What we ate: Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Spinach Pesto, Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Funny story: I searched for quinoa recipes thinking I had this big jar of it in my cupboard that needed used. Turned out it was couscous. Oops. I made this anyway, with the couscous, and we thought it was pretty good. I don't even like olives normally, but didn't mind them in the salad. The dressing was tasty enough we might just put it on couscous or quinoa for a side dish when we don't feel like making the whole salad.

Spinach Pesto


I was looking for a way to use the spinach left over from the quinoa salad and this recipe was in my May Redbook. I couldn't find it on their site, but it's pretty simple: combine 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, 2 tbsp pistachios, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 garlic clove, and 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Blend in the food processor, or a mini chopper if you have one, until smooth.

(That mini chopper is seriously the very best wedding present we got. We use it all the time and it's much easier to clean than the big ol' food processor.)

The pesto was pretty good. Obviously no basil pesto (my favorite) but yummy. I mixed it into pasta with chicken, then wilted another several cups of spinach in a frying pan and put it over top.

Also one of my favorite wedding presents: our brown everyday dishes
(OMG, when I went to link to that I saw they were on a big sale so I
replaced everything we've chipped or broken over the years. Yay!)

Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

Okay, so I tried this again. April linked to an alternate recipe in the comments the first time I made it. I was initially disappointed because the recipe is almost identical, but I thought, well, if this really is THE way you're supposed to make it I must have done something wrong. So I pretty much did the same thing again, just tweaking a few things. I cooked the roux twice as long as the recipe (both of them) said and I added a little chicken stock as I went along so it didn't get too paste-y and stick to the bottom of the pan. Also, I kept the heat really low and let the soup simmer between each step for much longer than the first time. I cut the gnocchi pieces in half (a good recommendation from the second recipe) and cooked it for less time.

Guess what? It was AWESOME. I loved it. It's still not an everyday kind of thing, what with the quart of half and half and all, but my craving was finally fulfilled.

Same picture as last time because I didn't bother to take another.
It would have looked the same, anyway.

What we ate: Coconut Ginger Chicken, Cauliflower Pizza, Salsa Verde Beef

Coconut Ginger Chicken & Vegetables

The first time I made this (a few weeks ago) I thought, oh wow, this is better than a restaurant. And I made it. At home! COOKING IS AWESOME.

Make it as written, though, because the second time the store was out of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. They had whole chickens on clearance (I guess not as many people bought them for Easter as expected?) so I threw the whole thing in there. The chicken itself turned out great. When it was done, I broke it down and put all the dark meat back into the coconut ginger sauce and saved the white meat for other days. The sauce ended up watered down from the juices of a whole chicken, though, and it was just blah.

Cauliflower Pizza

To paraphrase Shalini: this is not pizza. But it's pretty good not-pizza.

My biggest beef with cauliflower pizza is not that I expect it to taste like pizza and it doesn't. I do not expect pizza. But I DO expect to be able to eat it like pizza, namely, by picking up a slice. But you can't do that, either. The recipe (which, to be fair, doesn't promise anything about picking it up) says to cook until it's good and crispy and we've cooked until it's burned around the edges, but it still disintegrates when you try to pick it up. So this is fork pizza.

That said, I still like it a lot. I put it on the meal plan this week because I was craving it, actually. I love that the base of dinner is basically a big ol' pan of vegetables. I like that it makes cauliflower edible for me since I don't like it in floret form. I topped it with the white meat from that chicken, green peppers, and Roma tomatoes. Delicious.

Salsa Verde Beef

We've been making this ever since Katie wrote about it on Food Lush forever ago. She recommended it with chicken, but we use it for any cuts of our beef share that are especially tough because it will turn anything, no matter how tough, into yummy goodness. We eat it over brown rice and lettuce because apparently that's how Thomas' family always ate stew-like things. (Like chili. They serve their chili over lettuce.) I was skeptical, but you know what? It's pretty good. I'm a fan.

What we ate: Korean Beef, Emeril's Turkey Club Casserole, Mexicali Skillet

Korean Beef

A++, five stars, straight to the top of the dinner rotation. This was SO good and SO easy. Plus, it took like 20 minutes to make, so. Wins all around. Make it tomorrow. Use fresh ginger. Try not to grate your finger.

Emeril Lagasse's Turkey Club Casserole

This did not take 20 minutes. More like way-too-many-minutes-for-a-sandwich. It also created a ridiculous amount of dirty dishes, creating extremely high expectations for the finished product. If I’m going to dirty a pot for béchamel, a frying pan for bacon, a cutting board for bread, a mixing bowl for the eggs/cream, a casserole dish to make it in and another to weight it down, then yeah. It better be good.

