Food for Thought: April

I admit it. In the month of April there was pretty well zero cooking for me. While I was out of the country I left my mom and LK home with frozen lasagna, Carolina Crockpot Chicken, and omelet making material. And, in reality, they were happy.

But at the end of the month, I did manage to make a few final Rachel Ray meals before moving on to another cookbook. Here's how it went:

#171 Fruited Chicken Curry in a Hurry
I'm not gonna lie, this one was interesting. I love the Real Simple peach curry recipe that I've used for years so this one had a lot to live up to if it was going to replace the staple. And prunes in the curry- well that's just a strike against it before the game even started. But over all it wasn't bad. I didn't have golden raisins like I thought I did, so those were left out and I got the idea that I could use the canned coconut milk I've had for a bit to make it creamy- but I guess I've had that can longer than I thought because the milk had solidified! (I threw it out rather than try and salvage). I topped it with scallions, coconut and cilantro. Overall it was done in a hurry and it was pretty good- but I think Real Simple still wins.  (In trying to find the RS recipe to link to it seems to be gone from the internets.  So I guess that means it's time to make and post it. Filed away under things to do.)

(would be higher he said if not for the prunes)

#201 Aussie Meat Pies, Made Quick
This was amazing! AMAZING! I made this for LK on ANZAC day and while it wasn't spot on Aussie in that I know the origin of the meat contained inside the pie (thankfully) it was still absolutely yummy. I used basic refrigerator pie shells put into a muffin tin instead of the puff pastry- though I think the puff pastry would have been better. I cooked the bottom of the crust for 8 minutes, then filled the crust with cooked meat, topped it with the other side of the shell and cooked for another 8 minutes. I do believe I'll be making these the next time the Aussie team gets together.

#356 Honey Chicken over Snow Pea Rice
I omitted the scallions because I was looking for shallots and I only used 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes because my family doesn't like spicy things- though I added more to mine because I was on the heels of a trip to Asia which completely altered my taste buds. I also added some sesame seeds because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Overall it was pretty good. But again, I was on heels of Asia and so it was, well, US-modified Asian take-out.



Happy Eating,