Don't know what to make for supper? Here are 5 ideas

a crunchy slaw and a creamy chicken salad - so good together!

My family has to eat, and that means I have to cook. It's a chore that's more fun (for me!) when I try new stuff. Here are some recipes I've tried recently, with notes on what I changed, and how it all turned out.


- "Cashew Chicken Salad with Citrus"
This is the dish in the picture above (to the right).  I served it with a simple slaw.

And here's my confession about the slaw: I looked up the ingredients in those fancy, expensive, prepackaged salads you can buy bagged at the grocery store, and just copied them. Here's what I put in my knockoff version: red cabbage, savoy cabbage, celery, shredded cabbage, and cilantro, tossed with a store-bought dressing (Girard's "Chinese chicken salad") and some soy sauce and a bit of sugar.

The two dishes went together really well.

- "One-Pan Broccoli-Bacon Mac'n'Cheese"
This was good, but I suggest a few changes:

1) Use more bacon. I mean, c'mon.
2) You can use canned pumpkin in place of the squash. You could also just roast a butternut squash and scoop out and puree the flesh, instead of buying the expensive-ish frozen stuff.
3) It never hurts to add garlic. Or dried onion flakes. Or red pepper flakes. Or whatever spiciness floats your boat.


- "Thai Vegetable Curry Soup"
Yum. Yum, yum, yum.... this is one you make for the broth.


- "Spicy Thai Noodle Bowls" 
This was a big hit. I love meals that have lots of pieces, where everyone at the table can customize their own dish to their own particular tastes (which is why we have taco salad almost every week...).

I should note, though, that I made one big change to the recipe:
----I roasted the chicken instead of sautéing and then simmering it; with six people to cook for, it's just easier, especially if I want leftovers. Plus, I love the taste roasting gives, well, everything.

It used to be that I never used my giant roasting pan except for giant turkeys, but I've recently discovered it's my best friend in the kitchen. Want to quickly and easily cook 10 pounds of veg? Giant roasting pan. Want to quickly and easily cook 5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs? Giant roasting pan.

I'm telling you, it's the answer to everything.

Here's how you do it: take your veg or meat, chop it into even-ish portions, toss the whole lot with some olive oil, spices, and salt, and stick it all in the oven at 425 or so. Stir every twenty minutes or so till it's done.

Everything will taste good.

Honest.

-"Lime Shrimp Dragon Noodles" 
I took down the heat level in this for the sake of the kids, but it was still spicy and delicious.

Not healthy, mind, but spicy and delicious.


---and, finally, a bonus! here's a side dish we tried recently and liked:
-"Fruit Salad with Thai Herbs" 
Good (easy!) side.



That's it for this round! Have you found any good recipes recently? Share 'em in the comments!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell