In the instructions it says to microwave everything and to be honest, I’m not a big fan of microwaving food. Leftovers yes, but raw meats? Not so much.

I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces. For the basil rub I used whatever lemon rind I had left over (you need about 2 tsp of lemon rind for the sauce but you can probably get more than that out of one lemon) and about a tsp of lime rind. With my fingers I rubbed the rinds together with about a tbsp of dried basil leaves and I coated the chicken pieces with that.

For the sauce I melted the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and then added the flour and stirred until it was nice and thick. Next I added the lemon rind, garlic, and milk. I cooked that for about five minutes and then I added the homemade pesto Jay’s mom gave us. I’m not sure if there was salt in the pesto so the sauce turned out a little bland but very flavourful so I would suggest you taste the sauce and add salt to your liking. I added the chicken pieces to that same saucepan, covered it, and continued to cook everything on medium heat for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the chicken cooked I made the pasta noodles – I used fettuccine.

I really liked this meal but I think the sauce would be much better suited for shrimp. Even as I made the sauce I could visualize shrimp in it so keep that in mind if you ever feel inclined to try this Pampered Chef recipe.

Tonight’s dinner came from The Pampered Chef website because I seem to have a new found obsession with their products and recipes. For the BBQ sauce I simply Googled “BBQ sauce recipe” and I came across one on chow.com. Recipe is here and it is super tasty. The meatloaf recipe can be found here.

Even though I didn’t make the full amount of BBQ as shown on the recipe I still have plenty left over. I’m hoping to use the rest this week…perhaps some succulent ribs?

I absolutely love this loaf pan – I didn’t have to spray or coat it with oil, just shaped the meat into a loaf and baked.

This meatloaf was incredible – full of flavour and juicy. I paired it with pesto mashed potatoes from a previous entry.

For dessert I made a Chocolate Almond Cheesecake, as well, from The Pampered Chef website and the recipe can be found here. The spring form pan is awesome. The pans I had before were of much lesser quality but this one was so worth getting. My cheesecakes don’t stick and I don’t need to grease the sides.

This cheesecake was rich and silky. The almond extract is such a good combination with chocolate. In this recipe it says to use semi-sweet chocolate but I may try it with dark chocolate next time. I’m not a big fan of decorating cheesecake with whipped cream so I left it naked – it’s that good on its own. But you can also sprinkle some almond slices for a nice crunchy texture.

Here’s what I used (I hope I can remember now):

approx a pound of beef (best to use stewing beef)

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped because I like biting into whole bits of garlic but if you’re not a fan of that you can finely dice the garlic.

1 onion, diced

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 cup of water – depending on how thick you want the stew add more or don’t add any at all

approx 1 tsp of oregano

approx 1 tsp of cumin

1 can of kidney beans

1/2 cup of red wine, if you have it

half a  jalapeno pepper, which I had completely forgotten about being in the fridge so that worked out great

salt and pepper to taste

And the rest of the ingredients were leftovers like:

3/4 of a zucchini, sliced into small pieces

1 carrot, sliced

2 mushrooms, roughly chopped – of course if you have more than 2 mushrooms by all means use more – for some reason we only had 2 haha.

I think any vegetable could work with this mix.

In a large pot brown the beef in some olive oil at medium-high heat. Lower to medium heat. Throw in the garlic and onion and sautee until soft. Add the can of tomatoes, bay leaves, and cook for 10 minutes. Add cumin, oregano, jalapeno pepper, and 1 cup of water, if needed, and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, covered. This would be a good time to dice all your veggies, if you haven’t done so already. Turn heat to low.  Add the  veggies and other leftovers you want to use, and red wine, if it’s handy. Let that simmer, stirring every so often, for about 30 minutes or longer if your stomach can wait. I think we made it to 30 minutes before we dove in – the spicy aroma was too tempting.

The smell of carrots and onion boiling in a pot of chicken broth is probably the most comforting aroma ever. It takes me back to cold nights as a kid snuggling with my mom, playing games or listening to her stories.

Speaking of moms, Jay’s mom lovingly made us a nice batch of home made pesto, which we’ve been gorging on because it’s so good. I’d previously purchased a bottle of pesto but last night there was no question as to which one I’d be using. Mom’s pesto is way better, in our opinion.

This recipe comes, again, from Jean Pare’s 30 Minute Pantry. Seriously, if you can find that book, get it.

Here’s what I used:

1 carrot, sliced

1 onion, chopped (original recipe says to use celery)

4 cups ready made chicken broth

1 cup water

about 3 handfuls of egg noodles

four chicken drumsticks

another onion, chopped

2 tbsp pesto

Into a pot on medium-high heat put the chicken broth and water. Add the carrot and onion and bring to a boil then add the noodles and cook until carrot is tender. While that’s happening, cook the chicken in a pan with some oil and the other chopped onion. The original recipe says to use boneless chicken thigh cut into small pieces so it will cook faster but because I used drumsticks it took a lot longer. Basically, just cook until it’s not pink inside. The onions started to burn a little so I added a bit of water, which sort of caramelized everything. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the pesto and mix to coat everything. Add to the pot of soup and stir. I let it simmer for a few minutes more to combine flavours.

