Day 28: Chicken Flautas with green Chile Gravy and Guacamole

What a success you guys!  This one turned out fantastically.  I am now totally in love with that green chile gravy and will probably put it on EVERYTHING.  Having family that lives in New Mexico has definitely taught me to adore anything smothered in green chile and this was no different.

I did make a couple of changes to the recipe just because I like things spicy.  I added cumin, chile powder, and lots of paprika to the chicken filling.  I also added a few dashes of hot sauce to the gravy. I decided to make guacamole for the top because I thought the creaminess would go well with the crunchy flautas.  Man guys, I cannot tell you enough how delicious this is.  Not to mention that the ones I didn't fry tonight are going to freeze perfectly for leftover night!  The first thing my boyfriend said about this recipe was "you need to make this again." I have to admit, I was a little jealous that he got the first taste.

Day 25: Bolognese in the Slow Cooker

I have really been wanting to try making bolognese in the slow cooker ever since I started my resolution.  I finally decided this week would be a good week.  I put it all together in the morning before I went to work.  It worked out perfectly timing-wise because I had a really long work day but it started at 11 so I had plenty of time to do TONS of chopping in the morning.  I think in the future if I make this recipe I will probably cut up everything the night before or even the weekend before and just throw it in the freezer.

In terms of the flavor I thought it was OK.  I think I would probably take a stick blender to it just a bit creamier and blend everything.  The thickness of the sauce also what I thought it would be, it was pretty watery.  I served with garlic bread and sprinkled with LOTS of parm and some fresh parsley.  I think it turned out pretty good but I would definitely like to fine a heartier bolognese recipe for the slow cooker.  Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Day 24: Mango Blueberry Cous Cous salad with Basil and Lemon

What a beautiful and quick dinner this turned out to be.  I have always made a cous cous salad recipe with bell peppers, feta, tomato, and cucumber so when I saw this recipe I couldn't wait to try it.  I served it on a bed of spinach for a little extra healthy kick.  I also put a couple slices of Gruyere on the side because I was craving it.  Turned out to be a pretty good match actually.

I was so sad when I realized I forgot to put the Crasins on but oh well, these things happen.  My favorite part of this salad was definitely the mango with the basil/lemon vinaigrette on it.  I already love mango but the dressing just added something wonderful.  The boyfriend said he liked this one a lot too, so that's a definite success in my eyes!

Day 22: Egg Bake Loaf and Lemon Curd Pie Bites

Ohh man people, yet another dinner-party success!  I am always so happy when things I cook for guests turn out right.  I usually never cook things I've never cooked before for guests but because of this whole resolution thing I've been forced too.

Tonight my boyfriend's best childhood friend and his wife came over for dinner.  For the entree I made the egg bake loaf that is FLYING around Pinterest.  I did make one change to this recipe though, I added some finely chopped shallots, lots of salt and pepper, and a little bit of Italian seasoning into the filling.  Also, before I baked the loaf I sprinkled some more Gruyere cheese over the top.   I served it with fruit salad and baby greens with olive oil and vinegar.  I loved the way the loaf turned out.  The bacon balanced so well with the shallots and green onions.  The saltiness was so delicious.  I thought the fruit was a great side dish for the loaf because it was bright and sweet against the salty onions and bacon.  The salad provided the acid needed to make every meal a success.  Even my boyfriend told me I should make this again for sure; success!!

For dessert I made little bite size pies in a muffin tin.  I filled them with home made lemon curd and topped them with fresh whipped cream.  The lemon curd recipe was one I stole from a different recipe for lemon shooters online.  It was creamy and so incredibly lemony.  YUM!  I think if you don't like lemons you definitely won't like this lemon curd.  Then again, if you didn't like lemons why would you make lemon curd at all?  The whipped cream was definitely needed because I think the lemon would have been too sour to handle without it. 

I am so happy the recipes I tried tonight turned out wonderfully.  I have to say, I was nervous about this one!

Day 21: Slow Cooker Chicken and Biscuits

Before Friday I had never eaten chicken and biscuits before.  I know, I know, I live in the mid-west so it is a felony that I've never had chicken and biscuits before.  That's why when I saw this recipe I just had to try it.  I spent a LOT of time chopping all the ingredients in this dish, which kind of takes the easiness out of cooking in the slow cooker but I think I will probably make this recipe again.  The chicken turned out beautifully.  It was practically falling apart on its own before I took it out of the slow cooker. When I stirred in the cream cheese at the end I knew I made a good decision to try this recipe.  It pulled everything in perfectly and I just couldn't wait to try it.  I did add a couple things the on-line recipe didn't: cumin and chili powder.  The kick I added with these spices was just-right.  I might just be a chicken and biscuits lady yet.

