Yummy in My Tummy

One of the things that I put on my "to-do" list for Shawn was try to make his Grandma's chili. One day he went on and on about how good his grandma could cook and how she made the best chili, which is a food he really likes anyway. I sent his Aunt Kathy a message on facebook to see if she had Grandma Kennel's old recipe book. While she said Aunt Erica inherited it, she sent me a message with the recipe she said Grandma Kennel always used. So, i tried it. The chili was very good, but Shawn said it wasn't exactly like he remembered it. But, he must have enjoyed it since he polished it all off. I thought it was delicious, but I never had his Grandma's. :) I've made it since, and he even took a stab at making chili himself one day (and Shawn is a way better cook than me in that he can guess and test with ingredients to get the right taste whereas I typically follow a recipe). It was amazing! Hopefully he appreciated the sentiment behind my trying to make it for him. :)

Speaking of recipes, I've been trying to eat healthier and praying that God would give me a new-found love for vegetables. I realized there's a ton I haven't even tried, mostly because I don't know what to do with them. But, with the Internet these days, I'm trying to discover new recipes and new foods that we can eat. One thing I do enjoy that Shawn doesn't is flounder almondine, which I made with green beans and a baked potato. He'll make something else for himself and the kids when I make it, but since I think it's healthy to eat fish on occasion, I'll make enough for one. :)

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for balsamic parmesan roasted cauliflower and decided to give it a try. I thought it was delicious, but next time I would skip the marjoram since I discovered it's basically like pepper. Now I have a whole bottle of it since I didn't know what it was. Here's the link if anyone would like to try making it.  :) http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/balsamic_parmesan_roasted_cauliflower.html. I made it with a new pork recipe that also turned out really good - rubbing it with just a little olive oil and Jamaican jerk (or Carribean jerk) seasoning. Yum!

Another recipe I tried was eggplant parmesan. I love Italian and spaghetti sauce in general. I made spaghetti using spaghetti squash, and it wasn't all that hard to do. That said, while it tasted good, I won't make it every time instead of pasta. But, it was good for something different. For the eggplant parmesan, I blended a few recipes I had together and did my best using the ingredients I had. First, I saw on a couple different sites that the key to making good eggplant is to cut it, put a little salt on it, and let it sit in a colander for 20 minutes to sweat out the extra moisture. Then you wipe the salt off but it's better for baking. So, I did that first. Then, I followed this recipe from Martha Stewart (http://www.marthastewart.com/313564/baked-eggplant-parmesan) only I used store-bought spaghetti sauce and I didn't have quite all the ingredients so I did some basic substitutions. For example, I used Italian seasonings in place of things like basil, etc. I also added ricotta (if I'm not mistaken this recipe doesn't call for it), because I had already purchased it. Anyway, it turned out delicious. I was genuinely surprised how good it was. I will definitely make it again.

Shepherd's pie always sounds better than it tastes to me. Does anyone else ever feel like it's bland? So, I used a new recipe but added my own touch-ups and it was fantastic. This is the one that Shawn said he liked the best, so I will definitely make it again. I added some seasoned salt to the burger along with the other things it calls for, and I used a can of mixed vegetables instead of fresh or frozen because it's what I had on hand (so I didn't cook them in with the meat). I then sprinkled a little salt on the veggies and added a layer of Velveeta cheese on top before putting the potatoes on. Not quite as healthy but amazingly delicious. Everyone ate it all up and loved it! This one is a keeper, and next time I'd double the recipe and put it in a bigger pan.  http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/

Another one that I made was baked french toast. This is anything BUT healthy, but it's great if you're having company over for breakfast or you just want to have a big breakfast with the family. I made it once and it was amazing! I didn't cut off the ends of the bread and I thought it tasted just as good without that extra step, as she notes.  http://sheldonrachel.blogspot.com/2009/03/french-toast-bake.html

Lastly, the other week we did a "make your own pizza" at our house. I bought a bunch of veggies for mine since I like it that way, but we also had ham & pineapple and meat for meat lovers and the kids could add what they wanted (which was just cheese and bacon). Then we put them in the oven and feasted. For next time, only the thin pizza crust had the note on it that you could pre-bake it before adding sauce if you wanted to. I would say all pizza crust needs to be pre-baked before adding any ingredients. Now I know! The one that we did pre-bake tasted better than the other. But, it was still a fun night to do together.

I love new recipes! If you have any keepers, send me the link or leave a comment with it! :)