Quick Pozole p.81

This had very good flavor- very easy to make, but since we don't like many soups around our house- I drained most of the liquid off at the end and served it in hot flour tortillas, like a pork taco- it was a huge hit! 

I could have tooped with with more cilantro and sour cream, but didn't have any :)

Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo (page 89)

My husband loved the flavor of this gumbo, and I liked how quickly I got it on the table for dinner. For the Creole spice mixture, I used Zatarain's because it was the cheapest I could find. To make it seem like there was more shrimp, I cut up each jumbo shrimp into 3 or 4 pieces. If you do this remember to watch the shrimp because they will cook even faster and you don’t want them to get chewy. Also, make sure you don’t rush step 1; the roux is the most important aspect of the gumbo. Since this was so fast to make, I had extra time to butter some toast for dipping.  We decided that the next time I make this I will add crawfish and some corn for more flavor.

30-Minute Chicken Tangine (page 77)

Of course I chose to cook this recipe because it is on one of the picture pages. This meal smelled delicious; it took all my energy to wait until dinner to dive in. Just like the note says, the sauce is both sweet and savory. I forgot to include onion in mine, but will try to remember it next time. Like I’ve said before, I don’t like to microwave my chicken so I grilled mine before adding it to the sauce. I think grilling the chicken added a nice texture to the meal and didn’t take up too much more time. I served the chicken over couscous and we gobbled it up! My favorite part of the meal was the chick peas, yum-o!

Quick Cheesy Ravioli Bake (page 177), Creamy Caesar Dressing (page 25), & Garlic Toast (page 90)

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted anything that I have been cooking. We had company and things got a little out of control, but I’m back now and I have a lot of cooking adventures to share with y’all. I’m going to try to remember everything, but still keep it quick and to the point.

On this particular night I must to have been feeling pretty brave because I attempted 3 new recipes. Best advice for the ravioli is to READ the recipe. I had a major blonde moment that my sister has had a blast laughing over. For some reason when I read the recipe instead of reading “ravioli” I read “ricotta.” I think I must to have assumed that I was going to be making homemade ravioli? What was I thinking? This is a 30-minute cookbook! No way was I getting homemade ravioli in 30 minutes! So anyways, I had to do a last minute switch up and just use penne (because I already had it) and dump the ricotta I bought into the sauce. It’s kind of like ravioli, but in a different shape, right? No one complained about the taste, so everything besides the shape of the noodles, I can attest to being pretty easy and delicious.

I served a Caesar salad with dinner. I was not a fan of the dressing, but everyone else seemed to like it. I omitted the anchovies because I’m weird.....I can’t eat those little fish. Eek! It’s entirely possible that this is why I didn’t like the dressing. Maybe I actually do like anchovies in my dressing! (gasp!)

The first time I flipped through the cookbook I didn’t see the little garlic toast recipe box. To be honest though, I don’t think you need the box. There isn’t anything in this recipe that you don’t already know on how to make your own garlic bread.

Ok that was NOT short. Let me try again: All in all, a good meal and under 30-minutes

Fast All- American Beef Chili

This was super easy to make- I really like how they explained why they used the tomatoes they did, and why to put them through the blender- I really like the consistency of this chili- I usually use diced tomatoes and it's too chunky- I'll be doing this trick again...

But...using my own chili seasonings- these cooks must not be from the south, because even for me who hates spicy foods, this was bland!  I added probably triple the chili powder and it still wasn't enough-

I really like the boxed 2 alarm chili mix from the grocery store :)

30-Minute Pork Vindaloo (page 83)

This has been a week of firsts for me. On Tuesday I made Hungarian for the first time and tonight I made my first Indian dish. I’m loving this!

The biggest issue I had with this recipe was finding the spices. First I went to Kroger for the garam masala and couldn’t find it. Then while I was flipping through our cookbook I found a recipe for garam masala on page 56. Since I still needed 2 of the ingredients to make my own (coriander and cardamom), my husband and I walked to Central Market to pick them up. When we found them in the spice section our jaws hit the floor at the sight of the price tag. It was going to cost us $16 just to make the spice I originally wanted. We decided that it wasn’t worth it and we would just pretend it was there. Then we walked over to the coffee section (we’re BIG fans) to get our weekly coffee. Since the coffee section is adjacent to the make-your-own spice section, we decided to check if garam masala was there. *It was there, AND for $5.99/lb!* So I got more than I will ever use probably for only 42 cents!!!! So the problem was solved and we didn’t have to pretend! It was certainly a hunt but well worth it. I was expecting the spice to be really hot, but instead it had a sweet flavor. I served the vindaloo over whole-wheat rice with naan crackers. I was pleasantly surprised with how well this dish turned out. I especially liked the flavor that the cilantro added to the dish.

