Hearty Midwestern Chicken and Noodles

Still waiting on the refund from my broken camera.  I'll have a picture of this sooner or later...

3 chicken drumstick-thigh pieces (about 2 pounds)
4 cups water
1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
2 tbsp snipped parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
4 medium carrots, sliced (2 cups)
3 medium onions, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
3 cups packaged dried wide noodles
2 cups milk
2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1. Skin chicken. Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels.  Place chicken, water, celery leaves, parsley, salt, thyme, pepper, and bay leaf in a large Dutch oven.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, onions, and sliced celery.  Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes more or until chicken is tender and no longer pink.  Remove from heat.  Remove chicken; cool slightly.  Discard teh bay leaf. Remove chicken from bones; discard bones.  Chop chicken and set aside.
3. Heat vegetable mixture to boiling.  Add noodles; cook for 5 minutes.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the milk and the peas.
4. Combine the remaining milk and flour in a screw-top jar.  Cover and shake until smooth.  Stir into noodle mixture.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in chicken.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more or until heated through. 

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens One-Dish Meals.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• I didn't have parsely or thyme, so I substituted Italian seasoning.
• Directions!  You are my nemesis!  I didn't skin the chicken before cooking it, so I did that after the chicken was cooked.  Once again, I am foiled by the very first step.
• I rinsed the chicken, but I didn't dry it with paper towels.  To me, this seemed like a waste of paper towels because I was just going to put the chick into more water. 
• Medium onions must be very small wherever this recipe was written.  I used one onion and had more than 1 1/2 cups of chopped onions.
• Instead of big carrots, I used baby carrots.  I used the 2-cup measurement as my guide.
• The noodles I used were called dumplings.  They were perfect.   We all loved the big noodles.
• No bay leaf.  I rarely use bay leaves, and they're kind of pricey, so I skipped it entirely.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• When a recipe has a ton of ingredients and relatively consuming instructions, allot more time than you think you will need.  For example, if you think you will need about an hour (like I did for this recipe, totally ignoring the fact that the cooking time alone is more than one hour), allot at least an hour and a half.  We were a little late to rehearsal because the food wasn't done on time.  Oops.
• Always read through the ingredient list.  Just because it's long doesn't mean it's not doable.  I have virtually all of these items on hand all the time. 
• Enlist the help of your family if time is running short.  Bill chopped the chicken for me, and Emma shook the jar of flour and milk.  Very helpful, indeed.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.  Had seconds.

Emma: Loved it.  Would have had seconds if we had not had to run out the door to get to play practice.

Georgia: Tried one bite, burned herself, and refused to eat any more.  She likes chicken and noodles, generally, so I'm hoping to get her to eat some leftovers.

Me:  I liked it a lot.  It will be perfect this winter on cold, dreary afternoons when I want to be in the kitchen over cooking food!  :)

Farmhouse Loaf Bread

No photos. 

scant 1 cup water
3 cups unbleached white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1/4 cup wholemeal bread flour
1 tbsp non fat dry milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp butter
3/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast
water for glazing

Assemble ingredients except dusting flour and water for glazing in pan; set bread machine to basic cycle.

Ten minutes before baking time commences, brush the top of the loaf with water and dust with a little flour.  Slash the top of the loaf once with a sharp knife.

THINGS I CHANGED:

Nothing.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Opening the bread machine before the baking cycle doesn't ruin the bread!  I did the little dusting technique, and it worked well and looked cool.  Yay!
• Bread doesn't need a lot of fancy or unusual ingredients to be really, really good.  This is a really basic loaf, and it's delicious.  It's also very weighty. 
• My bread machine will probably support a medium loaf.  This was the small loaf, and it was perfect for the evening we used it, but there was definitely room left in the machine for more bread.  Then again, it didn't rise up over the top of the pan, so maybe small is just perfect.  I'm still working it out...

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Liked it.

Emma: Liked it a lot.  She had two pieces.

Georgia: LOVED it.  Had two pieces and another for breakfast the next morning.   The girl loves bread, to be sure, but she really loved this bread.

Me:  I really liked it.  I served it with Pork roast from the crock pot (with carrots, potatoes, onions, and celery). It's a very heavy, thick loaf, and it's quite filling.  Great with a little butter.  Mmmm...

Guests: We had guests over for dinner the night we had the bread, and they liked it, too, I believe.  Their son who is Georgia's age had two pieces.

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

Still no photos. I'll take some when I make these again and have a camera again!

1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups grated zucchini

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

2.  In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the grated zucchini. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

3.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
 
Recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/.  Search chocolate zucchini cookies.
 
THINGS I CHANGED:

• I added some chocolate chips.  I have no idea how many because I just used the partial bag I had, but I'm guessing it was around a cup.  This was a very good idea.
• I did not grease my nonstick cookie sheets.  No problem.
• Baking time was insufficient.  I think I baked each sheet of twelve cookies for twelve minutes.  Huh.  Funny how that worked out.
• Whole wheat flour: I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, and 1 1/4 cups regular unbleached flour. It makes me feel like I'm making health food.  :)

THINGS I LEARNED:

• A cookie does not have to look good to taste good.  And these cookies do NOT look good. 
• The reviews are not alwys correct.  Several reveiwers said that their cookies spread out badly on the cookie sheet.  So I packed the sticky dough into my medium-sized scoop in hopes that having it packed would keep it from spreading out too much.  Instead, they stayed almost entirely in the ball shape.  They were like little chocolately cake wads.  Good ones, but they are very odd looking.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Liked them, but I don't think they're a favorite.

