It’s the last Friday of the month. You know what that means. Let’s get to it.
The Home Chef Meals
Wood-Fired BBQ Chicken Pizza
with cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and rach drizzle
Okay, California. This is not pizza.
Is it delicious? Yes. It is chicken and barbecue sauce on a nice flatbread.
Pizza is in the crust. Flatbread isn’t pizza crust. It’s flatbread. You know they aren’t the same thing because they have different names.
I’m not complaining. The meal was awesome and easy to make. Flatbread is much easier than pizza crust.
I’m keeping this one handy. I could toss it together pretty quickly if the need for a salad disguised as pizza arose.
I’m sure you could think of a few scenarios.
Also, there was no fire involved in the cooking on my end. So, I guess the name is misleading all around.
Fennel Pork Meatballs
with polenta, marinara, and cheesy ciabatta
I don’t think I’m a fan of polenta. Maybe I cooked it wrong.
The pork meatballs were good, though. I think if I was going to try this recipe again, I would use a different pasta. Or, something crazy. Like quinoa.
Sirloin Steak Pad Thai
with peanuts, lime, and cilantro
This was so damn good. This is the best way to eat a steak.
Acapulco Steak Tacos
with pico de gallo and cotija cheese
I love tacos. One might even say, I’m a taco viking. This is in my top five tacos of all time.
Sicilian Herbed Chicken
with green beans and tomatoes pizzaiola
This was a decent way to cook chicken. I really enjoyed this. A nice change from my usual fried feasts of fowl. Also, I am now ready to refer to anything not pizza but covered in pizza stuff as pizzaiola.
So, I guess that means the flatbread above is actually flatbread pizzaiola.
Roasted Garlic-Crusted Chicken
with beet, apple, and fennel salad
This was great. Especially the salad. I have only one complaint:
The beet-blood will never wash out, man… You can’t get the guilt off your soul.
Mushroom Parmesan Penne Pasta
with basil, tomatoes, and toasted baguette
I’m never going to give up eating meat. It goes against my minor life ambition of defeating the evil chicken empire by consuming their entire military.
But, if I were forced to only eat veggies…
This would be a meal on regular rotation.
Pan-Seared Chicken Scaloppine
with capellini and shallot-mushroom cream
I grew up on my Parmesan cheese in its natural form. Powdered in a cardboard tube. It is weird to eat it all flaked and chipped.
The pasta was good. The chicken was chicken. The mushroom cream sauce was also very tasty.
Turkey Chili
with kidney beans, sour cream, and cheddar cheese
Chili is a hearty dish. It sticks to your ribs in a good way. Also, I’ve just generally started using ground turkey in all places a person might choose beef. This is a win-win.
This is a thick and tasty meal. I will be making it again in the future. Probably on a chilly (heh) autumn afternoon.
Adobo Chicken Enchiladas
with corn, jalepeno pepper, and sour cream
I’ve begun working on an exhaustive infographic to explain all the different foods made with a tortilla. Until it is complete, I will continue to count anything made with a tortilla as a taco for the purposes of Taco Tuesday.
Enchiladas take a significant amount of work. But they are easy to clean up after. They are like the lasagna of Mexican food.
I hope I didn’t just offend two cultures with one bad joke. C’est la vie. (Does that make three?)
Quick Turkey Meatloaf
with mashed potatoes and broccoli
Meatloaf. Broccoli. Mashed potatoes.
This is a meal befitting a Midwesterner.
Now, I have a gripe about my mashed potatoes. Well, not the potatoes, the potato mashing method.
This recipe called for cooking them in the oven, but they didn’t really get tender enough. Also, I need to invest in a better masher. My potato-masher is plastic and the type with a disk with holes. I need to upgrade to a zig-zag metal masher.
Veggie Sloppy Joes
with sweet potato rounds
I think one of my problems with vegetarian meals is the idea of trying to replace meat. Vegetables are good, but they aren’t meat and they shouldn’t ever pretend to be.
I’m not actually a super-fan of Sloppy Joes. It doesn’t feel like a meal you should be fancying up.
I’m not saying it wasn’t good. Just not my cup of tea.
My Own Creations
I’ve done some experimenting. Some turned out better than others.
Homemade Mexican Pizza
Once again, Mexican pizza is not pizza.
But, I still love it. I used to eat it at Taco Bell all the time. I always wondered why they didn’t offer a chicken version.
So, I made one.
It turned out pretty good. I enjoyed it. But, it wasn’t the same experience as Taco Bell.
I’ll have to keep trying.
Homemade Turkey Lasagna
I have mastered the art of making a delicious lasagna. Now, I must master the art of making a lasagna I can serve without it falling apart.
I’m calling this lasagna a near win. Eating it made my belly sing a song of joy. But, It also turned into a pile of goop the moment I scooped it from the pan.
I will strive to perfect this craft.
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
I bought some ground chicken specifically to make chicken nuggets. I also bought a potato just to make these fries.
I think I should have put them both in the oven instead of trying to fry them. This picture is hiding the burned nuggets. Well, more like popcorn chicken, really.
Next time, I’ll use a cookie cutter to turn the nuggets into nuggets and try freezing them before I bread them. They should come out more like what I was wanting. I still have a half-pound of ground chicken.
Also, my fries were all greasy and overly salted.