Friday, January 15, 2010

Today's Special: Try it You'll Like it!

So this week my intention was to just make a bunch of tried and true recipes. This ended up being a lot harder than I thought because I realized there were so many new recipes I wanted to try. But, I did manage to do 3 'tried and true' recipes and 2 new ones. Everything turned out really good this week, just the way I like it.

Sunday: Bow Ties with Sausage, Tomato, and Cream- New Recipe. Somehow I managed to whip this up with stuff I had on hand. It was fairly quick to make and tasted great. Seth said it was one of the best things I've made for a while. Probably because it's not healthy in the slightest.




Monday: Sherried Sardine Toast- New Recipe. Seth & I saw this on one of my favorite cooking shows, Good Eats (gotta love Alton Brown). It looked really good, but a little scary, so I decided to give it a shot. Plus, you know how guys love to eat fish that come in tins. This was really really good. If you decide to make this, make sure you buy the exact same sardines (bristling sardines, 2-layer, packed in olive oil) stated in the recipe. I think the regular ones are fishier or something and don't work as well. I substituted balsamic vinegar for sherry vinegar because I couldn't find it, but I thought it matched well with the other ingredients. I also didn't let the mixture marinate for 45 minutes because I was about to starve to death. It ended up being more like 5 minutes, which I thought might compromise the flavor, but I didn't think there was any negative effect on taste. This wasn't near as fishy or scary as I thought it'd be. I would definitely make this again.



Tuesday: Chicken Shrimp & Andouille Jambalaya- Old Favorite. Ok, so it's not that old of a recipe... probably within the last year. But it's good enough and easy enough that I've made it several times already. Probably one of my very favorite recipes. It seems like I keep tweaking it everytime I make it. This time I used turkey kielbasa sausage instead of the andouille and I really liked it. Kielbasa is pretty cheap and the turkey kind is a lot healthier and doesn't taste weird or anything. Make this stuff, you'll love it!




Wednesday: Black Bean Soup- I've made this before and decided to make it again this week so I could use up some celery. Plus it was about time for some soup and a 'meatless' meal is always good on the budget.



Thursday:  Garden Tomato and Basil Pesto Pizza- I've made this before and think it's a great, quick easy meal for busy nights. I used a bit more pesto sauce (I use Classico brand because it's fairly cheap and tastes really good) than the recipe calls for because I can't really taste it otherwise. I also got ahead of myself and put the basil on before I cooked it. It still tasted fine, but next time I'll be sure to remember to add it after the pizza is baked.

I also decided the Boboli pizza crusts are far superior to the Mama Mary ones I've bought recently. The Boboli crust has a lot more flavor and it's a bit puffier. If you like the flatter crispier crusts, you'll probably like Mama Mary brand. I would stick with their regular crust though, not the wheat one. It tasted weird and overpowered the ingredients.  I guess you could make your own crust (I like this recipe), but then this wouldn't be nearly as fast to make.



Friday: Leftovers

4 comments:

It's Me said...

All of the food looks yummy...except the sardine toast thing. Maybe you should make it for a Daddy/Daughter date and go on a picnic with Dad.

I can't believe you even made that recipe! Sardines are the devil! They totally remind me of our rule growing up. If you complain about what's for dinner, you have to eat sardines. Lucky for you...you happened to like Sardines.

Rachel said...

I showed this pics to the lady half of my boss (they're a married couple) and she was all, "She should submit those photos to Better Homes and Gardens!"

Karen said...

Sardines taste fine, they just LOOK gross. It's all in your head! (Although this is coming from a person who hasn't been brave enough to try Kipper Snacks yet).

Rachel, I always knew you were my favorite :D

Collette said...

I plan to try all of these. Thanks for finding (and tweaking) all the good recipes so I don't have to!