Dhaba Chicken Curry (p74 March 2011 Food & Wine)

Raided the last of my standard long cook rice (Basmati) and the last of my quick cook rice (have around for lazy times) to put this on top of it.  I modified the recipe a bit (didn't feel like I wanted to a partial can of tomato sauce left over, and because of that I ended up adding a bit more spice too.  I also used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts.  I do sort of disagree with how this recipe was made though.  Usually, when I make things, you may cook the chicken first, give it a nice sear, then rest it as you cook the veggies and spices and when you add liquid you scrape up the fond from the pan.  This did not work that way.  You end up, basically, boiling the chicken.  To me, that doesn't seem like the best way to do it.  It would probably be better the other way, even if it was just 5-15%.  Oh well.  It still tasted pretty good, but could probably be better.

Breakfast Burritos with Chorizo and Eggs (p38 March 2011 Bon Appétit)

I over cooked this a little, I'll admit that right off the bat.  But even so, this turned out pretty well, though it's probably not the best thing in the world for you.  Oh well, when was that ever a criteria for me?

Taco Salad

After game night, we were left with a few things.  This included a bag of tortilla chips, so I though, hey, why not have some Taco salad.  So last week I made up some chickpeas in some tomato gravy.  As I was about to add some beans to my ground chicken and onion mixture and I thought, hey, that leftover chickpea dish might work here.  So in it went.  I added some more tex-mex style spices (chili powder, cayenne, ancho, etc) and eventually my mixture tasted pretty good.  The chickpeas stood up pretty well to their second cooking and I got rid of some leftovers.  So it worked out for the best.  Some spinach and arugula with some salsa, avocado and sour cream.  Delicious.  I also had this for breakfast or lunch for a few days (one day I had to be home for lunch to be there while an estimate came in).

Pimiento Mac and Cheese (p38 March 2011 Bon Appétit)

I was not able to find any pappadew peppers (though I didn't look that hard).  When I went to get us some things for dinner on Saturday, I ended up finding them there, but by that time it was well and truly too late.  So I used these jarred pimento peppers that I found, but I've used them before and they are nearly tasteless, and certainly didn't add much to this recipe.  This was a strange, though relatively easy way to make the mac and cheese sauce, but even with that, I think it turned out to be just ok...and maybe that was the lack of the title ingredient that it is looking for.  The sauce didn't end up being creamy, like it should be, it was still a bit, perhaps, broken?  Who knows.  Shannon seemed to like it (she finished it off).

 Pimiento Mac and Cheese

Deviled Creamy Egg Salad (p24 April / May 2011 Cook's Country)

I added more spices then this called for, but I like that.  It was a good idea and a nice path to make it.  With the egg yolks not totally firm, but a little under made the salad a bit creamier.  I liked it, Shannon liked it, perhaps we'll make another version of this again.

Breakfast Casserole for Two (p5 April / May 2011 Cook's Country)

Quick and simple, though I made it for dinner, so it worked out well there too.