Hits and Misses Week #8

The week began with a version of Thai Basil Chicken.  When we go out for Thai food, I nearly always order this as my entree.  I love the combination of heat and the flavor of basil.  For me the Skinny Taste rendition left a lot to be desired.  When preparing the recipe, I choose to discard the seeds of the Serano chili and that was my mistake.  We found my creation to be bland, and lacking all of the things I love about this dish.  I seldom repeat a recipe that isn’t a “hit” on the first try because I have so many to conquer.  However, this one is on the fringe of being quite good.  It might be worth another try after making adjustments.  It’s not a Hit, but not a Miss either.   Worth a rematch.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2016/03/thai-basil-chicken.html

Tuesday…a menu change.  Imagine that.  With a refrigerator overflowing with leftovers, we needed to eat them.   Most leftovers are reserved for lunch.   Normally the portions remaining are not enough for a full dinner.  In addition, leftovers for lunch have proven to be quite economical.  The pork and accompanying sides were ample for a full fledged meal so they qualified for a Tuesday dinner.  Refrigerator space vacated and reheated meal enjoyed.

Wednesday.  Although Rachael gushed over her new pasta recipe, we were not as enthusiastic.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but if I am going to take the time and effort to make one of her pastas to gush over, it would be her Carbonara.  It is out of this world.  The ‘OLe Buckeye says it is the best, and believe me he has ordered it often enough over the years to know.  Disappointment after disappointment, he now only eats Carbonara at home.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipes/22161_pasta_with_bacon_chestnuts_and_dijon/

St. Patrick’s Day Family Dinner

I must admit that I cheated a little.  I have never made corned beef and cabbage.  On my trip to Trader Joe’s I found corned beef in a pouch already marinading in a spicy goodness.

Even though Kroger had a great sale on corned beef, I elected to go with TJ.  When I went through the line my decision was confirmed by the check out guy. Without encouragement he mentioned how good this corned beef is.  He said he had worked for an upscale restaurant in the area that prided itself on corned beef and he thought the TJ’s was better.

That being said I adapted the Skinny Taste recipe slightly.  I added only a bay leaf to the spicy marinade already in the pouch when I added it to the crock pot.  I followed all of the other directions completely.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/crock-pot-corned-beef-and-cabbage.html

As an added compliment to the meat I made a horseradish sauce.  I found several comments as I scoured the net for the best corned beef recipes, that mentioned serving the beef with a sauce.  I prepared the following:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

i simply mixed these ingredients and served along side the meat.

The meal was a success, although the 9 and 12 year old did not eat the turnips.  Next time the only change I would make would be to add some potatoes to the mix to please the entire clan.

I made a large corned beef for the 6 of us, close to 5 pounds.  There were only scraps of meat left and no cabbage.  Everyone enjoyed the horseradish sauce as well.  A HIT. I will definitely make this meal again and I won’t save it just for St Patrick’s day.  This is a dish that would please the family all year ’round.

There was a surprise.  I tend to make a dessert on most family nights.  The girls love dessert and so does my son.  My search found a pistachio pound cake.  A Green dessert…perfect!  I was a little concerned when I read the recipe that it was too much liquid, but I made the recipe as directed.  Everyone loved it, and I will definitely make it again.  Another Hit.

http://www.eatcakefordinner.net/2011/01/st-patricks-pistachio-cake.html

Flexibility continues to be the biggest lesson I am learning in my new life.

Friday was our son’s 16th wedding anniversary and so our evening and menu changed.  We volunteered to take care of the grand girls.  Per usual they requested sausage macaroni and cheese.  Yet another menu change.

 

The girls were dropped off just before the “Ole Buckeye took them to swim practice and I mistakenly asked what they would like with the macaroni.  The 12 year old said “Greek Salad please.”  Well, naturally the next hour was spent creating a salad and homemade dressing.  Next time I won’t ask.  The caesar salad I planned would have been much easier!

We had a delightful evening.  Dinner followed by the last two episodes of the Amazon series “Just Add Magic”.  We have been watching this together over the past weeks…  throughly appropriate and enjoyable.  We took a short intermission between episodes to enjoy root beer floats.  The “Ole Buckeye made his with It’s Not Your Father’s Root Beer.   A great evening.  It is so wonderful to see the girls snuggled up in cuddley throws on the couch in our den.  Sigh.  As they left to go home the 9 year old announced that she would be over for lunch to finish the leftover pasta.

Saturday was a volunteer day for the “Ole Buckeye and he was not returning home until after 6PM.  I got busy in my office with filing, paperwork, and some crafting that I had put off doing for weeks.  Late in the afternoon we were invited for Happy Hour at our son’s.  The ‘Ole Buckeye got home early.  Off we went for cheese, drinks, and a ping pong tournament.  We were invited to stay for burgers.  We declined.  When we returned home it was late, so we had a light dinner of meat balls and zoodles still housed in the frig.  I was actually delighted.  The zoodles reheated wonderfully, keeping their original flavor and texture.  The meal was actually better left over than when first served.  The flavors truly developed.

Sunday night I served our week’s meatless meal.  We had a bright and tasty oriental noodle dish.  We both thoroughly enjoyed it.  I made a side salad, crunchy-asian-ramen-noodle-salad…and the flavors melded together perfectly.  It was like oriental comfort food.  Although, not a meal I would fix frequently, we did consider it a hit.

 

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/rainbow-peanut-noodles-recipe/

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/crunchy-asian-ramen-noodle-salad/

All in all we had a good week of eating and lots of family time.  A big plus…next week’s meal planning will be easier because it will include several from last week’s plan.