Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup

I had a lot of homework today, so Mike kindly offered to make dinner. I requested that he make his soup again. Instead of using cream of chicken and mushroom as a base, he used just plain cream of chicken soup, but otherwise it was the same. We also had white bread from the breadmaker and steamed broccoli.

The verdict
This soup was just as good as last time! Mike makes one mean soup. The bread was also good; it's been awhile since we've had just a plain white bread since my whole wheat movement. Everything was good, good, good! I give this meal 5 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Baked Salmon with Dijon-Cream Sauce

Tonight we had baked salmon, and the sauce from Friday's Pork Tenderloin was so good I decided to try it on fish. I baked the fish in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, then put the sauce on it and put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. We also had crossant rolls, steamed green beans, and fruit salad with Cool Whip.

The verdict
This dish doesn't replace the pork as my favorite, but it was still very good. I usually do a honey-mustard sauce for salmon, but this was different as it has no honey so it's less sweet. I think I'll keep both recipes in the rotation because they're so different from each other. I give this meal 3 and a half stars for taste and 4 stars for health.

Chicken Meat Loaf

I wasn't feeling very creative tonight, so I had what I always have when I don't feel creative: meatloaf! I did try something different, though. This time I put the individual loaves into muffin tins, then put the sauce on top. On the side we have mashed potatoes and lima beans, with the last of the green beans thrown in.

The verdict
We really liked having the meatloaf in the muffin tins. They chicken tends to be so moist that it spreads out in the oven, but this way they kept their shape nicely. Not bad for an un-creative night. I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.

Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Cream Sauce

I love the recipe board at Garden Web, and tonight I tried a new recipe I got from there: Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Cream Sauce. It involved slicing the tenderloin into inch-thick medallions, pounding them to half that thickness, sauteeing them, and serving them with a Dijon-cream sauce. We also had roasted potatoes and steamed green beans.

The verdict

Oh....my...gosh. This was so good! The picture does not do it justice. I spoke to my dad this evening, and I told him, "Tell mom I pulled off the impossible: I made a tenderloin better than she does!" You HAVE to try this recipe! I felt like I was eating in a fancy restaurant! I give this meal 5 stars for taste and health!!!

Even Sophie enjoyed the pork, although Brooke still prefers the taste of human flesh.

Grilled Fish with Brazilian Garlic Marinade

I picked up some red snapper at a good price at the local supermarket on Wednesday, and we made it with Brazilian Garlic Marinade on Thursday. We grilled it right on the rack and brushed it with the marinade halfway through. I also got some watermelon, so we had that with steamed broccoli and 10-minute brown rice.

The verdict

The fish was refreshingly different. I don't serve fish that much because I get tired of the sprinkle-it-with-seasoning-and-throw-it-in-the-oven routine. I tend to prefer the meatier types of seafood, and this was a new, interesting way to prepare it. I plan to look for more marinades that would work on fish in the future, as this marinade was good but didn't blow me out of the water. Everything else was good too, ten-minute rice is a good friend of the Wolfe household! I give this meal 3 and a half stars for taste and health.

T-Bone Steak...with asparagus!

Mike got an incredible deal on some meat in Ocala, so on Wednesday we went ahead and grilled some of the steaks before we froze them. We sprinkled Montreal Steak seasoning on them a few hours beforehand, then Mike threw them on the grill, along with....long pause...asparagus! That thud you heard was my mother fainting in Clermont. I used to complain quite loudly whenever she fixed asparagus, but I was at the local supermarket and they looked so fresh and I've been wanting to expand our vegetable consumption - and they were cheap - so I threw caution to the wind and bought some! Mike used a vegetable peeler to skin the bottom half of each stalk (a Food Network-recommended method), then grilled them with olive oil and salt. We also had baked potatoes.

The verdict

Hold the phone...I liked the asparagus! I think peeling them helped, and Mike was also careful not to overcook them. I don't think this is something I'll add to the regular rotation, but I do plan on serving them this way again. The steak was also very good. I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 3 stars for health. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call my mom and make sure she's recovered from her fainting spell.

Feeling better, Krishna Lunch, and meatloaf recipe

I’m finally starting to feel better, so hopefully I’ll be able to start posting regularly again. I do have a few things to show you, however. First is the awesome soup Mike made for me while I was sick! If you want to know how he did it, go here. I must say it wasn’t the way I would have made it, but it was extremely tasty, especially with the grilled cheese to go with it.



I also ate the Krishna lunch for the first time recently. The Krishnas area religious group that is prominent in Gainesville. Some think of them as an offshoot of Hinduism, but for years they’ve been serving vegetarian lunches to students on campus. I’ve never had classes near the library where they serve, but this semester I do, so I decided to give it a try. For $3.00 I got white rice, a vegetable curry, spaghetti, a salad, and this pineapple-y cake stuff. Everything was great! I don’t think I’ve ever had vegetables this way, but I want to see if I can find a recipe somewhere. The salad had a mild, lemon-y dressing that was tasty, and my favorite part (of course) was the cake! It was very moist - the guy used an ice cream scoop to serve it. They also had a delicious mint-flavored lemonade. I got a lot of food for what I paid, and I plan on going back often. I must say they were also some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.



