The sweet smell of success...

I don't know if you remember, but I used to write a blog about being a new mom.  And now I write mostly about cooking and meal plans and food.  I hope you aren't growing tired of that.  I feel like people are generally pretty excited about my meal plans and recipes, but I just wanted to call out the elephant in the room.  This is still a blog about parenting.  I just spend most of my life as a parent feeding others.  I hope this makes sense to you because it basically makes no sense to me, but it makes me happy to cook and happier to share it with you.  Okay? Okay.

 So, anyway, a couple of times a month, I like to share my reviews of new recipes I've tried as part of our meal plan. The recipes we have been trying so far have been a wild success.  In case you've missed it, I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!

Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef - Well, to say this recipe was successful would be a major understatement.  For starters, my husband actually MISSED OUT on this dinner due to delayed/cancelled flights while he was out of town.  So, the next day he heated it up for lunch - and then proceeded to eat it for lunch for the next three days.  In fact, we all loved it.  I knew from the minute I mixed up the sauce and poured it into the crock pot that it was going to be perfect.  I served it with some boiled new potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Next time, I'll definitely consider serving it up with some mashed potatoes and using the sauce in the crock pot as as gravy.  Either way, this is a wonderfully easy and delicious meal.

Quick Lime Cilantro Chicken - I accidentally cut up the chicken too small when I did this recipe.  The only thing that affected was the way I wanted to serve it.  I felt like it was small enough to be a taco filling when you're really supposed to eat it over a bed of rice (review for the rice below).  My husband disagreed and said he wouldn't change a thing.  I wouldn't necessarily call this a "quick" recipe.  The prep took a bit of time (zesting/juicing limes, cutting chicken breasts, chopping cilantro, mincing garlic, etc.), but once it was in the pan it wasn't a big deal.  We did a sprinkle of both the chili powder and cayenne pepper along with cumin.  The flavor was awesome.  I am thinking about using this recipe for shrimp or fish to make fish tacos for Lent.  I'll let you know how that turns out!
-----

Fiesta Lime Rice - Oh, holy hell this was great.  My husband who does not like beans or tomatoes even raved about this.  TIH took one bite and said, "MMMMM."  I could eat a giant bowl of this for every meal.  The flavor reminded me of a Chipotle Burrito Bowl, minus the sour cream, cheese, meat, and guac.  So, that also means it's got all of that flavor with mostly healthy ingredients!  BEST.  We used brown rice instead of white and it was perfect.  I allowed everything to sit together for a bit before service which I think helped the flavors meld a bit.  Couldn't recommend this higher.  We had almost none leftover.

Chicken Tortilla Soup - The other day, a friend of mine texted me and asked if I could point her in the direction of a good Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.  I knew this one was on our meal plan, so I shot her the link with the caveat that we hadn't tried it yet, so I had no idea if it was going to be any good.  She let me know that it was, in fact, delicious and I excitedly looked forward to making it for our Saturday dinner all week.  My excitement must have clouded my judgment.  Because not only did I forget two key ingredients (black beans and red bell pepper...what?!), I also totally neglected to check out the cook time and pretty  much started cooking dinner about 2 hours later than I should have.  (This was also on the day when I completely forgot about a birthday party TIH was invited to until someone texted me.  Seriously.  My brain must have turned to mush from all of the snow days.)  HOWEVER, brain mush aside - this soup is actually DELICIOUS and SUPER simple to put together (as long as you don't forget key ingredients.)  You should not only cover it with every suggested garnish in the recipe, I also read in the comment section that many people suggested serving it with a squeeze of fresh lime over the top. (Definitely do that, it was great!)  Our only snafu in serving this was that the avocado I picked up had clearly frozen at some point (probably when traveling on the truck through our polar conditions.)  So, when I cut into it, it was no good.  The next time we make it, I am really interested to see what the diced avocado adds as a garnish, but it was still pretty dang fantastic without it!