Day 20: 3 Cheese and Bacon Pasta Bake

This recipe turned out just okay.  I probably won't make it again just because I've made so many far superior pasta bakes.  When I was reading the recipe I based mine off of I was really excited for a creamy and delicious pasta dish.  Unfortunately, the ricotta really dried out the alfredo sauce and made the sauce more clumpy than creamy.  Also I thought there was way too much bacon; it totally overwhelmed the flavors of the dish and made it barely worth-it to even make the dish.  Might as well just eat plain bacon.

Day 19: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

My boyfriend and I absolutely love beef stroganoff.  I've always made it the "real" way over the stove etc. but this recipe was WAY better and WAY easier to make :-)

I really liked the way the meat turned out.  It was nice and juicy and tender, just like slow cooker things are supposed to be.  One thing I want to work on for next time is making the sauce a little thicker so that it sticks better to the noodles.  I read in a couple of other recipes to put flour in the sauce at the beginning of cooking.  I'll be trying that out next time for sure.

All I can say about this recipe is that I don't think I'll ever make beef stroganoff the real way ever again.

Day 16: Tortellini Pesto with Kielbasa and Vegetables

Today I made a new twist on an old favorite.  My mom always used to make her version of pasta a la carbonara with fettuccini, alfredo sauce, kielbasa sausage, and peas.  I make that a lot now because its a quick and easy meal that everyone loves.  When I saw this recipe for Tortellini Pesto with Kielbasa and Vegetables I couldn't wait to try it because its also quick and easy but also is different from what I've made before.

I really like the combination of pesto, peas, and green beans.  I made sure to keep the green beans a little bit crisp and just threw in the peas at the last moment so that they were pretty crisp too.  The kielbasa adds such a nice salty snap to the meal, and they're extra delicious when you let them get nice and browned.  I think you could use a different kind of sausage or bacon or pancetta and it would still be good.  I think the kielbasa is a little healthier though, and gives it a real feel of having protein instead of just little pieces of bacon.

This is definitely one I will make again.

Day 13: Ravioli Casserole

This dish has so much potential.  The ingredients are all of my favorite things, and its pasta, so I was really excited to try it.  I think this dish was tasty, and I will probably make it again.  I don't think I will make it on a regular basis, though, because it definitely suffers from the stereotypical "mushy-ness" that I have mentioned before.  I think in the future this would be better served over crusty bread instead of pasta.  Another change I will probably make next time I make this dish is to make sure that when I brown the meat I brown it A LOT instead of just until its cooked.  The meat kinda lost its  substance while it was in the slow cooker.  I might even just brown the meat when I get home from work and mix it in with the spinach and cheese at the end.  This one is definitely one I can make improvements on in the future.

I have a picture for this one, folks, but I will have to post it when I'm not blogging from work :)

Day 11: Caprese Paninis

Caprese = awesome.  Paninis = awesome.  How could the two combined together not be awesome?  Seems foolproof, right?  Wrong.  I think the real reason my boyfriend and I didn't like these was because of the bread.  I couldn't find any good ciabata bread anywhere, so I use some french bread instead.  It was just too crusty, and the bread was completely falling apart.  Bummer.  The best thing about this meal was definitely the fruit salad, I love to add cinnamon to my fruit salad like they did when I lived in Spain.  YUM!

Day 9: Buffalo Chicken Wraps

I made Buffalo Chicken Wraps in the slow cooker for dinner last week, of course its taken me all the way to today to have time to write about it.  These things were DELICIOUS and really easy to boot!  I think that the best slow cooker recipes are definitely this kind.  There's no chopping or any real preparation required in the morning, just dump some stuff in and move on.

I really liked these wraps because they were nice and spicy - something that you don't think of slow cooker food being usually.  Also, I really liked how the chicken was more like chicken salad consistency than the usual "mushy" quality of slow cooker foods.  I think everyone should try this recipe for sure!

Sorry no photo for this one, white tortilla on white plate doesn't look that awesome.

Day 8: Almond Crusted Chicken with Olive Relish and Spinach

After a 3 day long bout with the flu I am finally up and at em' again.  So tonight the resolution began again with an absolutely delicious dinner for my boyfriend and I.  I found a few recipes online and combined it with one of my recipes I make often and I think my Almond Crusted Chicken was great!

The boyfriend really liked this meal too which made me love it even more because I got him to eat some vegetables.  I liked it also because the almond crust was very subtle and at the same time definitely was a strong part of the dish.  The olives were AMAZING.  Seriously I would eat them plain.  Or with couscous.  Or on crostini.  The red onion was definitely a necessity.  The olives and lemon would definitely have been overpowering without them.  Seriously, yum!  On the menu tomorrow: Caprese panini and fruit salad.  :-)

Day 4: Chicken Throw Together

Lumpy.  Not an adjective one wants to associate with their food.  When I was little I used to love this meal my mom would make that she called "Chicken Throw Together."  She would take some chicken, and whatever else she could find, and throw it in a pan.  Served over rice and there ya have it, my favorite food as a little kid.

