Thursday, March 29, 2012

What's For Dinner?

Anybody that knows me on Pinterest, knows that I am a pinning fool! Well, I got tired of  looking at a board full of pretty pictures. With my house on the market I couldn't break out any craft projects so I decided it was time to start making some of those fabulous recipes on my "What's For Dinner" board.

I sat down and made a menu for a few days. I already had in my head what we were having Monday night, so that was nothing new*.

Tuesday Night-The article says, "It's the best pork chop recipe you'll ever have"
Wednesday Night-Tempura chicken
Thursday Night-Baked penna with spinach, roasted red peppers and bacon
Friday Night-leftovers
Saturday Night-Chicken bacon pasta

Tuesday nights dinner with the pork chops rocked! I'd have to agree with the article that it IS the best pork chop recipe I've had. Of course, the parmesan cheese sure didn't hurt!
This recipe even brought raves from my kids! It had such a great flavor. Would I change anything? Nope! The article did say to avoid "soggy" porkchops to put pork chops on a rack inside the pan so it won't sit in the juices. Definitely going to try that next time.

I was looking forward to Wednesday nights recipe. Wednesday night was Tempura chicken. It was just a few items, and super easy! I cut chicken into strips and dipped it into the mixture then bathed in a very hot oil for 5 minutes**. Did I mention it was super easy? And super delicious!!
 
Would I change anything? I just might try a little more seasoning next time. Maybe. When I get into a rut with chicken, I'm going to this recipe!! The little "crispies" that the batter made were good to munch on as well. I even had to tempt (and torture a little) Hubby who was still at work during dinner time and told him what he was missing!

Thursday night was not such a hit. Was it the tomato soup? Frozen spinach? Not enough protein? The recipe called for penna pasta. I had every type of pasta in the house but penne. Maybe it could have been the rotini. Hhmm...This house will never know. The Bacon Penne with Spinach and Red Roasted Peppers did not go over well. Hubby was kind enough to at least finish his plate. My older daughter took one bite. My younger didn't touch it. I even told Hubby that if he wanted to throw away what was leftover it was okay if he did. He did. Which was a shame because I had an entire 9x13 pan. I threw this recipe away.



Since volleyball practice runs until 6pm and by Friday night there are enough leftovers to feed a village, that's what we had.

Saturday night I had scheduled a dish that I hadn't tried yet. But, as things turn out we sold our house and we had to go look at my first choice again and get the paperwork rolling. We were there for an exorbitant amount of time. Hubby and I were cranky, so you KNOW the kids weren't doing well. We didn't leave the agent's office til 7:30.

There was no way I was cooking anything. Mama's Pizza here we come!

Chicken Bacon Pasta was on the menu.  How could you go wrong when the recipe calls for cream cheese and cream? This one didn't go over well with the kids. It went over well enough for me and Hubby. We had enough protein in this one to satisfy Hubby. Would I change anything? Nothing I could think of.
So here's to making my pinterest board more than a bunch of pretty pictures. Here's to some new recipes worth keeping and some others that we at least tried.

I look forward to the next bunch!



Recipe Links:
Pork Chops
Tempura Chicken
Baked Penne with Bacon and Spinach
Chicken Bacon Pasta




*Salisbury steak. An old standby
**So if you've sworn off fried foods, this aint for you! I've never claimed to be a total health food fanatic.