Garden Progress

Excuse me while I brag about my garden a little :) Here are some pictures to show my container garden progress...

My bell peppers are finally growing. These suckers took forever to sprout. I'm almost tempted to go buy a bigger pepper plant in fear that these won't grow fast enough to get some peppers this summer.

I added some herbs to the collection. Wegman's had basil and thyme plants in their produce section, which happened to be cheaper than actually buying a bunch already cut. Weird, but a win for me!

Check out my zucchini plant! The summer squash looks identical to this one. They are growing like crazy and it looks like those are buds at the bottom. I can't wait to pick some fresh squash for frying with some garlic and butter!

One of my strawberry plants has a ton of flowers and strawberries growing! The other one is slowly catching up. Ironically the one that had the strawberries first is not the same plant that is really flourishing now.

And there it is! Do you see it? My first little tomato! This plant is HUGE and is now taller than the balcony railing. The other tomato plant is more compact and is about to grow some tomatoes too.

I never knew having a garden would be this exciting!

ATK Challenge: Skillet Pastitsio (p. 268)

Pastitsio is a classic Greek baked casserole (according to my cookbook). I'd never heard of the stuff, but the picture looked tasty. The meat in this dish is lamb. I like lamb, but sometimes it can be overpowering. And eating it always reminds me of this:



Does anyone else remember this episode when Lisa decides to become a vegetarian? Then the little lamb tells her "Pleeeeeese don't eeeeeeat me!" Gotta love that show :)
This recipe turned out really delicious. The combination of the flavors really complimented each other. The lamb was not overpowering at all. It's topped with crumbled Feta, so how could this go wrong? 
You start out by cooking the ground lamb, then use some of the grease to cook the chopped onion. The spices used were oregano and a smidgen of cinnamon and of course some garlic. The noodles were broken up lasagne noodles (per the recipes instruction). On top of all that I spread a giant can of diced tomatoes and then added some heavy cream at the end to thicken the sauce. The Feta gets added when it is served. Those left overs are going to get devoured tomorrow!
RATINGS:
Flavor: 5 out of 5 stars (a lot of skillet meals just suck in our opinion, but not this one!)Easiness: 5 out of 5 stars (not a lot of prep and I was able to clean as I cooked)Time Spent: 30 minutes Repeat Dish? Did Mary have a little lamb?
Hubby's Comments: "After I let this cool down, I could taste all the flavors. It was good!"

ATK Challenge: Parmesan Chicken with Cherry Tomato Salad (p. 80)

This was a nice break from the usual parmesan chicken that is breaded, then smothered with pasta sauce over some noodles. This was pretty light and refreshing.

I took a mallet to my chicken breasts to thin them out, but they were still too thick. They didn't seem that thick enough to cut in half, but I guess I could have. They still came out good, I just had to cook them a little longer than they suggested. The breading is panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and I could actually taste the cheese. That was awesome.

I bought a basil plant and got to use some for the tomato salad. I am so in love with the smell and taste of fresh basil. The tomatoes were tossed with olive oil, minced garlic, chopped basil and salt n' peppa.

RATINGS:

Flavor:      4 out of 5 stars
Easiness:   4 out of 5 stars (whenever breading is involved my kitchen is a mess)
Time Spent:   30 minutes
Repeat Dish?  Yup

Hubby's Comments: "Delicious. I'd eat it again."

ATK Challenge: Chicken Breasts with Bacon and Sherry Vinegar

Just when I blogged about disappointing recipes, this little gem came along to redeem dinner time!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

When the hubby heard chicken breasts, the stakes were raised. Remember, according to him chicken dinners are polished turds. I had no fear...BACON was involved! I'm beginning to see a pattern. Bacon = definite crowd pleaser; No bacon = crap shoot.

This meal was pretty simple. I did substitute garlic for shallots, but it ended up being delicious. I forgot to add shallots to the grocery list last time. What I do need to start doing is pounding my chicken breasts to thin them out. Atom's bigger breast took longer to cook since it was so much thicker.

The chicken had a lot of flavor, but the sauce on top really made it delicious. It was a reduction of the sherry vinegar, honey, garlic and chicken stock, then with some butter added in at the end as well as a little extra vinegar for a kick. Yum!

RATINGS:

Flavor:          5 out of 5
Easiness:       5 out of 5
Time Spent:  30 minutes
Repeat Dish:  Oh yeah baby! A very easy dish and most ingredients are on hands at all times anyway.

Hubby's Comments: "I'd eat it again. The breast was too big, but definitely good."

