Night 30

Recipe 8

Mega Meatball Pizza

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

EVOO

Pizza dough

Flour

Fresh rosemary

Course salt

Ground beef

Onion

Garlic cloves

Coursely ground black pepper

Tomato sauce

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Flat-leaf parsley

Mozzarella

If Matt could have given this six stars, he would have. Super delicious and filling! I added a simple salad with Italian dressing on the side and it made for a perfect dinner to hang out in front of the tv with!

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Mandy

Night 29

Recipe 26

Florentine Meatballs

Matt rating ****

Ingredients used:

Frozen spinach

Ground turkey

Onion

Garlic cloves

Egg

Milk

Bread crumbs

Parmigiano-Reggiano

S&P

EVOO

Unsalted butter

Flour

Chicken stock

Italian cheese blend

Nutmeg

Parsley

Oddly enough this recipe only called for the meatballs and cheese sauce, with nothing else to go with them! I added a box of bow-tie pasta to act as a bed for the meatballs and sauce. Matt couldn't even tell that the meat was turkey! This made a TON of meatballs - too much for just the two of us - so I took the rest over to a friend who is on strict bedrest at the end of her pregnancy. I hope she and her hubby enjoy them as much as we did!

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Mandy

Night 28

Recipe 1

Scramblewiches

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

Baguette

Unsalted butter

Deli-sliced ham

Eggs

Milk

Hot sauce

S&P

Swiss cheese

Parsley

This was by far the quickest recipe I've made to date. It took all of 15 minutes, and it was a lot more filling than we expected. Sometimes you just can't go wrong with breakfast for dinner!

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Mandy

Night 27

Recipe 343

Sausage and Mushroom Polenta "Lasagna"

Matt rating ****1/2

Ingredients used:

EVOO

Unsalted butter

Italian sausage

Portobello mushroom

Yellow onion

Garlic cloves

Rosemary sprigs

Red pepper flakes

S&P

Chicken stock

Lemon

Ricotta cheese

Egg

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Plain bread crumbs

Prepared polenta

Mozzarella

As usual, this is a twist on a classic dish. This "lasagna" didn't have red sauce or noodles. In place of the noodles the recipe calls for polenta. I am a huge fan of polenta so I knew I would love it. I made a Caesar salad and garlic bread to go along with it to complete the meal. Our guests for the evening seemed to like the meal, and even ordered the cookbook from Amazon to use themselves! I guess I'll take that as a compliment :) Matt gave it a great rating too, so a successful evening indeed! The lighting in the picture is bad again, but I'll still post it just for effect. I hope you are enjoying your visits to my blog!

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Mandy

Night 26

Recipe 279

Everything-Crusted Chicken Rolls Stuffed with Scallion Cream Cheese

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

Vegetable oil

Cream cheese

Scallions

Chicken breast

S&P

Bread crumbs

Garlic salt

Poppy seeds

Dehydrated onion flakes

Sesame seeds

Flour

Eggs

It's not very often that I fry anything, so I was a little out of my element tonight, but boy did dinner turn out great! It was also weird not using EVOO, onions, and fresh garlic! It's not too often that any of RR's recipes don't call for these ingredients. This recipe was a spin off of everything bagels, which I love, so it was bound to be a winner! I made this for company tonight and we all loved it. I served it with a simple salad that I threw together with a bunch of veggies left in the crisper drawer of the fridge. Definitely a keeper!

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Mandy

Night 25

Recipe 110

Chicago Dog Salad

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

Yellow mustard

Vinegar

Sugar

Vegetable oil

Red onion

Shredded cabbage blend (store didn't have any so I grabbed a small head of radicchio and a small head of regular cabbage)

Romaine lettuce

Tomatoes

Pickles

S&P

Pork or beef hot dogs (I actually used chicken since I had them in my fridge)

Boy did we pig out on this one! I won't say how many of the hot dogs we actually ate, but out of an 8 dog package, there weren't too many left in the pan! This was much more tasty than I imagined it would be. It was really easy and fast to make so it was perfect for a busy day. This would be a great dish to make for the kids, and you can also get them to help make the salad to get them interested in cooking. Yumm-O!!!

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Mandy

Night 24

Recipe 217

Spanakopizza

Matt rating ****

Ingredients used:

EVOO

Unsalted butter

Garlic cloves

Red onion

Frozen spinach

Dried oregano

Feta crumbles

Plum tomatoes

S&P

Roasted red peppers

Flat-leaf parsley

Kalamata olives

Arugula

Pepperoncini

Pizza dough

Four cheese pizza blend

WOW...I absolutely loved this pizza! The only mistake that I made was in getting a thin crust pizza dough. I should have done a regular crust or thick crust because there were so many veggies that it made the dough a little too moist. The flavors were very bold and I will definitely make it again. I think Matt would have given it a better rating if I hadn't had the dough mishap. A good lesson for next time!

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Mandy

Night 23

Recipe 60

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Arugula-Basil Rice Pilaf

Matt rating ****1/2

Ingredients used:

Unsalted butter

Rice pilaf mix

EVOO

Pork chops

S&P

Onion

Thyme

Rosemary

Garlic cloves

Balsamic vinegar

Honey

Chicken stock

Arugula

Basil

Who says pork chops have to be boring? These were very tasty and juicy, and I think my favorite part was the rice pilaf mix with the arugula and basil. Super yummy! This was a very quick meal to make. A tip - invest in a splatter guard! The one I bought at IKEA a few months ago has come in handy on nights like this one!

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Mandy

Night 22

Recipe 293

Chicken No. 14,752 - Chicken in Mustard Sauce

Matt rating ****1/2

Ingredients used:

Chicken breast halves

Thyme leaves

(I also added some poultry seasoning)

Juice of one lemon

S&P

EVOO

Chicken stock

Dijon mustard

Sour cream

Couscous

As you can see this was a surprisingly simple dish to make, but the flavors came out great! It took all of about 20 minutes to make - perfect for a Friday night! I love Dijon mustard sauces paired with chicken. It definitely takes the boring out of plain old chicken!

Well that is it for my catching up on posts. I hit a two for one deal at Albertson's this week on a bunch of meat, so hopefully I'll have plenty of recipes to come.

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Mandy

Night 21

Recipe 72

Fajita Beef Pie

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

Corn muffin mix

Eggs

Butter

Milk

Frozen corn kernals

EVOO

Ground beef

Garlic cloves

Yellow onion

Red bell pepper

S&P

Chili powder

Ground cumin

Hot sauce

Worcestershire sauce

Dark brown sugar

Jalapeno Pepper Jack cheese

Scallions

Cilantro or parsley

This dish was perfect for a cold, crisp fall day! Matt rated this one a 5 as well, so there's not much more to say!

One more recipe to follow...

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Mandy

Night 20

Night 97

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lime

Matt rating *****

Ingredients used:

EVOO

Chicken tenders (I used regular chicken breast)

S&P

Garlic cloves

Green bell pepper

Onion

Jalapeno

Celery

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

Yellow corn tortilla chips

Hot sauce

Chicken stock

Sour cream

Limes

Cilantro

Scallions

So you thought I had gone MIA? Nope, just haven't had time to post my recipes on the blog. Two more will be following this post :).

I made this recipe last weekend when I was overcoming the flu and a nice little visit to the ER. It really hit the spot as it's the kicked-up version of chicken noodle soup. Why is it that these types of soups always seem to make you feel better? It was delicious, as you can note in Matt's 5 star rating. He's not really big into soups so that says a lot. I also made a quesadilla to go along with it from a previous recipe using tortillas, cheese, and scallions. It was a perfect pairing!

Okay, on to the next blog!

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Mandy