Breaking Routine #4

Last week, Jackie and DaShawn came to visit, so we thought it was a great time to break routine with Fajitas!!!

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We used Chicken Fajita meat made by Schwans and then cooked up some Beef Stew meat and seasoned with taco seasoning, salt & pepper to taste. It was delicious and super easy! Definitely going into the rotation!
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Note to self: Learn how to take prettier food pictures, and consider getting a cute plate or two!

Breaking Routine #3

So we did it! In January we officially tired three new recipes! Here is the most recent!

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Yesterday we tired a new recipe for baked french toast that I found on my aunt's blog HERE. We both really enjoyed this recipe! Yummy toast with the crunch of pecans. As usual we halved the recipe, but that was the only deviation we made! You can find the recipe at Marsha's Kitchen, along with all sorts of other goodies that we may have to try!
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Chris - Thumbs Up!
Kelli - Thumbs Up!
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Now we just have to narrow down some choices for February!

Breaking Routine #2

Well we decided to give another new recipe a try this weekend! What do you feed a guy how only likes meat and starch? More starch! You disguise other food groups as cheese and sauce... so I decided to try and make one of Chris' favorite recipes: Stuffed Manicotti!

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I used the recipe I found HERE. Using advice in others comments here is what I changed, I used an Italian blend cheese instead of the Monterrey Jack, and I added some basil and garlic powder to the cheese mixture. We only cooked half the package of noodles (simply because we are only two people and that's a whole lotta noodle!) and we only cooked them for four minutes, they were super easy to stuff - simply put mixture in a ziplock bag and snipped a tiny whole in the corner - squeeze to fill!

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I cooked mine covered for 30 minutes, then removed the cover and baked another 10 minutes. I wanted a darker cheese, so I broiled it. I do this often, the only issue is that I get distracted very easily (too many shiny things) and the cheese always gets burnt. Oh well. I am happy to announce that this is the first success of the year! Might not be pretty, but sure was yummy!

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Chris - Thumbs Up!

Kelli - Thumbs Up!

Breaking Routine #1

One of our new year resolutions is to break our meal routine. I don't know what happens in your house, but we generally have a meal "rotation". We seem to eat the same things over and over again, one because we know we like then and two because they are usually simple!

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Let me just say this; I am not a cook. I love to bake and tend to bake fairly well, but cooking is a whole different story. So we are making an effort to try three new recipes a month in 2011.

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Let me introduce, Breaking Routine #1.

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Being that the boy is a meat and starch man, I figured we would stick to the meat catagory. Whenever we make it out to eat, especially to Perkins, he orders Country Fried Steak, one of his favs. I have tried this once in the past, but the recipe was not good. So I decided to attempt it once again, following a recipe from a well known cook, The Pioneer Woman.
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Using her recipe for Country Fried Steak from her cookbook I lead the charge and hoped for the best. Following the recipe to the max, things were not going so well. My cooking instincts are not great, but after cooking them for much longer than stated, I knew this was not going to go well.
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I am very sad to announce that our first attempt at breaking routine was an epic fail. The meat was not done and the gravy tasted of far too much flour with no other recognizable flavor.
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We are bummed, but will not let this effect our opinion on the great ranching housewife. We will remain fans and maybe try another recipe that this year. We are stealing a rating from my aunt's blog (found here) and will both give our opinion on the new dishes this year with a simple thumbs up or down.
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Breaking Routine #1
Kelli - Thumbs Down
Chris - Thumbs Down
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Wish us better luck for next time!