Blue-Cheese-Crusted Steaks with Red Wine Sauce

Source
Epicurious

My Review
I've made this before, but not for well over a year. It is a terrific recipe to go with filet mignon and the red wine sauce is fairly easy (except for the chopping of shallots which kills my eyes). In addition to tasting great, it also looks quite fancy so the return on the minimal effort is huge.

Taste: Excellent
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 20 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger & Shiitakes

Source
Epicurious

My Review
Made this despite the fact that D had a dinner he forgot to tell me about ... I really *am* maturing! I would rate this as good, but I like the baked version better with some sweet peppers minced very finely on top. The shiitake mushrooms were quite nice with it, but the ginger wasn't as much to my liking.

Taste: Very Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 15 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Sole Piccata with Grapes and Capers

Source
Epicurious

My Review
I very much liked this recipe. Sole, at least when I've made it, doesn't have a lot of flavor, but this super easy sauce adds a lot of oomph. It's a sweet sauce, so if you don't like sweet, then you won't like it. I think the capers also added a lot. D thought it was OK, but nothing special. I gobbled mine up. I used Italian parsley rather than regular parsley.

Taste: Very Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 10 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Menu 3/19 - 3/22

• Sole Piccata with Grapes and Capers
• Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Shiitakes
• Roast Chicken (repeat)
• Skillet Lasagna (repeat)
  

Menu 3/5 - 3/8

• Chilean Sea Bass
• Chicken Breast Pierre
• Trout
• Roast Chicken
  

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Pine Nuts and Bacon

Source
Chez Mégane (she adapted it from an allrecipes.com recipe)

My Review
Excellent. Even if you typically don't like Brussels sprouts (and, yes, it appears that "Brussels" should be pluralized and capitalized - I looked it up), if you don't despise vegetables in general, you'll probably like this dish. D loved it when I made it for him on Thursday and we decided to add it to our Oscar party line-up as the dish for The Queen (I think of Brussels sprouts as being rather English based on my in-laws insistence that I must serve them for Christmas dinner).

Clearly, I substituted turkey bacon for the bacon given that D doesn't eat pig. Also, I found that shredding them using the slicing tool in a food processor was MUCH easier than using a mandolin or slicing by hand. Toasting the pine nuts is also key, though I found it much easier to toast them with a bit of olive oil in the pan. If you've never toasted pine nuts though, be careful: they burn very easily so you have to do it over low heat and watch carefully to remove them when lightly browned because they keep cooking after you remove them from heat.

Taste: Excellent
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 10 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Sea Bass in Papillote

Source
Epicurious (Gourmet, January 2007)

My Review
Absolutely stunning ... and I even screwed it up by forgetting to buy tomatoes. I ended up subbing finely chop sweet red peppers for the onion and that worked out perfectly. The recipe calls for black sea bass or striped bass - I used Chilean sea bass and it was delicious. It had a full, robust flavor and tasted like something I'd get at a fine restaurant. A definite repeat and quite healthy, though Chilean sea bass = not cheap.

I served it with rice and green beans, but next time I'll serve it on a bed of pureed sweet potatoes. The sweet red peppers were excellent, so I'm not sure if I'll try it with the grape tomatoes or not.

Taste: Excellent
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 20 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Thyme

Curried Butternut Squash Bisque

Source
Bon Appétit, February 2007

My Review
This turned out quite well, despite the fact that I got half way into it and realized I had no chicken stock. I substituted vegetable broth and that seems to have worked just fine. I also used Red Thai Curry rather than Red Thai Curry Paste ... not sure if there's a difference. I think next time I'll put in a bit more of the curry to give it slightly more kick, but it's got a nice, smooth texture and plenty of taste such that it's not bland, as I've found is a problem with butternut squash soups. I didn't put the sour cream on it since it wasn't too spicy. I also skipped the cilantro since I was too lazy to chop some up.

