Eggplant-Parm sandwiches, Curry, Salad, Cajun chicken, and Blintz Hotcakes

This week I made:

• Eggplant-Parm Grilled Cheese, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• Thai Pork Chops, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• Butternut Squash & Arugula Salad, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• served with steak
• Blackened Chicken with Broccoli Slaw, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• served with black beans and rice from a package that was G's favorite when we made it a few months ago, but he didn't remember it :(
• Cheese Blintz Hotcakes, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014

We got to the end of Sunday and were suddenly really hungry! I had planned to make the butternut squash salad, but we didn't want to wait for the squash to bake, so we looked for a fast recipe instead. This one sounded like it would be good, and G always likes to put his George Foreman grill to use with hot sandwiches. In this recipe, the eggplant is broiled in the oven. You cook up some garlic until golden-crispy too. But other than that, it's just cutting up some cheese, tomatoes, and basil, so it's pretty simple. 

The only annoying thing is that it calls for pressing the buttered bread into 1.5 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano before grilling. First, that's a waste of $, since that amount is uncalled for. Second, it basically all falls off anyway. Or maybe that's because I used no-name parmesan cheese and it knew it didn't fit in?? Anyway, I guess she had to put it so that it would really be eggplant-parm, but it didn't seem to work that well. The recipe was also funny because it calls for a whole eggplant, sliced very thin. And yet each sandwich (makes 4-6) only has a single slice?? It could use some more (and we did, for leftovers).

On Monday we have ceramics, so we always need to cook a quick recipe. (And even then, we are usually late! :-/) This curry was pretty fast, starting with jarred red curry paste. The recipe called for bell peppers, but we had some sweet peas so I put that in too. I guess there's not too much to say about this, because it really depends on the red curry that you choose-- ours was a little more spicy than I would have preferred!

 On Wednesday we had a bit more time, so we made the butternut squash salad. Actually, since I used frozen butternut squash (cut pretty small, too), it didn't take as long as it called for. I left it in for a while anyway though (and forgot about it until some of the smaller pieces burnt and the rest were nice and crispy #overlyhonestmethods). Meanwhile, we made some steak. When I asked G what he wanted to eat with the salad, he chose steak and talked as if he knew exactly how to make it, but then when it came time to cook it he said he didn't want to do it because he didn't know how! We sauteed it in the cast iron skillet and then stuck the pan in the oven for a while after, since we (I?) like steak to be cooked all the way through. It was pretty good-- I sometimes don't like beef that much, but every once in a while I'm hungry or iron-deficient or something and it tastes amazing. I think there was a lot of fat. Oh, and we put a pat of butter on top when we put it in the oven too.
The salad was good too. We didn't have any dijon, so the dressing was just vinegar, brown sugar, and EVOO. It was really thick!

This blackened chicken is super fast and easy, because it's just rubbed with Cajun seasoning and pan-fried. The slaw is just a bagged slaw tossed with lemon juice and mayo. We don't really like mayo that much, so I guess we should've done something else for the side. But the chicken was good! I think this was our first time using the Cajun seasoning that came with the set of spices G has had for an embarrassingly long amount of time. I know that spices aren't supposed to be as good after a while, but they all seem pretty fragrant still!

These pancakes were so good! They're really easy, because it's just mixed in a blender, and can then be poured straight into the pan (another #overlyhonestmethod-- I made big pancakes instead of small ones because the lid of the blender fell off while I was pouring and smushed my nice small batter puddles into a big pond). It's a mix of eggs, flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, and cottage cheese. It's moist and the cottage cheese gives it a good texture. We didn't have any jams except ones so old the caps are stuck on, so we topped them with fresh mango instead. Yum! This is such a simple and great breakfast recipe-- definitely keeping :)

Quick burritos, pasta, and chicken parm sliders

This week I made:
Chicken and Black Bean-Stuffed Burritos, Cooking Light December 2010
Citrus and Radish Salad, Cooking Light December 2010
Sausage Ragu with Pappardelle, Rachael Ray December 2013
Chicken Parmesan Burgers, Cooking Light April 2011
served with steamed broccoli and a dash of lemon

We didn't have much time on Wednesday and were hungry, so I made this ready-in-30-minutes meal. It's speeded along by using rotisserie chicken  in the filling along with black beans that have been mixed with salsa. The chicken is boiled briefly with lime juice, chili powder, cumin, and black and red pepper to give it a little extra oompf. After wrapping up the burrito, it's toasted on each side (as you can see from the picture, a little too much), which makes it nice and crispy.
On the side is a salad with a citrusy dressing. Maybe our dressing to salad ratio was off though, because it wasn't very pronounced, even though it had potential.

On Thursday I made this sausage ragu. G picked out the next couple of recipes from the recipe binder, and I think it reminded him of some of the past meat sauces that we've had and he liked.

 The recipe calls for pappardelle, but the kind our supermarket carries isn't quite as wide as the magazine pictures. The sauce was good, but it was overpowered by a strange taste that the pasta had. We think we might keep the recipe, but will use a different brand of pasta next time!

On Friday I made these chicken parm burgers. It looks pretty monotone in this picture,  but in the magazine's cut-through view it's red, white and green. It's put on ciabatta rolls that are toasted and then rubbed with garlic. The patty is a mix of ground chicken, marinara, and some spices. They're cooked in the skillet and then put into the oven with a little mozzarella to melt. It's layered in the ciabatta roll with some basil leaves and more marinara sauce. 