Greek Stuffed Pitas - I will admit right from the start that I had my doubts about this recipe.  First...eggplant.  I like it in small doses, but I was pretty sure my boys weren't going to be into it.  Secondly...oregano.  I know it is so strange since it is such a common ingredient in so many recipes, but oregano is just not one of my favorite herbs.  Sure, I can handle it in spaghetti or pizza sauce, but I've been known to substitute (or fully omit it) in the past in other recipes.  However, this recipe was far too easy to put together to pass up.  When I opened up the oven, I was assaulted by the smell of oregano, and I thought my suspicions were coming true - I was not going to like this recipe.  I felt this way right up until I took a bite.  AND THEN MY SOCKS WERE KNOCKED OFF.  The flavor of the chicken (oregano and all) was PERFECT.  The eggplant took on the yummy flavor of all of the juices of the other veggies, chicken, and dressing and was perfect.  We served ours in whole wheat pita pockets with a little Greek vinaigrette (thanks Aldi) poured on top.  And, of course, feta.  My husband complimented the meal several times between bites, called dibs on the leftovers for his lunch the next day, and has already requested it for a future meal plan.  Simple?  Tasty?  Husband pleasing?  WIN.  (Also, vegetarian crowd - throw some tofu in there instead of chicken, or maybe some beans of sorts and you've got yourself a happy little meal.)

-----
Looks great, eh?  Anybody cook anything delicious?  I'd love to hear!

'Tis a gift to be simple...

A couple of times a month, I will be sharing new recipes I have tried as part of our meal plan.  Yet again, we have had another month full of successful new recipes (several we will be repeating on future meal plans).  I'll be posting our December meal plan soon, so check back to find out what other new yummy things we'll be trying next month as well as what old favorites we are bringing back for a second round.  Remember, I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!


Chicken Tortilla Bake - I pinned this recipe a while back because it reminded me of a dish I had at a potluck once.  I didn't know who brought it so I couldn't ask for the recipe. After trying this recipe, I'm pretty sure this was the one, but I have to say I think my tastes may have changed a bit.  Or maybe the person who brought the dish to the potluck had a secret ingredient or two they added.  Because, I didn't really like this that much.  It was a simple enough recipe to make, but it was just kind of blah to eat.  The only thing I think I may try before I abandon this all together is to use tortilla chips instead of cut up corn tortillas. This may affect bake time, but I guess it is worth a shot.  Looks like I need to go hunt down that random stranger about their tortilla bake and what made it so good.

Buffalo Pork Chops - I pinned this recipe assuming it was going to just be a "man-pleasing" meal and that my husband would love it and I would just tolerate it.  Instead?  I LOVED IT.  (He loved it too, of course.  It is meat smothered in buffalo sauce...what's not to love?)  We used Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce (our favorite) and served it alongside some Alfredo pasta and steamed asparagus.  It was perfect and better yet?  It was SUPER easy.  We will definitely be making this one again.

Crock Pot Lemon Chicken - I had initially planned on making a different recipe, but when I went back to look at my pin on my "I Made This" board, I realized we actually didn't like it the first time we had it.  Whoops.  So, instead, I went looking for a different recipe and stumbled upon this one.  I have to admit, it wasn't our favorite.  The flavor of the broth is great (as indicated in the recipe), but the potatoes come out bland (I would definitely recommend doing a bit of a seasoning rub on them as well as the chicken).  I also cooked this on high for 3 hours (though you can also do a slow and low cook with this recipe instead) and I fear it may have dried out the chicken a bit.  (I was also using a brand of chicken breasts I don't really like all that much, serves me right for trying to change things up...)  Overall, I think I was just disappointed by this recipe.  The smell of all of the seasonings and lemon and garlic when you're putting the dish together is intoxicating, but for us, the recipe just fell sort of flat.

Chipotle Grilled Steak with Lime Butter - We had to abandon a couple of our meals this month due to other engagements, and this was one of them.  Bummer because it looked great and though I'm rarely a steak eater, I was excited to give this one a try.  It is definitely going onto our December menu.  So check that out when I share it!

Cheese Bacon Beer Soup - The name alone should tell you why I pinned this recipe.  Cheese?  Good.  Bacon?  Good. Beer?  GOOD.  In fact, it looked almost too good to be true and so I was positive the recipe was going to fall flat of my expectations.  WRONG.  It was, quite simply, the perfect food.  Admittedly, with an entire stick of butter, bacon,   cheese, and half & half, this recipe falls very far from the healthy category.  And that also probably contributes to the fact that it tastes like HEAVEN.  Everyone in our family loved this.  I cut down on the cayenne pepper by a lot (recipe recommends 2 tsp., I did a little less than 1 tsp.) and served it with some freshly sliced chives on top.  Oh and bread.  Because you're gonna want to mop up all of the delicious cheesy goodness.  Such a great recipe and SO simple.  We will absolutely have this again.  Maybe not next month (given the decadence), but for sure we will be having it in the future.  WOW.

-----

Any good recipes?  I'm looking forward to December and needing some inspiration!  Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I will...I was greeted by this yesterday:

Welcome home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Need that picture of you...