Emma:  Liked them a lot.

Georgia: Liked them enough.  The girls also had one each as part of breakfast the next morning.  Georgia ate half, then ate her breakfast, then returned to the other half about an hour later.

Me: They aren't the sweetest cookies in the world.  I wouldn't make them without the chocolate chips, which added a little burst of sweetness to each bite.  My friend Christa, who doesn't like things especially sweet, would love these cookies even though they're really soft.

Bill's co-workers: Did I mention I made these for a carry-in at Bill's work?  They were celebrating one of his co-worker's birthdays with a carry-in, and I've been giving Bill a hard time that I enjoy baking and cooking for other people so much but for every carry-in he buys bags of chips or picks up sliders at White Castle.  It makes me look bad!  :)  Anyhow, they agreed that the cookies look awful but taste good.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Still no photos.  My camera is on its way to Texas where I hope they will determine it's a lost cause and send me a gift card so I can buy a new one.  And not a Kodak.  Ever again.


1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used butter instead of oil.  One of the comments on the website suggested that, and I'm low on oil.
• The recipe calls for plain yogurt, but I never have plain yogurt in the house.  Instead, I used vanilla.  It was a very good substitution.  I may try using banana or mocha yogurt sometime.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Muffins are terrific.  Okay, so maybe I already knew that, but I have renewed my love of muffins with this recipe.
• Muffins are easy.  And fast.  And terrific.  I may have mentioned the terrific part already.
• Melt the butter if you decide to subtitute it for the oil.  Otherwise, it's all lumpy and doesn't incorporate as well as you might think.
• A little extra banana and a few more cocolate chips never hurt anyone (except, perhaps, people allergic to bananas or chocolate).

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved them.

Emma: Really liked them a lot. 

Georgia: Big impression.  Georgia wanted to eat these muffins for every snack and dessert until they were gone.  Granted, she's a sweets-loving kind of gal, but that's a pretty darned good reaction even for her!

Me:  Loved them.  Loved, loved, loved them.

Georgia's preschool class: Overall favorable opinion.  I was reminded the day of the Halloween party that I was supposed to bring the snack for the party, so I ran home, threw the batter together and baked the muffins in record time.  They were still warm when I served them to the class.  The only kid who didn't seem to like them was the kid who doesn't like chocolate chips.  I know.  I thought it was weird, too.

Apple Bread

Image to follow shortly.  I can't find it.

3 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups apples, peeled and chopped

1. 
   
   Preheat oven to 325.  Grease the bottoms only of two loaf pans.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Beat the eggs.  Add the vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla to the eggs, and mix until well incorporated. Incorporate the flour mixture into the eggs mixture until just blended.  Fold in the apples. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Bake for 75 minuts or until a toothpick inserted deeply into the center of the bread comes out clean.
   
   
   

THINGS I CHANGED:

• 
  
  Okay, I need to be honest here.  This is NOT a new recipe for my family.  I've been making this bread since last fall when I discovered it online somewhere.  I keep losing it, so I'm putting it here so that I won't lose it again.
  
  
  
• 
  
  I used a Pampered Chef spice called Cinnamon Plus instead of regular cinnamon, which I am out of.  Cinnamon Plus also has allspice and a few other spices.  It's good stuff.
  
  
  

WHAT I LEARNED:

• 
  
  I know that this is a great recipe.  I didn't learn anything from this particular baking, but I will tell you that few recipes fill your house with a better scent than this bread baking does.
  
  
  

OVERALL OPINIONS:

This is a household favorite.  We pick apples every fall at a local orchard, and I must make thirty loaves throughout the fall and winter.  We really enjoy it.

Orange Honey Cracked Wheat Bread

1 1/3 cups unsweetened orange juice

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup liquid honey

2 tbsp shortening or vegetable oil

3 3/4 cups bread flour

2/3 cup cracked wheat

2 tsp orange zest

1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

1. Measure ingredients into baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Insert pan into the oven chamber.
2. Select Basic Cycle.

Recipe from 250 Best American Bread Machine Baking Recipes.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• More orange zest.  I don't know how much more because I didn't measure it.  I zested two oranges into the pan.  I'm a big fan of orage and orange zest.  Mmmm...

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Honey is a really good sweetener for bread machine bread.  There's no sugar in this recipe, but the bread was insanely good and very soft.  My bread machine breads are sometimes a little dry, but this was really enjoyable without anything on it.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

We all liked it.  I ate mine without butter, as did Emma.  Bill and Georgia had a little bit of butter on theirs.  As far as bread machine bread goes, this is very moist, favorful bread.  I'll make it again for certain.

