Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2012/01
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Whole Wheat Pizza Puffs -- back to top
We made pizza puffs using the recipe below. We basically followed the same idea but used some diced soppressata and a lot (too much?) zucchini.
THey were pretty easy and tasted okay. Not incredible. I think the definitely needed salt and I don't really know what else. Maybe next time we will mix half whole wheat and white flour.
When we make pizza, we tend to roll it really thin so the yeast doesn't do too much, but it still adds flavor which I think this was missing. Also, we didn't have mini-muffin tins so they were bigger.
Pizza Puffs (From Cooking With My Kid)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1670, 2012-01-03_145422
Nothing too special here. We made Koftas as before basically using the same recipe. I do not think we made any _new_changes. Still used lean beef, and less of it. Meredith made her usual tzatziki.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1673, 2012-01-04_145440
Chicken Vindaloo -- back to top
We made chicken vindaloo with the recipe here. I more or less followed it with the following changes
It came out pretty good. I went too heavy on the tumeric which is why it is yellow and not red (and why the food processor is stained). Other than that, it was just spicy.
We didn't have time to make samosas, plus, this had a lot of potato in it already so we didn't need it.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1682, 2012-01-06_222547
Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup -- back to top
We made the soup from the recipe below. Generally, we have trouble with Crock Pot stuff since it takes too long to just do when we get home but not so long as to be doable before we leave for work. However, this worked well because we set it up and then ran (a lot) of errands. We followed the recipe surprisingly closely with the only change being half the chicken, extra adobo sauce, and I chopped a chipotle and put that in too.
The soup was very good. I was especially impressed with how easy it was to shred the chicken. This is definitely something I would do again. We also had a nice amount of leftovers
Meredith made the salsa verde from the recipe in Homesick Texan book (I'll add the page in the comments when I check). She basically followed the recipe except one of the avocados tasted funky so we didn't put it in. While we though it was our best attempt, it wasn't incredible. Too much lime (lemon?) and maybe something else, but I don't know. We toasted some whole wheat tortillas to dip.
We also had bread since I need to carb-load for the next day.
Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup (from Gina's Skinny Taste)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1685, 2012-01-07_222602
A Tofurky was really cheap so we figured it made a good, easy meal. We roasted it with sweet potatoes, carrots, a small regular potato and a parsnip. Meredith made the same marinade of soy sauce, olive oil, and dried thyme (the recipe on the box, basically) as last time.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1691, 2012-01-10_083458
Posole from extra Salsa -- back to top
We had leftover salsa verde from the other night and didn't know what to do with it. So we made posole similar to the previous times. However, we also didn't remember to buy many of the peppers needed. We used chipotles in adobo instead. Since we still used hominy, it was still technically posole. It was different from the previous ones, but it was still really good. And it made a good use of the extra salsa. We again broiled the tomatillos instead of boiling them.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1695, 2012-01-11_183202
Seared Salmon and Broccoli -- back to top
This was largely a repeat of the meal I made on 2011-12-25 except without the dessert or the potatoes. The salmon pieces were thicker so I cooked them longer both on the flesh side and in the oven. It also gave them a crispier crust on the top. That ended up being really good. Thankfully, it was not overcooked.
I did the broccoli the roasted way as before. I used Adobo powder on them. I do not know what was the cause, but they tasted a little bit like plastic. I do not know what was up with them.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1698, 2012-01-12_162906
Baked Chicken "Fried" Steak -- back to top
These don't look very pretty but we tried to make baked chicken fried steak. We basically used the recipe from the Homesick Texan book. The crust was made of flour,cayenne, pepper and salt. We also used egg beaters and almond milk instead of whole milk. We used pre sliced thin steak to make it a bit easier.
Instead of cream gravy, we basically made the bechemel from moussaka except we added extra pepper. The ingredients were similar but we know that this one worked well when done with almond milk.
They were okay, but not great. They definitely came out rather unappetizing looking. The crust tasted pretty good but again, didn't really stick to the steak nor did it get crispy. I wouldn't rush to make it again but if a different way of doing it came along, I would consider it again.
BTW, it's called chicken fried steak because you fry steak the way people fry chicken.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1701, 2012-01-13_163002
Roasted Potatoes and Sausage -- back to top
We largely did the same thing as 2011-10-24 except with a few changes. We used both sweet and purple majesty potatoes. This gave it a really, really cool look. Such a colorful meal. We also used poblanos instead of bell peppers. Finally, we again used chicken sausage, but this time it was more spicy italian flavored. I liked it though Meredith was still a bit unhappy with the strong anise flavor
It was again, fairly tasty. Nothing too special but still good. I really liked how colorful the whole thing was. It was also not too bad in points (we made less than last time) being that it was the entire meal. Maybe a bit high for the amount of food.