30-Minute Chicken Paprikash (page 74)

This was my first brush with Hungarian and I think the stew was pretty good. This was another recipe that said to cook the chicken in the microwave; I still couldn’t bring myself to do that, and boiled it on the stove instead. Other than that, this was a pretty straight forward recipe. We shredded the chicken so that it would have more of a “stew” feel to it at the end.

Maque Choux with Chicken and Kielbasa (pg. 80)

I made this a couple weeks ago and thought I'd be the first one to post about it.....and then Darby beat me to it!  :)  We really liked this dish and would make it again.  I have never in my life heard of "maque choux" and as the book says and Darby mentioned, it is a Cajun dish that "few people outside of Lousiana have ever heard of."  My husband is Lousiana born and raised and even he had never heard of this...I guess he isn't very "Cajun" afterall!

The one boo-boo I made was putting too much chicken in it.  How could that be a boo-boo, you might ask....well, it's supposed to be a rich stew...and mine was not "stew-y" at all!  I guesstimated (incorrectly) on the 1 pound of chicken it calls for and I probably actually put closer to 2 lbs, so there was not enough liquid to make it a stew.  I actually added more chicken broth at the end after I'd added the chicken and realized that I'd put too much...and there was still not enough liquid.  BUT, it had a great flavor anyway so we still enjoyed it!  Just make sure you don't over-do the chicken like I did!

Maque Choux (page 80)

The note said that very few are aware of this dish outside of Louisiana. I think we fall into this category: not only have we never heard of this dish, but we don’t even know how to pronounce it. However, this was another delicious one-pot dinner. I can’t believe how easy it was to make, yet still so flavorful. We absolutely loved this dinner and will certainly make it again. I used Hillshire Farms Polish Turkey Kielbasa and it was fantastic!

30-Minute Chicken Fricassee with Mushrooms (page 76)

This meal is so good you are going to want to lick your plate- I kid you not! I have no idea why I picked this recipe, but I did, & it was wonderful. Instead of microwaving the chicken I boiled it, & I added a little bit more bacon (because for real, who opens a pack of bacon for only 1 piece?!) Anyways, this is delicious & you’ve got to add this to your to-cook list.

Quick White Chicken Chili (page 79)

This dish definitely took me a lot longer than 30 minutes....I would say I was pushing an hour. I don’t feel like I did anything differently than I normally do while I am cooking, but it may not take everyone as long as it took me. For the ingredients I couldn’t find hominy (maybe I was looking in the wrong section of the store?) so I got cannellini beans instead. For the peppers, I used 2 jalapenos & included a forth of the seeds/membrane. Before this dish I had never used Anaheim peppers before & I thought I would have a hard time finding them. However, they were sitting right next to the green bell peppers that I purchase all the time, so clearly this issue here was that I have never seen Anaheim peppers because I have never looked for Anaheim peppers. Ha! The instructions say to put all of the peppers & onions in a food processor; admittedly, I didn’t do this because I was in a lazy mood & didn’t want to dirty another dish. I just quickly chopped them & I think it was fine.

I made this late one night & tried it quickly before putting it in the fridge for lunches. It wasn’t bad but I wasn’t that impressed either. When my husband came home from work the next day the first thing he said was “that chicken stuff was great”. I went back to the fridge for a second sample & I have to say it was much better the next day. So I would suggest letting the ingredients mingle before serving.

Chicken Fricassee with Artichokes and Leeks

I made this for my hubby, son and brother in law last week and if my husband had kept his mouth shut about their being artichokes in it, they would have all devoured it!  Instead they picked through the sauce, but ate all of the chicken.   It was super yummy and easy to make.  We usually eat white chicken breasts, but the juciness and smoothness of the bone-in thigh chicken was a yummy treat!  It took right at 30 minutes from start to table.  A success in my eyes!