Recipe Review: Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken

For recipes for March, I accidentally purchased too much chicken, so March will be the month of chicken! The first recipe I tried, was my first foray into dredging and pan-frying chicken.  While the meal itself was a hit, I want to try a different technique than what was in this recipe for pan-frying chicken the next time; using no egg and just dry ingredients was interesting, but when I make a recipe I stick to the instructions the first time around!   

I made this meal on a weekend when I had my favorite handyman - my dad at my house to make some fantastic custom closets.  It was such a joy to be able to feed him while he was making three closets of my dreams!  AND thank goodness it tasted way better than it photographed!  It even reheated well as leftovers.     

I then made the meal during the work week for just myself and tried the pan fry again and tried to see if it would maybe photograph better! This is a recipe that I can now keep in my back pocket, minus the need to have mushrooms and heavy cream on hand which I don't always have.  

Recipe Review: Homemade Pasta Sauce

Three weeks in a row with pasta, BUT this one is extra special.  One reason is because my nephew Jacob was here to help make and taste test.  AND second because the pasta sauce was made from tomatoes that I grew in my garden last year and froze.  

My hope is that this is the first of many recipes that includes things from my garden and with four garden beds and a few grow bags, my 2024 garden should be bountiful.  

Now to the recipe.  I had low expectations as I am quite opinionated on pasta sauce, but this one quickly went into the notebook to use over and over again.  With the aid of my immersion blender (first-time use!) my tomatoes were easily thinned out and adding minimal seasoning, the tomatoes were the star of the show which made me even happier that they were fresh from the garden because are always 10 times better than store-bought.  

Jacob chose penne pasta and we added some meatballs and this was a great dish for a rainy weekend.  

Recipe Review: Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Soup

Slow cookers always make me think of wintertime meals and I was excited to try this recipe knowing from the beginning that it could freeze, so I could eat what is made and stow the leftovers for another time.  

I had heard of marry me chicken (and had it, very good!), so I was sort of intrigued by crack chicken.  A super easy recipe like most crock pot recipes are - put ingredients in turn on.  BUT mid way through, you pull the chicken out and need to shred and one of my most favorite kitchen hacks (thanks to Instagram!) is to place chicken or chunks of beef in your stand mixer and its shredded in mear seconds or minutes.  

Once your chicken is shredded put back in crockpot and then add the last few ingredients, 10 minutes and serve!  I served it as soup with some great garlic bread.  AND then the next day I added macaroni noodles to try something different and it was so good!  I was able to freeze the remainder in a few sandwich bags and froze laying down for easy storing.  

I hope to do this one once a year to eat off for a little bit and then have some in the freezer for later!
    

Recipe Review: DATE night

Last year my parents recommended a fun appetizer, dates with goat cheese wrapped in bacon - YES!  I made it a quite a few times last year, but after buying a container of dates, I wanted to see other options and tried out two more.  I thought it would be fun to make dates for THE DATE night of the year - Valentine's Day.  So whether your person is salty or sweet, DATE night! 

All of these were perfect to prep ahead of time and then finish and plate and be ready for your DATE night.  

One of the new ones I tried, was dates with cream cheese, some pistachio kernels, and then a drizzle of honey, SO good!  I love cream cheese, its sweet but in my opinion not TOO sweet, so its the perfect stuffing with the plain date and then the sweet addition of honey.  Now the pistachios came in a large bag and maybe on the expensive side, so going to see what else I can make with pistachios!  

The second date recipe I tried was a bit of a take on a snickers, with peanut butter stuffed inside and then dipped in chocolate melted with coconut oil.  This was so easy and so so yummy.  I loved that I could make these and stick them in the fridge to enjoy for days.  

So if you need an idea for this week of love, may I suggest one or more DATE recipes for DATE night! 

Recipe Review: Super Bowl snacks

With the Super Bowl coming up next week, I decided I wanted to spend the last week testing out recipes that could be used for a Super Bowl party, so two versions of air fryer Fried Pickle Chips and then a from scratch cheesy dip with some pretzel bites.

