As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have had a lot of mishaps in the kitchen lately. I have been trying to stay on the positive side about it, but after so many failures, it is hard to think that you still have the swag required to make good things happen in the kitchen. However, when you finally get something right, I guess it is all worth it...right?
Among the 'not nearly cooked' banana bread, and the 'glue' potatoes, I actually decided to make this soup that I LOVE! The recipe is super easy (minus tons of chopping), and since I just had a root canal and can't eat too much solid food right now, I thought that soup would be a great thing to make.
This is another one of my crock pot recipes, which are great because you just throw everything in and then let it go until you get home from work. The soup that I chose to make was a vegetable minestrone...easy to eat, delicious, nutritious and hearty, what more could I want? Everything was definitely going according to plan, I had all of the ingredients on hand, the chopping of the veggies was taking my mind off of the pain that I was in, and I got everything into the crock pot and turned on with enough time for it to be ready for dinner! SCORE! The only catch is that 20 mins before the soup is ready, I need to add the 1.5 cups of pasta...because of course, what would a veggie minestrone be without pasta? I put the pasta in on time, and 20 mins later it looks amazing! But for some reason, I just wasn't hungry enough to eat, so I turned it off and came back to it about a half hour later. When I took the top off of the crock pot, I was horrified! The pasta had soaked up ALL of the broth...so no longer did I have soup, but a huge pot of pasta! I am still going to eat it of course, but I definitely learned my lesson; as much as it pains me to dirty more dishes, I need to cook the pasta separately and add it to my bowl right before I eat!
Ok, so for anyone who actually follows my blog, you have probably noticed that there has not been a weekend review in quite a while. I seem to have fallen into a little rut of only eating what is familiar and nothing new. However, recently I have found this new salad dressing that I have completely fallen in love with. Usually, I am a Ranch Dressing type of person, but I decided to step out of the box and buy something different for a dinner party that I was hosting.
I love hosting dinner get-togethers, but the one thing that always throws me off is what type of dressings to get. Everyone is so specific about what they like to top their salads with, so I bought this dressing made by Ken's. It was a balsamic (which seems like a safe dressing to me). This was not your ordinary balsamic...it is a creamy balsamic with honey and garlic...and I should probably mention that it is TO DIE FOR!
The flavor profile is amazing! It doesn't seem as harsh are balsamic dressings can sometimes be. It is just this creamy deliciousness over the top of your salad. You only need a little bit, and it is just the perfect balance between acidity, creamy and sweetness.
I have definitely been feeling a little off of my game lately. I have had some serious epic FAILS go on in the kitchen over the last couple of weeks. There have been mishaps from everything like mashed potatoes (which came out like glue), soup which wasn't soupy at all (damn noodles), and banana bread that tricked me into thinking it was cooked (but just when I turned my back, the gooey, uncooked middle ended up all over my counters and floor!) So after all of this mishaps I have been feeling a little down about actually cooking anything.
However, we all know how I am a sucker for anything my husband asks for. He and I saw this focaccia bread recipe that looked so delicious and easy, he actually asked me to try to make it...so of course, I had to give it a try!
I think we were both glad that I gave it a try, and hopefully my bad luck in the kitchen is all gone now. This bread was AMAZING!! It was super simple to make, and the end result was super tasty! All you need is some of your favorite veggies and cheese, some good olive oil, and some pre-made pizza dough, such as Pilsbury. I ended up using mozzarella, thinly sliced onions, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and sliced mushrooms.
What you want to do is unwrap the pizza dough and put it onto a baking sheet. Brush one half (not the long way) of the pizza dough with olive oil, then top with half of your toppings and cheese. Fold the non brushed side of the dough over, and make sure to crimp the edges together. Then, brush the top of the dough with a little more olive oil and top with remaining ingredients and cheese. I also added a little parsley, basil and garlic powder to the top of the bread. Then pop the bread into the oven at 400 for 15-20 mins.
It is seriously that simple and delicious!
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