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Food Follow Up: 5/13 Menu

Massaged kale caesar salad - If you like caesar salad you will love this caesar salad. The dressing is fantastic and it’s totally weird but worth it to rub oil into the kale leaves. 

Orecchiette alla vodka - This turned out great, and I suspect it’d be even better if I hadn’t left out the tomato paste and subbed in whole milk for the cream thanks to a scatterbrained grocery list :/

Cincinnati chili - Possibly the most flavorful chili I’ve ever had. Be warned that it takes multiple hours of simmering, it pays off. 

Budget bytes’ stromboli - Previously reviewed here. Thumbs up dot gif. 

Special shout out to the corn/bacon/scallion/greek yogurt/chicken salad I made for book club. Out of this world, guys. Seriously. 

Food Follow Up: 5/06 Menu

Fancy mac - Previously eaten/reviewed 8,027 times, including here. This recipe is an American hero. 

Chicken taco bowls - Previously reviewed here, though now that I do have a slow cooker at my disposal it’s even easier. So amazing and simple, the fact that it’s crazy cheap to throw together is just icing. 

Spring soba noodle salad - Not impressed. It wasn’t gross because none of the ingredients are gross, but it certainly didn’t taste like much. Moving on. 

Cucumber & napa cabbage slaw - So bland one bite made the soba noodles taste like fireworks. I imagined refreshing with a ton of crunch and citrus, but it was just watery and disappointing. 

Food Follow Up: 4/29 Menu

Cheeseburgers with sauteed mushrooms, arugula, & mustard aoli - Fabulous. I think there’s a lot to be said for leaving the hamburger itself simple, just S&P-ing the shit out of the outside.

Polenta with cheddar, chard, and wild mushrooms - I was really frustrated while cooking this, and somehow it tasted like frustration. My polenta wasn’t the smoothest, and we certainly didn’t use the mushrooms specified. Just okay. 

Creamy zucchini orecchiette - Champing at the bit to get some zuc plants in the ground so I can make this ALL OF THE TIME. 

Food Follow-Up: 4/22 Menu

AKA the week of winners….

Chicken parm meatballs - So great, especially piled into a sub roll. We used chicken thighs run through the meat grinder and they were DELICIOUS. 

Asian turkey meatloaf - Sounds weird, tastes really good. The water chestnuts made it. I served it with broccoli roasted in sesame oil and topped with sriracha.

Cheddar jalapeno chicken burgers - Also excellent, although I would probably skip the cumin and paprika next time to be able to taste the cheddar and jalapenos more. Meat grinder to the rescue again, this time with leftover chicken breasts. 

Food Follow Up: 4/15 Menu

Springtime crockpot minestrone - This could not have been easier and was so tasty! I will say that it took way longer than 15 minutes to cook the pasta, but all in all this is a terrific meal for nights you know you won’t want to do much when you get home. 

Paccheri and cheese with peas and mint - I don’t know what a paccheri is and I didn’t bother with the springform pan or second sprinkling of parm, but man was this good. It’s real name is springtime mac and cheese.

Grilled black bean/chicken/avocado burrito - Unf. I saw this on pinterest and after clicking through I’m hesitant to even call it a recipe, more of an idea. For the chicken I used my fave marinade and stuck them in the slow cooker. It turned out to be the best chicken to ever chicken, no lie. Anyone with secrets on how to stuff/roll a burrito without explosions and tearing please help. 

Heart of palm and avocado salad - Best idea, best salad. 

Crunchy buffalo chicken salad with bacon and spicy ranch - Micah loved this, I liked it a lot. I always have a hard time with “oven fried” things…just not the same. 

Food Follow Up: 4/08 Mini Menu

Chicken goulash with biscuit dumplings - Made because we literally had every ingredient already, but perhaps not well-suited to a 90 degree day. Everything about it was good. Shelving for next winter.

Lemony chicken orzo soup - All hail. So simple yet mind-blowingly great.