The addition of the marinara to the ground chicken seeemed to mabe make it a little too moist, and I'm not sure that the flavor was very apparent. G makes some great Italian-spiced hamburgers (stuffed with cheese), so I would rather eat those :) I don't think we'll save this recipe, but it's an interesting idea I guess.

Month 11 day 1: Squash, Soup, Pork, and Biscuits

Month 11!
I have six issues:

• Food Network Magazine, December 2009
• Food & Wine, December 2010
• Cooking Light, December 2010
• Cooking Light, December 2011
• Every Day with Rachael Ray, December 2011
• Saveur, December 2011

Since I'll be going home for a bit, I doubt I'll be able to make a dent in these recipes, especially since there are just sooo many cookie (and other baking) recipes. But maybe I will just have to clip some recipes to bring home with me to make there!

Today I made:
Sweet & Savory Spaghetti Squash, Every Day with Rachael Ray November 2011
Apple-Cheddar-Squash Soup, Food Network Magazine December 2009
Pork Tenderloin with Herbed Biscuits, Cooking Light December 2011

For lunch I made the squash that I forgot to make yesterday. It's a spaghetti squash cut in half, and then one is filled with savory spices and the other is filled with sweet spices. Both contain liberal amounts of butter, which melts and looks like this:

 It's a bath of butter.

But once it gets stirred into the rest of the squash it evens out and takes on the characteristic "spaghetti" look:

 I thought this was fun to have two different flavors in one. They're both very simple to put together, it's just that it takes a long time to bake. I'm sure this could be done in the microwave, though, to make this a faster side dish. Anyway though, it takes about 5 minutes of hands-on time and then goes in the oven for 55 minutes while you could be making the rest of the dinner. As I predicted, G liked the sweet one the best. I think I liked the savory one the best. It's good to have both!

For dinner I made this soup with pork tenderloin and biscuits. The pork and biscuits recipe is designed to be a main course for a casual (or more formal-- you choose) dinner party. The tenderloin is just browned and then roasted (whole) for about 20 minutes before being sliced. It doesn't have any seasoning besides salt and pepper, and the sauce is just a 4:1 mix of Dijon : maple syrup. (I wondered which would win-- G hates mustard but loves maple syrup. The mustard won out, probably because it's the more obvious ingredient visually. And tastewise too, I guess.) The biscuits have more flavor, with fresh sage and thyme and buttermilk. I was using powdered buttermilk, so I put in a half packet (halving the recipe), but then for some reason filled the measuring cup with 1-5/8 cup water instead of just 5/8 cup. I poured in most, (cleverly thinking, a little too late, that I should add it gradually in case it didn't need it all) and it was way too soupy. I considered adding more flour, but thought that might make them too dense unless I also supplemented the baking powder and soda, so ended up just deciding to see what happens. What happens is that the biscuits flow into each other a bit before the oven heat seals the edges, and then they don't rise basically at all. But they are surprisingly fluffy despite this, and taste great. It's too bad that they got messed up, because I was really looking forward to seeing how the texture was since I bought myself a pastry cutter finally on Black Friday. Well, next time! The biscuits are supposed to be cut in half to make a sandwich, but we couldn't do that.

The soup was pretty straightforward but flavorful, with tart apple and sweet butternut squash. It's topped with cooked prosciutto, which is quite salty. I wondered why not bacon, if you're going to cook it anyway, and it seems that many other reviewers just went for bacon instead. G liked it, but didn't like cleaning up the blender afterwards, since it had melted cheese that stuck everywhere! We need an immersion blender! Other than the blending step, this soup is pretty hands-off and is a great taste for fall.

Month 9 day 4: Apple quesadillas

Today I made:
Brie, Apple, and Arugula Quesadillas, Cooking Light October 2010

We love the show "Modern Family," and one of G's favorite lines is when Cam says something about PB&J sandwiches: "pear, brie, and jambon." This kind of reminded me of that, even though it's apple instead of pear and I guess arugula instead of any meat, so I wanted to try it. We needed a light meal since we planned to go to our dorm's special Indian coffee hour. As it turns out, we lost track of time as I read "Cuckoo's Calling" and G played Diablo 3 and missed it. But after two quesadillas each we were pretty full anyway.

I was kind of sure that G wouldn't really care for this actually, as he doesn't care for mustard and when we were at the store he said that he doesn't like brie much. He was a good sport and ate his, and then we made another one without the mustard for him, with mostly mozzarella. I asked if I should still put arugula, and he said yes, but when he was eating it, he admitted that he doesn't really like arugula either. So basically, he would have just preferred to eat an apple! (>_<) So, we won't be saving this recipe... but maybe you will like it, as it is quite highly reviewed on CL's website.

Month 8 day 22: Tahini turkey burgers

Today I made:
Turkey Burger Pitas with Tahini Sauce, Cooking Light September 2010

Tonight was a late night in lab, so around 7:30 we ran to Chipotle for a snack to tide us over-- we shared a burrito. When I got home a couple hours later, I chose this recipe because it is the fastest of the choices (we still have the ingredients for a few more September recipes, even though it is already October... when did that happen?!). There are just a few things to cut and then the burgers get cooked a few minutes per side.
It's nothing too special-- just a parsley-and-green-onion-spiced turkey burger inside a pita with some yogurt-tahini-lemon juice-garlic sauce, but it's a good weeknight fast dinner. It's a little light though, so on a night when we hadn't already eaten it would definitely not have been enough. G says not to keep the recipe.