Tuesday, January 13, 2009

3 Home Cook Meals

One of my new year resolution is "trying to cook more". I love cooking. Not only it is enjoyable, you also eat healthier and can save money. Recently I found the "Month of Menu" from Woman's Day Magazine.  What a convenient tool!  Everything looks easy to prepare and delicious.  They even offer a shopping list to go with the menu.  I eagerly went out and bought the items needed to make week 1's menu.

Pork Chops & Chickpea, Tomato and Feta Salad by you.
Pork Chops / Chickpea, Tomato & Feta Salad

Day 1's menu was pork chop and tomato salad.  The magazine gave the instruction on how to make the salad:  "Toss rinsed canned chickpeas, sliced scallions, halved grape tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese with Greek salad dressing."  This salad was so simple to make, and so delicious.  I didn't use Greek salad dressing, but used the "Green Goddess Dressing" from Fresh & Easy.  The tahini based dressing went very well with the flavor of tomato and feta.  Also I used garbanzo bean instead of chickpea.  You can pretty much use any bean you like.


Pork Chops & Chickpea, Tomato and Feta Salad by you.

But they didn't give you a pork chop recipe.  So I used the recipe from "How To Cook Everything".  (That link was the newest version of the book.  I actually have the older version.  If you are looking for a bargain, the older version is about $8 cheaper.)  I have never successfully cooked a pork chop before.  But using the recipe from the book, I made a PERFECT pork chop.  It was moist, tender, flavorful, and I couldn't believe I actually did it!  The recipe calls for really simple ingredients:  salt, pepper, oil, garlic, white wine, water, and parsley.  That's it!  This pork chop was simply Delicious with a capital D!

Scampi & Green Salad by you.
Scampi / Green Salad

Menu #2: Scampi and green salad.  Scampi: "Saute minced garlic in a little butter and olive oil. Add peeled, deveined shrimp and chopped scallions. Cook until opaque. Stir in lemon juice and chopped parsley. Toss with pasta."  Simple, right?  But stupid me actually messed it up.  Why?  Because their simple instruction forgot to mention "add salt and pepper".  So I forgot to add salt and pepper.  The flavor of garlic, lemon and butter was wonderful.  But only if I added some salt, this dish would be much better.

Lamb Chops, Rice Pilaf & Swiss Chard by you.
Lamb Chops / Rice Pilaf / Swiss Chard

Day 3's menu was lamb chop, rice pilaf and swiss chard.  For the lamb chops, I marinated it overnight with Fresh & Easy's rosemary marinate sauce.  I love the flavor.  Rice pilaf was also from Fresh & Easy.  Just cook it following the direction on the box.  It was pretty good.  I couldn't find swiss chard.  So I used kale instead.  "Saute rinsed chopped Swiss chard in olive oil with minced garlic. Add golden raisins; cover and cook 10 minutes."  It was really good.

After trying 3 of the menu, I LOVE it!  I mean, the menu kind of give you a guideline on what to cook.  But it doesn't tell you exactly how to cook it with recipes.  So you can still be somewhat creative.  So I want to introduce this useful tool to all of you.  Hope you guys like it as much as I do!

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2 comments:

  1. They sure look restaurant quality! :) Awesome colors, I can almost smell the yumminess

    It's so easy to make, too.
    You can make the same dishes!
    Hope you like the Woman's Day Menu.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW...that pork chop looks so yummy. I want to learn cooking that dish.

    haha.... I'll tell you on Saturday.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

    ReplyDelete