Cooking from the magazines continues...I'm almost caught up to magazines that are at least dated in a recent month...
Spicy Pork Empanadas (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
These are really good I was so glad I made the Carne Adovada the previous week. It was pretty easy to do after all the labor had gone into the chili before. Good stuff. We actually ended up having this twice (Sunday and Friday).
Lowcountry Red Rice (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
I liked this...but when it comes down to it, I've made this many times before, just had no idea what to call it....
Roast Pork Loin (p 219 The Best Light Recipe) with Cognac and Mustard Sauce (p 213 The Best Light Recipe)
The Cognac and mustard sauce was meant to go on beef, but it tasted great on the leftover pork loin from the accidental buying of to much in the previous week. This ended up tasting pretty good.
Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
I was getting pressed for time, and so I left the rice be a bit too firm. If I would've used quick rice, it would've taken shorter, I guess...but my desire to use the Basmati that I have in my kitchen made this a little crunchier then it should have been. Beyond that It wasn't my favorite thing. I'm not a huge fan of broccoli, but it was still good.
Greek-Style Chickpea Salad (p 57 The Best Light Recipe)
I served this on movie night with bread and it turned out pretty good. Relatively light and fresh and good. I just hoped it was filling enough for people, which It held for me...so...I guess it was.
Bison Burgers with Cabernet Onion and Wisconsin Cheddar (Bon Appetit 02/2009)
Ok So I didn't use wisconsin cheddar...or bison (Hy-vee usually has some, they didn't, it was on order, ended up using ground beef). But I think this turned out pretty well. Shannon didn't like the onions...she said they were too much like the cabernet that they were cooked with. I thought it tasted really good though...made for a wonderful sandwich. The ciabatta rolls that they were on didn't hurt the flavor in the slightest.
Caribbean Pork Tenderloin (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
I uh, accidently, bought an extra few pounds of pork tenderloin...and have lots of leftovers...I thought it was the meat for the Carne Adovada...but instead I have about 3 pounds of it left over. Anyways, this was also very good. Sweet, tart, a bit spicy.
Skillet BBQ Steak Tips (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
This was a nice rich dinner after a long day. I didn't really agree with their assumption that all BBQ sauces are too sickly sweet. I almost exclusively use Russ and Frank's BBQ sauces and they are head and shoulders above most BBQ sauces.
Baked Pork Chops with Parmesan-Sage Crust (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
It was this recipe that finally broke my back. I have been putting off buying new baking pans for a while, and this would've been extra outstanding if I was able to bake it on a rack on top of a baking pan, so the air would've circulated under it. I went out on Friday and bought these (along with tongs and an electric tea kettle). These turned out very well. The parmesan, fresh sage, and melba toast made for a great crust.
Carne Adovada (New Mexico Pork Chili) (Cooks Country Feb/March 2009)
I'm glad that movie night was cancelled this week...I don't think I could've made this in time. Even if I left work way early. Preparing the meat, and all the ingredients took quite a while and since I used my Chantal pot it took even longer... It's not that the pot was really the issue, its that it's fairly narrow and tall, so when I cooked the pork, instead of in the two batches liked the recipe said, it took five. So at 10 minutes per, it took an extra 30 minutes just to start, before the rest of the recipe went down. It was so worth it though. Getting to around 8:PM it was finally done, we dished it out mixed in a bit of sour cream and called it good. I'm curious about adding a bit more of the chipotle pepper and adobo...
As suggested, I'll be making the Spicy Pork Empanadas with the leftovers....tonight probably.
Cooking out of magazines again this week..so Here we go:
Curried Carrot Salad with Nonfat Yogurt (May 2009 Bon Appetit)
I've had carrot raisan salad before...in fact its one of my favorite things...however...this was not that good. I think the curry spices were just too strong...and not really balanced out by anything...so I dunno. I don't think I'd make this again.
Skillet Goulash (December / January 2008-9 Cooks Country)
I liked this. and it made for good leftovers. Creamy, beefy and some steak to eat. Filling.
Southern Style Green Beans (December / January 2008-9 Cooks Country)
These were ok...but I wasn't too thrilled by it
Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw (February 2009 Bon Appetit)
I really liked these. These were so quick and easy to make that I could see making them on any night of the week, even after a crappy day.
So in continuing the cooking out of the magazines I'm currently reading, I have picked the following items. Some of them are just sides, but then intention for me is to use them with some Gateway Market made brats that I want to try...so I'll make the side with them.
French Toast
It has been a while since I made some french toast, but it all came back...mmm...french toast...so good. Add a little vanilla, add a little cinnamon...and mmm...good stuffs.
Fish Cakes with Coleslaw and Horseradish-Dill Sauce
This was actually quite good...and easy to make. Though the tuna probably wasn't the best of quality...though it was individually portioned and then frozen...but it still worked out. I didn't go with the coleslaw because neither of us are big fans of coleslaw. So we had pasta salad instead. The Horseradish Dill sauce was good too.
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili with Orange and Cumin
I had an extra 3/4 pound of ground beef...so to beef it up a bit, I added that tot the chili...though I don't think it really needed it. It was bright flavored where you could certainly smell and taste the cumin and oranges. So it was very chili like up front, but the finishing taste was very orange. Certainly and interesting way to make a chili.
New England Clam and Corn Chowder with Herbs
Mmmm....chowder. This was pretty easy to make and delicious. I've never used can clam before, but it turned out good...though the saltiness makes it something that I cannot have on a regular basis.
I wish this recipe would've said 4 slice of white bread or a bout X cups of bread crumbs. We ran out of bread, but I had some leftover breadcrumbs from various things...so I used them instead. It ended up a bit more loafy then I intended...thought still good. Usually, though, when I make meat loaf, I don't use bread when I make meat loaf.... It still tasted good, but it was more like eating a meatloaf sandwich, then just meatloaf.
Beer and Onion-Braised Chicken Carbonnade
So I used Goose Island Oatmeal Stout...this is fairly strong flavored. And while I liked the way it turned out, it had too much, though only slightly, of the beer flavor for Shannon. It wasn't like the Irish beer I made a while back that had so much beer that Shannon just couldn't take it. It made for a good dinner.
So out of the same issue (January 2009) of Bon Appétit that I made the Pâté de Campagne (Country Pâté) for the March 2009 Game Night, in their fast easy and fresh, they have a Value issue in the Fast Easy and Fresh section. Shannon also requested French toast...so I bought a loaf of challah yesterday to make that. I won't be making all the recipes out of the list and probably not in the order they suggest, but it'll be a few things at least.
So it was a weird week of cooking...With the stated goal of getting rid of things.
I made a garbage pasta...It had the last jar of pasta sauce in the house, some leftover tomato products (puree, paste, etc) from various recent recipes. Plus leftover sour cream, a bunch of ricotta and some "hot" Italian sausage, from Dahls. I also used two types of pasta...because they've been in the cupboard for a while. I turned out pretty well, sort of a creamy tomato sauce.
I had every intention of making tuna salad, but when I looked there was no tuna, so I made egg salad instead. I used some roasted red peppers that I had bought for something else, to get them out of the fridge.
I tried the Vande Rose Farms Artisan Dry Cured Bacon when we had scrambled eggs and bacon. The bacon was very good.
But now the fridge is mostly empty, I was able to clean it yesterday morning, and all of the meat that was frozen in the freezer, is now used and gone.
So now, I can build back up again.