A couple of times a month, I will be sharing new recipes I have tried as part of our meal plan.  Everything I'm reviewing today has the awesome theme of SIMPLICITY.  There's a pasta meal that will definitely become our "Last minute, I don't know what to cook and I don't have a whole lot of time to think about it" meal.  (Yes, even with meal planning, this still happens!)  This post also has the theme of  forgetfulness as I didn't take pictures of almost any of the meals.  Gah.  I'm sorry.  They all turned out looking relatively similar to what you see under the links...just trust me on that.  Remember, I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try, my meal plans, and all of my recipe reviews through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!

-----

Easy Lemon Chicken with Roasted Brussel Sprouts  -  I forgot to take a picture of this.  That's such a bummer because it was awesome!  The flavor was perfect and I was only halfway through my plate when I told my husband, "Don't have seconds, I'm eating this for lunch tomorrow."  My only beef with this recipe is that the pin called it "Easy Lemon Chicken."  I think we have different ideas of the word "easy."  It's not that it is difficult to make at all, but it does involve multiple steps and several dishes.  I think the pinner was probably trying to describe the simplistic (but oh so yummy) flavor profile.  I also tried a new recipe for the roasted brussels because the ones I have pinned keep getting flagged for being spam.  Whoops?  This one was great, but either I measured the salt wrong, or it calls for way too much because these were definitely a touch on the salty side.  I think you could get away with half of the salt.  We finished it with some freshly shredded parmesan which was delicious (but may have added to the overall saltiness.)  Definitely a repeatable dish.

Mexican Casserole - I also forgot to take a picture of the finished product for this recipe.  Dang it. I loved this so much I ate it for lunch the next day!  We served it with my famous guacamole.  Despite this being a Weight Watchers recipe (which I can sometimes be laden with substitutes that decrease calories, but increase other things that aren't good for you) - it's a relatively clean recipe.  (Relative to other Weight Watchers recipes, I should say.)  I think one change I will make next time is actually to add a little bit more of the chopped jalapenos.  I expected the dish to be a bit spicier and I think just a touch more of a kick would be great.

Pesto Cavatappi with Chicken - If you are looking for an easy, tasty, and cheap weeknight meal for your family, look no further.  The level of skill required this recipe is probably less than what I had as a college student.  Cavatappi is one of my favorite pasta shapes and pesto is one of my favorite sauces, so I knew I was going to love this, but I had no idea it was going to be so flipping easy!  Instead of using a rotisserie chicken (as recommended on the blog), we just made up a little bit more of the same marinade used for the roasted tomatoes and basted some chicken with it on the grill.  It was a snowy day here in Chicago when my husband was out there on the grill, so now I know he really loves me ;)  I also packed this for my lunch the following day and it was delicious heated up as well.

Taco Stuffed Shells - (UGH. I just suck visually as far as this post goes.  No picture of this one either.  Shoot.)  We had a few bumps as we were trying to make this.  First, in a (very helpful) effort to defrost the beef in the microwave (it hadn't totally thawed in the fridge), my husband accidentally cooked the beef a bit (I guess it as more thawed than he expected.)  So, by the time it was browned, it got a little dried out.  The texture of the filling was therefore a bit dry and off putting to me.  Fortunately, some magic occurred in the oven and once it baked for 30 minutes, it was on the road to delicious.  The second bump was that I forgot to pick up taco sauce and I'm not sure I even saw it as part of the recipe.  So instead, I just used salsa on top.  Which might have been better.  I don't know.  I love me some salsa.  The entire meal was a home run for our family. (Though I'm still on the fence about stuffed pastas in general...it might be my only weird food thing.  Eh. Whatever.)

-----

Anyone have any great recipes to share with me?  I'm already thinking about the meal plan for December.  Do tell!

Today is the greatest day I've never known...

(See what I did there?  It's Halloween AND I'm reviewing a recipe for Pumpkin & Butternut Squash soup, so I made the title a Smashing Pumpkins song.  Get it?!  And, scene.  Moving on.)

A couple of times a month, I will be sharing new recipes I have tried as part of our meal plan.  Yet again, we have had another month full of successful new recipes (several we will be repeating on future meal plans).  I'll be posting our November meal plan on Monday, so check back to find out what other new yummy things we'll be trying next month as well as what old favorites we are bringing back for a second round.  (Spoiler alert: Spicy Sausage Pasta.) Remember, I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!

-----

A picture of my mise en place for the soup.
Because I forgot to take a picture of the final product.  Whoops.