The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Chocolate chip cookies are hard to photograph.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 (3.4 oz) pkgs instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour and baking soda; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonsful onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/.  Search soft chocolate chip cookie recipe.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• Because this is from a recipe posting forum, I read some of the suggestions.  The first suggestion recommended adding 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 tbsp vanilla.  I did that.
• This is a huge recipe. Anyone who does any cookie baking at all who sees a recipe that begins with 4 1/2 cups of flour knows that the recipe will make a TON of cookies.  I didn't need that many, so I halved it.  I also halved the additional recommended ingredients above.  It still made about four dozen 1 tbsp-size cookies.
• I didn't need to bake them a full ten minutes.  Nine minutes was enough.
• As always, I did NOT add the optional nuts.  Ick.
• A recipe footnote says that you can use any flavor of pudding mix.  I used French vanilla because that's what I had.  It was good.  I wonder if banana would be good...
• I changed the name of the recipe.  These are seriously the best soft chocolate chip cookies I have ever made, so I wanted the title to reflect that.  I left them out all night on the cooling rack, and they were still as soft and delicious the next morning as when they came out of the oven.  Amazing.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Pudding is the best baking softener ever.  I use it in cakes regularly to make them super soft and moist, but I've never used it in cookies.  It was actually the use of pudding mix that made me choose this recipe when I was searching for soft chocolate chip cookie recipes.  I knew it would work.
• Online forums are awesome.  Always read the comments.  The comments will tell you if there's anything missing or an easier way to do it or if the recipe is any good.  I might not read directions very carefully, but comments I always read.
• Even though the recipe makes an obscene number of cookies, I do believe that I'll be making the full recipe as often as I can.  The cookies were so good that we went through them all in two days.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Everyone in the family liked these.  Loved them, really.  In fact, no one outside of the family got to try them because they were gone so fast.  The dough is excellent, too, so if you're a fan of cookie dough (and willing to risk whatever poisoning may occur from the raw eggs), you'll have a hard time keeping your hands out of the batter.  This is now my go-to cookie recipe.  Absolutely amazing.

Stuffed Baked Chicken Breasts

1 pkg. Lipton vegetable soup mix

1 1/2 c. water

1/2 c. uncooked regular rice

1 sm. clove garlic, chopped fine

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 ten-oz. pkg spinach, cooked and squeezed dry

1/2 c. shredded mozzerella cheese

1/2 med. tomato, coarsely chopped

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1. 
   
   In a medium saucepan, blend vegetable soup mix with water. Bring to a boil, and stir in uncooked rice.  Simmer, covered, 20 minutes or until tender.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Stir in remaining ingredients except chicken; set aside.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Preheat oven to 350.
   
   
   
4. 
   
   With a sharp knife, parallel to cutting board, make deep 3-inch long cut in the center of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Evenly stuff pockets with rice mixture.
   
   
   
5. 
   
   In lightly greased baking dish, arrange chicken and bake uncovered, basting occassionally, 40 minutes or until done. If desired, sprinkle with paprika.  Makes 8 servings.
   
   
   

Recipe from The Meals on the Bus Go Round and Round: Favorite Recipes Collected by the Merrillville Transportation Department.

CHANGES I MADE:

• 
  
  I'm not sure what the recipe write meant by regular rice, but I used Minute Rice brown rice.  A-OK.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Again, unsure of exactly what the recipe writer meant, I didn't cook the spinach.  I just thawed it, rinsed it, and squeezed it as dry as I could.  It was fine that way.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Half a tomato didn't seem like enough, so I used the whole thing.  I like tomatoes.
  
• I pressed the garlic with my garlic press rather than chopping it.  That way, my fingers don't stink like garlic for three days.
  
  
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• 
  
  Recipe writers in cookbooks are much more precise with instructions.  That must be why they get paid.  :)
  
  
  
• 
  
  There were not eight servings here.  I don't know if chickens have grown exponentially since 1999 when this cookbook was put together, but there were only three chicken breast halves in the 2-lb package I bought.  I trimmed the flappy part off to make three additional smaller portions (perfect for the girls or second helpings), but there were not eight servings.
  
  
  
• 
  
  There was a lot of leftover stuffing.  I put it in the fridge, hoping I can find a use for it in a day or so before it goes bad.
  
  
  

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill:  Liked it a lot.  Had seconds.

Emma:  Liked it, but ate around a lot of the stuffing.  She ate some of the stuffing, but she avoided as much as she ate.

Georgia: Really enjoyed the chicken.  I think she may have accidentally gotten some of the stuffing, too, but she avoided it almost entirely.

Me:  Mmmmm...  It was really good. 

S'Mores Galore

20 whole (2 X 5 inches) honey graham crackers, divided

6 bars (1.55 ounces each) milk chocolate candy, coarsely chopped

1 pkg (16 oz) miniature marshmallows, divided

6 tbsp butter or margarine, divided

3 tbsp milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Arrang a single layer of graham crackers to completely cover bottom of bar pan, breaking crackers to fit. Toast in oven 2 minutes. Remove pan to cooling rack.
2. Coarsely break remaining graham crackers into large bowl; set aside.
3. Combine 3 cups of the marshmallows, 3 tbsp butter or margaine, and milk in microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Add half of the chopped chocolate bars; stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly over graham crackers in pan.
4. Melt remaining butter; toss with broken graham crackers. Add reamining marshmallows and chopped chocolate; toss lightly. Spoon evenly over mixture in pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into bars. Serve warm or cool.

Recipe from Delightful Desserts by The Pampered Chef.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• Will I ever follow the directions?  Honestly.  I did not toast the grahams as directed in step one.  Step one!  The first step, and I screwed it up.  Sheesh.
• Somehow my marshmallow-chocolate-butter-milk mixture got messed up.  I think I added too much milk, but since I didn't measure, I can't be sure.  I added more marshmallows and cooked it in the microwave again because it was just so incredibly runny that I couldn't imagine it was correct.  It thickened it a little, but I'm still convinced that it wasn't quite right.
• I baked it close to 12 minutes, I believe.
• I cut a few bars at the 15-minute mark, but the ones I cut hours later when it had completely set up were much better looking.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Typing the word marshmallow is not very easy.  Doing so repeatedly does not seem to help.
• Reading and following the directions is probably really, really important in some recipes.
• Measuring is something you should do the first time you make anything with a recipe that calls for measuring.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: I think he really liked them.  I'll find out again tomorrow when we have the leftovers for the second celebration.