Also, the grocery bill is a bit of a deterrent, both price-wise and health-wise. A pound of bacon, a pound of turkey, half a pound of ham, half a pound of cheese, 8 eggs, and a cup of heavy cream. Recipe for casserole or a heart attack? (And yet I chose to make it, so.) (I made a half batch, though.)

I viewed it as sort of a special occasion (calorie wise) and a project (time wise). It turns out since I now have the time to cook, it’s become a hobby. So while I might whine about the dishes, I actually didn’t mind making this.

I thought it was fine. Thomas liked it a lot. I'd eat it again. I'd even make it again, if I wanted a project. I don't think I'd ever make it just because I wanted to eat it, though. The work to yumminess factor ratio wasn't high enough.

Quick, Easy Mexicali Skillet

It seems my meals fall into two categories: Takes all afternoon to make and Throw it together in 15 minutes. This was, as promised, quick and easy. I've always hated taco seasoning packets, though, so I made my own from Holly's recipe.

The finished meal tasted exactly like you'd think taco seasoned ground beef + pasta + diced tomatoes + black beans would taste. No surprises. A perfectly respectable 15-minute meal, but nothing anyone is going to rave about. (Unlike, say, the Korean beef which I almost made again instead.)

What we ate: 2 Ingredient Pizza Dough, Coconut Bread, Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Coconut Bread

My mom used to make coconut bread occasionally and I'd completely forgotten about it. It is so, so good. This recipe popped up in my feed Monday morning and I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so this happened pretty much immediately:

Margaret could not understand what on earth I was trying to say about it being kind of bread, but not really and not like sandwich bread. Then she wanted to know what "sort of like cake" meant and after going around in circles about the whole thing for half an hour (what does 'the same shape as bread' mean?) I changed the name to Coconut Cake and seriously, someone else can explain quick breads to her.

2 Ingredient Pizza Dough

There was a war in the comments on this one debating whether you should use 1 cup self-rising flour and 1 cup greek yogurt or 1 cup flour to every 1/2 cup yogurt. Of course, I didn't read this until after I'd made the recipe as stated (1:1). The dough was SUPER sticky, but with my hands all  covered in the gunk I couldn't open the flour canister so just used the dough as-is. I spread it out on parchment paper and it baked up fine and didn't stick. I couldn't really get it to brown, but I don't know if that's because I needed more flour or if that's just what it's like.

The taste was much more flatbread-y than pizza dough-y, which happens to be what I like, so I was happy with it. This would make an excellent party snack/appetizer flatbread with some olive oil, tomatoes, and cheese. You're not going to get a thick takeout-pizza crust from it, though.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I looooove Olive Garden's chicken gnocchi soup. BEST SOUP EVER, seriously. A calorie bomb, for sure, but worth it. (Also, I only have it four or five times a year.)

I didn't think I would necessarily be able to make a soup just like it, but I hoped it would be close. It was not. It wasn't even very good. (Sigh. I was hoping it just wasn't Heather's kind of thing and not a bad recipe.) I mean, we ate it. It was a decent dinner. I'm not keeping the recipe for future reference, though. If something is going to call for four tablespoons of butter, four tablespoons of olive oil, and a quart of half and half it better be DAMN good.

It was better the next day as leftovers. Still not fabulous, but better. Maybe the flavors needed longer to come together? Regardless, a quart of half and half means this isn't an everyday meal.

What we ate: Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Cheeseburger Casserole, Chicken Tortilla Crock Pot Soup

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This was a Runner's World recipe Thomas requested, as he loves chicken wings and we never have them. I even resist all attempts to go to  Buffalo Wild Wings and the like. But crock pot + lettuce wraps won me over and I agreed to make them.

You may think crock pot means 'easy,' but I don't mind labor intensive recipes. For me, crock pot mainly means make ahead. This recipe took over an hour to prep, but I got to do it while the kids were eating lunch instead of during the witching hour. I try to always make as much of dinner as possible during lunch time, actually. The kids are out of my hair and their requests for 'more this!' or 'more that' or 'I need a DRINK' don't bother me as much if I'm already up and moving around the kitchen.

Of course, looking at this recipe it doesn't SEEM like it should take an hour, so maybe they had more requests than normal? Also, during that hour I portioned a huge pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs into freezer bags. (They were on a great sale, so I used some of them in this recipe instead of the chicken breasts and froze the rest in 1 lb bags.)

I also took the 'way more work than necessary' path with the carrots, buying them whole and lugging out my huge food processor instead of just buying shredded carrots. That thing takes FOREVER to wash and I include washing dishes in my prep time.

But! THIS WAS REALLY YUMMY. I halved the hot sauce, because the kids and I don't love things hot, and wow, was I glad I did. They were still really spicy. So spicy I quickly threw together the next day's dinner so I was sure the kids had something to eat. Of course, saying "this is spicy, you might not like it" was apparently code for "eat as much as you can to prove mom wrong." Much like saying "this is yummy, you should try it" means your kids won't touch it with a ten foot pole.

