Sunday, March 21, 2010

Cooking for One (Mar 13-20)

1. Turkey Tetrazzini. That's a new one, never tried before. I liked how it turned out, only next time I will either add a bit more cheese or my regular spice mix (onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, dried chives, a bit of black pepper)

2. Asian Chicken - Soba Noodle Salad. Yeah, a repeat, I know. It's just that I had snow peas left over from last week and I really like this recipe. Oh, and I used turkey fillet instead of chicken this time.

3.Beef & Broccoli Orange Stir Fry. This one is from the latest Clean Eating (Mar/Apr 2010), it was on the cover. Mine maybe doesn't look as good, but it certainly tastes great.

4. Cranberry & Fig Stuffed Chicken Breast. I really missed this one. My ex-husband doesn't like figs, so we made it once back in July, and he didn't want to make it again. But I like figs, and I absolutely love how the flavors combine in this dish.

5. Shrimp & Broccoli Orange Stir Fry. This is uses the sauce from the Beef & Broccoli stir fry recipe (with the addition of sesame oil), but no rice or noodles in here, just a whole bunch of veggies.

6. Eggplant Parmesan with Bulgur and Pine Nuts. This is another favorite I haven't made in months. Not exactly the season for eggplants and tomatoes, but I missed it too much and decided to give it a go even with those pale things they call "hot house tomatoes". Boy, it's soooooo good!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Cooking for One (Mar 01-12)

It was a pretty good 1.5 week; I managed to try one new recipe (Shrimp Croquettes) and repeated a few favorites.
1. Turkey & Chickepeas burger + Chickpea Puree. I've made it at least 3 times before now, and for some reason this time the burgers fell apart while turning over. I suspect there was a bit too much liquid in the ground turkey-chickpea mix. Ah well, it was still very good, presentation doesn't matter THAT much when cooking just for yourself. The side dish - chickpea puree - is my favorite. It's the best alternative to mashed potatoes. Heck, it's MUCH tastier than mashed potatoes.

2. Stuffed Peppers. This was good, very filling and moist (a bit on a high end of my usual calorie range, but it all depends on the size of peppers).

3.Shrimp Croquettes with Tamarind Sauce & Caramelized Fennel. Very unusual, rich in flavour. The preparation time is longer than I like, but the mix for shrimp croquette can be done the night before. I don't think I'll be making croquettes again very soon (they WERE good though), but caramelized fennel is something I've done 3-4 times before, and will repeat quite soon. I love the tangy-sweet sauce!

4. French Onion Soup with VERY unusual"croutons" :) I didn't have any whole wheat bread, so I used a whole grain tortilla instead with somewhat browned Pecorino Romano on top . Of course it's against the "french onion soup" concept, blahblahblah, but who cares? It's good, quick,comforting and low cal.

5. Jambalaya with Shrimp & Bell Peppers. Ok, this one I managed to "almost" screw up. It turned out very hot. I like spicy food and enjoy it, but my ex-husband couldn't eat stuff this hot. The problem was that I made it the night he came over to hang the pictures. Yeah, not nice. He's made all kinds of jokes about my hospitality :)))

6. Asian Chicken & Soba Noodles Salad. The picture is, unfortunately, messy. I was sooo hungry, couldn't force myself to serve it up prettily. This is definitely one of my favorites. It's almost instant (provided you already have a grilled chicken breast), unusual and tastes amazing. Cashews, sesame oil, soy sauce and browned chicken make a heavenly combination. I'm pretty sure it can be turned into a vegetarian-friendly dish by substituting  grilled extra-firm tofu for chicken and using vegetable broth as the base for the dressing.