Source: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/11/butternut-squash-and-black-bean.html
PointsPlus: 4 servings @ 15 points each
Drew Rating: 4/5
Sara Rating: 4/5
Modifications: None
Notes: This is a perfect recipe to use up some delicious butternut squash. Even if you aren't a squash fan I recommend going to the store, buying a small one, and making this recipe. It's fairly straightforward as fas as enchiladas go but the squash takes it to an interesting place. The squash in the enchiladas are warm and starchy. If you've ever had a potato taco, it's in a similar place except it's a little sweeter. Recipe says it's eight servings but I think two tortillas is a perfect dinner so it ended up as four servings for us. One tortilla would probably be fine for a small child so this could easily feed a family of four with maybe some leftovers. The leftovers reheated well too - almost as good as fresh. I strongly recommend this recipe if butternut squash are in season by you.
Sara’s Comments: Super yummy, I really liked them. Only criticism is that I really didn’t taste the squash. It easily could have been all beans and I think it would have tasted the same.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Easy Chicken Korma
Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-chicken-korma/
PointsPlus: 4 servings @ 13 points each
Drew Rating: 3/5
Sara Rating: 2/5
Modifications: Substituted boneless skinless thighs for breasts, served this over basmati rice
Notes: This was an interesting dish. While making this dish I thought it had all the right ingredients, looked good, and smelled good. As I sat down to eat it, I was anticipating something rich, spicy, and very flavorful. Unfortunately it wasn't. It was bland and goopy. The chicken was OK but other than that, not much there. I added a generous amount of salt and pepper and that helped (looking back the recipe never calls for it, but I should have listened to my inner Jacques Pepin and Taste! Taste! Taste!) but that still wasn't quite enough. Finally reaching for the Sriracha bottle brought a little life back to it and was able to enjoy it enough to deserve a 3 star rating. Unfortunately Sara never made it that far so I'm sure it will score lower for her. I probably would not make this again as there are plenty of other tasty recipes out there on the web for the same dish. This is the first time in a long time that I pulled a recipe off a corporate site (allrecipes.com) rather than someones personsal blog page and I wonder if that had anything to do with the generic taste. I picked it because it had good reviews so I don't know. Perhaps other people put their own personal touches into it to make it better as well.
Sara’s Comments: I did not like it. Very bland, and the texture was unappealing to me as well.
PointsPlus: 4 servings @ 13 points each
Drew Rating: 3/5
Sara Rating: 2/5
Modifications: Substituted boneless skinless thighs for breasts, served this over basmati rice
Notes: This was an interesting dish. While making this dish I thought it had all the right ingredients, looked good, and smelled good. As I sat down to eat it, I was anticipating something rich, spicy, and very flavorful. Unfortunately it wasn't. It was bland and goopy. The chicken was OK but other than that, not much there. I added a generous amount of salt and pepper and that helped (looking back the recipe never calls for it, but I should have listened to my inner Jacques Pepin and Taste! Taste! Taste!) but that still wasn't quite enough. Finally reaching for the Sriracha bottle brought a little life back to it and was able to enjoy it enough to deserve a 3 star rating. Unfortunately Sara never made it that far so I'm sure it will score lower for her. I probably would not make this again as there are plenty of other tasty recipes out there on the web for the same dish. This is the first time in a long time that I pulled a recipe off a corporate site (allrecipes.com) rather than someones personsal blog page and I wonder if that had anything to do with the generic taste. I picked it because it had good reviews so I don't know. Perhaps other people put their own personal touches into it to make it better as well.
Sara’s Comments: I did not like it. Very bland, and the texture was unappealing to me as well.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Crockpot Chili
Source: http://arismenu.com/crockpot-chili/
PointsPlus: 12 servings @ 6 points each for full recipe
Drew Rating: 4.5/5
Sara Rating: 5/5
Modifications: Halved the recipe except for the beef and tomatoes, used small can of tomato paste for fire roasted tomatoes, cooked on high for 4.5 hours and low for 1.5 hours
Notes: I am glad we halved this recipe because even cut this makes a lot. We have a pretty large crockpot and halved it filled up half the pot so the whole recipe would have been up to the brim. Even halved it fed Sara and I for three meals. We didn't exactly halve it either since we didn't halve the meat. The grocery doesn't sell less than 1lb of ground beef prepackaged so it would require going to counter to have them split a pack. We didn't think it would hurt with a little extra meat and were right, it was good. We also forgot to pick up a can of the fire roasted tomatoes so we just used a whole 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. It turned out nice and very tomato-y but when I make this again I will try to remember to buy the can of fire roasted tomatoes since I think it will add a nice flavor. One other note was we started this chili late, like 1PM, so we cooked it on high for almost 5 hours and then switched it to low. There was a little stuck on the bottom but overall I think this was fine. The last step of the recipe was to add water or beef broth as required. Since we had extra crushed tomatoes which were a little watery, we didn't need to add either as the consistency was fine. As far as the recipe goes, it was super easy to make as most chili's are. The taste was great! Now, granted, this is a no frills basic chili recipe so don't expect anything crazy. I call this a "foundation" recipe. By itself it was very good, but it is a good recipe to base experimentation off of. Want add something crazy? Try a different protein like turkey or tofu? Habaneros instead of jalapenos? Go for it! And we will definitely be going for this recipe again in the future!