Emma: Indoor s'mores?  Of course she loved it.

Georgia: Scraped all the topping off and left the graham cracker base behind.

Me: I liked them.  Maybe not well enough to waste 6 Hershey bars on a single recipe, but they're good.

Pasta Primavera

8 oz. uncooked fettuccine or linguine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflowerets
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced (1 cup)
1 cup frozen green peas, rinsed to separate
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Alfredo Sauce

1. Cook fettuccine as directed on package.
2. While fettuccine is cooking, heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook broccoli, cauliflowerets, carrots, peas, and onion in oil 6 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crsip-tender.
3. Prepare Alfredo Sauce. Stir sauce into vegetable mixture. Drain fettuccine. Stir fettuccine into sauce mixture; heat through.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, 1996 version.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• I didn't make my own alfredo sauce.  I wanted to, but I forgot to buy heavy cream.  Meh.
• Zucchini.  I added some fresh zucchini because I had a couple from the garden.  Good, good, idea.  Really delicious addition.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Cooking veggies in oil is really yummy. 
• You don't need meat for a really good, filling dish.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Really liked it.  Had seconds and wants me to make it again.

Emma: Loved it.  Ate everything.

Georgia: She ate some pasta and carrots and broccoli.  Otherwise, she wasn't a fan.  Of course, it didn't contain meat, so there wasn't anything in it that she really gets excited about.

Me:  I loved it.  This is really fantastic, and I can see myself making it frequently.  It reheats very well, too.

Chicken Divan

1 large bag broccoli cuts, frozen

3 c. cooked chicken, diced

2 (10.75 oz) cans cream of chicken soup

1 c. mayonnaise

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c, bread crumbs

1 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Butter a 9 X 13 baking dish. Empty frozen broccoli cuts into bottom of the dish. Place chicken on top of broccoli.
3. Mix soup, mayonnaise, curry, and lemon juice in a bowl; spread the mixture over the chicken. Sprinkle the cheese over the soup mixture.
4. Mix bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over the cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

From Good Tidings . . . Great Joy, Recipes from the congregation of Angola United Methodist Church.

THINGS I CHANGED:

• What the recipe writer and I consider a large bag of broccoli must be very different.  I only had to use a little more than half of the 2-pound bag I bought.  Just enough to completely cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer.
• I don't have curry, so I used some Italian seasoning.  Not comparable, I understand, but it worked for me.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• I'll double the bread crumbs next time.  I like crumb topping, and there just wasn't as much as I'd like.
• Broccoli florets would have been better than cuts.  The cuts didn't cook as quickly, so they were a bit al dente.  So the whole dish either needs to cook longer, or substitute florets for cuts.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Liked it.  It's not a new favorite, but it will probably be on the winter menu lineup from time to time.

Emma: Liked it.  She's a fan of bread crumb topping, too, and she liked that part best.

Georgia: Ate the chicken and some of the broccoli.  Not a bad recipe overall for her, though, because she likes broccoli better than a lot of other veggies.

Me: I enjoyed it.  I had a small serving of seconds.  It reheated well, and the recipe says it can be prepared in the dish the night before and then put into the oven when needed.  I may use it as a busy evening recipe when I'm able to put it together in the morning or the night before.  It uses ingredients that I almost always have on hand, so it's a no-brainer that I'll use the recipe again.

Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Skillet

(This photo is in the pan.  Once out of the pan, it's not attractive on the plate.  Yeah, even less attractive than in this photo.)

1 tsp plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 can (11 oz) Mexican-style corn
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp Southwestern seasoning mix
2 cups uncooked instant white rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups salsa verde
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

1. Add 1 tsp of the oil to a 12" skillet; heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering.  Meanwhile, drain corn; pat dry with paper towels.  Add corn to skillet in a single layer.  Cook without stirring 5 minutes or until caramelized on one side. Remove corn from skillet; set aside.
2. As corn cooks, cut chicken into 1" pieces. Combine chicken and seasoning mix in a bowl. Add chicken to skillet.  Cook on medium-high heat 5-7 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink, stirring occassionally.  Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.
3. Add remaining tbsp of oil to skillet.  Add rice; stir until well-coated with oil. Add broth and salsa; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover skillet; reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Meanwhile, snip cilantro.
4. To serve, spoon chicken over rice mixture in skillet.  Sprinkle with corn and cheese.  Cover; let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with cilantro.

Recipe from 29 Minutes to Dinner from The Pampered Chef.

WHAT I CHANGED:

• What didn't I change?  So many thing went awry in this recipe, and it still came out great.
• I didn't have the southwestern seasoning mix, so I substituted some cayenne pepper, bell pepper and herb rub, and citrus and basil rub.  I'm guessing there were 2-3 tbsp of seasonings.  So a lot more than required.
• I used brown rice instead of white rice because I never buy white rice.
• I used one 14.6-oz can of chicken broth instead of 2 cups.  A cup is 8 oz, so I was close.  I didn't have another can of broth.
• I used the whole 16-oz jar of salsa verde instead of just 1 1/2 cups.  I like salsa, and I figure that since I was a little shy on the broth, I could make up for it in salsa.  :)
• When I got the rice and everything in the skillet, I then read the directions that said I'd need to cover the pan.  I don't have a lid for my large skillet.  So I didn't cover it.  I just cooked it longer.  Same story when I added the cheese and such at the end.  I just let it cook a bit longer in order that the cheese would melt.
• Again, failing to read the directions carefully, I put the cilantro on top of the cheese right away and let it cook into the cheese.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Improvising is my thing.  I'm getting good at it.
• I need a lid for my large skillet.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Wanted seconds, but I wouldn't let him have them right away.  I hosted Girls' Night tonight, and this was my dish.  I didn't want him to eat so much that the girls wouldn't have enough.  So he liked it.

