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cheese

Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Date: April 2nd, 2013

Recipe: http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/03/roasted-brussels-sprout-carbonara.html

Modifications: None

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Notes: We had this after the kids went to bed for a stay-at-home date dinner. We’re nothing if not consistent, since the last time we had pasta carbonara was almost exactly a year ago……….for another date night :)

We liked the addition of the brussel sprouts quite a bit, but this recipe was not as saucy as the previous recipe we used. Maybe next April we can combine the best of both worlds and have an awesome carbonara.

Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake

Garden Vegetable Tortellini Bake

Date: March 20th, 2013

Recipe: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/poultry/tortellini-and-garden-vegetable-bake/

Modifications: We don’t like mushrooms, so I omitted those. I added more carrots, and used frozen peas instead of snap peas. We bought chicken, but on that night I didn’t feel like going through that extra step of cooking it, so I just didn’t use it and we felt it was plenty filling. We didn’t have parmesan.

Time to table: About 30 minutes prep, 30 minutes baking time.

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like+

Annie: Like

Luke: Dislike

Notes: I saw this mentioned on a blog recently and figured we needed some new recipes to try so I gave it a shot. I did like it quite a bit, and I really don’t think it would need chicken at all. Annie ate this but only the requisite amount of bites so she could leave the table. Luke would not put a single bite in his mouth because he’s a lunatic sometimes. Ben says he liked this a lot more than he thought he would. I did find it a little weird to have basically a cheese sauce coating cheeses tortellini but I got over it. It was slightly rich but with all the vegetables in the dish, it worked well.

Garden Vegetable Tortellini Bake

Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli

Crockpot Chicken and Broccoli

Date: February 20th, 2013

Recipe: http://clippingmoney.blogspot.com/2012/07/crock-pot-cheesy-chicken-brocolli-over.html

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time.

Servings: Two dinners

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Dislike

Annie & Luke: Like

Notes: This meal was a case of the kids liking it, but us not so much. This just tasted a little bland to us, and I didn’t really care for the cheesy flavor. I can’t put my finger on it, but it didn’t sit right with me. This was a very easy meal to make and a good week night option if you can spare the time in the morning to get it in the crock pot.

Sad sick Luke

White Bean Chicken Chili

Crockpot White Bean Chili

Date: February 13rd, 2013

Recipe: http://www.erinsfoodfiles.com/2012/11/slow-cooker-white-bean-chicken-chili.html

Modifications: We used chicken thighs instead of breasts because they’re cheaper. We also threw in some onion, celery, and garlic to add some veggies.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time.

Servings: Dinner with the neighbors and two lunches

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This chili was awesome and incredibly easy. I chopped up the veggies the night before so in the morning I just had to dump everything into the crockpot and turn it on. We brought this next door to eat with the neighbors and still had plenty leftover for our lunches, even after having second helpings for dinner.

Mia and Annie eating chili

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

Date: February 10th, 2013

Recipe: http://hannahholzmann.com/cilantro-lime-chicken-enchiladas/

Modifications: None, but we used some frozen shredded chicken and turkey that was leftover from a previous meal.

Time to table: 60 minutes

Servings: dinner and three lunches from leftovers

Ben: Like

Erin: Like (did not like the leftovers)

Annie: Like

Notes: I made the cream sauce earlier in the day, which made dinner time go a little smoother. Despite the long list of ingredients and instructions, these are rather simple enchiladas. I used salsa verde instead of red salsa, just a personal preference. I really liked the avocado cream sauce, we had not had that before and it was really good. Erin did not care for the way these reheated for lunches though, they were too soggy and kind of grossed her out.

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

Stromboli

Stromboli

Date: February 5, 2013

Recipe: http://www.dinneralovestory.com/stromboli/

Modifications: I wouldn’t call this a recipe, more of an idea, just like regular pizza. I liked this more than homemade pizza for some reason. I didn’t have ricotta, or fresh basil. I used onions, green peppers, pepperoni, mozzarella, parmesan, pizza sauce and whole wheat dough from Trader Joe’s (now that I found this I really am not sure I’ll make my own very often anymore. It was like $1.50 and while I enjoy homemade pizza I also enjoy things that are easy and YES, homemade dough is easy but this is easier. It just is.) I loved the flavor of the sauce – it was the stuff right next to the dough in the refrigerated section. I added some italian seasoning but that was it.

