Italian Meatloaf with Basil and Provolone

This recipe was originally posted as Mad At Your Mom Meatloaf. It was posted by Mel, but was a favorite at our house for a long time. Well, a favorite of Mark's. He says that this is the best meatloaf he has ever had. When I made it, I double the recipe and make half into a loaf and half into "meat muffins" I freeze the muffins and then can have individually portioned meatloaf at any time. That is nice and all, but it caused me to get a little sick of it. It has been awhile since I made it, and Mark didn't say anything about it, but I am sure he was secretely thrilled. You can see the muffins in the background of this picture:


Sorry about the bad pictures. I thought I took a nice shot of the meat loaf on the cutting board, but I guess I didn't. Oh well.

Crispy Chicken with tomatoes and basil

I just realized that I bought the potatoes for this, but forgot to put them in :( This was still pretty delicious. I made some rice with it because there was so much chicken stock in the dish...made for some tasty rice!! I could barely handle all the cooking though. Planning in advance is not my thing. Very good though!

Pork Sticky Noodles

Robin posted this recipe the very first month of the challenge. It looked so yummy then, I am not sure why it took so long for me to try it. This recipe is really just another variation on stir fry. It some ways this really disappointed me, but it is very easy to put together and I really liked the consistancy of the sauce. I also made the vinegar and peppers that was posted along with the recipe and I think that brought what was missing (spicy and sour). Not sure if I will make this again, but I am glad I tried it once.

Once again ... Chicken Tamale Casserole

This one was on my list to try before Mel beat me to it this month. I'm going to go ahead and review it because I found the Cooking Light reviews of it (and there were many) to be either they loved it or it was too sweet. In order to avoid a too sweet casserole I decided on a corn bread mix that had the lowest sugar listed. In my case it was a cheap box of Jiffy that won out. Also, I decided not to use store bought enchilada sauce because sometimes they have ways of sneaking in sugar or high fructose corn syrup to these things and I suspected this maybe contributed to the sweetness, so I made my own on the stovetop (recipe follows).

I really liked this one and I'm not a fan of casseroles. I didn't find it too sweet at all and I would definitely make it again if I had some rotisserie chicken or some other leftover meat to use up. Whoever had the idea to mix in creamed corn with the cornbread mix was genius ... it really did taste tamale like.

So, here it is ... my homemade red enchilada sauce recipe. I would love for someone to try it out sometime and tell me how it compares to the store brands.

4-5 t. chili powder
2 t. salt
1/2 t. cumin
2 garlic cloves, peeled but whole
3 1/2 c. water
2 cans tomato paste
dash of tobasco sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes until thickened. Remove garlic cloves before using.

Cripsy chicken with basil and tomatoes

Robin originally posted this recipe, but it is in heavy rotation in our house. It is a snap to put together, all fresh and simple ingredients, it just takes awhile to cook. The chicken turns out crispy, but the potatoes and carrots are soft and wonderfully greasy. I serve it will a fresh steamed veggie and you are good to go. This is a great sunday night meal!

ooey-gooey peanut butter brownies

I made these ooey-gooey peanut butter brownies from Kerri's Greatest Hit back in May 2008. They were still great. They were thicker this time because I used a different pan. They are technically cooking light by the way.

Chicken Tamale Casserole

This Chicken Tamale Casserole was featured in the blog in November 2008. I made it last week to take to some new parents. I made the entire thing, but baked it in two separate 9x9 dishes. As expected, it was excellent. The extra touch of using a jalapeno cornbread was fabulous.

The last time this was posted, KAJ asked a question about how it would taste without the chicken. Well, I think if you used some black beans in its place, it would work, but I definitely think since it's low fat and healthy, you'll need some protein to enjoy this dish.

Spicy Herb-Grilled Salmon Steaks

This recipe from wirrek was first posted in April 2008. I completely forgot about it until the other night when we were trying to figure out what to cook that was NOT: mexican, asian, or curry related.

Well, that eliminated 90% of my recipes, until we found this one. We actually cooked it on a regular salmon filet, not a steak, and DH is STILL talking about how great it is. We served it with a cheap rice-in-a-bag-with-seasoning mix and some boiled carrots in chicken broth. Nice and healthy!

Corn Salad with Feta

My neighbor was going out of town and gave me some corn that she couldn't use. I ended up cooking it and then making this salad out of it. I did use almonds instead of walnuts, but everything else was the same. I thought it was a great little salad, but I think the feta really did it for me. The one I used was from split creek farms. YUM!!

Incidentally, I also made the green chile cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries that I have posted on this blog before, but didn't take a picture.

Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

These muffins are YUMMY! I swear I've posted this recipe before, but I can't find it on the blog. In any case, this is our 2nd time to make them and we made lots to throw in the freezer. The recipe calls for a casserole approach, but instead I made them into muffins, about 14-15 muffins for the recipe.

Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole (i.e. Muffins)

The only modifications were to use skim milk and pre-cooked turkey sausage (jimmy dean), but only 5 ounces of that (chopped finely). DH didn't even complain about the turkey. He loves these things.

Shrimp and Grits

We love this Shrimp and Grits recipe from Sept 2007. The link to the recipe was not working for me, but it is now. It really is a great recipe!!! I did add to it again. I sauteed some mushrooms and onions, then the shrimp and set aside. The sauce was the butter, flour, chicken broth, can of tomatoes, and cream. My kids loved the grits...kept calling them oatmeal :)

B helped me out by getting the shrimp, but the HUGE gulf shrimp had the shell on. My fingers swell up when I peel all those raw shrimp, so B had to do it :) They were great shrimp, man!!

Shrimp Curry with Yu Choy and Kabocha Squash Revisited

We revisited this one this weekend since I actually saw a kabocha squash at the market and wanted to try it. This second picture is horrible compared to the first. I have the worst night lighting in my kitchen/dining room area and couldn't seem to make it any better by adjusting the colors in the photo editor so, sorry, for the uninteresting photo!

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Pizza (leftover)

I actually made the entire post, but only took pictures of the pizza. This even was made last week, which may not count to this month, but we had leftovers yesterday so I am going to go ahead with it. ;)

I have been trying to start a Friday night pizza night. My 2.5 year old isn't a big pizza fan (doesn't like any bread products), but this guy loves broccoli so I thought this one was a good one to try. This pizza definately isn't healthy, but every once in awhile as a treat it is ok. James did eat one piece, top down.

Chinese Chicken Salad Revisited

I love an excuse to go revisit some old posts, especially ones that have been on my list for a while. This is a great salad! We loved it and is a nice variation to a summer chicken salad. I also used a ready made rotisserie chicken so no heating up of the kitchen. This is the best peanut sauce dressing I have come across yet ... a nice blend of flavors.

Aftermath

This is the aftermath of last month's Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken, at least at my house:


At least she liked eating it as much as she liked wearing it. We'll be doing it again!

Happy blogaversary!

June marks marks the second year of this challenge in a blog form. To celebrate, let's revisit some of the old recipes we have shared on this blog. Or, share a new recipe from another blog. Or, you can just post something that would fall under a previous challenge...I am up for anything! I just wish I had a search feature on this blog.

Happy cooking!