I am a huge fan of my air fryer.  And I am a fan of fried pickles, so wanted to see if I could make them at home in a semi-healthy way.  The first version, I used panko bread crumbs and they were fine, but I didn't love how thick the bread crumbs were.  

So second version I used this batter that is meant for chicken, but why not try it with fried pickles - AND yes, totally worked and loved them.  Need to remember to spray some pam on the foil, but this will for sure be the way I make for Super Bowl and beyond! 

Finally.  an easy cheese sauce that you can make and then put in a crock pot to keep it going for a party.  AND it is a dupe for the cheese sauce at Shake Shack.  It was nice and easy and tasted so good.  I may have cheated a bit with frozen pretzel bites that I threw in the oven, but making pretzel bites is on a future to do list.      

Recipe Review: Boursin pasta

It's winter and I am craving the pasta dishes, so two weeks in a row with trying pasta dishes.  This dish reminded me of one of those dishes that went viral over the pandemic, but maybe its the adult version using Boursin cheese.  

Nice and simple, Boursin, tomatoes, spices and pasta.  I chose to get some thin spaghetti wanting to try that with this and a future pasta dish!  

I would absolutely make this one again, BUT next time I want to add a meat either some italian sausage and/or some seasoned chicken.  I will try this one again with a few additions.  

Recipe Review: Creamy Pasta

By the end of this year, I am hoping to become an expert when it comes to make a roux, but today isn't that day!  I was excited when I saw a YouTuber that I follow make this recipe recently it was a pasta with a creamy sauce but no roux in sight.  The original recipe puts peas in and I am not a fan of peas, so I went with asparagus that I cooked in my air fryer. 

And when making this recipe I was trying a trick I had seen, cooking bacon in a pot, wanting to see if that would contain the bacon grease mess - hint it did not.  Still puckered all over the place!  AND my first batch burned in the blink of the eye, so glad I had only done half and had another half to try.  The second batch worked, but still looking for a better way to bacon.  

Fresh bacon made this recipe so much better, I use the "real bacon bits" on salads and potatoes, but I for sure recommend going with real fresh bacon for this one.  

I want to make this recipe again, but instead of parmesan cheese try something else - maybe a cheddar.  The sauce consistency was great and I loved the asparagus and bacon, but want to try out another cheese. 
          

Recipe Review: Blue Cheese steak sauce

Over the last year, I have perfected the air fryer steak situation, so that wasn't my new recipe for 2024.  AND I have been blessed with a fantastic Durham family steak marinade that is just right to give flavor but not over power the steak and this wasn't new to me at all.  My grandfather was very proud of his marinade making it into the recipe book for his church AND it included bourbon.  I always put the bourbon in to honor Max Durham!  

Adding a blue cheese steak sauce was new to me.  I have had a blue cheese steak sauce out at a restaurant but wanted to see if I could do this at home.  I loved that two of the ingredients from the sauce were also in the marinade, so I felt as though this would line up well - Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder.  The sauce was nice and easy to make while the steak was doing its thing in the air fryer.  This will be a recipe that will absolutely be repeated.    

Recipe Review - Roasted Rack of Lamb

For 2024, I have a goal to try out new recipes (hopefully 52, one a week), diversify what I can cook, and maybe even pick up a few new skills and/or gadgets in the kitchen.  I started the new year with a recipe that had been on my to do list for a bit - Roasted Rack of Lamb.  

I put the marinade together which was super easy in a cuisinart and it was entertaining to be handling garlic while sipping my morning coffee, so this could marinade during the day.  

The one thing I didn't follow on the instructions was moving the rack in the oven and I think this prevented a good crisp on the lamb, so while I was able to get it to the right temperature, it just seemed bland.  I would love to redo and make this one change.

NOW.  I had some leftovers.  And I had a blast making a homemade tzatziki sauce and using the lamb to make a sort of gyro platter with hummus, naan, and arugula.  SO while the original recipe didn't quite work out, the leftovers were perfection!

     

2024 Recipe #1