Food Follow Up: 4/01 Menu

Arugula pesto & provolone meatloaf - Tastes like a gigantic meatball! Ours consisted of half beef, half fresh-ground pork butt (heh) and nut-less pesto. 

Spicy black bean burgers - The flavor was delicious but like most bean burgers, floppy and thus a total pain to cook/flip without a mess. Micah refused to allow oats in the mixture, so maybe they would do a better job than the panko I used instead. 

Cilantro hush puppies - Realizing how EASY hushpuppies are to make was a bad thing for me because I want to eat them always. If you don’t want yours to have any texture from the onions etc, make the juice rather than paste. 

Roasted brussels sprout carbonara - The big winner of the week. SO good that I recommend doubling it (half box of pasta? please). 

Food Follow Up: 3/25 Menu

Spicy Dr. Pepper pork - This is the best when you can only get it up to cook once. I love turning it into a million different incarnations throughout the week. I prefer making this in the oven (more crusty bits), but if you don’t find yourself with 7ish hours to make sure the house doesn’t burn down, the slow cooker’s totally fine. I’ve done both. 

Asparagus pickles - FABULOUS. One hell of an addition to a cheese plate, might I add.

Apple-bacon-cheddar mac & cheese - Super good, I think beer in the sauce could make it perfect. The snob in me wonders if Stephanie Izard’s version is better. 

Crock pot bbq nachos - These kicked ass the first time I made them. Even more ass is kicked when leftover shredded pork and pepper jack are used. Tears just thinking about it.

Food Follow Up: 3/18 Menu

Smoky roasted chicken tacos with spicy goat cheese queso - Underwhelming. The chicken was fine, the queso was really bland until I threw in a heaping amount of salt. I like the thought of using goat cheese, but would probably add it to another queso recipe rather than try to revive this one. 

Cottage pie - New fave version. The little hint of cinnamon is absolutely everything. Plus I don’t know why I never thought to add cheese to the mashed potatoes before but man. Genius. 

Broccoli rabe with sausage - So this is meant to be a side dish, which I don’t get at all but thrown over polenta it’s magical and SO QUICK. Future lifesaver of many a weeknight.

Food Follow Up: 3/11 Menu

Cornmeal crusted chicken with jalapeno popper sauce - So damn delicious. I find pounding the chicken out makes a huge difference - cooks faster/evenly and super tender! We always serve with waffles. Crack some pepper into the batter. Die happy. 

Spicy roasted vegetable mac & cheese - Liked this a lot. It calls for 2 cups of pasta but I get stabby when left with a partial box so I used a full pound of mini wheels. Next time I’d make a little more sauce and bake the whole thing for 15ish minutes rather than broiling. But that’s just because we prefer a more solid mac. Do you. 

Budget bytes stromboli - One of those recipes where you can’t stop saying how good it is as you’re eating. I’ve heard the dough recipe is trash, though; I use HSE’s garlic bread crust recipe with seasonings mixed into the dough. Mine cooked for 25 minutes at 450F and was bubbly and perfect. 

Food Follow Up: 3/04 Menu

Baked pasta with eggplant and artichokes - Really hearty thanks to all the veg and the whole wheat pasta. I used chunks of fresh mozz and recommend you do the same. 

Thai chicken quinoa barley bowl - I liked this, Micah didn’t. I didn’t expect him to like it, really. I used barley instead of quinoa for his sake, and because of that I think it could’ve used more sauce (barley is really absorbent…apparently) - if you make it with quinoa it should be fine. The sauce itself was GOOD. I also grated the carrots since I prefer the texture to chopped. 

Spaghetti squash alfredo - I was wary as this could’ve gone either way, but it was great! My only tweak was thickening the sauce a little too much knowing that the squash strands would give off water; after 5ish minutes under the broiler everything was perfect. 

Beef with broccoli - Previously reviewed here, still great.