Pumpkin & Butternut Squash Soup - My first piece of advice for anyone hoping to make this recipe is for you to  make sure you have a big stock pot.  I have one, but I didn't think I would need it. I was wrong.  The second piece of advice is to invite guests.  In other words?  This makes a whole lot of food.  However - it's also DELICIOUS.  It's just the right amount of savory and rich and it literally tastes like fall in a bowl.  A chef friend of mine told me that the proper consistency is less like baby food, more like heavy cream.  I don't own an immersion blender, so I had to rely on the power of my food processor.  The result was definitely more like baby food than cream, but we were kind of okay with that.  Definitely worth a repeat sometime this fall...

Parmesan Panko Italian Chicken - Sorry there's no link there, but this was actually a recipe on the back of a box of Progresso Italian Style Panko.  And...WOW.  So easy.  So cheap.  And SO delicious.  I served it with a salad and some roasted carrots on the side.  We marveled at how delicious this was.  I feel this panko could also easily be substituted for Italian bread crumbs in my Chicken Parimigiana recipe.  Pick up a box of this stuff immediately.  You will NOT be disappointed to have this recipe in your arsenal of easy weeknight meals.

Moist Lemon Chicken with Herbs - GAH.  I forgot about Book Club.  (We're discussing Divergent so I'm not even sorry.)  But, it looks like this month we're going to have to push this one off.

Spicy Thai Noodles - My sister-in-law suggested this recipe to us and it looked amazing.  I was a little intimidated by the spice, but knew my husband would probably love it.  It turned out great (and I was right, my husband LOVED it.)  As suggested by the blogger sharing the recipe, I cut the red pepper flakes down to a little less than 1 tbsp.  This gave it just the right amount of kick.  The only thing I did different (read: wrong) was that these noodles were actually meant to be served cold (YUM), but I served them warm.  If you've never had spicy cold noodles before, you are missing out.  Definitely try it that way.  We will for sure make this again and serve them cold.

Mongolian Beef - We served this alongside the Spicy Thai Noodles.  I absolutely loved the flavor in this recipe.  I'm actually not a big ginger fan myself, so I wonder what it would be like if I used less (or left it out all together), but my husband loves it and loved it in this recipe.  Making both this and the noodles was a little labor intensive, but it was definitely a change from our usual repertoire and totally tasty.  Maybe next time I'll just do each recipe on separate nights.

-----

So, there you have it! Anyone try anything delicious this month that I should definitely have on my menu for November?  Let me know!  It's not too late!  Happy Halloween, everyone :)

Waiting for the dinner bell to do the bell thing...

I am so sorry I have sucked so badly as a blogger this week!  I hope to be back to posting at least a few times a week next week.  I have lots of posts planned, just no time to get them ready to go!  Gah.  Anyway, a couple of times a month I will be sharing new recipes I have tried as part of our meal plan. Remember, I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!

----

Smashed Potatoes - This poor meal is just never going to get made!  I realized after I planned it, that my husband and I already had plans to have a date night.  We ate at this amazing local Italian place and had a wonderful time, but sadly did not make the meal plan for October 5.  It was leftover from last month's meal plan.  Oh well.  There were a few questionable days on my original meal plan, so I might get to this later in the month.  Otherwise, maybe November will be the lucky month?  Sorry for the lack of recipe review.  I'm trying to get myself together.

Orzo Salad with Rotisserie Chicken - I could eat stuff like this all of the time.  However, my husband is almost always on the fence about it.  Fortunately for me, he LOVED this recipe.  As in, I had taken only a few bites of mine and he was heading for seconds.  This dish is awesome!  We added rotisserie chicken which was something the person I pinned it from suggested, but this could easily be a side dish sans meat or even as a stand alone vegetarian dish.  (Grilled chicken or shrimp might be delicious as well.)  The recipe even gives ideas for making it vegan by omitting the feta, and I could see that being delicious as well.  For something so simple, we were very pleased.  I also ate it for lunch the next day and was surprised by how well it held up!  YUMMY.  Will definitely have some repeat performances in the NMOTB house!

Chicken Crescent Roll Casserole - Initially, we were going to do a different recipe (one that we've already tried), but at the last minute I decided to try something new.  I forgot to take a picture, but trust me when I say it turned out looking a lot like the ones on the website.  I don't cook this sort of thing for my family very often, but sometimes you just need some comfort food and this is definitely it.  If you're not into the processed thing, this definitely isn't for you, otherwise, this is quite a delicious little meal.  It's a little on the labor intensive side as far as rolling the crescents and such, but everything came together nicely.  We served this with some broccoli.  Mashed potatoes would have been awesome on the side as well, but I didn't get that far.

