So tonight we decided to make some Thai food. I don’t use the wok often so this was going to be a bit of an adventure for me.

Unfortunately when I went shopping for the ingredients this weekend I picked up rice noodles instead of glass noodles. It was a simple mistake on my part as I didn’t recall that glass noodles are actually made of bean threads and not rice. Even with the incorrect noodles I figured I should still give the recipe a go.

I made the Young Thailand Hot Sauce this morning to give it some time to rest. All I have to say is that if you aren’t used to heat, use this sparingly.

Overall I think the recipe was very easy to follow, even for a novice with the wok such as me. The key to it was definitely timing and being able to control the heat properly. Even with the change in noodles I think that the dish worked really well. I didn’t bother with the black fungus as I didn’t have the time to go to the local Asian market. I forgot to garnish with the red pepper at the end so it looked a little bland even with the green onion. It still tasted wonderful, and the the Young Thailand Hot Sauce gave it just enough kick.

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I pulled out Maine Coastal Cooking, a cookbook that my mother purchased 2 years before I was born, and decided to make something out of it. The cook book has recipes dating all the way back to 1664 and contains a small book at the end titled The Accomplished Cook: The Art and Mystery of Cookery.

I decided to make an Irish Stew. There were two variants of this recipe and I chose to go with the beef and vegetable version. Yet again I decided to make a recipe that required the use of a vegetable that I hadn’t worked with before, the turnip. I used a regular turnip instead of a yellow turnip because when I bought turnips I didn’t know that yellow turnips were actually ruddebegga. The things I learn about when I decide to look in my cookbooks…

I used half the amount of beef and smaller potatoes. The next time I think I will increase the amount of carrots. I let the meat and onions simmer for about 2 hours before adding the remaining vegetables and simmering for another half hour. The meat was tender and the vegetables had just enough firmness to them.

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I scored some Kitchen Goddess points with Skillet Tostadas yesterday. I was told that “This is the best Mexican dish you’ve made so far.” by my darling husband.

Sometimes it’s the simple things that taste the best I guess. Looking at the recipe there really isn’t much to it. And it took all of 10 minutes to get everything ready. So this would make a great quick meal for people that think there isn’t enough time to cook.

I made one minor change when I made this dish. Instead of using jarred salsa (I didn’t have any) I made my own using a can of diced tomatoes and some Simply Salsa Seasoning Mix from Tastefully Simple that was given to me by my mother. (Every once in a while she gives me things like that.) Other than that everything else was the same. I will be interested to see what the difference will be when I use normal jarred salsa the next time…because, lets face it, I’ll be making this one again.

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I made Penne with Sausage, Peppers & Tomato Sauce on Friday last week. It was one of the many recipes that I collected over the years from different magazines that I had yet to actually get into the kitchen to make. I am really glad that I decided to try this one.

I’m all about simplicity and this is the epitome of a simple Italian dish. I used Johnsonville Mild Italian sausage, the next time I may try the hot version. I only used two bell peppers, a yellow and a green. They added just the right texture. I may try using an orange pepper as well the next time I make it.

It saves well, though I haven’t tried to freeze it. I would imagine that the peppers would break down a bit too much and become really limp.

The recipe serves six (at least that is what they suggest) and I think this would make a wonderful meal to invite friends over for dinner. It really doesn’t take much time at all.

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2-3 slices of your favorite “soft” sandwich bread
Nutella

Remove the crust on the sandwich slices. Take a rolling pin and roll slices flat. Spread some Nutella on each slice then roll them into little logs. Enjoy.

The Easy Stuffed Bell Peppers is actually my own concoction. I was randomly throwing things together one evening trying to make something edible. (This was during my college days and food was rather random.)

Initially I just mixed the Rice-A-Roni with the meat and diced tomatoes and ate it like that. It was while I was eating that I had the idea to use it as a stuffing in bell peppers. I think it was the Rice-A-Roni that gave me the idea. Most stuffed peppers that I have had in the past were stuffed with some sort of rice mixture.

I don’t make it very often, I am not sure why, but it is a favorite at the dinner table. Since I am usually cooking them for two people there is usually a lot of stuffing left over. It reheats really well and can be eaten on its own.

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On Sunday evening I extended an invitation to some friends to come over for dinner. I had two options for the meal. After a quick discussion it was decided that I would make Turkey and Roasted Red Pepper Meat Loaf. This was a new recipe for me. I’ve tried several meatloaf recipes in the past and most of them didn’t turn out well.

I find it rather interesting that a dish a simple as meatloaf can go horribly wrong. Thankfully this was not the case with this recipe. I was afraid that it would turn out dry but it turned out really moist.

There were a few suggestions from my…test subjects. It was suggested that I chop the onions smaller as it seemed to be a bit much. I pointed out that I was short about a 1/4 pound of meat. So even though I did use a small onion it made a difference. The flavors worked well together though.

The dressing for the side salad was a little strong on the mustard, but it was passable.

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*Family recipe handed down from Oma to Tante to Mom to me.

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*This recipe was sent to me by my mother in late 2006. She found it in a magazine while working in Germany, thus the recipe is written in grams. It was rather interesting that the actual recipe listed the butter with the Tbsp measurement.

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I made the Bavarian Pork Roast this week. I didn’t use the exact cut of pork that it called for, but it didn’t really seem to matter much. This has got to be one of the better recipes I have tried for a pork roast. It was amazingly moist and tender. It fell apart simply using a fork. I made mashed potatoes as a side dish to go with it.

The sour cream sauce was decent enough, though I have made better. I don’t think that I will make it the next time. Instead I will use one of the more traditional sauces that I know how to make.

I’m constantly looking for recipes to use my Crockpot with and this is definitely one that I am going to keep.

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