Recipe Catch Up - Week of 8/16

Okay, September's over tomorrow, and I'm still on August's recipes. I am determined to catch up this week! Plus, I am planning on making this week's recipe tonight, so I'll have another one to add!

I got this recipe from the "Grubfest" episode of Paula Deen's show. I love that episode, only in part due to the fact that her sons, Jamie and Bobby are on it. Boy, are they cute! I've had this recipe in my Food Network "recipe box" for quite some time and was reminded of it when the episode ran again. The original recipe calls for beef, but since I don't eat it, I substituted turkey.

Wayne's Beef & Cheddar Macaroni

from Paula Deen, the Food Network

The Photo

Here it is - doesn't it look yummy?

The Verdict

This was really good. My DH liked it a lot! As I said, I substituted turkey for the beef. I also cut the recipe in half, and it was still enough to fill my 9 x 11 casserole, so it was more than plenty of food for the two of us! I ate on it several days for lunch.

Recipe Catch-Up, Week of 8/9 - Chicken Parmesan

I am very excited to share the awesome dinner party I threw last weekend for Alec's birthday. But, before I do, I am making myself finish catching up on the Recipe of the Week backlog. Also, I have not downloaded the pictures from the dinner and I don't know where Alec put the card reader.

Anyway . . .

The week of 8/9, I tried my hand a Chicken Parmesan. I got the recipe from a cookbook I've had for 2.5 years, but haven't used yet, Stirring Performances from the Junior League of Winston-Salem.

Chicken Parmesan with Herbed Tomato Sauce
from Stirring Performances by The Junior League of Winston-Salem

Ingredients
3/4 c. dry bread crumbs
1/3 c. fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
4 chicken breast halves
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/4 t. oregano
1/4 t. thyme
1/4 t. basil
4 slices mozzarella cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Wash chicken and dip in egg, then coat in bread crumb mixture.

Heat oil in a skillet and saute garlic over medium heat. Add chicken and brown 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken and drain on paper towels.

Arrange chicken in 5x8-inch casserole. In a small bowl, stir seasonings into the tomato sauce and pour over chicken. Top with mozzarella slices.

Cover casserole and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve.

The Verdict
(No pictures. I forgot.)

The only thing I would do differently is maybe reduce the amount of breadcrumbs a bit. I might try Panko breadcrumbs next time. I just thought it needed to be a little less "bready." I also used grated mozzarella b/c I forgot to buy slices and it's quicker to grate from the block of cheese than to cut it into a bunch of slices. Thus, it melted a lot faster and was pretty much incorporated into the sauce by the time it was done.

Overall, though, it was a successful dish. Alec said he could eat it every week. Which I guess is a pretty strong endorsement. I haven't made it since then, but I have it on the list for next week!

We had a pool party to go to, and the main dish was going to be barbecue. I had checked ahead of time and those in charge of ordering the food were pretty sure they had only ordered beef, pork and ham. None of which I will eat. So, I decided to bring a salad. I found this black bean and corn salad on the Food Network site.

Black Bean and Corn Salad
from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray, Food Network.

Once again, I forgot to take a photo.

The Verdict
It was good, but not fabulous. I got compliments on it at the party, but I wasn't super happy with the flavors myself. I forgot that I was out of cumin, so I substituted some Mexican oregano I had left over from another recipe. So, the flavor was slightly different that intended in the original recipe. I personally was not a fan of the red onion. I think if I make it again, I will use a sweet onion. I used a mixed yellow and white corn, I think from Bird's Eye that was really good.

Recipe Catch Up - Week of 8/2 - Spaghetti Carbonara

This was another Robin Miller recipe from Food Network

I didn't really make an changes, so I'll send you to straight to the Food Network website:

Spaghetti Carbonara
from Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller on the Food Network

The Photo
Here's a photo. Doesn't it look yummy? I served it just with bread from our fabulous grocery store bakery.



The Verdict
This was so good! I loved it, my husband loved it! And, it was super easy. My one change was to use angel hair pasta instead of spaghetti, because we like it better.