Emma: Really enjoyed it.  A lot.  She pretty much cleaned her plate.  It's possible that she would have cleaned the plate entirely, but once I gave her an apple, she forgot the main dish.

Georgia: Ate the chicken  May have eaten some rice or vegetable inadvertently, but she did enjoy the chicken.  She also forgot about the main dish when the apple arrived at her plate.

Me:  I really liked it.  It's just the right amount of spicy.

Girls: I think everyone enjoyed it.  Everyone got seconds (I think), and I've been asked for the recipe.  Here you go, girls!

Chicken Morsels with Peppers

(The peppers look like peaches, I know. I'm not a professional food photographer or food designer. It's real food.)

2 large yellow bell peppers, halved and seeded
2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips (juices reserved)

1. Preheat broiler. Arrange peppers on a broiler pan. Broil until blackened and blistered. Transfer to bowl, cover, and let cool for about 10 minutes. Peel off skins, remove stems, and cut into wide strips.
2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Reduce heat to medium-low and add onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomato strips and their juices. Simmer until chicken is tender, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a warmed serving platter. Serve at once.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma The Best of Taste.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used all yellow bell peppers, as that's what I have in my garden.
• Instead of two large tomatoes, I used two rather mediocre tomatoes. I meant to use three rather mediocre tomatoes, but one didn't survive the blanching process, and I didn't feel like running outside in the driving rain to pick another tomato in the dark and start the whole blanching process again. Lazy, I know.
• As usual, I am incapable of following even simple directions. When I took the peppers out of the oven, I did not transfer them to a bowl and cover them with a towel (not in the directions, but after reading all about roasting bell pepper on the internet this evening, I have discovered the towel method is quite popular). That, apparently, would have made taking the skins off the pepper much easier. I only had trouble with the very edges, though, so I guess no harm, no foul.
• I didn't add the salt and pepper until I added everything else. Directions. Arg!
• The recipe is called chicken morsels, but nowhere does it tell you when to cut it into morsels, so I did that before cooking it. I knew that it would cut down on the cooking time, and I started this recipe way too late in the evening, so I was looking to trim time wherever I could.
• I didn't bother with the warmed serving platter. My household isn't the warmed-serving-platter type of household. We're more the served-directly-from-the-skillet type of people.
• I served it with brown rice.

THINGS I LEARNED

• Even a short recipe may take a long time. Reading the directions all the way through before embarking on a new mission may be the way to go. I don't know for sure, as I've obviously never tried it, but it seems like a good bet.
• I learned how to blacken peppers in the oven. And I learned how to do it correctly after we'd eaten dinner.
• Warm serving platters are probably nice, but definitely not as necessary as this recipe make out.

OPINIONS:

Bill: Liked it. Enough to eat a second helping, even. It isn't in his top five of the recipes we've had so far, but he'd definitely eat it again.

Me: I really enjoyed it. I added too much pepper, I think, but that's easily adjusted in the future. And even the time involved in this wouldn't be bad if it weren't steamy and warm. I'll bet I'll take another stab at this in the winter when I want to heat up my kitchen.

Emma: Loved it. In typical Emma style, she ate the peppers first, then the rice, then the chicken. She ate it all, though.

Georgia: Hey, it was chicken, so she ate that. And surprisingly, she also at the rice. Normally, she isn't big into plain brown rice, but we had to get more for her, so there's that.

Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake

Wow, that picture is bad. Stick with me. The recipe is good. Really, really good.

Pasta Mixture
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 jar (16 oz) white alfredo pasta sauce
2 pkgs (9 oz each) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
Crumb Topping
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400. For pasta mixture, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and pressed garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in pasta sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas, and black pepper. Heat until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat. Stir basil into pasta mixture.
2. Meanwhile, for crumb topping, melt butter in microwave on high for 30-45 seconds or until completely melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.
3. Spoon pasta mixture into 9 X 9 baking pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Recipe from The Pampered Chef's Stoneware Inspirations.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used one 18-oz package of the refrigerated tortellini. It was cheaper (but still too expensive, at like $6.50, in my opinion) than two 9-oz packages, and frankly, even with my limited math skills, I am fairly certain I got roughly the same amount of pasta.
• I put the basil in the pasta mixture with the bulk of the other ingredients. Once again, this particular change I made was not due to some sort of culinary genius on my part. It was entirely because I cannot read directions all the way through before trying to follow them.
• I used prepackaged shredded parmesan cheese. And I ate quite a bit of the leftovers in the package after adding what was necessary for the recipe. Parmesan...mmmm...

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Keep an eye on anything in the oven that has a crumb topping. It goes from not-quite-done to a-bit-overdone very, very quickly. Too quickly to check facebook. Even very briefly.
• Georgia will believe the white tortellinis are actually chicken if you cut them up so that they don't look quite so tortellini-y. That may not work forever.

OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.

Me: Loved it. Will definitely do it again; often, if I can find the tortellini cheaper.

Emma: Loved it. "I especially like the crusty part."

Georgia: The girl likes chicken, so she ate some of it. And as reference above in THINGS I LEARNED, she unwittingly ate some of the pasta. She avoided the green tortellinis and the peas. But overall, this is actually a good recipe for her.