Home made pesto from Jay’s mom.

Last night I used a recipe from Jean Pare’s The 30 Minute Pantry (is there anyone out there who loves the Company’s Coming series as much as we do?). The instructions are simple and easy to follow and dinner was ready in 30 minutes. Of course it does help if you prep all the ingredients ahead of time like I did.

To prep rinse the pork chops and pat dry with a paper towel and set aside. Mix together about 2 or 3 tbsp of flour with 1/2 tsp of oregano, 1/4 tsp salt and black pepper to taste in a shallow dish (I used my pie plate which unfortunately suffered a fatal accident during the night – for some reason it felt the need to hop off the drying rack and plummet to its death on the floor). Set that aside. In a small bowl combine about a tsp of lemon rind and 2 cloves of chopped garlic. In another small bowl squeeze about 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice. You will also need a cup of chicken broth. For the asparagus I cut the ends off and then chopped another two cloves of garlic.

To cook the pork chops heat a skillet at medium high heat with a tbsp of butter and a tbsp of  olive oil. Press the the pork chops into the flour mixture to coat both sides then place them in the skillet and cook until the meat is not pink in the middle – about 2-4 minutes on each side depending on the thickness. Reserve the leftover flour mixture. Place pork chops on a plate and cover to keep warm. In the same skillet add the leftover flour and then add the lemon rind, garlic, and lemon juice. Slowly stir in the chicken broth and continue stirring until it thickens. Drizzle over pork chops and serve.

To cook the asparagus heat a pot with butter and olive oil on medium high heat. Throw in the garlic for about 30 seconds then add the asparagus and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper if you want. Cover and let it cook for about 10 minutes if you want them tender. If you want them much softer then cook another 10 minutes. I sort of burnt the garlic and was afraid it would ruin the asparagus but I kept moving it around and it turned out amazing, especially with the lemony gravy on top.

Crack open a bottle of red wine and enjoy!

This has got to stop. Last night I broke out of my restricted Rachael Ray Rolodex of recipes and I made her Turbo Classics Rosemary Lemon Chicken with Pesto Mashed Potatoes. I really can’t explain why I never made this before as it was ridiculously easy to make. I think I have an aversion to buying fresh rosemary because I never use it all and it ends up going bad.

Anyway, please do make this for dinner if and when you want something warm, comforting, and most importantly absolutely delicious. The smell of the chicken as it comes out of the oven is mouth-watering. And where did she get the idea to mash potatoes with pesto? Genius!

Recipe for the chicken can be found here. The potatoes recipe can be found here.

Note – I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breast as I find breast a bit too dry for my taste.

Overall the instructions in the book were clear and shown in order of preparation and cooking, which I like because it means I don’t have to go searching for a step or a missing ingredient. If you’re not crazy about the taste of cloves, like Jay is, you can omit them or just put in very little. The recipe calls for crushed cloves for the chicken rub (called baharat) and later whole cloves for the entire dish. I only added the cloves to the baharat and it was more than plenty. Originally this was supposed to be a chicken and almond pilaff but guess what, I completely forgot about the almonds and I even have a whole stash I meant to use for cooking. No matter, it was still amazing. Unfortunately, once it was cooked it looked like a huge pot of slop. I don’t know what it is about me and slop these days. But, do try it out.

Recipe can be found here on Google Books.

For dinner, still in the mood for soup, I brought out the Cooking Light magazine my friend gave me and I flipped over to the potato soup recipe featured on the cover. In hindsight I should have realized that potatoes would make for a very thick and heavy soup – turned out to be more like super tasty mashed potatoes. Jay said, “Potato stew.” But I think he was being nice. I’d probably make this again but next time I’ll use less flour and add more stock or milk.

Here is my version of the potato soup recipe, serves 2-3

2 baking potatoes

1/3 whole wheat flour

3 cups 2% milk

2 oz cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

2 green onions, chopped

3 bacon slices, crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F. Bake the potatoes for an hour or until tender. Let them cool and peel then coarsely mash them. The magazine says to lightly spoon flour (all purpose flour) into a dry measuring cup and then level it with a knife but I scooped whole wheat flour with the measuring cup so maybe that affected the portion. Who knows. Place the flour in a pot and gradually add the milk and whisk until blended and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until thick and bubbly. Now, I’m not sure but I think what I did wrong was to heat the flour and milk as I whisked, making the mixture thicker than it should have been so just keep that in mind in case you decide to try this. Next, add the potatoes, a little more than half the cheese, salt and pepper and cook until cheese melts. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream and 3/4 of the onions. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes but don’t let it boil. Serve with cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, and green onions.

Serve this dish with a side of white rice, beans, and a warm tortilla. A nice white wine also compliments the meal, a chardonnay perhaps.

Recipe here.