Points Plus for the entire things
Potatoes...16
Sausage...15
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1708, 2012-01-16_124438
Zucchini Fritters and Shrimp -- back to top
First, we made zucchini fritters just like 2011-12-21. I was more careful with the egg but unfortunately (though probably unrelated, they stuck really badly. I do not know what we did last time, but they were much better. I also think I undercooked them by a good amount and they were soggy. I will definitely try again, but I'll let it cook more.
The shrimp was done on the griddler. I marinated it for a bit with lemon juice and then put adobo seasoning on it. Unlike the zucchini, this was overcooked.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1711, 2012-01-17_124456
Beef Enchilada Casserole -- back to top
This was the pretty standard enchilada casserole - first notes on 2010-10-27. Meredith made it so I don't know the details, but I think it was pretty normal. We were out of cream of celery soup though, so she used cream of chicken instead. We found that Safeway cream of chicken soup is better than Giant's. She did it in the round dish which makes sense given the shape of the tortilla. It also made enough for a lunch the next day.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1718, 2012-01-19_123534
Pizza -- back to top
We made pizza using the normal crust with the switch of whole wheat and white flour. We tried to do something different this time which was to let the rolled out (mine) or hand shaped (meredith) dough sit longer and rise a bit more to try to get more of a crust. As usual, Meredith's was a lot nicer but smaller.
Anyway, my pizzas were: goat cheese, peppadews, and soppressata. Then, red onion, artichokes and spinach. Meredith did olive, artichoke hearts and capers. Then, she did mexican with olives, pickled jalapeno slices, and avocado (sprinkled with cumin).
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1727, 2012-01-20_123913
White Bean Eggplant and Chicken Cacciatore -- back to top
The real star of this meal was the white-bean on eggplant. We had white-bean bruschetta at a restaurant and decided to try to make it ourselves. Except healthier both with ingredients and replace the bread. We made the beans with rinsed white beans, balsamic vinegar, a very little bit of olive oil and quite a bit of basil. We let them marinate for about an hour. We served them on broiled and salted graffiti eggplant. We broiled them for about 8 minutes, then flipped them and did it for another 5 minutes. We tried to get them really roasted.
We also made chicken cacciatore (recipe) with extra vegetables and broccoli. We added too much broccoli and had to add extra tomatoes. I also forgot the thyme and bay . It was definitely okay but not the best cacciatore we have made and certainly not the best overall.
We also had a nice, seedy, bread
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1732, 2012-01-21_124757
Breakfast-For-Dinner: Carrot Cake pancakes and bacon -- back to top
We made carrot cake pancakes from the recipe noted on 2010-09-12 again halving the recipe but keeping the spices the same (so,doubling the spices). I also skipped the nuts. It only made 5 but it was enough for our breakfast-for-dinner dinner. We also fried lean bacon. As we discovered, with this change, the pancakes are pretty good.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1749, 2012-01-24_141036
We needed something fast so we made sandwiches. Mine was a combination of soppressata, goat cheese, low-salt ham and other cheese. Meredith had acroque-madame, which is basically ham and cheese with a fried egg.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1752, 2012-01-25_141054
Tuna-Noodle-Casserole -- back to top
We made tuna-noodle-casserole with Campbell's recipe below. Of course, we made some very major changes. We used whole wheat pasta and less of it. Then, we added sautéed onions and peppers. Finally, I added sriracha and crushed red pepper. We also skipped the bread crumbs. It was a bit strange and not incredible but it was easy and worth maybe doing again. It also made a lot. We had a good amount leftover for lunch the next day. Of course we used 98% fat free soup.
We also had artichokes and Meredith's usual tzatziki.
Tuna Noodle Casserole (From Campbells)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1756, 2012-01-26_223352
White Bean, Quinoa and Eggplant salad (lunch) -- back to top
First of all, the picture was really not very good but it was what I was able to get. Anyway, we made a lunch version of the white bean thing from 2012-01-21. However, we added red quinoa and instead of on top of eggplant, we roasted cubes and put it in. The idea was to give it enough substance (mostly protein) to act as the main [lunch] meal. We had to use a lot more balsamic because the quinoa absorbed it all but it worked fine. The basil was also iffy (it may have either gone bad or frozen on the top shelf), but both Meredith and I are still alive so I guess it was fine.
We will definitely have to do this again. It was really easy and very filling.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1764, 2012-01-27_185232
Standard Taco Stew. Not really much else to say other than we also put some avocado on it too.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1768, 2012-01-29_213431
Roasted Chick Peas -- back to top
We made these off of a few different recipes. Basically coat them in a bit of oil and spices, then roast them at 400 for about 30 minutes. They were pretty good. They are a bit high in points for a snack, but not too bad. A lot of protein.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1771, 2012-01-30_211705