December 30, 2011

The last post of the year, and what a year it has been! Hard to think that way back in April I began this blog and have since found so many great recipes to share. My family has tried out many more recipes than have made it here as "keepers", and they have been great sports about the whole process. Hannah and Liam are my primary kitchen helpers, and Ryan and Owen will try just about anything.

I guessed it would be kind of a light week of new recipes, and I was right. In addition to what I shared here we tried out another dinner recipe which was good (a braised beef stew I served with mashed potatoes), but needs a little tweaking. It called for sun dried tomatoes (which you know I LOVE), but they seemed a bit out of place. I think mushrooms would do better in the recipe, so I will try that in the future. We did make the candy cane shaped bread that my mom used to make for Christmas when I was growing up, and for my first attempt it wasn't too shabby. The flavor was great (I tasted like I remembered it), but making one big loaf was a bit much; I should have made two loaves out of it. Now I know for next time. It was fun to make something for my kids that was from my childhood, and they loved it (bonus!). I would have loved to use raspberry filling, but I couldn't find any, and I didn't have time to make any myself.

The other new recipe that was voted a keeper is definitely a family friendly option. The dish came together very quickly, used only one pot (fantastic!), and went over well with everyone at the table. My husband even took the leftovers to work for lunch, much to the chagrin of my big kids who were hoping to have it for lunch themselves the next day; I guess that proves it was a winner! This is not a fancy meal, not one you'd want to serve to someone you were hoping to impress, but if you are looking for an easy weeknight meal that keeps the dishes to a minimum and will put a smile on everyone's face, than One Pot Chili Pasta might be just right!

If you can believe it next week's entry will be January 6, 2012. Happy New Year to all, and as I love to say around this time, see you next year!

New Recipes
Candy Cane Shaped Bread
One Pot Chili Pasta