Burrito

Please ignore the toothpick holding the burrito closed for photograph purposes. I have chronic over-filling problems. The burrito was pretty standard, would have been better if I had a more standard mexican cheese mix. The taco meat though, that was the genius part. I made it with ground beef, better than bouillon dissolved in water, lots of tex-mex, some cumin, and a little tiny bit of cajun seasoning. Then I let it simmer down for a long time so that it would be less liquid and more flavorful/thick. So tasty. 

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Enh. Not particularly impressed. They maybe would have been better with more cheese and less old-ish mushrooms. Clearly the theme is to use up crescent rolls. (Also I wanted pizza but don't own yeast) 

S'mores Croissants

So these aren't true s'mores croissants. I didn't have any marshmellows. but I was still really interested in trying and kinda in the mood to experiment so I added powdered sugar to sour cream to make a sort of sweet cream  to sub for the marshmellows. I wish someone else had been here to help taste test. I don't really know what to think. They're very rich and chocolatey. At first I couldn't really taste the cream, but at least from a texture standpoint I knew when I was eating it. I can't tell if the flavor was just blending really well with the chocolate, or if it just wasn't really contributing anything beyond a creamy texture. Overall it was good, but not amazing. I'm not sure I'd make it again but it was a fun experiment. I suspect if you really like the French snack of bread and chocolate then you would enjoy this a great deal. 

Giant Heap of Mashed Potatoes (with Rosemary Pork Medallions and Spinach Salad)

Clearly the "main dish" here is not the pork medallions. Two potatoes made a lot more mashed than I expected (one of them was very small and the other was not particularly large), still it was the item I was most excited about making (and eating) so I'm not complaining. It was a bit too much food, I probably could have done without the spinach but I wanted to round out the meal a bit more. It's a consistent problem I have, eating too much vs not getting a nutritionally balanced diet. Still pondering. In the meantime, I think buying more fruit to keep around the house will be a good plan. 

Butterflied Pork Medallion Burger (with Key Lime Cilantro Broccoli)

The burger was really good. I was just looking for something new and a bit more summery than my usual way of cooking medallions. The buns were getting towards the old side (overly squishy on some edges) so I buttered them and added garlic powder and salt before broiling them in the oven a bit to get nice toasty buns (tee hee). I'll never know if cilantro lime was a good combo (at least not until I try it again) since I added way too much lime and so that was all I could taste. Still edible but barely. The sandwich was good enough to make up for it though. I especially liked the cheddar/pork/garlic bread combo. 

Ice Cream with Blackberry Peach Compote

This was so pretty and yummy that I just had to post two pictures for it. What a great way to use up things I just happened to have. Yum. 

Mom and Dad's Chili

Ok so I didn't actually make this one. But I reheated it within an inch of it's life! And I also worked at my presentation and tried to get a prettier picture for today. Someday I will try my own hand at making chili. Until then, thanks Mom and Dad. Homemade chili that I only have to reheat on a rainy, gloomy day like today was just so cozy and nice. 

Beef Stroganoff

I usually use egg noodles in this recipe, but I didn't have any so I used just my normal pasta. It was actually really good. I use whole wheat pasta so I can pretend that whatever I make with it is super healthy (right). From a taste standpoint I don't think it's very different than normal pasta, it's mostly a texture thing. Normally it's just something that I don't mind, but with this particular recipe, the creamy sauce specifically, I really liked the additional texture. I only used half a package of brown gravy mix and that seemed to work out just fine. 

Pancakes

Yum. This was only a quarter batch and still ended up being a lot for breakfast, at least to me. I couldn't quite figure half an egg so they were a little extra eggy but it tasted just fine, although I could taste the difference. Overall a pretty little breakfast (ok probably lunch), although a hotter pan will help me out for next time. 

Chicken de Provence

This meal was just ok. The Herbs de Provence tasted good on the chicken but I think I over-seasoned them a bit. I also ran into some issues due to putting items in the wrong pans (cause I'm an idiot some days). Oh well. Each part of the meal was pretty good on it's own but for some reason as an overall meal it didn't seem to balance well. Is it because the coloring was so boring? I've never given meal composition much thought other than basic nutritional variety (protein, fiber, starch). I guess it's something I'll have to pay more attention to in the future. 

Hashbrown Nests

These were kind of fun to make, but I'm not sure the taste was worth the time and effort. It'd be easier, faster and possibly tastier to just go ahead and cook hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs separately. Still they turned out pretty cute.