So Joe…

Not sure where I got this recipe, it’s been laying around for a while, wasn’t even sure I had tried it before. I bought a ‘meat loaf’ pack (includes beef and pork) and added a bit more ground round to get 2 lbs of meat, and used ‘Better n Eggs’ instead of a real egg. The mix is very sticky, and after cooking the loaf is very moist. I love mine on a bun with ketchup and yellow mustard, but it was great even on a plate on its own (I ate the ends of the loaf this way). Being as moist as it is, you’ll want a spatula to get the slices out of the dish in one piece. Delicious!

When I was a kid I remember having Zucchini Casserole. I haven’t found that recipe, but I saw this one on AllRecipe.com that has Zucchini, and sounded good. They specified it as a side dish for a Mexican meal. I was looking more for a main dish, so I added chicken to it. It turned out great, so good I ate it all in two meals (not doing so good controlling my portions these days!). When I make it again, I’m going to change it a bit. I’ll reduce the Zucchini and cheese to 1 lb each. I’ll cook the vegetables a little less, so they are a little firmer. Then, after mixing in the first half of the cheese, I’d put everything into a casserole dish, put the rest of the cheese on top, and bake for a bit (I’m guessing 20 minutes at 350 degrees). This will make it a bit more like a casserole, and a little firmer than I had this time.

I’ve never had Artichokes before, so when I saw this recipe in an e-mail from Better Homes and Gardens, I thought “Hey, I should try that!”. I got all the ingredients, accept the baby artichokes, which I couldn’t find. I decided to try regular artichokes instead, which I boiled to make more tender, but unfortunately most of it was too tough. If you can’t find baby artichokes, use artichoke hearts instead, which can be found in the canned food section. Other than the artichokes being to tough, the rest of the recipe was good, very good flavor. The inner parts of the artichoke that were tender didn’t have a whole lot of flavor, so I guess I can say I don’t dislike artichokes, but so far I’m not amazed by them either. The original recipe called for this to be served over a slice of toasted Italian country loaf bread, I went without the bread.

This is my favorite meal from my childhood, and I still love it today. It’s quick to make, uses inexpensive ingredients, and tastes great. Their’s a funny story behind this one. When I was in college, cooking on my own for the first time, I tried to figure out the recipe on my own. Most of the ingredients are simple, but I wasn’t sure about the tomato part. The first time I made it with tomato paste (I told you, it was the first time I cooked on my own!), and that didn’t turn out so good. I stepped down to tomato sauce the next time, still not right. I finally asked my grandmother, whom the recipe came from, and found out it was tomato SOUP. So now I know…

This recipe is from a ‘McCormick Slow Cookers’ seasoning package. It’s pretty much as listed there, with the addition of putting it over Linguine. I’ve had this one many times, and the tomato flavor is so good I keep thinking I could just use the sauce over pasta alone. Combine the great flavor with chicken that’s falling off the bone from a day in the slow cooker, and you’ll need extra portions on this one (they suggest 8 servings on the package, I’ve calculated calories based on 4, I generally eat it all in two servings)!

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. I was curious to try couscous, and this one looked interesting. The original recipe included 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, but I’m not much for cilantro so I eliminated it. I’d have to say my first experience with couscous was very good! The dried tomatoes are like little flavor bombs, I’m definitely going to have to make some of my own this summer. I had two servings of this with some grilled chicken breast, a very good meal.

I found this recipe on the back of a bag of potatoes and tweaked it to my liking. I adjusted the recipe to provide 2 servings (original was for 4), but increased the amount of potato and cheese used for each serving. The marinate provides a great lemony flavor, and you can’t go wrong with cheese on salmon!

I found this recipe on the side of a Salmon can and tweaked it to my liking. Lots of protein, not much fat, and tastes great!