Recipe Re-Blog #3

I am on a roll! Here are my new recipes for week 3 of my 2011 resolution. I tried all new meals this week for dinner. I don't think I've ever done that. I even made a new recipe on a Friday night. WHAT?! John usually makes homemade pizza on Fridays so this was a big departure from the norm. There were just so many that I wanted to try. They included..........

Korean-Style Chicken Noodle Bowl: I ripped this out of an Everyday with Rachael Ray (Sept. 2010). This resolution is definitely forcing me to use the "to be cooked" pocket of my recipe binder. It calls for fresh ginger, which I didn't feel like buying. I used 1 tsp. dried instead. O.M.GOODNESS!!! This was delicious. I have made stir fry before but usually with a peanutty-soy based sauce. The sauce on this was both sweet and spicy. It had a kick but not too much kick. I didn't think I would like this as much as I did. It was awesome! After only bite one, John said the recipe earned a sleeve in the recipe binder. High praise! The only downside was it called for quite a few ingredients. Most of them I had on hand but if you don't regularly make Asian food, you might have to buy them. But, they last awhile. TRY THIS RECIPE and let me know if you liked it. :)

Mini Meat Loaves: Believe it or not, I love meatloaf! And I like my current go-to meatloaf recipe but it uses 2 lbs of ground beef and makes 8 servings. We end up freezing half, which is fine, but sometimes I just want a good 4 serving, ground beef meal out of 1 lb. of meat. Enter, Woman's Day, August/Septemeber 2010. It's #5 on the link. These were delicious! They cooked up so quickly and I love mini food. Give this one a shot. The scallions make it.

Chicken Piccata: I love love love Chicken Piccata and I've never made it at home. Can you believe that? I'm only slightly obsessed with capers. Don't ask me why. The recipe I used is #6 on the link. For me, this one was a little lacking. It cooked up super quick, which is always a bonus, especially for a weeknight meal. Actually, John was responsible for this dinner because I was on the treadmill. But, I thought it would be more flavorful, like the chicken piccata you get in restaurants. I guess it probably would have been, if I were in a restaurant. I gave this a sleeve in the binder but I don't know how often I'll make it. It had the bonus of needing ingredients that I already had on hand. Love when that happens.


And in the sweets department.......

Fried Banana Wontons with Black-and-White Drizzle: This was also from Everyday with Rachael Ray (Sept. 2010). I don't usually hang onto dessert recipes because we try not to have too much dessert. Especially not dessert fried in butter and calling for heavy cream. However, I had leftover wonton wrappers from recently made Crab Rangoon so I thought, what the heck! These were ah-mazing! And they cooked up so quick and easy too. I told John we were having a "novelty dessert." I think he was pleasantly surprised. I skipped the creme fraiche which I didn't feel like buying and just substituted in some Cool Whip on the top. Yum Yum!