Parmesan Garlic Quinoa - There are two or three pins on my blog that get more repins than anything else.  This recipe is one of them.  I finally decided to try it as a side dish for some tilapia we had this week.  To be honest...I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.  Part of it might be because I totally read something in the directions wrong and cooked the onions and quinoa separately.  Whoops.  If I made it again, I would not screw up the recipe and also would definitely cut the basil in half (totally overwhelmed every other flavor).  I also cut the red pepper flakes by a lot.  For our family (including my spice loving husband) even half a teaspoon is too much red pepper.  Then again, I'm not totally sure I would make this again.  It's not bad.  It's just not for me.  Has anyone else tried it?  Was it as amazing as the pins make it seem?

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce - On the fly, I decided to add shrimp to this even though we usually do one meatless meal a week.  (I usually don't count fish as meat anyway, but I'm Catholic, so that's kind of our thing.)  For the shrimp, I marinated it in fresh lemon juice, garlic, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper while I got the pasta started and then sauteed it in about a tablespoon of olive oil before adding it  once the pasta was finished.  It paired nicely with the pasta.  Which is good.  Because this pasta is OUT OF THIS WORLD.  I avoid using heavy cream in our recipes.  Especially during the week when we opt for lighter fare (usually).  However, how glad am I that I ignored that rule for this recipe?  It is SO simple and just DELICIOUS.  I can't believe so much flavor came from such a simple (and EASY) recipe.  The fresh basil on top?  Perfection.  I will absolutely be repeating this recipe (and truth be told, it doesn't need a protein of any kind - it's great on its own).  I'm eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, so I can't report on how they heat up, but it's pasta so you know it's going to be AWESOME.  This recipe made enough for the three of us to have big portions and still enough for leftovers for all of us for tomorrow.  You could probably cut it in half to feed less people. YUM-O.

 -----

I'll be back next week on the blog hopefully sharing some original recipes of mine and maybe writing a post that has nothing to do with food (GASP.)  In the meantime, maybe you all could cook up some good questions for Advice For Other New Moms.  Even if it's a question you already know the answer to - I could use some inspiration up in here.   Have a good weekend my friends!

Oops, I did it again...

A couple of times a month I will be sharing my reviews of the new recipes we have been trying as part of our meal plan.  In an unprecedented event in the history of meal plans, ALL of these recipes were not only successfully executed - they also all tasted great!  Lots of winners to share with you.  I'll be back doing the same with a few more recipes at the end of the month, so keep checking back!  I also repin the pins for all of the recipes I try through Pinterest on my board "I Made This" so make sure you are following!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - I have been searching for a good broccoli cheddar recipe that didn't use fake cheese or a Cream of Whatever soup as a base.  It's actually really hard.  Especially if you search specifically for a Bread Co. copycat recipe which appear to always feature a lot of processed ingredients (and something tells me Bread Co. isn't using Velveeta...maybe I'm wrong.)  So, when I saw this recipe, I vowed to make it immediately.  It looked super easy and super yummy.  I was right!  The only change I made to recipe was that I didn't notice that it called for whole milk, so instead I just used the 1% we had at home.  Didn't really seem to affect the recipe much, I probably just had to simmer it a little bit longer before it thickened.  I knew that we weren't really the puree types (plus, though I love to use it, I despite cleaning out my food processor) so I just mashed up the broccoli a bit after the soup was done and the broccoli was all soft and delicious.  Definitely a winner.  I think it was maybe just a bit bland, so perhaps next time I'll add a bit of garlic or even a little bit more onion.  I was also impressed by how quickly it all came together.  The perfect weeknight meal!  Who knew?