Cheeseburger Casserole

When I said "quickly threw together" I meant it. This was really fast and easy. I had it in the oven in 15 minutes. We all liked it, but I found it a little bland/boring. Maybe I'm just used to all the other recipes I've been gravitating toward that involve at least 8 spices each. I also didn't get a cheeseburger feel from it, but that could be because I don't like pickles so I left them off my portion.

I think we'll be making it again, though. It involves basically all the same ingredients as spaghetti and I'm really sick of spaghetti. A remix is nice. It's a good kid-friendly meal.

Chicken Tortilla Crock Pot Soup

I've been using dried black beans instead of canned lately and the first time I made this, I had a slight issue with them (didn't cook long enough) so I ended up having to put the soup on the stove and boil the heck out of it so as to not have raw beans.

This week my beans were fine, so we used the crock pot only and ended up really disappointed. The soup was WAY better when the sauce/broth reduced on the stove for awhile. I think I'll be making this on the stove in the future instead of the crock pot.

Also, I don't separately cook the chicken. I just put it in the crock pot with everything else at the beginning and shred it right before serving.

What we ate: Honey Sesame Chicken, Spanish Chicken & Rice

This is actually from a few weeks ago. I didn't get one of these written before leaving for Arizona and since we got back (a week ago!) we've been kind of just winging it. A lot of "it's 5:00, what do I dooooooo," kind of stuff. Hopefully this week will be better.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
We made this and had my family over for Chinese New Year. Thomas was getting a little sick of all the chicken crock pot recipes, so we tried it with pork instead. After it was all cooked, I mixed in a bag of snow peas and it was pretty dang good. I've made several crock pot honey something recipes and I liked that with this one you thickened the sauce. Between that and the peas, it really tasted like Chinese takeout. Americanized Chinese, of course, but that's the kind I like.

Spanish Chicken & Rice
My sister spent 6 months in Ecuador during college and once she was back home she found this Ecuadorian restaurant in town that makes pretty authentic food. I love their Arroz con Polo, but always feel like I shouldn't order it because chicken and rice is as simple as it gets, right? I'm at a restaurant! I should get something something fancier!

So I saw this recipe and decided to try it at home. We rarely go to the restaurant, especially since my sister has now moved away (to SPAIN), and if I could make good Arroz con Polo at home I could 1. Have it more often and 2. Order something else if we go to the Ecuadorian place.

Well......I'm going to have to go order it. Maybe takeout or something. This did not work. It might not be the recipe's fault, because I used the spice blend substitute listed as an option instead of the sazon. Also, when the rice was cooking down, I got distracted and it overcooked a little. Plus, as the recipe says "Arroz con pollo can be made so many different ways and also varies from country to country," so I knew it might not be exactly what I was looking for. But, regardless, we probably won't making this particular one again. I thought it was OK, but not worth all the work and dirty dishes. The kids found the spices too strong and refused to eat it.

What we ate this week

We were kind of sick of everything we usually eat, so I've been pretty much cooking entirely from the internet this week. Some Pinterest recipes I've wanted to try for a while and some I just saw and immediately wanted to try!

Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas. Recommended by Heather, I think.

So yeah, I didn't take pictures of any of our dinners this week, because I just now
got the idea to tell you about them. This repeat of half-finished enchilada filling
from Wednesday's date night post will have to do.

These are ridiculously good. Like, 'we've spent all week convincing ourselves to stick to the meal plan instead of immediately defrosting the extra batch I made and froze' good.

Crock pot chicken and dumplings that do not involve cream of anything soup from Doing my Best.

She had me at 'no cream soup.' Thomas and the kids loved this. I thought it was good and ate the leftovers, but didn't necessarily think I'd put it in the regular rotation. They begged to differ.

Salmon coconut curry from this Runner's World article (fourth recipe down)

I loooooooove this. LOVE. We made it back in November when Thomas got his December issue of Runner's World and I was excited to have it again. I use sweet curry powder from Penzey's since I don't like things too spicy (although it still has a kick). I recommend measuring out all the spices before you begin so you're not trying to hurry and measure six things into the pot when it comes time. Also, we always replace the shallots because they can be hard to find. Mr. Google told me the white part of green onions is pretty similar to shallots, so it's the perfect recipe to make right after black bean spinach enchiladas, which call for a lot of green onions.

Thai Peanut Chicken

Ok, this was also a repeat. I've made it several times and we like it a lot. It doesn't recommend any certain kind of salsa, but use something smooth. Chunky salsa is all we ever have around and the peanut butter/salsa juice mixture with tomato chunks reminds me overwhelmingly of...well, vomit. I'm sorry. I've probably ruined it. But every time I make it I have to force myself to start eating it. Then I remember how good it is.