When I Get Tired of Fixing the Same Thing for Dinner

I don't know how you feel about preparing your dinner menus ahead of time, but I find that it's a time & money saver. I started doing this when my boys were little. I've never been one that could walk into a grocery store, know what I needed for the week/month, and walk out with everything I need minus anything that catches my eye. I prepare a menu biweekly, make my grocery list, and hit the store every 2 weeks for "major groceries". There are times, however, when I get tired of fixing the same thing for dinner and decide to try new recipes.
Unfortunately, almost all of the recipes I've tried lately haven't worked out for me. Let me know if you tried any of these and if you modified them, what you did.

If at first you don't succeed...

The Pioneer Woman's recipes are usually very good, but this one missed the mark. CH wanted a chili recipe to take to a friend's for Halloween (they had a chili cook-off). A friend suggested this recipe and it sounded just like what CH was looking for. The recipe was easy enough, and we were able to fix it on the camp stove while we were camping at a state park near CH's friend's house.

It made a LOT. When we arrived at the friend's house, the MIL came in late (just as the judging was supposed to start) but then she insisted that the judging hold off for a while until she was ready. This recipe has masa in it (used to make tortillas), so when it sits, it thickens. It also has a lot of beans (the original recipe has a total of 8 cans of beans) so that didn't help things either. By the time the judges had any, it was pure mush and not appealing to the eye at all.

Looks good, doesn't it?

I wanted to give it another try with just a few modifications: I only put in 1 can of both kinds of beans but kept the meat as specified and added a can of Rotel instead of the tomatoes. I also cut down on the masa and prepared in the slow cooker. I browned the meat first, then put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker, except for the masa, which was added an hour before we ate. I was really disappointed in the taste. I'm not a picky eater, but I won't be making this again. I'm going to go back to my old "stand-by" for chili from now on.

It's a Southern Thang...

How many of you like "Breakfast for Dinner"? We don't have it very often, but it was a last minute decision right before I went to the grocery store, partly because I found a recipe that sounded promising in my Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House Cookbook: Garlic Cheese Grits Casserole. Even though I'm Southern born and have never lived out of the Southeast U.S., I don't recall ever buying grits. (CH said I did, but I'm not sure I believe him.)

I bought the grits and tried out the recipe. I actually thought it was really good and was pleased with how it turned out. In fact, I will probably make this again.

It was a bit much for the 2 of us & I wasn't sure if it was "freezable".  Since the recipe came out of a cookbook and I couldn't find the recipe online by Miss Mary Bobo's, I am not going to share it. BUT...I found this recipe that was very similar; the only difference is that Miss Mary Bobo's uses 4 eggs instead of 1, 1 1/2 cups of processed cheese (I used sharp cheddar instead), and it is baked for 1 hour.

Well, it kinda worked!

The best part about Steak with Beer Sauce and Sweet Potatoes was the sweet potatoes. The steak was way too messy to cook as directed; oil splattered everywhere and there was quite a bit to clean up. Yeah, I probably didn't do something right, but I followed the recipe exactly as it read. I'll definitely keep the recipe for the sweet potatoes but cook the steak some other way. The beer sauce didn't add anything to the steak, but that's my opinion.
Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya was another recipe that I'll save and fix again. I'm not a fan of spicy so I wasn't sure how I would like the andouille. It was just enough spice to give it an "oomph" but not so much that my mouth burned. Just right for me.

Worth another try...or another recipe

The last attempt to find new recipes was Copy Cat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup. We like to eat soup when it's cold, and I love McAlister's broccoli cheese soup. Maybe that's where I went wrong: I thought it would taste the same. This recipe had way too much cheese in it. If I tried it again I would half the cheese and run the soup through the blender/food processor before I served it. It was very thick and honestly, not that good with all of the cheese in it. Don't get me wrong: I love cheese, but it was just too much.
Along with the soup, I made some bread that is supposed to be perfect for grilled cheese. I tried it and had to add about 2 Tablespoons of milk to the dough because it didn't ball up like it should have. I'm not sure if it was because I used white wheat flour instead of bread flour, but I wouldn't have thought that would have made that much of a difference. The bread just crumbled and tasted like cornmeal. Maybe I'll try it again.

So tell me: have you tried any of these recipes? Did they work for you or did you modify them? What recipes have you tried lately that were successes?

Last Friday Fragments 2011

 

Time for "Friday Fragments" with Mrs. 4444!
 ~  The church was absolutely beautiful for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  We have a new choir director this year, and he did an excellent job with making the Mass feel extra special.  The past few years have just felt like a mass in the middle of the night.  Here are a few pictures of the church:

You'll have to imagine the trees in the lower left picture being lit.  They have lights on them, and are absolutely gorgeous.  I took the pictures Monday right before Adoration, so the lights were off.


~  Last night ended up being a "Southern-Themed" night.  We went out to eat, then we were going to go see "Sherlock Holmes", but decided to just go home.  CH & I ended up watching "The Help" followed by "Sweet Home Alabama".  I think I cried more during "The Help" this time. 

~  I found a recipe for Eggnog Rum Cake and decided to try it out, especially since I didn't do any baking before Christmas.    The recipe didn't explicitly say whether or not to use the eggs that are on the directions on the cake box, but if you make it, put the eggs in.  I took a chance and put them in, and it came out perfectly.  For the icing, I made my own using 1/3 cup softened butter,  3 cups of sifted powered sugar, 1 1/4 cups of eggnog, and 1/4 cup of dark rum.  After I mixed that up, I ended up adding equal parts of eggnog and rum until it was the consistency I wanted.  At first I was going to make a glaze to drizzle over the cake, but decided against it at the last minute.  The finished product:

 

I think I may have put just a little bit too much rum in the icing, but then again, is there such a thing as too much rum?  I didn't think so.

~  The boys got me this bracelet for Christmas:

I was a  little concerned when I opened up the box, because I have rather large wrists, but they were smart and got the biggest bracelet they could.  And, it's just a little bit big (in that it slides a bit), but that's the way I like them.  The charms have some significance.  On the left is a bear:  We've always called YS "YS Bear".  The middle charm is a stone for OS, my nature boy.  And the charm on the right is a bunny for MS, my "Snuggle Bunny".  And, since it's a charm bracelet, CH and the boys won't have to think real hard about what to get me for birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmases.

~ CH also got me this:

Now I can cook like the Southern Queen, y'all!

When we were in Heathrow for our last meal in England, our server was wearing the most incredible perfume.  She told me what it was, and we looked at it in the airport, but couldn't get someone to wait on us, so we didn't buy it.  I looked around town for it but couldn't find it.  A few weeks ago we were in Ross Dress for Less; I happened to glance at the perfumes, and there it was.  So I got that, too

~  I'll catch y'all next year!  I hope everybody has a safe NYE!