldn't find any "skirt" steak at the store and had no idea what to substitute, so I substituted stir-fry strips of steak instead. The whole meal was actually supposed to be cooked on the grill, but since that's not my area, I used my grill pan on the stove. Here is the end result...


Review: It was okay. I'm not a huge fan of rosemary, and this dish used it fresh. Both the bread and the tomatoes were also grilled after brushing them with a mixture of fresh olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Both of liked the grilled bread along with the meat, but Paul wasn't too crazy about the tomatoes along with the meat. He was left wanting more when he ate what was on his plate (sorry...I scaled it down to leave no leftovers) so that's a good sign. He said to go ahead and add this one to our list of keepers. I think next time, if I can't find any skirt steak, I'll substitute flank steak and have Paul cook it on the grill. That way it can be sliced thin like the recipe called for. I would also cut back on the rosemary and increase the garlic, which Paul said he couldn't really tell was there (but I could).

So...that was day #1. Tomorrow's experiment...Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce.