New Cookbook

Jeff and I have been in a dinner rut. We basically eat the same 5-7 meals repeatedly... and we both confessed over the holidays how over them we really are! So I headed to the bookstore in search of a new cookbook. Yes, I saw Julie & Julia recently and was mildly inspired by it ;)

Anyway, I found this cookbook and thought it looked perfect...

I love the way it is organized... 3 meals for every week of the year. She has a lot of tricks for morphing your leftovers into completely different meals to make the most out of the ingredients you buy. It really seemed like a helpful solution to get quick, healthy dinners on the table during the week.

So, you know me when I jump on a band wagon... I couldn't wait to devote Sunday to reading the first chapter that outlined my game plan for this week. I organized my grocery list. I was down right giddy with excitement, sure that this would be completely life changing... Already envisioning barbeque week in July and holiday week in November.

My little bubble began to burst in aisle 3 of Jewel when I was searching for cellophane noodles and plum preserves. For the record I left with variations of both.

I tried not to be discouraged... this was supposed to be a fun adventure, no pressure. I heard Megan's voice in my head telling me not to be so hard on myself. So when I came home yesterday with a back to work hangover, I set out to make "Plum Blackberry Marinated Chicken with Balsamic Roasted Carrots and Baked Potatoes with Chipotle Butter".

Here is how it turned out...

I was underwhelmed to say the least. The best part was the chipotle butter for the potato, we'll probably make that again. Unfortunately the chicken was also cooked for tonights meal "Nutty Asian Chicken over Cellophane Rice Noodles"

I was excited for this because it sounded alot like Pad Thai, one of my favorite dishes. It was more like Pad Thai's ugly step sister that no one likes to talk about. My peanut butter sauce looked delicious until I added the leftover blackberry chicken and it turned charcoal gray. Noodles in gray sauce is an appetite suppressant... maybe I will lose some l-b's this year after all!

Jeff was either really hungry or just too darn nice... he gobbled it up and even had seconds. He kept saying, "it actually tastes alright." It just looked awful!

Tomorrow, I'm using our leftover potatoes to make baked potato soup. I hope it's tastier!