ATK Challenge: Sauteed Pork Chops with Pears and Blue Cheese

Last one for today, I promise!

This does not look as good as the ones in the cookbook. It was good, but not as good as we thought it was going to be. This may be chef error again. We definitely liked the mix of flavors.

The direction page shows how to core a pear and it is peeled in the picture. I think I was supposed to leave the peel on for this recipe though. I'm not sure if that would have actually made a difference. I served it over polenta. What is polenta? Italian grits? I'm sure there are some chefs that could make that stuff taste good, but I didn't have time for fancy that night. I just served it like mashed potatoes.

I got pork chops with the bone in. I should have gotten boneless. The bone just makes it harder to eat and you get less meat for the money.

I think we will have to re-visit this one with boneless chops.

RATINGS:

Flavor:          3 out of 5
Easiness:       4 out of 5
Time Spent:  30-40 minutes
Repeat Dish? Yes, need a do-over!

Hubby's Comments: "It was a weak pork chop. I don't like the bone."

ATK Challenge: Shrimp, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Well it looks good right? OMG it was AWEFUL! This salad looked so delicious in the book. It had all kinds of ingredients that I love and one unknown, hearts of palm, so I wanted to give it a try. The husband was very apprehensive. It was very easy to make though. No cooking involved!

I've never had hearts of palm before. I was a little weirded out when I opened the can. I sliced off a piece to try and it kind of tasted like a bean to me (the flavor, not the consistency). I just threw them in and hoped for the best. The dressing was a vinaigrette with orange and grapefruit juice, orange zest, cumin and olive oil. Sounds good, right? It didn't have much flavor at all actually.

When the hubby took the first bite, I was waiting for a reaction. He thought it was interesting but had to continue on to make sure. After we both had a few bites, we determined that it was not disgusting, but it was nowhere near good. The ingredients just don't go well together and the dressing was seriously lacking in flavor. Unless you got a bite of grapefruit with every bite, you didn't taste any citrus. What a total bummer!

RATINGS:

Flavor:          1 out of 5 stars (just for the shrimp)
Easiness:       5 out of 5 stars
Time Spent:  20 minutes tops
Repeat Dish:  NEVER!

Hubby's Comments: "That was a waste of shrimp."

ATK Challenge: Quick Chicken Gumbo

I have fallen a bit behind on my cookbook blogging. The last two recipes have kind of been disappointing, and maybe that is the reason for a lack of enthusiasm. I shall push on and hope for some better outcomes to blog about.

I love gumbo. I was a little apprehensive about a "quick" gumbo recipe, however if it actually was a quick delicious recipe, that would be amazing! They say the trick to their quick and easy gumbo is using two pots: a saucepan for the roux and a Dutch oven for the aromatics and chicken.

I used my magical onion chopper to chop my onion, bell pepper and celery. That thing cuts down so much prep time. I don't know what I would do without it!

Everything seemed to be going well. The roux was coming along and then I started cooking the chicken. I don't have a Dutch oven. I used a large soup pot instead. The chicken never really got browned, just cooked in the grease from the andouille and its own juices.  I don't think there was enough surface area to brown the chicken. After I took out the chicken to brown the veggies, I probably should have dumped the juices that were in the pot. Because I didn't, the veggies didn't really brown either. Everything still looked delicious and smelled delicious. Then we sat down to eat.

It was seriously lacking in flavor. This could be because of my little mis-steps along the way or a lack of a Dutch oven. There was way too much chicken in this dish. It called for 4 breasts, but I think my breasts were too big (you'll never hear my hubby say those words..lol). For the record, it did have more flavor as left overs, but that is because it had time to sit and mix flavors. I think it could still be even better.

This recipe definitely needs to be tried again. I plan on using less chicken, maybe even using some dark meat too. I also want to add more andouille. It called for 8oz, which is only 2 sausage links. Or maybe I'll cut it up more than they recommended, into half moons or fourths. One day I will get a Dutch oven. I have one on my wish list.

RATINGS:

Flavor:          2 out of 5 stars
Easiness:       3 out of 5 stars (lots of prep work)
Time Spent:  about 40-45 minutes
Repeat Dish? Yes...to try and get it right!

Hubby's Comments: "It looked and smelled better than it tastes"

Trial and Error with Ric-Rac

I received my Mother's Day gift a little early...

Yep, a Kindle! Initially I wanted a Nook, but the news came out that later this year, it will be possible to check books out at the library with the Kindle. That was the only real reason I wanted the Nook. You can also now lend books between friends on the Kindle as well. I am an Amazon-whore, so it just made sense to go with the Kindle in the end. But this is not a post about my Kindle (or is it?).

