Are You Out Of Your Cooking Rut?
Two weeks ago I challenged you to break out of your ordinary kitchen routine. If you followed through, I'd love to hear your results.
So here's how our week of "No More Cooking Rut" went!
Sunday: Slow-Cooker
I started to fix the usual pork chops in the slow cooker like I always do, but then I realized that was going completely against my point. So, I pulled out my Crock Pot cookbook (which was a little dusty), and put together Sweet and Sour Shrimp. It only had to cook for 3-4 hours on low, so I turned it on right before I left for the evening service and it was cooking away when we got home. All I had to do was add the last couple of ingredients and we were all set.
Monday: Meal made from grocery store circular
This is very possibly my favorite meal of the week. Our local store had BOGO free bags of chicken, 99 cent bags of potatoes and deeply discounted veggies. So I put them all together in a foil packet with pepperoni, cherry tomatoes and picante sauce. They cooked for 35 minutes at 375 degrees and the house smelled wonderful for two days!
Tuesday: A family event.
This one didn't go just exactly as I'd planned. We had breakfast for dinner, but Danny had work to do on the computer. Instead of putting on his own apron, he talked to me while he typed and I cooked. Still very good time together.
Wednesday: New meal you've been wanting to try.
Danny suggested this one - a Thai chicken. The peanut sauce was wonderful and served with pasta and salad all mixed together
Thursday: Revamp a usual recipe
This one was all Danny! He took my plain shrimp scampi and turned it up six or seven notches - at least half the spice rack. Then we served it over rice instead of pasta. Fabulous is the only word I can use. (For the recipe and my husband.)
Friday: Opposite Day
We eat almost every meal at home, so we chose this day for eating out. We had to go to Raleigh to get the oil changed and the car washed, so we found a great little local place to try. But when we got there, they were right between the lunch and dinner shifts. We consoled ourselves at the Cheesecake Factory instead. I'd post the pictures that I took, but then you'd be drooling on the computer screen - and that wouldn't be pretty.
Saturday: Raid the refrigerator.
After an entire week of fabulous food, we had plenty of leftovers for Saturday night. This was a lovely plan because I attended a ladies' meeting all day and cooking was the last thing on my "That's Something I'd Love To Do" list. We tore through the Thai chicken and tiny bit of shrimp leftover. We added a few other bits in the fridge and had a fabulous, full meal from the blessings of the week.
If you tried this week of getting out of your cooking rut, let me know how it went! We'll probably try it again sometime, just to pull out some new ideas and techniques.
So here's how our week of "No More Cooking Rut" went!
Sunday: Slow-Cooker
I started to fix the usual pork chops in the slow cooker like I always do, but then I realized that was going completely against my point. So, I pulled out my Crock Pot cookbook (which was a little dusty), and put together Sweet and Sour Shrimp. It only had to cook for 3-4 hours on low, so I turned it on right before I left for the evening service and it was cooking away when we got home. All I had to do was add the last couple of ingredients and we were all set.
Monday: Meal made from grocery store circular
This is very possibly my favorite meal of the week. Our local store had BOGO free bags of chicken, 99 cent bags of potatoes and deeply discounted veggies. So I put them all together in a foil packet with pepperoni, cherry tomatoes and picante sauce. They cooked for 35 minutes at 375 degrees and the house smelled wonderful for two days!
Tuesday: A family event.
This one didn't go just exactly as I'd planned. We had breakfast for dinner, but Danny had work to do on the computer. Instead of putting on his own apron, he talked to me while he typed and I cooked. Still very good time together.
Wednesday: New meal you've been wanting to try.
Danny suggested this one - a Thai chicken. The peanut sauce was wonderful and served with pasta and salad all mixed together
Thursday: Revamp a usual recipe
This one was all Danny! He took my plain shrimp scampi and turned it up six or seven notches - at least half the spice rack. Then we served it over rice instead of pasta. Fabulous is the only word I can use. (For the recipe and my husband.)
Friday: Opposite Day
We eat almost every meal at home, so we chose this day for eating out. We had to go to Raleigh to get the oil changed and the car washed, so we found a great little local place to try. But when we got there, they were right between the lunch and dinner shifts. We consoled ourselves at the Cheesecake Factory instead. I'd post the pictures that I took, but then you'd be drooling on the computer screen - and that wouldn't be pretty.
Saturday: Raid the refrigerator.
After an entire week of fabulous food, we had plenty of leftovers for Saturday night. This was a lovely plan because I attended a ladies' meeting all day and cooking was the last thing on my "That's Something I'd Love To Do" list. We tore through the Thai chicken and tiny bit of shrimp leftover. We added a few other bits in the fridge and had a fabulous, full meal from the blessings of the week.
If you tried this week of getting out of your cooking rut, let me know how it went! We'll probably try it again sometime, just to pull out some new ideas and techniques.
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