Cooking - 2011

I've decided to keep a running list of the new recipes I try out during 2011 to help keep me accountable for my NY resolution. I think it will be nice to have one spot to track my thoughts and notes.

My goals: 1) 2 new recipes a month - one that's a crock-pot dish and 2) minimize restaurant outings - stretch goal of 12X/year or less.

2011 Plans: Lettuce wraps - recipe involves peanuts - so even though I'm anxious to try it, I need to time it well for Tucker, since he's still on the no peanut regimen. Quiche. Homemade pizza. Chicken Cacciatore. Thai Pineapple Fried Rice and Yellow Curry.

February:

Tortilla Soup- 5 stars! Excellent! It was delicious! (PW recipe). I ended up using store bought tortilla chips instead of homemade, but am anxious to try the homemade tortilla strips soon! I may also add corn next time.

Chicken & Dumplings - 3 1/2 stars. I have never had chicken and dumplings but over the last month I have heard or read about the dish from a few different sources and I became quite curious. Until recently, I always thought this was an Asian dish- boy was I off-base. I think I followed the recipe very well and the meal was very tasty. This was a PW recipe and she uses cornmeal in the dumplings rather than buttermilk. Next time I try this, I want to try a more traditional take on the dumplings by using buttermilk.

BBQ Chicken in crock-pot. It is quite possible that this meal hit the top 10 favorites for Owen and Tucker and also one of the easiest meals I have ever made. I used apple cider instead of water or chicken broth in the crock-pot with frozen chicken breasts. Cooked on low while I was at work. Came home. Added bbq sauce and served with veggies, fruit, and bread. All 3 of the boys had seconds. I can only imagine how good this would be with homemade sauce.

Roast Chicken with veggies- 5 stars! My hair stylist and I usually spend the majority of the time it takes to cut my hair - talking about cooking. She inspired me to make the Barefoot Contessa's roast chicken. It was out of this world. I have always wanted to make a full-bird recipe and I'm so glad I finally did it. It is easy and will become a a regular for us.

Smashed potatoes (PW recipe) - very good. I cooked a giant bag of potatoes so the timing was off and the portions required for the recipe were a bit off, but they were still very good. Next time, I'll try to actually follow the recipe to see if I can make it great. Kris enjoyed them more than regular mashed potatoes which is no surprise since the recipe called for bacon.

Chicken Fried Steak- "F" (PW recipe) The "F" grade has nothing to do with the recipe. Nope, it was all me. It may have something to do with the fact that I have never had it before - but let's be honest, that's just a poor excuse. I did consult my local resident/good pal/great cook/local PW (Kristi) after the fact and she reassured me by telling me that perfecting this meal is much harder than it looks. I couldn't agree more. She asked me what went wrong, and I wasn't exaggerating when I wrote- everything. I think I messed up on every step: the meat was not tender enough, I didn't use enough flour or seasoning for the flour or meat, and I didn't use the right pan and was very short on the amount of oil used. I also burned the second batch before the meat cooked through and that made it impossible to make a good gravy. I tried to switch pans to finish cooking the meat in a non-scorched pan so I could attempt the gravy - bad idea. It was just terrible- actually it was beyond terrible. Somehow, we managed to eat a few bites, but most of the meal ended up in the trash. Good thing I had a side of instant stuffing and some rolls and veggies for us to eat. Thanks to Kristi's encouragement, I will try it again, but I don't think Kris is very excited about me taking this one on again any time soon.

Other - I made a few other really nice meals during the month - sausage/tortellini/veg soup- batch was super - but in the future I will make it with diced tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes. Neither of us want to eat giant chunks of tomato. RR Pesto Pasta - why has it been so long since we made this dish? It's been a favorite for a long time, but it's probably been more than 2 years since we last made it. It's on the "standard" list again.

We did eat out twice during our vacation. Once was when we were actually on vacation - we grabbed fish and chips when we met up with Brian & Andrea and the other was on our drive home after we exhausted all of our snacks. The restaurant was an old diner with out of date decor but incredible, all natural home-style food served up in gigantic portions. Definitely a good choice for one of our few restaurant experiences this year. Kris doesn't want to count either restaurant trip in our "12" because he says vacation restaurant trips are separate. I kind-of agree since I was loose on my goal definition on purpose, but we'll see how we're doing as the year progresses. Really, I'd love to hit less than 12 for the year all-together.

January:

Apple Granola cookies - fun to make with Owen. want to try to incorporate whole wheat flour sometime. Will make again.

Pork Carnitas - easy and very yummy - topped with enchilada sauce to make it extra good. will become new standard for our pork carnitas meals.