Cooking Challenge- April Results

Another month is almost over and that means checking out how I did on my cooking challenge. This month got a little busy with school wrapping up (papers and finals out the wazoo!), so I focused on trying out pins that I've pinned and haven't done anything with instead of trying new cooking techniques. 

Bacon Wrapped Chicken from Artsy Fartsy Mama

This was Dave and I's favorite dish of the whole month. It was fairly easy to cook and was really good. We'll definitely be cooking this again. I mean bacon AND cream cheese? How can you go wrong?

Easy Green Beans, Chicken and Potatoes from Mama Say What?!

This dish was pretty good, and clearly it was super simple to make. I would say I'd make it again however shortly after consuming this meal Dave and I were both *ahem* indisposed of. I'm assuming probably from all the butter, but I can't be 100% sure.  Either way I'm not risking it and making it again. 

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole from The Seasoned Mom

Dave really liked this, I wasn't so much a fan of it. I thought it was a bit bland but Dave's all about the stuffing (he'd eat Stove Top all day every day). If I did make it again, I'd probably fill up on salad or something and only make it since Dave liked it. 

That's what I tried this month. Did you try out any pins this month?

Cooking Challenge March Results

This month was the month of meal prep. I've always wanted to spend a day creating meals for breakfast or lunch for the week, in part so that I didn't have to spend all my money on breakfast and lunch, but also to be able to control what I eat a little better. 

Pins I Tried: 

Low Carb Egg Muffins

Not only were these "muffins" delicious, but they were fairly healthy AND I got to use my muffin tin for the first time. This was definitely something I'll make again, they were super easy. 

Breakfast Burritos

I have a confession. When done right, I love (LOVE) McDonald's breakfast burritos. I have been wanting to make my own for a while and finally got around to it this month. Not only was it fairly easy to make, but I made a ton in a very short time. Dave loves grabbing these in the morning and has even forgotten to take out our dinner for the night (practically every morning) because he sees these and forgets to. These aren't as good as McDonald's burritos (when they're done right), but at least I know I'm getting a good burrito every time. 

Chicken BLT Avocado Salad

This recipe is another favorite of Dave's. I originally made it for myself and then he tried some and practically half of it was gone when it went to make my lunch the next morning. Between this recipe and the muffins I also got more practice with cooking bacon, which I rarely do. 

Recipes ripped out of magazines I finally made:

Bobby Dean's One Pan Roasted Chicken and Broccoli

Healthy, easy and I finally got to use my roasting pan (another thing I've never used before), and it was delicious.  I'm really liking this cooking challenge. 

So far I've learned quite a few techniques but I've also learned that I have too many items in my kitchen that I've never used. I'm glad I'm finally getting around to using them. Maybe I'll start incorporating the use of unused kitchen items into my challenge? 

Cooking Challenge February Results

If you need a quick refresher, I challenged myself this year to expand my cooking horizons and each month use pins/recipes I've gathered along the way and also try out different cooking techniques that I've avoided so far in my life. Here's the results for this month:

Pins I tried:

Meatball Sub Bubble Up Bake

This recipe was okay. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either. I probably won't make it again, but it was very simple to make. My main issue with this dish was that the biscuits were too sweet and that kind of ruined it for me. Also the middle wasn't cooked all the way through which I could easily fix by leaving it in longer but it was very tough to gauge whether or not the middle was done. 

One Pan Skillet Lasagna

This pin on the other hand was delicious. I learned the hard way that it was probably easier to just cut the casing off of Italian sausage and cook it that way versus the way I did it which was cooking the sausage in the casing and then trying to cut it up after the fact and throwing it back in the pan. I always like to make things harder for myself. 

Lastly, for Valentines Day I decided to try my hand at cheesecake. I used this recipe from Philadelphia cream cheese.

Cooking technique tackled: Using my springform pan (I've owned it for at least 8 years and this was the first time I used it!), baking a cake/crust from "scratch"

The results: When I was first making the graham cracker crust, I misread the ingredient list and thought it read 1 and 1/3 cup melted butter which lead to a ridiculous melted butter mess. Three packs of graham crackers later, I realized the error of my ways and sent Dave out to buy more graham crackers since I used them all up trying to salvage this mess:

The good news is that when I attempted the crust a second time, it turned out good. There weren't any other issues and the cheesecake turned out delicious!

What did you cook this month?

January Cooking Challenge Results

In the beginning of this month I created a cooking challenge for myself. It was my way of not only using up recipes/pins that I've never used that I wanted to but also to step out of my comfort zone and use cooking techniques I avoid because I'm not comfortable with them. 

Here's the first results of the year! I'd say I was 65% successful....

First up, Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Now I've eaten this recipe before, however I always made Dave make it for two reasons: 1. I don't work with dough, at all  2. I don't cut in butter. So this time I decided to make it all by myself, cutting butter and all. 

Cooking Technique Tackled: Cutting butter, working with dough

The results: Complete success! The recipe is delicious to begin with and I manage to not mess up the cutting in of the butter. 

Next up: Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls

Cooking Technique Tackled: Frying food in oil, working with spring roll wrappers

The results: The filling was really good, but the egg rolls did not come out looking crispy, crunchy or egg roll-y at all. The grease just kinda sat on the wrappers and it was like eating oil straight from the pan. I'm not completely turned off of the idea of trying to fry it again but maybe cook it in less oil? Or something along those lines. It was edible and tasted half decent but good lord it was hideous and... loosened the bowels to put it kindly. 

All in all, this month's challenge wasn't half bad. I'm excited to see what other cooking techniques I'll tackle this year. 

Did you try anything different this month? 

Cooking Challenge

I hate new years resolutions. I never make them because I know I'll break them.I have decided, however, to challenge myself this year on one thing. I have this habit where I collect recipes, whether its on pinterest or magazines, and then hang on to them doing nothing with them. 

This year I've decided that at least once a month I'm going to try to cook something new from the arsenal of recipes I've collected. Ones I like I'll jot down in my recipe journal, others I'll toss or unpin. I'll also share with you the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

I haven't really ever had a massive cooking disaster on my hands. I think that is in part to the fact that I tend to avoid complicated recipes. There are a few things I know I'm terrible at, working with dough being one of those things, but I can't keep avoiding them and then pinning/saving recipes that use them. 

It is my hope that this year with this cooking challenge, I'll finally step out of my comfort zone a little and create new things, or at least I'll have a few good stories to share. 

Have you created any challenges or resolutions for yourself this year?