The Great Dinner Retrospective - Part 2

Here we are with another round of delicious meals we've made over the last year of our cooking adventures. If you missed the last dinner retrospective, you can check it out here.

This week we'll start off with a quick, but still amazing, meal. Every now and again I get the urge to make sushi at home, but Megan isn't a fish fan, so she usually puts together a simple stir fry for the less nautically inclined guests. This is a quick and easy way to put together a big meal, using chicken, frozen veggies, and beef ramen noodles.


The cold winter months are coming back again, so here's something fun we like to do when it gets chilly and you need something warm and comforting. We've made several different kinds of biscotti to dunk in coffee, but on this occasion we went with fruit scones instead. They make a perfect match for a nice steaming mug of joe with some french vanilla, caramel, or cinnamon creamer.


One of the meals we've had the most over the last few months is bacon wrapped chicken breasts, which are glazed with a variety of different mustards and other ingredients. Here's the chicken in the first stage of bacon wrapped goodness.


And here they are coming straight out of the oven and wafting out a truly heavenly scent.


We've made this dish in a lot of different ways and with several different types of sides. This time we went with stuffing and green beans.


Here it is again, but this time with with a mammoth baked potato and a side of hot vegetables. We also melted cheese on top during the last few minutes of the baking for this edition of a wonderful and easy meal.


We're always looking for ways to take advantage of sales or make our weekly shopping a little more cost efficient. We were craving enchiladas one week, but weren't looking forward to buying all the ingredients or taking the time to assemble them. As a fun new twist on this Mexican classic, we took frozen burritos and doused them in enchilada sauce, cheese, and olives, and then baked them. Way easier than making the enchiladas by hand, but still tasty and super cheap. Don't worry Mexican fans, we still make plenty of big production Mexican meals, this was just a little diversion.


Here's a quick breakfast we put together when oatmeal pancake mix and yogurt were both on sale one week. Using yogurt and sliced strawberries makes it not only healthier, but even more delicious than using syrup. Here I've used a strawberry yogurt, but it's also good with flavors like cinnamon bun and Boston cream pie.


To finish off this week's dinner retrospective, here's an amazing Caesar salad we recently had. Normally we'd make our own Caesar dressing, but for this meal we found a great deal at Albertson's where a bag of Romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing, Parmesan, and croutons was on sale for half the normal price. To make it a full meal, Megan broiled a chicken breast with a variety of seasonings and then shredded it up into thin strips.


See you next week for another round of meals we've enjoyed!

The Great Dinner Retrospective - Part 1

Hey there food fanatics! We've been on a massive "not spending" spree lately, which unfortunately means we haven't been making anything in the grand old "man vs. food" tradition. That doesn't mean we haven't been making delicious meals, though! While we are in between massive food projects, and while we wait for our chicken taco videos to be finished, I'll be putting up several new posts in the "Great Dinner Retrospective" series. This series will chronicle the many amazing meals we've had over the past year, as well as a few special occasions with more restaurant style meals.

Let's start off with something truly mouth watering - tomato raviolis stuffed with cheese and lobster. These little gems were waiting for me at Sam's Club one day and I couldn't resist trying them. A pasta that spectacular deserves something special to go on top, so I sauteed all the best veggies I could find the fridge, including red onion and green pepper. I wanted to give it a little more of a twist, so they were sauteed with cut up bacon bits, using the bacon fat as the grease. For another interesting change, I seasoned it all with lemon pepper, which gave it more of a seafood feel. Once it was all cooked, the ravioli was topped with sun dried tomato alfredo, the veggie and bacon mixture, and a handful of grated Parmesan.


This next one is a neat breakfast Megan puts together every now and again when spinach is on sale. The idea is to take the standard omelet but make it a little more healthy, so it uses spinach and cottage cheese instead of cheddar or meat. We sprinkle a little Parmesan on this one as well before flipping it closed and finish off with a side of wheat toast.


For awhile we made an effort to try out some of the more lean meats, like ground turkey. This one is a non-traditional take on the standard burger, mixing in adobo sauce, chillis, onion, and cilantro. You can find small cans of chillis in adobo sauce at just about any market, and the amount you put in determines how much kick the burger gets. We've had these several times now, trying out different levels of heat each time. You definitely can make this one a real spicy motha if you put your mind to it. To offset the scorching adobo sauce, I like to use different condiments like Caesar mustard or a sweet and spicy mustard with mayo.


Up next is a meal we had last week that rolls chicken up with stuffing, instead of cutting open chicken breasts and stuffing the inside. We pound out the chicken flat with a meat mallet for more rolling room, and then season each side with whatever spice strikes your fancy. This is another one that happens when spinach is on sale, and usually the same week as the omelets to ensure we use up all those wonderful greens. The chicken is stuffed with cottage cheese, mozzarella (or monteray jack or pepper jack or whatever fits the bill!), and chopped spinach.


Then it's all baked and served with some delicious sides. In this case we went with a Parmesan risotto and fresh, locally grown green beans.


Hey, that's not food! I couldn't help but sneak in a little picture here of last year's stocking wall. We take that particular holiday very seriously, and ensure we have plenty of delicious items waiting in our stockings for the real present opening!


In keeping with the holiday theme, here's a picture of Jacob and Jayne trying out a cheese fondue we made for New Years. This was seriously among the most delicious things I've ever had, consisting of six different types of cheeses and a white wine. You can also barely make out me in the background with Matt playing Modern Warfare 2.


Here was our full New Years setup, complete with all the different breads and veggies we were using to dip into the fondue.


That's it for the first Dinner Retrospective! We'll be back next week with more adventures in cooking we've experienced over the past year, and hopefully you see something that sets you on your own amazing food journey.