I was asked by someone recently how I made the individual meat loaves, so if you’d like to know, here’s the recipe. It’s actually not so much a recipe as a guideline….they’re more like guidelines, anyway (name the movie!)

For some reason Blogger is being stupid and giving me weird posts. Is anyone else having this problem? It seems like since the new Beta came out blogger has been sort of strange. Anywho, I have a post all ready to go, and once they decide to publish it, you can all see it! :)

Such a good hubby...

No, I didn't make Such a Good Hubby Casserole for dinner. This morning I woke up with a cold, so Mike made dinner. Hence the title. He made bean burritos, plus some extra for freezing, and a salad. He did such a good job! Check out that presentation! How many stars can I give? Ten? Twenty? How about I rate my husband instead? I give Mike Infinity Stars for sweetness and coolness!

Little Chicken Meat Loaves

I told Mike I was thinking about making meat loaf for dinner tonight, and his eyes lit up and he said, "Is it going to be those little individual ones?" and I said, "...I guess it will be!" The unique thing about this recipe is that it has oatmeal in it, which I had never heard of. I left out the cheddar cheese that the recipe calls for, because last time I made this we decided we couldn't taste it. On the side we have roasted red potatoes and steamed green beans.

The verdict

This meal was very good! My favorite part is the glaze, which features brown sugar, ketchup, and a little mustard. If you've noticed we've been having a lot of red potatoes, you're right. That's because I thought we were out of red potatoes, looking right over the ten-pound bag we had. So I bought more, and now we have seventeen pounds of red potatoes that we have to eat before they go bad. Anhywho, I give this meal 4 and a half stars for taste and 4 stars for health.

Curry-Marinated Baked Chicken

Yesterday I tried a new marinade for lunch, Curry-Marinated Baked Chicken. It's a yogurt-based marinade with curry powder, ginger, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mike decided he wanted to make a sandwich with his, so we had garlic bread and baby carrots on the side.
The verdict
This was a good lunch! I think next time I'll make a sandwich, too. I didn't like this marinade as well as the last yogurt-based one I had, it didn't stand by itself as well. Overall I give this lunch 3 stars for taste and 4 stars for health.

Stromboli

We haven't had a real meal in a few nights, so I decided to make one of my childhood favorites: Stromboli! Mike put some half-whole wheat pizza dough in the breadmaker this afternoon, and when I got home from classes I rolled it out and put it in the oven. I usually just put pepperoni in my stromboli, because I'm too lazy to brown the meat and onions, and didn't even like onions until recently. This time, though, I took a sausage I got from the Chef's Table in Clermont and browned it with chopped onions and garlic. Along with pepperoni and provolone cheese, this makes for one stuffed stromboli! On the side we have roasted green beans and fruit salad.

The verdict
That sausage was deceptively large! I almost did two, but I'm glad I only defrosted one from the freezer. I didn't like this sausage when we had it a couple weeks ago on buns, but this was pretty durn tasty. I give this meal 4 stars for taste and 2 and a half stars for health.

New York Strip Steak

Mike and I were at Winn-Dixie today, and they had a great price on steaks, so we decided to celebrate the Gator victory with some New York Strips! We sprinkled Montreal Steak seasoning on them when we got back and let that sit in the fridge until grilling time. On the side I baked potatoes and steamed some fresh broccoli in the microwave. I also made a mixed-fruit daquiri with Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay Passion Fruit Rum.

The verdict

These steaks cut like butter and tasted like heaven! This was seriously the best steak I've ever had. I think letting the steak seasoning sit for a while really made a difference. The daquiris were more like smoothies, but still good. I underestimated the mildness of the rum, and I always hesitate to add any sugar to my drinks. I think next time I'll try a little Sprite. I give this meal 5 stars for taste and 4 stars for health.

I am sorry I haven't had a chance to post lately. Usually I post after dinner on Mike's laptop, but since the fall semester started I typically have to do more studying after dinner, and by the time that’s done I’m too brain dead to do anything creative. I don’t know if I’ll be able to post every night anymore, but I will try my best to do so regularly. I refuse to stress myself out over this, however. Much as I like doing this blog, there are more important things in my life. However, I do have a meal to show you, plus a new recipe! I had been marinating some chicken using a Garlic-Ginger Lime marinade, so I sautéed it and made pitas for lunch yesterday. The marinade was very good, and I plan on using it again for other foods, so stay tuned! We needed fuel for the rest of the day, as it was the first Gator game (we won!) and we walked allllll the way to the other side of campus for a party and to watch the game on pay-per-view. I got my exercise yesterday! I’m just glad Mike’s parents came down for the game, so they could give us a ride back. I seem to be using a lot of marinades lately, so watch for more in the near future!