fitfool | Lunging for the finish line.... (50 recipes)

For the last 4 years, I've had the goal of reading 50 books in a year. I never do quite make it there. Best I've had was 35 books and I think I'll be lucky if I manage to tie that record this year since I have 33 books so far.

Last year I added the goal of making 50 new recipes. Got as far as 46 recipes last year but considering the year I had, that was pretty close. A week ago, I happily added recipe #40 to the list but then realized I was quickly running out of cooking days. Time to start scoping for easy recipes. Time to start counting -everything-. The other day I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with banana slices in it. And yes...I wrote that down as #41. (it tastes great, just be sure to throw it back in the toaster oven for a little bit to get everything nice and toasty.) My list of recipes tried in 2007 stands at 44 right now. I've got 3 more recipes lined up to try.

Thing is, I really only have until Thursday to cook. And then I'll be in NYC and eating out as much as I can. So...any quick and easy recipes to pad out the list? Oh yeah...and I'm snowed in too so I can't even really make it out to the grocery store for ingredients. Google is my friend for recipe ideas then.

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Ok now I wish I could match you on book reading. Im lucky if I get through 4 or 5.

Did you see my post on the Rosemary couscous chicken. Its an awesome cold chicken salad, yeah probably something cold is not what you want right now. If you want me to go back and find it I will. Once you have the chicken cooked its very easy to make and is really filling. Has like feta and olives and all sorts of yummy stuff.

I'm not a big fan of cold dishes but I made your lentil and couscous soup 3 or 4 times this year. You probably don't have as much time to read since you're working out way more than I manage.

Put any fruit you have (fresh, dried, canned, frozen) into quickbreads--I use the same basic recipe for everything from zucchini bread to papaya bread. It's an adaption of Paula Deen's zucchini recipe.

Put any veggies you have into some beaten egg to make anything from omelets to Spanish tortas/tortillas. Add cheese and herbs for variety.

If you have leftover bread, some egg and milk make an easy bread pudding/baked French toast, and mix-ins are easy.

Meats make easy casseroles/stir fries. My basic casserole starter is sauteed onions and garlic, then add the meat. From there, I add anything from chopped/canned tomatoes for a red sauce, Worcesteshire sauce for a cheater's brown sauce, or fish sauce or soy sauce for an Asian flavor. Add whatever veggies are around, and eat it as is, wrapped in lettuce for lettuce wraps or in spring roll wrappers, or over rice. For heartier versions, you can finish it off in the oven and top it with cheese.

Even veggie sides can be easy recipes--just play with your herbs.

Soups are easy, too--just whatever you have in a pot full of the appropriate stock/broth, or puree some steamed veggies and add some milk or cream to make creamy soups.

Thanks for all the ideas! I might try a quickbread thing. Or cream of broccoli soup. That sounds good.

This Epicurious recipe for broiled mustard chicken wings is very quick, easy to prepare and doens't require any exotic ingredients. I use chicken breasts, which cook up very quickly. It's very tasty!

cool...I'll bookmark it for next year. I ran out of chicken and would like to avoid another trip to the grocery store.

What do you have on hand? I like muffins for creative improv -- you can add pureed, chopped, or shredded vegetables and fruits and come up with a bazillion combinations.

I have some walnuts I intend to make candied walnuts with. Some plantains for tostones. Some broccoli I cooked up and didn't end up eating or using. I also have: carrots, onions, pearl onions, garlic, cous cous, pasta, canned black beans, canned chick peas, canned cannellini beans, napa cabbage, canned baby corn, canned water chestnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, dried apple rings, some 2% milk, corn meal, lemons. I might try your corn bread recipe since I think I can make it from what I have on hand.

I love the idea of trying 50 new recipes in a year. I'll have to try for that next year, and post pictures too.

For now, these are the recipes I've tried this year:
curried groundnut stew
Dahl soup
banana nut muffins
ziti mexi-cali
lentil and chickpea soup with cilantro
old-fashioned Christmas cookies
Southern skillet cornbread
pasta e fagioli
Thai spaghetti toss
lentil chili
sweet and sour chicken
island chicken
fiery chicken with veggies
confetti fried rice
Shanghai veggie medley

That's 15. I love cooking for myself so I'm sure 50 more won't be a problem for next year. Thanks for the inspiration.

Yay for more cooking sprees. Some of those recipes you listed sound pretty good. Do you have them posted in your journal? I'm particularly interested in the dahl soup, lentil and chickpea soup with cilantro, and old-fashioned Christmas cookies. Cute to see the banana nut muffins in there.

I'll post those recipes shortly.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Artichoke-Spinach-Lasagna/Detail.aspx

Not exactly from scratch, but it's pretty quick and easy to make with ingredients that are readily available. My boyfriend likes this recipe a lot, because it's lasagna you don't feel too guilty for eating. :)

mmmm...This sounds pretty good. I'll add that to my list of recipes to try next year. I don't have all the ingredients for lasagna at the moment.

Lunging for the finish line.... (50 recipes)

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Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

Re: Artichoke Spinach Lasagna