Dinner tonight

Was Cobb Pasta Toss

This was a RR recipe, definately not the best but not the worst one either. Of course I am not a big fan of blue cheese or avacodo,so if you like those then you may enjoy this more than I did.

And for dessert, Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate chip pie!! This is crazy good and I will be making it on a regular basis I am sure! So no pic of the pie...

2 more RR recipes

Ancho chicken tortilla soup
This one came out spicier than I expected it to, but we both really liked it!

The second one was Super Scampi, this one was just ok. We both prefer my usual method of making scampi, but we tired it. It wasn't bad, but the sauce came out much thinner than mine usually does and didn't really stick as well.

Working through my list

This month I have taken on 2 of the longer items on my 101 things list(http://www.dayzeroproject.com/user/hway). #1 no fast food for a month, so far so good. We are on day 13, almost 14 and no fast food, I am pretty sure I can stick with it for another 16 days! #2 is to cook 30 different meals in 30 nights. I didn't actually start this on the first of the month so it will run into the begining of May, but I am on day 10 of this. This month I am again making several new recipes out of Rachael Ray's look and cook cookbook, which is the book I have decided to make every recipe out of(also on my list). I think I have 7 recipes from the book on the menu for this 30 period so hopefully most will be successful :)

I was really looking forward to this dinner...

Fondue w/ Apple Brandy

The dippers
baguette
asparagus
cherry tomatoes
homemade potato chips
pretzel rods
bacon wrapped chicken w/ spinach

It looks very yummy and delicious right!?!? It was a big disappointment :( The cheese and alcohol didn't blend together well and it separated as soon as I took it off the stove. I was pretty bummed. The cheese was expensive(Gruyere $16/lb) and I couldn't find the second cheese Emmentaler so I subbed Swiss for it. Next time I will do my usual cheddar/Colby and beer, it always comes out great! The cheese was also VERY salty, I could feel my feet swelling by the time I got up from the table, not a good thing. The bacon wrapped chicken was a new to us dipper, but we both really liked it and will definitely be adding it to our usual dipper list.

I am not sure how much she actually ate, but Hailey really enjoyed this dinner. We gave her a plate with a few of all the dippers and a small bowl of cheese, so she wouldn't dump over the pot and she just went to town. She really liked the pretzels and the tomatoes, towards the end she started eating the chips. She put as much in her bowl as she could and was "cooking", it was hilarious! Christopher of course wouldn't even try it, so he had a hot dog.

Not good and Not Bad

So I am waaaayyyy behind on my blogging again, I just can't seem to shake this funk and stay in a good rhythm. I attempted to concoct a new chicken a dish and it just didn't turn out how I envisioned it. But I must say I did try to rush it and that probably didn't help the situation. I made a ricotta and herb stuffed chicken, but the edge didn't seal the way I thought it would when I was searing it and most of the cheese filling oozed out and it took longer than I thought it would to cook through so I ended up putting it in the microwave to cook it faster which of course dried it out! UGGG, like I said I was rushing and it just didn't come together the way I thought it would. I made broiled asparagus w/ olive oil, lemon zest, and mozzarella cheese and roasted cherry tomatoes which were very good, but not hard at all.



The other was Pork Tenderloin medallions w/ Marsala sauce & pasta. This one was pretty good, but next time I think I will double the amount of sauce, that was really the only complaint we had about it. This one was another RR from the Look and Cook cookbook.

Robert LOVED this one...

Sliced Chicken w/ apples, pears & Boursin mashed potatoes.
*the recipe is actually for camembert potatoes, but I couldn't find it, turns out I could have just bought a brie, and I had the Boursin for another recipe but was missing a major ingrident, so I just switched it and it was fine.

When I say Robert loved this, I mean LOVED...he ate 3 of the 4 servings! 2 at lunch when I made it, and then after his nap before work he finished it off!

New recipes!

So, as I said before, I got RR's new cookbook and I LOVE it! I have already made several recipes out of it and they have all been very good. So far only one Robert didn't really care for. I took pics of several of the recipes, but not all, here is what we have tried so far:

Spinach & Artichoke mac'n'cheeseThis is the one thing I have made that Robert wasn't fond of, but he doesn't like artichokes. I thought it was good, but I didn't chop the artichokes because I was in a rush and I think that would have made a difference. I just did a simple panko coated chicken breast to go with the mac'n'cheese, which was supper yummy :)


Sirloin burgers w/ garlic-black pepper-Parmesan sauce & roasted tomatoes w/ basil & balsamic glaze served with seasoned fries.
This one was SOOOO EXCELLENT!! It will definitely be made again and again and as you can see literally came out picture perfect :) And on a side note, my Dad got me a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aide, so I actually ground the sirloin to make these burgers :) Which made them more affordable, because I found the steaks marked down.


Lemon Risotto and Orange balsamic glazed chicken. These are actually 2 different recipes in the book that I did together and they were perfect for each other. We both really enjoyed it and it was 2 first for us, we had never had risotto or arugula.


Pancetta-wrapped shrimp all'amatriciana. This one again was very yummy, we had fresh baked french bread with it. The only thing about this one was that it was a little salty for me. I am not big on salt most of the time, and pancetta is VERY salty I discovered. I think I may try regular bacon next time, but it is on the make again list.


Chinese Orange-barbecue cashew chicken served over yellow rice. This one was excellent as well! My mom was here the night I made this one and we all loved it, it came out perfect.


Here are a few more that I have made, but didn't get pictures of:

Steakhouse chili pot. We really enjoyed this one. I usually make chili using beans, and this is bean free, so it was a nice change from what we usually have.

Bocconcini stuffed meatballs w/ tomato-pesto sauce. So,I didn't exactly follow the recipe on this one, for lack of ingredients, but they still came out really good. Instead of a combo of beef, pork, and veal, I just used beef and turkey. And for whatever reason I didn't buy pesto or the basil to make pesto so I just made the tomato sauce which was fine with us.

Well, I think that is all for now, stay tuned I have several more recipes on the next 2 weeks menu that come from this book as well:)

Lots of catching up to do...

First off, I can't believe I have been sooo ridiculously slack with my postings! We had a wonderful Christmas, possibly the best one to date. My mom got us a beautiful new kitchen table that we love and can now actually have people over for dinner and not have to sit in the living room for lack of table space. I was able to "stash" enough cash to get Robert 2 of the 3 things he asked for, an ipod touch and TomTom, neither are something I would have even considered getting him, had he not asked but he was very happy Christmas morning :) The kids got way too much stuff as always, but they were thrilled! Here's just a couple pics from Christmas morning...

The calm before the storm...


Opening her stocking


Opening his stocking


As for me, it was a RR Christmas! :) Which has got me back into the swing of actually cooking "real" food again!

My sis got me a set of her Lazy Spoons, and I love them! They are great, super heavy and they stay tightly on the side of the pots. My mom got me a set of her spatulas, her lasagna pan (which is huge!) and her new "Look and Cook" cookbook, which is were the inspiration to cook is really coming from. I will follow this posting with several recipes that I have made so far :)
Christopher is becoming quit the gamer, between the Nintendo DS my cousin gave him while we were in FL and several new Wii games he got for Christmas he is constantly playing something.
Hailey has decided to start "paying me back" for my mom. The one thing I did as a child, I truly was a very good and easy child, was change my clothes 4-6 times a day according to my mom. Well, Hailey is learning to dress herself...she doesn't actually take her clothes off yet, but she empties her drawers and puts on layers of random articles of clothing! It is annoying, but very comical at the same time, I will have to get a pic next time she does it.