New recipe day!

So today was new recipe day. Today I tried Rachael Ray's Quick Chicken Cacciatore. Mine looks a little different than hers. I mixed the pasta in with the sauce instead of pouring it over the top. Also, I used spaghetti noodles instead of fettuccini. Here's my pros and cons.

Pros

- It was really easy to make!

-Only required 2 pans, so easy to clean-up

-minimal ingredients needed and very tasty!

Cons

-the chicken I used took WAY too long to pan fry. Next time I'll either boil the chicken or pre-cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces before I fry them.

Overall I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. Had I not been frustrated with my chicken it would have been near a 5. Thanks for the idea Abbers! I'm excited for lunch tomorrow. Leftover day!

recipe of the week

Back when Andrew and I were first married, I was so good to make a weekly menu of our dinner plans and to try at least one new recipe a week. Well after we graduated from BYU, I've been a hit and miss with that. But I have been inspired to start again...simply because I'm bored with the usual stuff I make. So I figure if I blog my new recipe a week, it might help to motivate me to keep it up. So I have delegated Thursdays as "New Recipe Day!" (I am stealing the idea from Abby's blog.)

My finished product

Tonight for dinner I made Rachel Ray's 30-minute Shepherd's Pie. Here is my list of pros and cons.

Pros:
-Anything that can be made in under 30 minutes is a plus
-The ingredient list was simple and I had all but a few of them on hand
-It was easy to make and hard to mess up
-After I made it, I was surprised to see that it looked like the picture (minus the fresh parsley on top). How often does that happen?
-It was good

Cons:
-It takes 3 pans, plus a baking dish in order to make this meal. I don't like doing dishes
-I didn't think there was enough seasoning in it. It was good, but just a little bland. I'm not sure what could be added, but I think it needs a little something extra
-I didn't cook the carrots long enough, so they were still a little crunchy

Overall I rate this recipe a 4 out of 5.