Recipe for a Good Year
One of my goals for this year was to cook my way through an entire cookbook, a la Julie & Julia.
I didn't want to push myself too hard because I have a full time job and not a whole lot of time or energy to cook, so I chose a cookbook with about 80 healthy recipes.
It's called "Slim & Scrumptious" and it's by Joy Bauer.
-
Tonight I made the Tandoori Chicken Burgers with Carrot Raita. They were yummy! The combination of spices worked really well, it was a nice taste without being overwhelming, and the carrot raita was a nice touch. I made them on whole wheat sandwich thins instead of burger buns (or pita, which I was going to go) because they’re only 2 weight watcher’s points and I’m weight tracking. :p
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Taste: 3.5 out of 5 -
I probably shouldn’t review this recipe until I actually make it right, but… oh well. This was supposed to be Cinnamon-Sugar Sweet Potato Fries, but the grocery store had Yams under the sweet potato sign and vice versa, so I got the wrong thing. No, I can’t ever remember the difference. Anyway, overall… these were okay. They were nice enough, just not all that impressive. The cinnamon-sugar mixture didn’t really disperse very evenly, but it didn’t matter too much. I’d probably make them again if I ever got a random craving.
Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5
Taste: 3 out of 5 -
This was the second chili recipe I’ve tried from the book. It was called Buffalo Chicken Chili with Whipped Blue Cheese. The “whipped” part is a bit of a stretch; it was just sour cream and blue cheese crumbles, no whipping involved. And the chili was basically just carrots, tomato sauce and ground chicken. The recipe called for celery, but I despise celery, so I used onion instead. Overall, it was okay. I prefer the first kind of chili I made.
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Taste: 2 out of 5 -
For this meal, I combined two recipes. The Crispy Kale and the Cod and Lentils with Smoked Paprika Sofrito. The book claimed that the kale was like chips and just as addictive, but I wasn’t a big fan. My husband, on the other hand, loved it so much that he had me prepare a second batch of it after dinner. I guess I’m just not big on the flavor of kale, but the texture was definitely cool.
The cod and lentils was yummy. The sofrito was tangy, kind of fruity almost. I haven’t enjoyed fish so much in a long time. And even though I overcooked the lentils, they were still a nice addition to the dish.
Crispy Kale:
Difficulty: 1 out of 5
Taste: 3 out of 5Cod and Lentils:
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Taste: 4 out of 5 -
By far the best thing I’ve made from this cook book so far are the Chicken Lettuce Wraps. They take a bit of work, but they’re so worth it. I’ve already made them twice in the past 2 weeks (and the recipe makes 4 servings, so we have it 2 nights in a row when I make it). It’s delicious, the flavors are wonderful and so addictive.
Difficulty: 3 out of 5
Taste: 5 out of 5 -
I made the Italian Sunday Brunch Bake for Sunday brunch a couple of weeks ago. Won’t be making it again. It was just… boring. I’ve made better frittata-ish dishes with whatever I had in my fridge. Try throwing some asparagus, Canadian bacon and goat cheese into a bowl with some eggs and cooking it up. Tastes SO much better than this, takes a lot less work, and probably amounts to fewer calories, too.
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Taste: 2 out of 5 -
The Strawberry Shortcakes with Sweetened Ricotta was the first breakfast recipe I tried from this book. They’re not really shortcakes at all, they’re pancakes, but they’re yummy so I’ll let it slide. I wasn’t huge on the ricotta topping. It was nice, but next time I might look for an alternative that doesn’t have that grainy ricotta texture. I made these for my friend and my hubby for breakfast yesterday and they both loved them, so I guess that’s a thumbs up!
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Taste: 3.5 out of 5 -
The Lemon-Sage Chicken Breasts were definitely the easiest thing I’ve made from the book so far… and I still managed to mess them up. haha Well, I messed up the prep, but the end result was fine. I stupidly went looking for Sage leaves in the baking aisle with the rest of the spices and wound up buying rubbed Sage instead because I couldn’t find any. It wasn’t until I got home that it hit me that I probably would have found Sage leaves in the vegetable section with the fresh herbs. Oh well, C’est la vie. It turned out alright in the end. Nothing special, but a cheap and easy way to make chicken less boring.
Difficulty: 1 out of 5
Taste: 3 out of 5 -
Oh my God, this was good. It’s called Braised Turkey Sausage and Cabbage. It’s kind of an ode to Oktoberfest, I guess, and it’s yummy. I’ll definitely be making it again, and I’ll probably take hubby to the store with me to pick out the beer that I use in the recipe since he’s the beer expert and I just guessed blindly last time. It’ll be interesting to see how much the flavor changes depending on the kind of beer used for the braising liquid.
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Taste: 4 out of 5 -
I have to say… the Turkey Tetrazzini was a bit of a let down for me. The description in the book made it sound delicious, but after the amount of ingredients and work that went into it (compared to every recipe in this book that I tried before and since), it wasn’t memorable. My husband thought it was nice, because he loves artichoke, but I thought it was pretty bland. I probably wouldn’t make it again.
Difficulty: 3 out of 5 (because of the number of ingredients/prep work)
Taste: 2 out of 5