Since I make covers for these gadgets in my Etsy shop, I had to make one for myself. I won a bundle of ric-rac in various colors and it has been sitting in my sewing room staring me down, saying "USE ME!" I'm not usually one for frillyness, but I just wanted to try out an idea. The plan was to have the ric-rac going around all the edges instead of using bias-tape like I usually do. I sat down and wrote out my plans to try and visualize how to do it, and I thought I had it figured out. They say hind-sight is 20/20, so at least now I know where I went wrong. What made it difficult was layering the correct way so that the ric-rac showed around all the edges when I flipped it inside out. I SHOULD have sewn the ric-rac to the panel of fabric that I had attached the batting to. Oh well...you live and you learn. I just realized that it would probably have looked better if the loop was under the ric-rac instead of on-top. Wow, this really was a learning experience :)

What I still need to figure out is....how do I do corners with ric-rac? That was my main conundrum. And what about the ends? They tend to fray.

So here it is:

I  had made a camera-strap cover with this same material and I just love it. I had a ton left over, so I used it for the cover. I also decided to experiment with a different type of closure. Instead of velcro, I did a loop and button. I think that part is pretty cute. I love going through my bags of random buttons and found that blue beauty. I had originally put on a large square gold button, but it just looked to granny to me, so I switched it. I also used a zig zag stitch for the binding at the bottom.

ATK Challenge: Shrimp Louis Salad (p. 48

This is a spin of the West Coast classic Crab Louis salad. Instead of crab, it uses shrimp. Duh. Like all the salads we have tried so far, this one also has a dressing that is made from scratch. When I'm done with this adventure, I don't know if I'll ever buy salad dressing again. Although Fletch is a fiend for ranch dressing on his nuggets, so I'm sure we will always have that around.

I'm not a fan of Thousand Island dressing, but since this was a make-it-yourself dressing that promised a smoother consistency I gave it a try. I did leave out the scallions. We are just not big fans of the little buggars. The dressing was a mix of mayo, chili sauce, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. The shrimp was tossed with some of that and put on top of the lettuce wedge, tomato and avocado.

It was a pretty salad, but even more delicious. It was a nice light salad and perfect for a really warm day. The shrimp was already pre-cooked and shelled, so this was a fast and easy dinner. I always have to have some of those on the menu because of school nights. But other nights it can be hard for me to make a decision on what to cook. We have a white board on the fridge that I list out all the dinner options on. I also list lunch and breakfast options. This way, both hubby and I know what is on the menu, and can use the list to decide what we want to eat that day. It isnt' a fool-proof method. Some nights neither of us want to make the decision, however I don't really want to assign meals to specific days.

I love having a visual and writing things down. When we have our "real" house, I plan on having a HUGE white board in the kitchen somewhere. We use Google calendar right now to organize all our events and appointments, but I really like to have it in writing somewhere I will pass by and be reminded. I'm a visual learner :)

RATINGS:

Flavor:          4 out of 5 (still not a big fan of the dressing)
Easiness:       5 out of 5
Time Spent:  20 minutes
Repeat Dish? more than likely

Hubby's Comments: "I liked it. I definitely like the new variety of salads"a

ATK Challenge: Three-Meat Calzone (p. 281)

Strombolis have been on the dinner rotation for a long time. I had found a really easy recipe using Pillsbury dough, pepperoni, mozzarella and viola! Fun fact: the difference between a stromboli and a calzone, is that a calzone has ricotta cheese. When I saw a calzone recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.

This recipe calls for the pound of ball pizza dough that I chose to ignore for the BBQ chicken pizza recipe. I told myself to follow the rules this time, however Wegman's didn't have any! I had to make a decision. I could buy the Pillsbury stuff or I could by a mix to make my own dough. I decided on the mix. I just wanted to try something different and it ended up turning out fine.

The meats inside were spicy capicola ham, pepperoni and salami. I used sliced mozzarella cheese and then mixed in some parmesan and chopped basil with the ricotta.

All you do is roll the dough out into a circle, layer the ingredients on one side, then flip the other side over making half-moon shape, then seal the dough together and bake. It was delicious. I had a bowl of thick marinara for dipping as well.

RATINGS:

Flavor:          5 out of 5 stars
Easiness:       4 out of 5 stars (had to roll pizza dough)
Time Spent:  30 minutes
Repeat Dish? Certamente!

Husband's Comments: A delicious twist on a regular favorite!