The only thing I will say is stay pretty true to the amount of cheese in the sauce. I recently made it again, and there was just a bit of a chunk of Parmesan cheese left, so I used it all, without really measuring. It was clearly way more than 1/4 cup, because the sauce was way too thick. It was almost the consistency of paste! But, I just thinned it out with some more milk and it was all good.

Recipe Catch Up - Week of 7/26: Chili Lime Chicken & Veggie Tacos

That last post was short, plus if I don't get caught up soon, I never will so I figured I'd do another one!

At the end of July, my husband had a new co-worker move to town. We welcomed her and her husband to town with a taco buffet! They moved here from California & have lived in Arizona, so it's not like they don't know what Mexican food is, but I still thought tacos were a good welcome to Texas!

I didn't do it just like the recipe, so below is my adaptation. Click on the link to get the original recipe!

Chili Lime Chicken & Veggie Tacos
Adapted from Good Things Catered by Katie

Ingredients
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 green peppers
1 red pepper
1 large vidallia onion
1/4 c. fresh lime juice (1 large lime or two small limes)
1 tsp fresh lime zest
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp chili powder (less if you want less spice)
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
family pack of flour taco sized tortillas
other taco fixings as desired

Directions
Get the grill started. Or, have your husband do it.

Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness. Place in a Ziploc bag & set aside.

In a large bowl, combine lime juice, zest, olive oil, chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, and paprika. Whisk to combine thoroughly.

Pour marinade into the bag with the chicken and squish it around to get the chicken coated with marinade. Put in the fridge to marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, julienne the peppers, and slice the onion into 1/2 inch rounds (keeping onion rounds intact). Lay out a long piece of foil. Place the veggies on half of it and sprinkle with line juice, olive oil & spices. Fold the other half of the foil over & roll the edges to make a cooking packet.

Grill the chicken (take it out of the plastic bag, first!). When it's about 1/2 way done, put the veggie packet on the grill.

When the chicken is cooked, take it off the grill and let it stand for 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, make foil packets of about 10 tortillas each & heat them on the grill.

After chicken as rested for about 7 minutes, slice on the diagonal.

Serve with peppers, onion, extra lime wedges, tortillas and other taco fixings. (We had red salsa, green salsa, Mexican-blend shredded cheese, Chipotle Cheddar shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream & tortilla chips. I also served black beans)


The Photos
Here are a couple of photos of the taco buffet!

Gotta love the sour cream served right out of the container. At this point, I had also forgotten to put out the cheese. So, that got served straight out of the Sargento bags. Martha Stewart would not be proud. You can barely see them there in the back, but at least I had fiesta-themed napkins!

The Verdict
Well, everyone said they were good! You are supposed to only use about 2/3 of the marinade on the chicken, and the rest on the veggies, but I just didn't read my recipe all the way through so I didn't do that. Hence the fact that I just squeezed some lime juice and sprinkled spices over them. I think I'd used all the chili powder in the original marinade, which is why I didn't make more. The original recipe calls for them to be cooked in a grill pan but we don't have one, which is why we did the foil packet. I also think they'd be good done in a grill basked (we don't have one of those, either). Anyway, they will definitely be made again!

Recipe Catch Up - Week of 7/19: Chicken & Pepper Jack Taquitos

This one was part of my Mexican food kick that I went on in July & the beginning of August.

We had the new camera by this point, but I guess I forgot to take a picture. We must have been really hungry!

It was from the Food Network, and I didn't make many changes, so I'll just provide the link. Robin Miller is my new favorite Food Network host. Her recipes, for the most part, are really easy. On each show, she focuses on 3 dishes you can make for quick weeknight meals. Often, this involves cooking up a batch of something early in the week and then using the leftovers in a new way later. I haven't done a full shows worth of recipes yet, but even on their own, the recipes are quick and delicious.

Chicken & Pepper Jack Taquitos
Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller, Food Network

I do remember that they were very spicy. Next time, I will probably do half Pepper Jack and half plain Jack cheese. We also did flour tortillas because we like them better than corn.