Anyway, I tried to recreate this meal based off of a recipe I found for Italian Chicken in the slow cooker.  I was hoping it would be just as good as my childhood memories of Chicken Throw Together.  Ugh.  I wish it had turned out that well.  I came home and looked in the slow cooker to find lumpy gross-looking sauce covered chicken.  I had to convince myself to even try it.  In the end, it tasted okay, but I just can't justify serving lumpy in my house.  Yuck.

The boyfriend's opinion:  "I give it a C+.  You can make it again if we're starving and there's nothing else to eat."

Day 3: French Dips

The end of January 3rd is finally here folks!  Today was my first day back to work after the holidays.  I have a full time job from 8-5 every day and then 3 days a week I teach dance at a local dance studio from 6-9 as my "hobby."  Why even bring that up, you ask?  Because it means that 3 days a week I am out of the house from 7:30am-9:15pm.  When I was planning our dinners for the week I found this recipe for french dips from the slow cooker.

There are quite a few things I LOVED about this recipe: 
1. There are literally 4 ingredients.
2. I put about 3 minutes total into the prep.
3. I mean, its a French Dip recipe, what's not to love?


This morning on my way out the door I put the meat and canned ingredients in the slow cooker.  Set on low, I figured 10 hours in the pot would be fine.  Usually on my late work nights I try to make something that my boyfriend can get ready on his own so he doesn't have to wait for me to get home.  I make casseroles/slow cooker things so that even though I'm not there dinner will be waiting for him.  This recipe made that super simple, and we both agreed that it was delicious.  The meat was juicy and tender and the jus was very tasty because of the french onion soup.  I served on french rolls and with a Cesar salad - perfect!

Sorry that there aren't any pictures for you tonight.  I am literally about to fall asleep while typing.  Tomorrow's menu:  Italian Chicken :-)

Day 2: Spicy Chicken Empanadas

I was a Spanish major in college, and I'd studied the language for many years before that.  Needless to say, Empanadas are a very fond memory for me.  I remember one of my teachers in High School bringing some for us to try when we were studying the different cultures in Spanish speaking countries.  The first one I ever tried was so warm and gooey on the inside and the crust was like a soft pretzel; crisp on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.  So, when I found this recipe from Paula Deen I thought "What a great way to make empanadas easier!"  Refrigerated store pie crust instead of homemade dough - sometimes switching things out can make all the difference in whether something is a "sometimes food" or a "regular."  I made the recipe and the empanadas looked delicious:

I sprinkled some paprika on the outsides which turned out to be pretty, but unfortunately the pie crust was just not right.  The flakiness that is so wonderful about pie crust is the same thing that made it awful for this recipe.  I really missed the chewy quality of regular empanada dough.  Both my boyfriend and I ended up agreeing that this is not a recipe I'll make again.  An unfortunate day 2 adventure, unfortunately, but tomorrow hopefully will turn things right again with Slow Cooker French Dips!

Day 1: Braised Short Ribs and Swedish Creme

My first adventure went pretty well, I have to say so myself.  I made red wine braised short ribs in the slow cooker with roasted veggies and Swedish creme for dessert.  For the recipes look on the "Recipes" tab above.  We were having some friends over for dinner so I thought it was a great chance to try something new and a little bit more luxurious than every day life.  I spent most of the day cooking and cleaning, I'll admit, but I couldn't help but be happy the whole time.  Cooking a new recipe always comes with that thrilling feeling of not knowing how things will turn out.  I was pretty nervous when I pulled those short ribs out of the slow cooker, but the meat was falling off the bone.  I couldn't believe how good they looked!  I roasted some potatoes, carrots, and asparagus and made a reduction of the sauce out of the slow cooker.

Drum roll please....My guests said they loved it! Everyone was talking about how tender the meat was.  My personal favorite part was the sauce.  It was like an amazing, clean gravy with a great red-wine background.  After dinner everyone cleaned up and it was time for dessert.  I'll admit, I love Swedish Creme.  I was a little nervous at first because the creme turned out more bubbly than I was used to, but in the end it produced a great mousse-like consistency which I particularly loved.  One of my guests suggested adding some Grand Mariner to the creme.  I thought that was a great suggestion.  The little hint of alcohol would have added a great sharpness to the creme, especially with the hint of citrus.

Anyway, its time for bed now.  I hope my second day of this food-venture goes as well as the first!  On the menu for tomorrow:  chicken empanadas with beans and rice.