Two New Recipes

Last night we needed a quicker dinner, as we were heading to our nephew's football game for 6:00. 

We made chili verde with sausage and pumpkin, and started by broiling this tray of veggies.

Then everything went into one pot, starting with some onion, then sausage meat, garlic, oregano, cilantro, and chopped pumpkin or squash.  It called for canned hominy too, but we couldn't find any, so we just added a can of corn, and it tasted great.

I thought it needed more liquid, as it wasn't saucy or liquidy enough for chili, in my opinion, so we added a can of beef broth that we had on hand, and about a 1/4 cup of water.

We made this dinner, ate, and were only five minutes late to the game.  I call that a win!  (And the team won too!)

This chili was so good, and it had just the right amount of kick.  I loved the leftovers for lunch today.  We'll add this to our make-again list, and you can find the recipe here if you want to try it out.

Tonight we made another new dish - grilled chicken thighs with ginger scallion noodles, but had mixed feelings about it.  I didn't think it was anything special, although Christopher really enjoyed it.

I thought this dish needed something more.  I added sriracha, but it still wasn't really doing it for me.  Anyway, the recipe is here, and it's an even quicker one.

I used to subscribe to many food and cooking magazines, but now I only have one subscription - Food Network Magazine.  Often, when we are menu planning and can't think of what to make, we turn to this magazine for quick and easy ideas.

(Note: I am not affiliated with them; I just like the magazine).

What's on the menu at your house this week?

Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

Where do you look for new ideas when you're meal planning?

New Eats

A couple weekends ago we made a whole bunch of new recipes.  There was the fresh pasta, beet gnocchi, and cappuccino pavlova, but that was just half of our cooking/baking adventure.

We made a new breakfast casserole:

It starts with a layer of Italian sausage (cooked):

Then cheese:

An egg mixture:

And a layer of frozen hash browns (or tater tots):

Then it goes into the oven, and it wakes up your senses as it cooks:

We each had a slice, and then had breakfast for the start of the work week.

Find the recipe here.

Another new dish we tried was slow cooker Moroccan chicken, and we loved it!  We are huge fans of olives, and the lemon also made this so flavourful.  We served it with brown rice.

The raisins really added something to it; if you make this, I would not recommend eliminating them.  I think the dish needs all the elements.

For dessert I made a batch of chocolate chip Oreo cookies.

I really enjoy desserts with Oreo in them, and these instantly caught my eye.  They were easy, and a perfect recipe.  I'd make them again for sure.

And if that wasn't a delicious enough weekend, we also tried a couple new cheeses and some walnut sausage that we found at the grocery store down the street.

Spring has finally appeared, and it is beautiful!  We walked to dinner at dusk this past Saturday evening to really enjoy the evening weather, and it felt so good to be outside.  I can't wait to spend loads of time outdoors in the coming months.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  Did you get outside at all?  Have you cooked/ baked anything new recently? 

Breakfast, Pesto, Pavlova etc.

Morning!  All of July I've been getting up at 7:00 a.m., and  I usually start making breakfast at 7:30.

A 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt with toppings, and one piece of rye toast with almond butter, cacao, and coconut, is perfect for fueling my daily walk around the lake.

Or just a yogurt bowl:

 
Or the oatmeal that I had today:

 

While walking this month I've listened to my first podcasts ever!  I'm still not really familiar with podcasts, so I've just been jumping around a bit trying to find something that I like, but they definitely make an hour walk go by fast!  I've been searching on YouTube for them. 

Other eats in the past few days have included chicken with a jalapeno cream sauce, and a grilled potato/ zucchini/ mushroom mixture.

Also salmon with a cilantro sauce, and couscous.

I made this nut-free cilantro pesto (I am allergic to pine nuts), and thought it was super bland.  I don't think it's the recipe, rather I just don't think I am a pesto fan.  In general pesto tastes like gritty oil to me (or oily herbs), and I've never had a pesto that had enough flavour for me.  After tasting the pesto a few times, I knew exactly what it needed - vinegar.  I dashed in some white vinegar and a bit of salt, tasted it, and then put in a bit more vinegar and blended it again.  It was perfect.  I suppose it's no longer pesto with the addition of vinegar ... anyway, it was delicious.

With this sauce we ate 1.5 bunches of cilantro in one sitting! (All the cilantro haters are totally cringing at that - haha!)

On Tuesday I made a pavlova for the first time.  I followed this recipe for the pavlova itself, but not for the toppings, as I figured the pavlova was sweet enough and the cream and berries didn't need to be messed with.

Before going into the oven:

After:

I topped it with unsweetened whipped cream, fresh fruit and chocolate shavings:

Yum!  Pavlova is a beautiful, light dessert.

Christopher made short work of this; there is only once slice left!

Have you ever had pavlova?  Have you made it?  Do you like pesto?  

Also, if you have any recommendations for podcasts you think I might like, I'd love to hear them!