Cilantro Lime Pasta Salad with Chicken - Oh.  My. WOW.  My cousin posted this recipe saying she had fed it to her family and that they really enjoyed it.  As an afterthought, I went and pinned it thinking it would make a nice summer recipe and then promptly forgot about it.  BIG MISTAKE.  If I would have known, we would have eaten this every.single.night.  WOW.  Besides having a lot prep work (my mise en place took FOREVER), it is quite possibly the best recipe ever.  We made only two changes to fit our tastes: subbed another avocado for the mango (not big on mixing the sweet and the savory) and we added a bit more seasoning to the chicken (it only calls for salt and pepper).  My husband grilled it up outside (while I was busy cutting up ALL THE THINGS).  Everything about this recipe made us so happy.  I had two huge servings and I'm not even sorry.  (It's actually pretty low on calories and packs a TON yummy nutrients, so WIN WIN.  I should have had THREE servings.)  I also feel this recipe could be amazingly adaptable.  Throw in more veggies or different ones than you see here.  Omit the meat if you're so inclined.  I was a bit concerned about the spicy factor with both cayenne pepper and jalapeno, but it actually was the perfect level of heat, but you could probably let go of one or the other to take out a little more spicy just in case.  (I would leave one otherwise I could see this going from amazing to bland in about 30 seconds.)

Baked Artichoke Chicken - This was a surprisingly easy meal to put together and make for as sophisticated as it looks (and tastes!)  We're still trying to figure out our oven in this house so sometimes our cook times are a little longer than we expect.  This chicken took longer in the oven than stated on the recipe at 350 (and then boosted to 375 when I realized halfway through that it was still pretty much raw.)  I also used boneless/skinless chicken thighs for mine and I would really like to try it sometime with a whole chicken (I just get a little skeeved when cleaning them, so it isn't worth the battle on a week night.)  I wouldn't say it is something I will necessarily be jonesing for again any time soon, but it was definitely a success.  I found the flavor profile to be really interesting and we both really enjoyed the briny-ness of the artichoke paired with the richness of the chicken.  I omitted the tarragon simply because I had none, but I'm not sure I'd even know it if it was in there.  We served this with cous cous and steamed asparagus.

Pizza Soup - Sigh.  As predicted this was hugely popular with my husband although for me it was just okay.  I mean, I actually spent most of my life only tolerating pizza to begin with, so I don't know why I thought I would like it in soup form.  Oh well...  I did all of my chopping for my vegetables and browned the sausage the night before we were serving it and stored it all in the refrigerator so that I could just throw it together in the morning.  That will help you a lot since this really is a meal that can be thrown in the crock pot in the morning and will be ready when you get home. (I just want to HUG the people who come up with recipes like that.)  We also added one bay leaf to the crock pot, it is our favorite ingredient when making any sort of red sauce.  It makes an otherwise boring sauce have SUCH an interesting flavor profile.  Definitely check that out.  I would also recommend that if you are using pork sausage that you skim the grease off the top of the soup before serving it.  Oh, and tempting as it may be - take it easy on the mozzarella.  Though it adds to the overall pizza-ness of the dish, it gets all clumped up and doesn't really work the way it is supposed to if you get too much.  (Learned that the hard way.)  A little sprinkle is enough.

Cacio e pepe - I've been looking for awhile for a nice, simple, AUTHENTIC cacio e pepe recipe.  For those who do not speak Italian (myself included), "cacio e pepe" means "cheese and pepper" which is all this side dish really consists of: spaghetti noodles (we used whole wheat), freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and freshly ground pepper (and maybe a tiny bit of salt.)  That's.  It.  Unfortunately, you'll find lots of recipes for it that involve more than these simple ingredients and they're RUINING IT.  What makes cacio e pepe so great is that it is so so so simple.  This is the perfect recipe for that.  Creating the correct cacio e pepe recipe is an art (one that I have far from mastered), but if you follow the link above, they give a lot of great tips for how to make a nice creamy sauce.  The recipe (which gives its measurements in metric - how's THAT for authentic) calls for about 14 ounces of spaghetti and 8 ounces of cheese (thank you conversion calculator.)  I just cut it in half to feed my family of 3 (and my husband had seconds and we still had plenty of leftovers.)

Grilled Street Corn Salad with Cilantro Butter Shrimp - Oops.  So, here's the thing (and the inspiration for the title of this post.)  When I wrote about making meal plans, I mentioned that flexibility was at the utmost importance.  Evidently, being realistic is of equal importance.  Because when I looked at my meal plan for the week of September 8-14, I was like "Who does this chick think she is?"  We had a lot of complicated meal planned for one week PLUS some of them (such as this one which features FOUR different components) was planned for a weeknight and I just don't see that happening.  (I tend to do this sometimes.  I have so many yummy recipes I want to try that I overextend myself without really realizing it until it is too late.)  Instead, I made this recipe for Shrimp and Guacamole Tostadas that we have had a million times and LOVE.  They were delicious (as always.)

-----

Did anyone try any new recipes this month?  Let me know how they turned out.  I am ALWAYS looking for new things to try - look at how well it has been going for us!