Sara’s Comments: Super comfort food for me. I always eat my chili with lime tortilla chips and this was no exception. It adds great flavor, salt, and crunch, and I don’t need to wash a spoon. I will say it was pretty much just like every other crockpot chili recipe we’ve made (and we’ve made several), but that’s a good thing since they’ve all tasted great.
PointsPlus: 12 servings @ 6 points each for full recipe
Drew Rating: 4.5/5
Sara Rating: 5/5
Modifications: Halved the recipe except for the beef and tomatoes, used small can of tomato paste for fire roasted tomatoes, cooked on high for 4.5 hours and low for 1.5 hours
Notes: I am glad we halved this recipe because even cut this makes a lot. We have a pretty large crockpot and halved it filled up half the pot so the whole recipe would have been up to the brim. Even halved it fed Sara and I for three meals. We didn't exactly halve it either since we didn't halve the meat. The grocery doesn't sell less than 1lb of ground beef prepackaged so it would require going to counter to have them split a pack. We didn't think it would hurt with a little extra meat and were right, it was good. We also forgot to pick up a can of the fire roasted tomatoes so we just used a whole 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. It turned out nice and very tomato-y but when I make this again I will try to remember to buy the can of fire roasted tomatoes since I think it will add a nice flavor. One other note was we started this chili late, like 1PM, so we cooked it on high for almost 5 hours and then switched it to low. There was a little stuck on the bottom but overall I think this was fine. The last step of the recipe was to add water or beef broth as required. Since we had extra crushed tomatoes which were a little watery, we didn't need to add either as the consistency was fine. As far as the recipe goes, it was super easy to make as most chili's are. The taste was great! Now, granted, this is a no frills basic chili recipe so don't expect anything crazy. I call this a "foundation" recipe. By itself it was very good, but it is a good recipe to base experimentation off of. Want add something crazy? Try a different protein like turkey or tofu? Habaneros instead of jalapenos? Go for it! And we will definitely be going for this recipe again in the future!
Sara’s Comments: Super comfort food for me. I always eat my chili with lime tortilla chips and this was no exception. It adds great flavor, salt, and crunch, and I don’t need to wash a spoon. I will say it was pretty much just like every other crockpot chili recipe we’ve made (and we’ve made several), but that’s a good thing since they’ve all tasted great.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna
Source: http://diethood.com/2013/10/19/roasted-butternut-squash-lasagna/
PointsPlus: 8 servings @ 13 points each
Drew Rating: 4/5
Sara Rating: 5/5
Modifications: Added 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, see notes below
Notes: I would like to thank my parents; they are brave souls. We invited them over to eat this with us and we had never made this before. I'm not even sure how big of fans either of them are about squash but they seemed to think it was OK. I thought it was pretty good. This recipe does take a good amount of time to make, I think it took me about 2.5 hours to make, but most of that time is unattended time (just baking in the oven) so it wasn't really too bad to make on a weekend. As good as the recipe was, there was some issues with the directions. One small issue was the recipe just calls for 4 cloves of garlic but does not mention how it should be prepared (minced? whole? sliced? I minced). Another issue was the Parmesan cheese. The recipe directs you to put some sauce on the bottom (which was really thick and just basically some chucks of squash), add a layer of noodles, 1/3 of the remaining sauce (doesn't actually say remaining but I assume it is) and 1/3 of shredded Parmesan. Then it says to repeat two more times which uses up the rest of the noodles, sauce, and cheese. Then it says to pour the heavy cream over the top and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Wait, what? I already used that up! Not a big deal, I just shredded another 1/3 cup over the top but I thought that was a little sloppy. Overall, I think it tasted really good and the leftovers reheated well. The squash in the lasagna was warm and moist, just a slight bit peppery and very earthy. I was a little worried about it coming out well, especially the part about just pouring heavy cream over the top, but it really was not a problem. I would definitely make this again next fall when the butternut squash are back in season.
Sara’s Comments: Loved this. It was a great company dish, and didn’t have too much active cooking time so we could socialize with our guests. The roasted squash was soft and delicious, and the bechamel sauce tied everything together really well. I wish we had more squash!
PointsPlus: 8 servings @ 13 points each
Drew Rating: 4/5
Sara Rating: 5/5
Modifications: Added 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, see notes below
Notes: I would like to thank my parents; they are brave souls. We invited them over to eat this with us and we had never made this before. I'm not even sure how big of fans either of them are about squash but they seemed to think it was OK. I thought it was pretty good. This recipe does take a good amount of time to make, I think it took me about 2.5 hours to make, but most of that time is unattended time (just baking in the oven) so it wasn't really too bad to make on a weekend. As good as the recipe was, there was some issues with the directions. One small issue was the recipe just calls for 4 cloves of garlic but does not mention how it should be prepared (minced? whole? sliced? I minced). Another issue was the Parmesan cheese. The recipe directs you to put some sauce on the bottom (which was really thick and just basically some chucks of squash), add a layer of noodles, 1/3 of the remaining sauce (doesn't actually say remaining but I assume it is) and 1/3 of shredded Parmesan. Then it says to repeat two more times which uses up the rest of the noodles, sauce, and cheese. Then it says to pour the heavy cream over the top and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Wait, what? I already used that up! Not a big deal, I just shredded another 1/3 cup over the top but I thought that was a little sloppy. Overall, I think it tasted really good and the leftovers reheated well. The squash in the lasagna was warm and moist, just a slight bit peppery and very earthy. I was a little worried about it coming out well, especially the part about just pouring heavy cream over the top, but it really was not a problem. I would definitely make this again next fall when the butternut squash are back in season.