Tomato and Feta Chicken

(I admit that this photo isn't glorious--this is the second time I made the chicken. The first time, it wasn't quite as brown, and it looked like something out of a food magazine. For the record, though, it was just as tasty browned a little more as it was when it looked perfect.)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. zesty Italian salad dressing
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 green onions, chopped

Heat oven to broil setting. Brush chicken breasts with dressing and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and pepper; let stand for 10 minutes.

Grill or broil the chicken for 10-12 minutes, turning once, until chicken is almost done.

Remove chicken from grill or oven and arrange tomato, cheese, and green onion on each chicken breast. Return to grill or oven and grill or broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted. Serves 4.

Recipe from busycooks.about.com.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used black pepper instead of white and Italian shredded cheese blend instead of feta.
• I doubled the number of green onions.
• Since I only had three chicken breat halves, I only used that many.
• The recipe doesn't talk about what kind of pan to use, but I used my medium bar pan. Worked out great.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• A recipe doesn't have to be involved or difficult to be really, really good.
• Measuring spoons? We don't need no stinkin' measuring spoons!
  

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Really enjoyed it. I think he'd have had seconds if there had been any.

Me: Loved it. I'll definitely make it again. I may even try it on the grill.

Emma: Really loved it. Nearly licked the plate clean.

Georgia: Even my most finicky eater really liked it; she nearly finished it, which is say a LOT.

Zucchini Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan (13 X 9 X 2) or two 8- or 9-inch round pans, with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs in large bowl until blended; beat one minute. Stir in remaining ingredients except zucchini, nuts, and frosting; beat one minute. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake rectangle 40-45 minutes, rounds 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack.
4. Frost rectangle or fill and frost rounds with cream cheese frosting.
   

Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, 1996 version.

CHANGE I MADE:

• The recipe calls for a certain recipe of cream cheese frosting. I just mixed one brick of softened cream cheese with about 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Easy-peasy.
• I did not add nuts. I don't like nuts baked into things or sprinkled on things. You'll rarely see me add the required or optional nuts to a recipe.
• I substituted apple pie spice for the cinnamon and nutmeg. It's basically the same thing, anyhow.
• I used a combination of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. Not much whole whaet; just the 1/4 or 1/2 cup I had left.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Zucchini cake is even tastier (seriously!) than zucchini bread. It is, however, less portable and giftable.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Everyone really liked it. Emma still prefers buttercream frosting to cream cheese frosting, but she still ate it. :)

Tomato and Corn Salsa

1 1/2 cups fresh ripe tomatoes, diced - 2 medium
(28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained can be substituted)
3/4 cup corn kernels, cooked
1/4 cup red onion, minced (sweet onion can be substituted)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups of salsa.

In small bowl, combine garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, corn kernels, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. For a milder onion flavor, a sweet onion can be substituted for the red onion.
NOTE:Canned tomatoes can be substituted for fresh tomatoes. A 28 ounce can of tomatoes provides about 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes, drained. If canned tomatoes are used, drain the juice. Mix together and set aside until ready to serve.

If a spicier flavor is desired, add a can of seasoned diced tomatoes to the salsa ingredients.

Recipe from http://www.recipetips.com/.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I opted not to cook the corn. I cleaned it on the cob, cut it off the cob, and added it directly to the salsa. I really like raw sweet corn. A lot.
• I doubled the amount of cilantro. I also like cilantro. A lot.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• People who cut up herbs on TV are amazing. Seriously. Cutting up cilantro to the eensy-weensy size it needs to be for salsa is harder than I thought. I think I have a good technique now, though!
• I have a dicing gadget from Williams Sonoma, and I thought the smaller dicing size would be okay for the tomatoes, but I was wrong. The smaller one is great for the onions, but the tomatoes have to be the bigger of the two options.
• Balsamic vinegar smells really, really bad. I almost threw out the whole bowl of salsa because the vinegar smelled so bad, but once I got everything incoroprated, it was fine.
• I pressed the garlic with a garlic press. I'm not sure I know how to crush garlic.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.

Me: Loved it.

Christa (faithful friend and trier of recipes): I think she really liked it. Not quite as much as Bill and I liked it, but she did say it was good. She's very honest.

Nate (another faithful friend and a hater of all-things-onion): Liked the cilantro, but couldn't deal with the onions. Sorry, Nate!

Bill and I ate all of the first batch with the exception of several chipsful Christa had and one chipful Nate tried. In one evening. It's good stuff. I made it again a day later, and Bill and I agree that we'll be adding a jalepeno or cerrano pepper to spice it up a bit, but it's a great mild salsa.

UPDATE (ten days later):

I have now made this salsa five or six times. I have tweaked the recipe nearly every time. Currently, I have found our favorite variation: double the onions as well as the cilantro; add two green onions, chopped (I use everything but the very end); add 1/3 can rinsed and drained black beans. Mmmmm... I took this variation on a play date this week, and Carrie (the other mom with me) ate a ton of it; she loved it!

Eggplant Parmigiana

STILL NO PHOTO - BLASTED CAMERA!

2 cups Italian tomato sauce
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 small unpeeled eggplants (about 1 pound each), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mix egg and water. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip eggplant slices into egg mixture, then coat with bread crumb mixture.
3. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook half of the eggplant at a time in oil about 5 minutes, turning once, until light brown. Repeat with remaining eggplant, adding 1 or 2 tbsp oil, if necessary.
4. Place half of the eggplant in ungreased rectangular baking dish (11 X 7 X 1 1/2 inches), overlapping slices slightly. Spoon half of the sauceover the eggplant. Sprinkle with one cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with remaining veal, sauce, and cheese.
5. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is light brown.

Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, 1996 version.

CHANGE I MADE:

• I don't have a pan of that size, so I used my 9 X 9 square baker.
• The recipe calls for you to make the sauce yourself; I have neither the time nor the inclination for that, so I used jarred spaghetti sauce.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• This was a lot of work.
• No one in my family likes eggplant.
• I have no idea when an eggplant is ripe.
• Making a second dinner is easier when the oven is already warm.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Hated it. Took two or three bites.

Me: Hated it. It was just plain weird. I would like to think that I just let the eggplant overripen, but I'm not sure that's the case. I've had eggplant before (years ago in Italy), and I enjoyed it then, but this was dreadful.

Georgia: Wouldn't try it. We didn't make her.

Emma: Bless our little trooper. She just kept eating it, saying things like, "Well, it's not going to be my favorite, that's for sure." When Bill and I realized how bad it was, we told her she didn't have to keep eating it. Her response? "Oh, good. I don't really like it much."

Santa Fe Enchilada Bake

CAMERA MALFUNCTION - NO IMAGES FOR A WHILE

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 each large onion and green pepper, chopped
2 cups salsa
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn, thawed, drained
12 corn tortillas (6 inch)
1 cup Sour Cream
1-1/2 cups Mexican Style Finely Shredded Cheese

Heat oven to 400ºF.
Cook and stir chicken, onions and peppers in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat 10 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in salsa and corn.
Arrange 6 tortillas on bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of 1/2 each chicken mixture, sour cream and cheese. Repeat layers; cover with foil.
Bake 40 min. or until heated through, removing foil after 30 min. Let stand 5 min.

Recipe from the back of a Kraft sheredded cheese package. Also available at http://www.kraftfoods.com/.

CHANGES I MADE:

Hmmm...I'm so far behind in posting this that I don't recall any changes. I believe I actually stuck to the recipe on this one. Go figure!

THINGS I LEARNED:

This is not biggie, mind you, but my end product looked nothing like the picture featured on the bag and the website looked NOTHING like my dish. I am convinced that they used fake food.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Emma: Really enjoyed it. She didn't finish it all, but she did like it.

Georgia: Well, true to form, she ate the required bite and wasn't into it. I will say, however, that on the plate it looked pretty - um - unappetizing, so this is not a surprise.

Bill: Had seconds. He did like it.

Me: I enjoyed it a lot, but I don't know that it will become a family favorite. I can see myself making it from time to time in the winter, but heating up the kitchen in the summer? Not worth it for this particular dish. It was good, just not that good.

Barbecued Country-Style Pork Ribs

(Let it be known that I realize these don't look good in the photo. They are amazing, though.)

4-5 pounds country-style pork loin ribs

6 cups water

2 cans beef broth

2 bay leaves

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

1. Place ribs in an 8-qt stockpot. Add water, broth, bay leaves and pressed garlic. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to 75 minutes, or until pork is tender. Remove ribs from stockpot with heavy-duty tongs.
2. Heat grill to meadium heat. Place ribs on grid of grill. Brush with barbecue sauce. Grill, uncovered, 10-12 minutes or until well-glazed, brushing and turning frequently. Serve with additional heated barbecue sauce, if desired.

Recipe from Casual Cooking by The Pampered Chef

CHANGES I MADE:

• I didn't have bay leaves or garlic, so I substituted dried grated orange peel. It's becoming a common substitution. It worked.
• I didn't use the specific type of pork loin ribs the recipe called for. I used regular spareribs because they were on sale for 97 cents a pound. I can't imagine that a different cut of meat could possibly have been better.
• The recipe called for homemade barbecue sauce (using a provided recipe), but I used Sweet Baby Ray's. Why would I make my own when Sweet Baby Ray already makes the best?

THINGS I LEARNED:

• If you do it right, barbecue ribs on the grill are not only amazing, but easy to do. Sure, they're messy, but wow, what a difference doing it yourself makes. Mmmmm...
• Side dishes were really, truly optional. The meat was so amazing that we didn't really even want side dishes. Next time I'll make corn on the cob instead of pasta as a side. Then we won't overdo it on the meat intake!

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: He ate half the rack and wouldn't have eaten any sides if I hadn't insisted. He barely talked throughout the meal.

Emma: Asked for more meat three times. She loved it. She even wanted to try it on the bone instead of having us pull it off for her.

Georgia: She ate three helpings. Need I say more?

Me: Loved, loved, LOVED them. Wonderful. The best barbecued ribs I believe I have ever had, and I have had a LOT of BBQ ribs in my life because I love them. I have never made them myself because they always intimidated me. That particular intimidation, however, has been beaten into the recesses of my culinary repertoire. Bill is on the way back to the grocery as we speak to buy two more racks while they are still on sale. We'll freeze them to make this recipe again -- twice -- this summer. Oh, so very good.

Barbecue Chicken and Roasted Corn Salad

Marinade and Dressing:

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tbsp Sweet & Smoky Barbecue Rub (Pampered Chef)

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Chicken and Salad:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 cups fresh corn kernels (4-6 ears)

1/2 medium red bell pepper

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups julienne-cut jicama strips

1. For marinade and dressing, combine lime juice, barbecue rub, garlic, cumin, and salt in a bowl. Slowly add oil, whisking until well blended. For chicken, cut into thin strips and place in resealable plastic bag; add 1/4 cup marinade. Seal bag; turn to coat. Marinade in refridgerator 30-60 minutes. Cover remaining marinade and refridgerate to use as dressing.