Time to table: 15 minutes prep, 45 minutes to bake

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Luke: Love (unreliable rater, he loves most anything right now)

Notes: This was very good, clearly I put a bit too much in it because it kind of exploded all over in parts but oh well, it was still delicious. I baked it for 45 minutes and it was almost burnt on the bottom but I like it that way. I’ll be making this again for sure.

Stromboli

Stromboli

Stromboli

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Date: January 28th, 2013

Recipe: http://iowagirleats.com/2009/11/16/a-few-of-my-favorite-things/

Modifications: None, actually.

Time to table: 15 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time

Servings: 5 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This was made way easier by the fact that we had shredded chicken in the freezer leftover from a previous meal, so I literally woke up and dumped everything in the crock pot (I chopped the veggies the night before). Crock pot meals are obviously handy on weekdays, and this one worked out great. Annie particularly enjoyed crushing chips into her soup.

Annie eating chicken tortilla soup

Shrimp Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Sauce

Shrimp Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Cream sauce

Date: December 28th, 2012

Recipe: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/12/05/shrimp-enchiladas-with-roasted-poblano-sauce/

Tortillas: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/11/01/diy-flour-tortillas/

Modifications: I only used one adobo pepper in the sauce because I didn’t want it as spicy for the toddlers.

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 7 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: Ben and I were both home last week while the kids were in daycare, so we each spent part of a day making a more elaborate meal than normal. His was the cassoulet, and this was mine! I wanted to try my hand at making tortillas, and then I also made a dessert that was part of Ben’s Christmas present from me, so I was pretty much in the kitchen the entire day. I am my own worst critic after I’ve spent so long on a meal – I did REALLY like these, but they weren’t quite as saucy as I prefer enchiladas (perhaps because they sat out with the sauce on before baking for awhile) and because my tortillas weren’t very uniform they were kind of ugly too. The tortillas were actually pretty easy, but I do not have (nor do I want) a discerning enough palate to appreciate the flavor of homemade tortillas vs store bought. I will gladly pay $3 to not spend an hour making dough, individually weighing dough pieces, rolling out and frying each one. Fun to do once, definitely, but the taste wasn’t much better to me than the ones we buy. I LOVED the filling of these – shredded cabbage, carrots, and spinach with shrimp sounds super odd but it was a great mix and with the creamy sauce was awesome. I’m not typically a huge shrimp fan, but it worked well in these. We’ll definitely have these again! (except try to cut some steps since this did take FOR-EV-ER – not a weeknight meal, for sure). I think you could prep the veggies for the filling in advance, roast the poblanos and chop in advance, and then it’d come together quick enough to be made on a weeknight.

Lots of photos of this process…

Flour Tortillas
Dough for tortillas

Flour Tortillas
Rolled out as thin as I could make it

Flour Tortillas

Flour Tortillas
Finished tortillas

Roasted Poblano Peppers
Roasted poblanos

Shrimp enchilada filling
The filling

Roasted Poblano Cream sauce
Roasted poblano cream sauce

Shrimp Enchiladas with Roasted Poblano Cream sauce

Twix Trifles
Dessert – kind of meh because neither pudding tasted like I felt like it should (aka, like the stuff from a box) but I call it a win because I successfully made caramel, and hey – can’t go wrong with this much sugar and cream and chopped twix no matter what!

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Date: December 26th, 2012

Quinoa cakes recipe: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/12/05/quinoa-cakes-with-poached-eggs/

Poached eggs recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/08/how-to-poach-an-egg-smitten-kitchen-style/

Modifications:  None

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: These cakes were totally awesome. I made the first two a little too big, so Erin made the last 4 smaller, which worked out well for Annie. The poached egg instructions from smitten kitchen are linked to in the original recipe post, but I wanted to call it out here, as it delivered the absolute best poached eggs I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to have these for lunch today, in about 10 minutes :)

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Looks like frosting
Annie with her "dinner cake"

Cake for dinner?!?

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

Date: December 18th, 2012

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2012/10/15/slowcooker-loaded-potato-soup/

Modifications:  I didn’t peel the potatoes, duh.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 4-6 hours in crock pot

Servings: Roughly 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This soup was a great weekday meal if you have a little time in the morning to prep the bacon and onion/flour mixture. The leftovers were better than the initial meal, in my opinion, as it thickened up more in the fridge.