Sara’s Comments: Loved this. It was a great company dish, and didn’t have too much active cooking time so we could socialize with our guests. The roasted squash was soft and delicious, and the bechamel sauce tied everything together really well. I wish we had more squash!
Cilantro Goat Cheese Pasta
Source: http://www.thekitchenpaper.com/cilantro-goat-cheese-pasta/
PointsPlus: 8 servings @ 11 points each (Recipe Doubled)
Drew Rating: 2/5
Sara Rating: 3/5
Modifications: Doubled the recipe, added 4 slices of bacon
Notes: First things first, this dish needs bacon! It is suggested in the blog post and I highly recommend it. It would taste pretty flat without it. That being said, even with bacon, this dish does not make a very good meal. It gets old and boring pretty quick. As a side dish to some lemony chicken or fish, I think it would go great. This just doesn't really have that much flavor on it's own. Would I make it again? Yes as a side and not doubled. Never as a main dish. Also, leftovers where barely edible, to me. Sara fared a little better with the leftovers but I thought the pasta was hard and the cheese left a nasty pool of grease behind which wasn't there when it was fresh.
Sara’s Comments: Sounded better than it was. Without the bacon I think it would have been just a two. I love goat cheese and I love pasta but this dish just didn’t cut it. Also did not reheat well for leftovers.
PointsPlus: 8 servings @ 11 points each (Recipe Doubled)
Drew Rating: 2/5
Sara Rating: 3/5
Modifications: Doubled the recipe, added 4 slices of bacon
Notes: First things first, this dish needs bacon! It is suggested in the blog post and I highly recommend it. It would taste pretty flat without it. That being said, even with bacon, this dish does not make a very good meal. It gets old and boring pretty quick. As a side dish to some lemony chicken or fish, I think it would go great. This just doesn't really have that much flavor on it's own. Would I make it again? Yes as a side and not doubled. Never as a main dish. Also, leftovers where barely edible, to me. Sara fared a little better with the leftovers but I thought the pasta was hard and the cheese left a nasty pool of grease behind which wasn't there when it was fresh.
Sara’s Comments: Sounded better than it was. Without the bacon I think it would have been just a two. I love goat cheese and I love pasta but this dish just didn’t cut it. Also did not reheat well for leftovers.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Goat Cheese, Tomato, and Sausage Tart
Source: http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2013/10/goat-cheese-tomato-sausage-tart/
PointsPlus: 2 servings @ 14 points each
Drew Rating: 4/5
Sara Rating: 4.5/5
Modifications: None
Notes: Ah the end of summer. Possibly the last dish of the year made with a fresh and local tomato. And what a way to go! Tart was simple to make and was a nice dinner for two. The tomatoes were nice and fresh, the pesto was rich and complex, the goat cheese was creamy, the sausage was slightly crisped from being on top, and the puff pastry was light and crumbly. I was able to make this quickly in between answering the door for trick-or-treaters. In the future I would just use two large tomatoes; one sliced and laid across and one diced to fill in the gaps. The only problem I had were some of the skins were tough on the cherry tomatoes once baked.
Sara’s Comments: Really liked the use of puff pastry as a kind of pizza base. I know it’s called a tart but it was a pizza in my mind. I think it was a bit too heavy on the tomatoes, which made it a little watery. Next time I would cut the amount of tomato in half and it would get a 5. Loved the pesto spread on the bottom of the tart.
PointsPlus: 2 servings @ 14 points each
Drew Rating: 4/5
Sara Rating: 4.5/5
Modifications: None
Notes: Ah the end of summer. Possibly the last dish of the year made with a fresh and local tomato. And what a way to go! Tart was simple to make and was a nice dinner for two. The tomatoes were nice and fresh, the pesto was rich and complex, the goat cheese was creamy, the sausage was slightly crisped from being on top, and the puff pastry was light and crumbly. I was able to make this quickly in between answering the door for trick-or-treaters. In the future I would just use two large tomatoes; one sliced and laid across and one diced to fill in the gaps. The only problem I had were some of the skins were tough on the cherry tomatoes once baked.
Sara’s Comments: Really liked the use of puff pastry as a kind of pizza base. I know it’s called a tart but it was a pizza in my mind. I think it was a bit too heavy on the tomatoes, which made it a little watery. Next time I would cut the amount of tomato in half and it would get a 5. Loved the pesto spread on the bottom of the tart.
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