Taste: Very Good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 2 hours (mostly cooking time)
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Moroccan-Style Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew

Source:
Epicurious

My Review:
Absolutely dreadful. Part of the problem, I think, was that I added too many vegetables thus forcing me to add more chicken broth and diluting the spices since I didn't add more of those. Anyway, it was flavorless and not good. I don't even think it was worth trying again and following the recipe exactly.

Taste: Horrible
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 45 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Parsnip Soup

Source:
Epicurious

My Review:
Very tasty soup! It's also quite sweet, so would be best served with a sandwich that is not sweet to offset the flavor a bit. Maybe with a spinach salad and a half turkey sandwich? I put the soup in the food processor rather than the blender and that seemed to work very well. I'll definitely make this again - very easy, particularly because I thought to use the mandolin to cut the carrot, celery, and parsnips very thinly.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 45 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Menu 1/29 - 2/2

A bit late to post, but here it is:

• Turkey Loaf (didn't end up making it last week)
• Steak with Grilled Vegetables and Baked Potato
• Parsnip Soup, Sautéed Trout, Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Moroccan-Style Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew
• Curried Butternut Squash Bisque
  

Roasted Game Hens with Caramelized Root Vegetables and Dried-Currant Sauce

Source:
Epicurious

My Review:
This was all right, but not worth all the effort. The root vegetable mixture was quite good and hearty, so I think I might make that as a dish in itself sometime, leaving out the roasted chestnuts and adding maybe cashews or some other nut to get it some more heft.

Taste: Good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Many
Time: 1.5 hours plus marinating time
Fresh herbs needed: Thyme

Menu 1/22 - 1/26

• Roasted Game Hens with Caramelized Root Vegetables and Dried-Currant Sauce
• Skillet Lasagna
• Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad
• Grilled Buffalo Steaks with Grilled Veggies and Baked Potato
• Turkey Loaf
  

Broccoli & Parmesan Casserole

Source:
Cooking Light

My Review:
This wasn't bad, but I don't think it was an entrée since it's not that hearty of a dish. The flavor was good, but it could have used a bit more kick.


Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Spicy Chicken and Hominy Ragout

Source:
Epicurious

My Review:
This is an excellent recipe for those times when you've failed to buy dinner. All you need are chicken breasts, a can of Mexican stewed tomatoes, some chili powder, and some frozen corn. I wasn't able to find hominy when I looked in the store, so I make it with sweet corn. We typically eat this with rice. This is border line between Very Good and Good.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 15 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Chickpea Curry

Source:
Allrecipes (via RG)

My Review:
This wasn't quite to our palette, however, we didn't try it with the yogurt because neither of us are overly fond of yogurt. Next time, I will add the yogurt to see if that makes a significant difference.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Menu: 1/2 - 1/7

I'm making my first attempt in a while to plan for and make meals over the weekend and assuming we'll out only once this weekend. Lofty goal for us.

• Chickpea Curry
• Broccoli and Parmesan Casserole
• Spicy Chicken & Hominy Ragout
• Zuppa Osso Buco
• Quinoa Pilaf & Curried Sweet Potatoes
  

Salmon En Croute

Source:
The F Word - Gordon Ramsey show on BBCA

My Review:
It was good, however, too much fat in it. I think I would do less butter and perhaps some other sort of additional filling ingredient to reduce use of butter.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Thyme

Menu: 12/22 - 12/25

• Salmon En Croute, Creamed Leeks, Boiled New Potatoes
• Roasted Rack of Lamb with Mint Sauce, Roasted Butternut Squash, Red Grapes, and Sage, Couscous with Raisins and Pinenuts, Roasted Potatoes
• Prime Rib, Brussel Spouts, Parsnips, and Roasted Potatoes (again)
  

Mac & Cheese w/ Chicken & Broccoli

Source:
Epicurious

My Review:
D loved this - I didn't like it very much - probably because I am not obsessed with cheese as it seems most other people are. It's also very fattening. Fairly easy to make.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Chives

Menu 11/27 - 11/30

• Southwestern Couscous Salad (repeat)
• Skillet Lasagna (repeat)
• Mac and Cheese with Chicken & Broccoli (new)
  

Cheater Lasagna

Source:
D's recipe

My Review:
Super easy, quite tasty, very fattening.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 45 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Menu 10/30 -11/2

Menu for this week - all repeats.

• Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad
• Baked Stuffed Shells
• Roast Chicken (always a good standby)
• Turkey Feta Burgers

Chicken Cashew Chili

Source
Epicurious

My Review
This is a dish I've made many times before. Along with the Japanese Beef Stew, I made it for the Comfort Food themed holiday party D and I hosted last year. It's not the easiest thing to make, but not that hard, either. Doesn't look that appetizing when finished, but tastes delicious. If you are planning to freeze it or save it for a period of time in the refrigerator, I would recommend not putting the cashews that you add at the end until it's time to eat. They get soggy. Note: still put the cashews in the chili sauce at the beginning of the recipe.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Many
Time: 60+ minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Southwestern Couscous Salad

Source
Cooking Light - October 2006

My Review
Both D and I very much enjoyed this recipe, which is saying quite a bit because normally D dislikes couscous. I made it with chicken instead of turkey. I also used a sun-dried tomato & spinach couscous rather than just plain couscous (the store was out of plain) - not sure how that impacted flavor, but it was very pretty looking. The frozen corn I used was petite white corn, which is typically sweeter than regular corn. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. I highly recommend this as a quick, easy, fairly healthy dinner that reheats well.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 15 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Ratatouille Bread Pudding

Source
Cooking Light - October 2006

My Review
I was pleasantly surprised by this. I took a chance on this one since I haven't liked eggplant when I've tried it in the past. However, that was a good 5 years ago, so I decided to try it again. It was actually quite good. Plus, it's vegetarian (not vegan), which is always good for the environment. I think I prefer it to the Beef Ratatouille Pie. It's a large recipe, so would be good for leftovers.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Many
Time: 60+ minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Basil

Chicken Breast Pierre

Source
Allrecipes.com

My Review
This is the meal that I made when Vic & Mike came over for dinner a few years ago and I drank a bottle of wine myself and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night throwing up. It took a few years for me to be able to eat this recipe again because I associated the taste with that night. Anyway, it was unusually good last night. I didn't measure anything out, so I think I put in a bit more Tabasco than was called for. Whatever I did, it tasted much better than I remember it. Oh, I also used Italian style stewed tomatoes, rather than just plain stewed tomatoes. Maybe that made a difference. This is a great recipe for weekends because the only fresh ingredient needed is chicken and those could be thawed from frozen if necessary. Anyway, a great and easy recipe. I would recommend serving with plain rice or some other carb that allows the excess sauce to be soaked up and eaten.

Taste: Very Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 40 minutes (mostly cook time)
Fresh herbs needed: None

Banana Bread

Source
My mom

My Review
Best when made with very ripe bananas.

Japanese Beef Stew

Source
Epicurious

My Review
This is always a tasty meal. It was one of the dishes I made for the 25+ person dinner party we had last December. It's also fairly cheap since 1.5 lb of beef chuck costs about $6 at Whole Foods (i.e. it would be much cheaper at a more conventional grocery store). It's also quite easy to make, though you need to get it started about 1.5 hours before it is to be served... most of that is cook time.

Taste: Excellent
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 60 minutes (mostly cook time)
Fresh herbs needed: None

Menu 10/3 - 10/5

Again, another week of non-new stuff, but since it's new to the blog...

• Japanese Beef Stew (repeat)
  
• Skillet Lasagna (repeat - see this post for review)
• Chicken Breast Pierre (repeat)
  

Roast Chicken

Source
Epicurious (Thomas Keller recipe)

My Review
Have made this one many times now. It's so amazingly easy and delicious. I always feel so fancy when I make it, but it's so freakin' simple! Love it.

Taste: Excellent
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 60 minutes (almost all cook time ... about 5 minutes of prep total)
Fresh herbs needed: None

Cottage Pie

Source
D's recipe

My Review
I like this one because it's very easy to make and has few ingredients, so I can always pick those up at the grocery store without a list. Not exactly low-cal, but not too bad if you buy the extra lean ground beef and drain the fat after cooking.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Menu 9/26 - 9/28

I'm not really prepared with menus this week. Last night I made Cottage Pie and I think we'll have it for left overs tonight. I think I'll do roast chicken tomorrow night ... not much in the mood for creativity this week.

• Cottage Pie (repeat)
• Roast Chicken (repeat)

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

Source
Cooking Light (August 2006)

My Review
D really liked this one. I couldn't find any cherry tomatoes, so substituted regular tomatoes. I think the cherry tomatoes would have given it a little more tang. However, it was very good and relatively healthy. Also, it was extremely easy to make.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Many
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Cilantro

Spinach Fettuccine

Source
Cooking Light (August 2006)

My Review
We enjoyed this quite a bit, though probably not the best for volume eaters like D since when you double or triple the portion size, the fat adds up. However, it was easy to make and tasted delicious. Next time I make this, I'll use fresh fettuccine rather than the dried pasta. I substituted turkey bacon for regular bacon, of course.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: less than 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Stuffed Shells

Source
Cooking Light (August 2006)

My Review
Despite screwing up the shell portion of the recipe (forgot the tofu, then forgot to cook the shells before stuffing them ... duh!), this turned out excellent. I will definitely try this one again, doing it correctly next time. Would be a good one to do at the end of a week to have left overs for the weekend. I used chicken sausage with spinach and feta vs. turkey sausage. It was a fair amount of work, but mostly because I didn't think ahead on some things.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Many
Time: 60+ minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Menu 9/12 -9/14

Menus for this week all come from the August 2006 issue of Cooking Light magazine, which also happens to have how to make homemade pudding during a time when I'm really craving pudding (bastards!). I'll scan the recipes and link to them after I make each one:

• Spinach Fettuccine (new)
• Baked Stuffed Shells (new)
• Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad (new)
  

Beef Ratatouille Pie

Source
Colorado Collage cookbook p. 236

My Review
This is the second time I've made this dish and it's very good. The only problem is that it's actually a lot of work to make. There are a lot of ingredients and a lot of various prep with batches of ingredients. However, it must be fairly healthy. I haven't done a calorie count of it, but it's mostly vegetables (onions, red onions, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, red peppers, green peppers) and then 1.25 lb ground beef, of which I use the leanest there is at the store - 4%. Anyway, it's good for leftovers, too. Next time I make it, I'll make it on Thursday so we have leftovers for the weekend. I have also left out the eggplant since I don't like eggplant. I will try it with the eggplant next time as it's been a good 4 years since I've tried eggplant.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Medium
Ingredients: Many
Time: 60+ minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Week of 9/5 - 9/7

I went grocery shopping with no list and only one recipe in mind. Never a good idea for me. Therefore, we're repeating a recipe from just a couple of weeks ago. Since D gets home late on Thursday night, I only have dinner for Tuesday and Wednesday.

• Beef Ratatouille Pie (repeat) - Source: Colorado Collage cookbook p. 236
• Turkey Feta Burgers (repeat)
  

Almond Crusted Chicken Cutlets with Scallion Beurre Blanc

Source
Rachael Ray 30 minute meals - click here for the recipe.

My Review
The chicken was very good, as was the sauce. The only problem is the amount of butter and cream in use. There's no way this could be a monthly recipe due to that factor alone. I served it with rice and roasted red peppers (which turned out awful because they were too old).

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Marinated Lamb Chops

Source
Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger (Food Network website) - click here for the recipe.

My Review
D and I were not fans of this marinade. It was too lemon-y and the flavors don't go well with lamb chops. Next time, I'll just do a Dijon mustard and brown sugar coating.

Taste: Sub par
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 60 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Zuppa Ossa Buco

Source
Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals - click here for the recipe.

