Apricot Chicken

Apricot Chicken

It seemed like this could be a bit too sweet for my taste....apricot preserves in the crockpot could go wrong.  The all fruit version was used...and the rest of the ingredients added with chicken breasts used for the chicken.  The result:  Dry.  Really dry.  Have I mentioned that it was dry? But it wasn't too sweet, so the chicken could be used in other recipes.

I have to say, my version looked nothing like the picture linked above from the recipe.  The oven baked sweet potato fries ended up being the star of the meal, so the meal did have some redeeming value.  Perhaps my chicken cooked too long...a full day of work and a long bicycle ride later.  

I'm giving it a double thumbs' down.  I had changed the recipe from the original, so the bad portions of this could be all mine.  What is it?  The author takes all responsibility for this:)

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Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread

English Muffin Bread
Just the thing for the breakfast doldrums.  This looked great...check out the pictures on the link.....wow, her photographs look delicious.  I needed the right day to make this since it requires getting up early to have time to let the bread rise.  Of course, I could have made it the evening before, but I like the idea of serving it warm and fresh (see note).  The wind was howling, so I couldn't sleep the other morning....perfect....I could make this bread.

Our conclusion was that we liked this bread; however, we did not find it to be anything special nor could we figure out why this was English muffin bread.   

Note: After listening to the wind howl, and getting up to make this, I read the last sentence in the recipe.  Serve after it has cooled.  Oops.  Maybe it's a good idea to read all the way through the directions before making something. 
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Ruth Reichl's Spaghetti Carbonara

Ruth Reichl's Spaghetti Carbonara 
Gotta love this.  I have had spaghetti carbonara.  I have made spaghetti carbonara.  BUT...not like this!
This recipe is right up my alley....noodles, bacon, fast.  I love how someone like Ruth Reichl can break something that I have made a more complicated version of...and get it to quick and delicious.  It's back to the basic and delicious version of the dish.  This recipe does not have cream...or sun dried tomatoes...just the basics. No frou frou here.

Garlic and Sapphires was a recent read of mine which followed the previous reads of her other bestsellers...Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples.  This one was an especially fun read because she elaborates on the disguises she used as a restaurant critic for the NYT!  Anyway, there are recipes in this book as well which always is a hit with me.

The carbonara may be the keeper recipe from this book. We had rotini carbonara.  I'm not sure how it happened..but the pasta options have dwindled in this house, so that needs to be remedied this weekend. I'm thinking that I may chop some bacon for this recipe and keep it in the freezer.  That way I can pull it out in the morning and be ready to go since the other ingredients are things I have on hand.  Hmmmm....just trying to think how to make it even faster!

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Baked Fries

Skinnytaste Baked Fries
Just craving fries....but haven't had good luck with the baked version.  Oops...can't say that anymore since these were great.  We did not dip them in anything; but, other than that, I made them pretty close to the original recipe.  Shocking...I'm following the recipe:)

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Apple Paste

 Apple Paste

This really worked!!!
Membrillo...yum.  My parents brought some back for us from Spain a couple years ago.  I do see it for sale here, but it's expensive, so when I came across the recipe I decided to try making it.  I figured the worst that could happen would be that it would be more sauce-like than brick-like.  But...it really worked!

Paul was able to find manchego cheese at our Sendik's (after much asking), so we can enjoy this in a more authentic way. This will be made again...different fruits in the future...but the recipe is a keeper. Oh, and the manchego is not budget friendly, so we won't be having that again.  I'm glad that we got to try it...but now we know that it is not necessary to enjoying the apple paste.
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Rick Bayless' Torta

Torta Recipe by Rick Bayless

This was an awesome dinner!  Soy chorizo from Trader Joe's was a great substitution for the chorizo called for in the recipe and feta instead of goat cheese.....topped with some green salsa.  This is just the type of thing served at his XOCO restaurant; guess that's why we like it there so much.

It was so easy and so good! Highly recommend this for a quick dinner.  Three thumbs up from here.
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Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

Do you just hate when you buy a condiment and it sits in the fridge for a long time?  I bought the wing sauce for the hummus recipe and wanted to make something else with it so it didn't sit for too many months in the refrigerator.  So, this seemed like a good recipe for a week after the yummy hummus.

I noticed when purchasing the wing sauce that our store has an organic wing sauce as well as the one I bought.  I thought it was a strange thing to be an organic product and it really made me smile to see it sitting on the shelf.  Buffalo wings and organic.....I guess it could work.   Maybe it's a bit like drinking diet soda with a burger and fries.

As mentioned previously on this blog, the mess of wings doesn't work for me although the flavors do.  This new blog that I found off foodbuzz...tons of Buffalo recipes without the mess of wings.  Having that sauce in the refrigerator every time I open it, well, it's just asking to be used.  I like how this blogger rates the recipes; feeling a bit of blogger remorse from here.   I haven't made enough of hers to know if I'm on the same grading scale though.  I thought it best to start with her "A" recipes...and I am agreeing so far.  I guess that's a good sign:)

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe works well to use the sauce...and the rest of the cilantro...and the rest of the scallions.  Eleanor was carbing, so Paul and I could have this while she stuck with her plain noodles.  I'm feeling just the teeniest bit tired of the Buffalo chicken flavors, so we'll have to lay off that for a bit.  It's more of a heavy winter flavor for me anyway, so maybe as it gets warmer I'll tend toward lighter things. 

Other than prettifying mine as much as the original, I stuck pretty close to the recipe in the link.  We were eating these after Paul returned from an international trip and was exhausted....and Eleanor and I got home from Zumba.  It was late...and we were hungry.

Keeping a few cooked chicken breasts in the freezer has been a dinner saver for us.  It helps to be able to pull out already cooked chicken in the morning.  There's always something that I can whip up for dinner with that ingredient...and generally fairly quickly. 
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