Weekly Culinary Adventures

What have I made lately... nothing outstanding that I have to get the recipe on here pronto. If you have been reading this blog you know that one of my goals this year was to make a new recipe once a week. At first I had a bad streak and then I had a few good ones in a row and the past 5 have been average. I made one 6 weeks ago that was really good and I am trying to figure out if I can do a pdf on a blog so I don't have to type it all out. So this is what I have made since the last culinary post:

Sage Crusted Pork Tenderloin with an Apple-Shallot Sauce from Cuisine at Home magazine (Dec 2008): This was excellent and it's the recipe I want to share. Even though I overcooked it, it was still great!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta from Art Smith's Back to the Table: This is where everything went south. It was good not great. I think I used too much basil and it wasn't oily enough. It was pasty. Plus, AJ helped me make it- fun project for him but it may have been overprocessed too (see above).

Baked Ziti from the New Good Housekeeping Cookbook: When we were in Gainesville, FL in February, we ate at a place called Francesca's. Their Baked Ziti was so delish that I was craving it when we got home. Made this recipe- good not great. I look forward to Francesca's next time we are in G-ville!!

Mexican Chicken Mole from Cooking Light: This smelled fantastic in the beginning. Mmmmm! The way the tomatoes and chocolate aromas melded together... The shocking thing about this recipe was that it was made completely in the microwave. There, I believe, was my problem. I halved the recipe and the sauce burned because the length of time I had to cook the chicken stayed the same but the sauce cooking time would have had to been cut down. The chicken was still good just not the sauce. Such a shame because if I had 5 other people I had to cook for then this probably would have been fab.

Three Cheese Chicken & Penne Florentine from Cooking Light: This was good so here is the recipe. It was a nice casserole with good flavor. Add garlic though!

Easy Enchilada Casserole from the little Ortega Cookbook that you get in line at the supermarket: Not as good as I expected. I would much rather make regular enchiladas. There is a great recipe for Easy Chicken Enchiladas in that same cookbook as well as one of my all time favorites Tortilla Lasagna. I included the recipes for those instead for you! :)

Now I am up to date on recipes. I don't know what I am going to make yet this week!