2. Heat oil in large pan (grill pan, if available) over medium heat 5 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper and onion; spread evenly over bottom of pan. Cook without stirring 5 minutes or until grill marks appear on vegetable. Remove vegetable mixture to large heatsafe bowl with lid. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Cook chicken 5-7 minutes or until no longer pink, turning occasionally. Remove from heat.


3. Add chicken, black beans and reserved dressing to vegetable mixture; toss to coat. Cover; refridgerate about 2 hours or until chilled. For each serving, arrange jicama on serving plate. Top with salad. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired.

Recipe from Spin on Salads by The Pampered Chef

THINGS I CHANGED:

As always, I didn't read the recipe carefully enough, and I put all the marinade into the bag. There wasn't much to throw away when I put the chicken in the pan to cook, though, so it was fine.

I also didn't have cumin, so I substituted dried ground orange peel. Not a comparable substitution, I realize, but I like orange. This also was just fine.

I don't have a grill pan, so my veggies didn't get a blackened, grilled look to them. They tasted just fine without it. I also don't have a julienne cutter, so I used my crinkle blade on the mandoline and cut the crinkle jicama chips into strips. This worked really well.

THINGS I LEARNED:

This was the scariest recipe I've done in a long time. Scary because it took a lot of effort on a very hot day without air conditioning in my kitchen and because I was really unsure whether any of us would like the result. Also, none of us had really ever had jicama before, so I was a bit concerned that that would be an issue. Neither of those concerns were valid because the recipe was amazing. So I learned to be brave.

I also learned that if you really want to blacken vegetables without burning them, a flat-bottom pan probably isn't the best choice. I didn't have another choice, but there it is.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: I was most concerned about Bill liking the recipe, and he was concerned, too. He told me he was really worried that he'd have to put on a happy face when it tasted like garbage because he knew I'd worked hard in a very hot kitchen to make it. He loved it, though. I think he had three helpings, if you count Georgia's plate.

Emma: My adventurous eater didn't disappoint. "Can we have jicama every day as a snack?" she asked. She really liked it, and did a good job mostly cleaning her plate. She asked for additional jicama halfway through.

Georgia: I'm not sure she tried any of it. The photo above is her plate. It might be that it just looked too weird for her, and it might be that she had just woken up from a nap:

Me: I really enjoyed it, too. I had two helpings. I also ate it for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making this again. Maybe next time on a day that isn't so incredibly hot. :)

Picnic Sausage & Potato Kebabs

June 10, 2009




3/4 lb. petite new potatoes (10-12)

1/4 c. water

1 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove

3/4 tsp dried dill weed

1/8 tsp each salt and pepper

6 large green onions

1 pkg (1 lb) cooked bratwurst (5-6 sausages)

12 cherry tomatoes



1. Cut potatoes in half and cook in water in microwave for 5-7 minutes until just fork tender. Drain, then drizzle with oil. Press garlic into potatoes, and add seasoning. Mix gently.



2. Trim root ends from green onions. Cut 24 piece, each approx. 2 inches long. Add to potatoes and toss gently.



3. Cut brats diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Alternately thread bratwurst, potatoes, onions, and cherry tomatoes onto six 12-inch skewers.



4. Grill kebabs, uncovered, 6-8 minutes or until bratwurst is browned, turning frequently.

Recipe from Casual Cooking by The Pampered Chef



CHANGES I MADE:

• I didn't have garlic or dill weed (I don't like dill weed much, and the name makes me chuckle like Beavis and Butthead), so I substituted Rosemary & Herb seasoning from The Pampered Chef. Good substitution. The potatoes were terrific.


• We had fresh brats, not precooked meat, so Bill grilled them for a while before we cut them and put them on the kebabs. Worked out just fine.


• I couldn't find new potatoes, so I had to use old ones. Har, har. Actually, I used little red B-size potatoes, and I cute them into quarters instead of halves. The halves might have been better in terms of putting them on the skewers, but they were fine. None fell off, anyhow.


• I didn't mix the green onions in with the potatoes. Also fine.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• I still don't care for brats too much. The recipe looked great, so I decided to try them, but I just don't like them. I may try the recipe with smoked sausage next time. Bill and the girls loved the meat, though, so maybe not.


• Grilled green onions are the BOMB! They were outstanding. Really. I might just plant some in the garden next year. Mmmmm...


• I'll probably substitute grape tomatoes for cherry tomatoes next time. Cherry tomatoes are not exactly bite-sized, especially for the kids, and cutting grilled tomatoes up is a mess. The smaller grape tomatoes may hold up a bit better on the grill, too. I might also try red bell pepper pieces.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

ME: I'll make it again, for certain, but I didn't care for the meat. The potatoes and onions were especially good, though. I think with some of the substitutions above, these could be amazing.

BILL: He loved them. He ate four and cleaned up some of the girls' leftovers.

EMMA: She liked the sausage, the potatoes, and the tomatoes. She was not a fan of the onions.

GEORGIA: She liked the sausage. She isn't generally a fan of potatoes, tomatoes, or green onions, so the fact that she just ate the meat was no surprise.

Background

I'm starting this blog as a way to track new recipes I try with my family. It's not groundbreaking material or anything, just a way for me to keep track of recipes and ideas to change/improve/adjust them for my family's tastes.

I hope to have a photo of each new recipe, along with a source of the recipe itself. I'm not much for keeping up with this sort of hing, so we'll see how it goes.