Let me start by saying that I have 2 types of people in my house. Picky eaters and those with "rules" about food. I'm a rules person. If it isn't the right color, smell or texture I'm not eating it. And I'm a huge fan of Food Network. Since I've been out on maternity leave, I've watched ALOT of Food Network. It's turned into a lot of fly by the seat of my pants dinners, which is not budget friendly. So I am trying to keep to my new recipes all year long resolution and a budget. My first week, I did ok. But I'm going for great.
Here are the links to the original recipes I tried last week. Funny thing about me being a rules eater, is that I don't particularly care for rules...and I don't follow recipes all that often. So I'm going to tell you what I did differently or what I should have done differently also. Some of the recipes had things in it that I knew would not fly at my house, so I made those changes. Some I just thought would taste better with chorizo (because what doesn't??). But it's always nice to know where the original recipe came from.
Crockpot sliders: http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2011/02/recipe-for-3-envelope-crockpot-roast.html#axzz3CB0ykfXC
French Toast Rollups: http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/french-toast-roll-ups/
Chicken roll ups: http://inspiredreamer.com/chicken-roll-ups/
Cajun chicken pasta: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/cajun-chicken-pasta/
Taco Meatloaf: http://cocinandoconalena.blogspot.com/2010/12/taco-meatloaf.html
Salmon Foil Packets: http://www.caloriewarrior.com/garlic-parmesan-salmon-asparagus-foil-pack/
My absolute favorite recipe from this batch was the crockpot sliders! If I can find a way to make the "packets" without all the sodium this will be a regular recipe that is used in my house. The only change I made was I didn't use the picante sauce (well and cheese). And I didn't miss it. I used Kings Hawaiian bread rolls cut in half, buttered and pan seared. I also am not a huge fan of swiss, and needed cheese for other recipes and lunch sandwiches, so I bought sharp cheddar and pepper jack. I had provolone in the fridge. I liked the 2 white cheese the best, Daniel liked the cheddar the best. Any of the cheeses were fine, this recipe is amazing!!
I will not make the French toast rollups again. They were ok. But they were a pain in the butt. And for just ok, I'm not exerting that energy again. But I followed the recipe exactly...then made regular french toast.
Now for the rest of them...
Chicken roll ups- I boiled 3 chicken breast in water with chopped onion, minced garlic, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. You can add carrots and celery if you like because you can strain out the onion and garlic and have homemade less sodium broth for other recipes. From there I followed the recipe how it was written. This one was ok also. But it is easy and has the potential to be great. I will add bacon to my chicken and cheese next time. And I'll make a double batch of the rolls, but will only use one can of the soup still. The soup didn't make the crescents soggy like I thought it would, until you reheated them. But it was still just a little too much. So if you're going to make this and don't want to do double the rolls, I'd only use half the can of soup.
Cajun chicken pasta-this is where you can use that chicken broth! I couldn't find the recipe when it was time to cook. So I improvised. Mine should have been called mexican chicken pasta. I heated my skillet with a little butter and oil, added chopped onions and minced garlic. I added the chicken to this and then 2 links of chorizo. In another pot I boiled and cooked the fettucini noodles. When the chicken and chorizo were cooked through, I added slices of red and green bell peppers and cooked all of it until the peppers and chicken had some char marks to it. I drained the noodles, and put them and the chicken stock into the skillet. This wasn't needed. Either follow the original recipe or scrap the noodles and eat the chicken, chorizo and peppers on chips or a tortilla with some cheese shredded on top of it. I baked my leftovers in the other half of one of the bell peppers with cheese on top of it. That, my friends, was way better than the first go round of this meal!
Taco meatloaf- I didn't use corn chips in this, and I will give it another shot with corn chips or Doritos instead of bread crumbs as my binder. I really liked the top, where the refried beans and taco sauce were, but I didn't like the bottom of this. But I'm not a big taco fan either. My kids, however, are not big meatloaf fans, and ate double helpings of this, plus leftovers. So this at least warrants another try.
Salmon foil packets- I used the recipe only as a guide to this one. It looked slightly plain as I read the recipe. And I will make this with mashed potatoes instead of asparagus next time. We're just not asparagus people. It was ok, but it wasn't great. I sent it with potatoes for lunch for the hubby and he went from "no thanks" to "that was good!" I used the ingredients and made the garlic cheese mixture. But I also cooked a link of chorizo... I layered the asparagus, a little of the cheese mixture, a little chorizo, the salmon, a lot of the cheese mixture and then a little more chorizo. The salmon and chorizo were good but didn't match the asparagus once I added the sausage. But, this was easy to cook and easy to clean since it was cooked in the foil. Win, win!
If you use something other than chorizo to spice these up, let me know! I love a good base recipe with variations so we're not eating the same thing every week.