Food Follow Up: 2/25 Menu

Oven fajitas - A busy weeknight godsend! It’s so easy (says Micah, who made the whole thing start to finish). The spice mix is awesome and missing any scary packet chemicals. 

Beef chili with masa harina - Our fave chili recipe. We halve the meat and keep the other proportions mostly the same. This time, we broke out the meat grinder on some top round from the freezer and I CANNOT rave enough about the difference a fresh grind makes. Who knew?

Beer & bacon mac - Full disclosure, Micah made this one too. Stomach plague aside, I was able to gum/enjoy it quite a bit. The noodles were comforting and the smoky+sharp+bitter flavors were super good. We used a dark winter ale. 

Artichoke, spinach, & tomato pizza - Delicious. Still prefer the HSE version, though this one had fewer steps. 

Food Follow Up: 2/11 Menu

Fancy mac 2.0 - So, as expected, the original recipe is king. This one’s good, and I actually may throw in the mushrooms more often than not, but the blue cheese is overkill. It’s just too many strongly-flavored cheeses at once okay? It just is. But yeah, roasted mushrooms. Those were great.

Spinach artichoke melts - Oh mah gah the perfect sandwich. I’m wondering why anyone would eat any other sandwich actually. I especially love that the recipe makes more dip than will fit in the sandwiches, it’s like they knew I would be sneaking bites with the heels of the bread.

Green minestrone - Eh, this was bland. It reminds me of something you’d crave after having a stomach flu.

Slow cooker barbecue nachos - Amazing. Not rocket science or anything but the chipotle puree/barbecue sauce mix on the chicken is delicious. We ate off of the cookie sheet on the floor like animals because this is America.

Food Follow Up: 2/04 Menu

Fancy mac - Definition of a no brainer. Reviewed many a time but let me save you a click and tell you to stop, drop, and make this.

Lemony brussels sprout slaw - Really glad I have decent reading comprehension and caught that this serves 10-12 so I halved the recipe. Love the idea (brussies (tm Michelle) are just baby cabbages, why NOT make them into slaw?!) and the flavor, just be warned that they soak up a lot of dressing so if you like a looser cole slaw adjust the proportions. My leftovers were dry, I’d err on the side of too much dressing next time.

Slow cooker short ribs in cabernet sauce - I need a Best Thing I Ever Ate segment to discuss this one. Heads up though, it involves a fair bit of prep for a crock pot recipe. I spent the morning searing short ribs before heading off to work…caught a whiff of my hair later and realized I was carrying that brown bits smell around with me. Also, I somehow bought boneless short ribs (which I didn’t know were a thing), so I imagine the flava would be even better if you didn’t do that. It still turned out fantastic - the sauce didn’t thicken like I thought it might, more stew-like, but over mashed potatoes? I need a minute. The meat is the only texture meat should be allowed - tender as fuck. 

Lentil soup with sausage, chard, and garlic - Perfectly fine. Not great enough to displace our favorite sausage/greens soup. Also I disagree with Deb (god strike me down) about the garlic oil adding much to the dish. 

Food Follow Up: 1/28 Menu

Quick & easy pork fried rice - Mine turned out yum thanks to lots of doctoring, but cous was right that as is it’ll be completely bland and boring. Treat as a base recipe. 

Baked rigatoni with tiny meatballs - I go through the following stages with every smitten kitchen recipe: 1) Oh this looks WONDERFUL can’t wait to make it 2) Read the recipe and realize how many steps there are 3) Midway through want to cry because there’s so much left to do and so many dirty dishes 4) Stress tears turn to happy tears because IT’S SO DELICIOUS. That is the case with this. Frying meatballs is my new jam. I ground up a pork loin I had and the result was just delightful. 

Breakfast burgers - Renaming this the hangover burger. Look at the cast of characters, there’s no way it won’t be good. 

Portabella and kale pizza with roasted garlic sauce - This makes a dry pizza, be warned if that’s not your thing. I plopped goat cheese and truffle oil on ours. It was enjoyable, but if you like greens on your pizza this one is way better.