Thursday, May 20, 2010

crusing through the recipes: #19, 20, and 21!

Bright and early this morning, I had to go recruit a patient at the hospital, but after that I decided it was a good day to work from home take a nap and be lazy.  Since I "worked from home" I had plenty of time to cook, though!  For lunch, I made Spinach and Chicken Skillet.  I have to say... it was nothing special.  It wasn't bad, but I just wasn't super impressed.  It was a pretty basic and easy recipe, and I think it needed extra spices or herbs or SOMETHING to make it interesting.
Then, I decided to cook up what I'll be having for lunch for the next 2-ish day: Tuna Twist Casserole.  TBD how delicious it is.  But, it was pretty simple - and was definitely the type of thing I used to throw together for myself (although my version was egg noodles, pasta, cream of mushroom soup, and peas).  It said to top it with croutons, which was a little strange, but whatever.  I bought these Italian-style croutons and Kroeger and tried a few as I placed them on the casserole... DELICIOUS!
Lastly, for dinner I made Baked Oregano Chicken.  Let me say, I think I like baking chicken.  And/or I am better at baking chicken than I am at cooking it on the stove top.  It turns out much juicier and more tender.  I realized at the last minute that I had nothing to eat with this, so I made spaghetti noodles and put some Alfredo sauce and veggies in with them.  I think in the future, it would be better to serve with pasta and marinara sauce... this chicken was very reminiscent of Chicken Parmesan, one of my favorites!
After watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I have decided that I really want to purchase Skinny Italian, Teresa Giudice's book.  I am pretty in love with Italian food, and the book sounds fabulous.  Alas, I have 279 recipes left to make in the next 325 days, so I will probably hold off on that purchase.

Finally, I want to tell you all (all = about 1 person I think, but that's ok) that I think I have discovered that I like onions.  Not raw onions, which I kind of hate... but a few recent recipes have called for white or red onions chopped up and cooked on a skillet.  I used to detest onions in every form, other than onion rings which are the JAM.  But now I'm learning that so long as the onion is cooked, it's pretty tasty.  This is hilarious to my parents, because as a young child (circa age 3) I apparently enjoyed eating raw onions the way most people eat apples.  Then, by the time I was 8 or so, I refused to eat anything with even a hint of onion.  So anyway - cheers to finding new foods that I enjoy as part of this process!

1 comment:

  1. Hmm....maybe the chicken and spinach dish needed some cheese? Or maybe an alfredo or pesto sauce?

    The baked oregano chicken looks delicious! You could probably turn it into chicken parm real fast too. With a little bit of bake time left just pour on some sauce and slap on the cheese and put back in the oven.

    And I agree about baking chicken. I find it to one of the more preferable ways to cook.

    I was thinking about buying Skinny Italian, so I went and read the reviews on Amazon. Apparently, not so good. The recipes are fine and all, but everyone seems to says its traditional Italian fare with some more veggies thrown in. Nothing ground breaking.

    Lastly, totally agree about onions. Raw, not so much. But cooked in something? Yes. And onion rings are the ish.

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