My Review
I struggled with this one since it calls for ground veal. I haven't eaten veal in probably about 4-5 years - maybe more. Anyway, in the end I decided that I would always wonder if the veal version is much better than a turkey version, so I made it with veal this time. Next time, I'll make it with ground turkey. Both D and I liked this recipe in terms of taste; however, I think it's, at most, a once every 2 months meal. Lots of flavor. The gremolata (which consisted of garlic, lemon zest, Italian parsley, and anchovies) definitely gave this "stoop" (that's what Rachael Ray calls something half way between a soup and a stew) a burst of flavor, so I wouldn't leave out the anchovies even though I'm not a fan of them. They get chopped up very fine and only a bit is added, so it's not a fishy flavor at all.

Edit: This stoop is actually better as a left over. Yum!

1/6/07: Just made this again. I couldn't find anchovies, so I used sardines. I forgot to buy celery, so I doubled the amount of carrots, put in a little more white wine than was called for, and used ground turkey instead of ground veal. It was absolutely delicious!

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Week of 8/28 - 8/31

I'm trying to force myself to branch out in my recipe selection, so this week's come from a variety of sources.

• Almond Crusted Chicken Cutlets with Scallion Beurre Blanc (new)
• Zuppa Ossa Buco (new)
• Marinated Lamb Chops (new) & Cheesy Zucchini and Red Onion Flatbread (new)
• Sweet Pea Risotto with Corn Broth (new)

Not sure what order I'll attack them, but it seems like a nice variety of dishes to try.

Skillet Lasagna

Source
The Washington Post - click here for the recipe.

My Review
This is a repeat recipe I've made three or four times now. This time, I used ground beef rather than chicken sausage. To be honest, I can't really tell the difference. Both taste very good. D loves this recipe. Even though it's a 45 minute recipe, it's quite easy and make for good leftovers. I've made it without the fresh Italian parsley and it turns out well, too.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Medium
Time: 45 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Italian parsley

Orange-Glazed Barbecued Chicken

Source
The Washington Post - click here for the recipe.

My Review
D was not overly fond of this dish; I suppose I wasn't either, but it was fairly easy, so that always makes it taste a bit better to me. It's just chicken with an easy marinade and brining the chicken in salt, OJ, and red pepper flakes before grilling. I probably won't do this one again.

Taste: OK
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 45 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Spaghetti alla Fantasia

Source
The Washington Post - click here for the recipe.

My Review
This dish was good, but it could have used a little more umph. I couldn't quite place it, but maybe a burst of sweetness or of spice would brighten it up a bit. Nonetheless, it was good and easy to make. You could easily substitute another cheese for the Gorgonzola (as noted in the instructions of the recipe itself). Also, I used bow-tie pasta (farfalle) instead of spaghetti because that's what I had onhand.

Taste: Good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Basil

Cheese 'n' Crackers 'n' Chicken

Source
The Washington Post - click here for the recipe.

My Review
I think this might be a good recipe to make for children. It's rather bland and pedestrian, however, it was very easy. The recipe itself calls for cooking the chicken in a skillet, which I did last night. This doesn't quite work since the cheese and crackers mixture falls off the chicken fairly easily if you are not extremely careful when turning or moving the chicken at all. I had leftovers and decided to bake that chicken. This works much better in terms of looks, though it doesn't taste as good.

Taste: OK
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: None

Turkey Feta Burgers

Source
The Washington Post - click here for the recipe.

My Review
D very much enjoyed these burgers. The recipe makes 6 burgers. Side dish of just mixed vegetables was sufficient. They're also quite good heated up. I just put the buns in the toaster intead of broiling them as recommended in the recipe. Also, the recipe calls for hard rolls which I think would be too hard given the softness of the burger; I just used regular hamburger buns (whole wheat). Instead of mayo, I prefer a little applesauce on top; D preferred the mayo. I used mint vs. basil.

Taste: Very good
Ease: Easy
Ingredients: Minimal
Time: 30 minutes
Fresh herbs needed: Mint or basil

Week of 8/21 - 8/25

I selected all of my menus for this week from The Washington Post site since I've had good luck with past recipes from this site:

• Turkey Feta Burgers (new)
• Cheese 'n' Crackers 'n' Chicken (new)
• Spaghetti alla Fantasia (new)
• Orange-Glazed Barbecued Chicken (new)