New Food April 2012

I do realize that it is a full week into April. I have an excuse for not blogging though, it's been a busy week. We started off NFA '12 with a bang. And by bang, I mean I waited too long to start cooking what I had scheduled and had to switch up the whole calendar to make something different. And by switch up the whole calendar, I mean trade Sunday and Monday's meals. I'm sleepy and feeling pretty dramatic.

So we started off with Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken.

I liked it. The boys were ambivalent. They ate it, but it wasn't a hit. I didn't know that you could make a batter with cornstarch and eggs, so that was a bonus. My feelings about this recipe are mixed. I feel like a recipe that's supposed to be "easy baked chicken" shouldn't require a quick pan fry too. I mean, I picked it because I thought it was a one step kinda thing... But, besides that, I thought it was really good. I REALLY liked the sweet and sour sauce. It was easy to throw together and I assume that if you threw it in a pan and reduced it down, it'd make a great dipping sauce. I didn't make the fried rice from the blog, because I already make a mean fried rice. We had jasmine rice and some sautéed veggies to go along with the chicken.

All in all, I'd say this is a tentative keeper. Maybe not a "go-to", but not a toss out either. Anyhoo, next up is meat loaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting! Yummy!

Keen-whaaaat???

Why, THANK you! It IS a witty title! Quinoa. I felt a little bad starting off New Food April with a vegetarian dish. In this house, we are most certainly carnivores. But it looked so good. "IT" was Black Beans and Quinoa, which is NOT a witty title. But I didn't name this dish. If I had, it would be called something like, "Super Versatile Bowl of Deliciousness", or, "Smoky Happy Time". Upon further consideration, "Black Beans and Quinoa" will do.

I got this recipe from my cousins' blog. You'd like her. She is in fact witty. And also very interesting. I'm not just saying that because I know she's gonna read this. She got it from this website. I only just today went onto the site, past the link to the recipe. I think I will like it. Just sayin'.

Anyway, this dish is UH-MAY-ZING! I loved it! Yes, I am on a bit of a quinoa bender, but it really really is wonderful! All the flavors just made me really happy. (It's 11pm and my descriptive ability is wholly depleted. My apologies.)

As far as the "Who Will Eat This In My House" list goes, here's the tally.

Me: Heck yes I will!

Josh: (and I quote) "I am 100% neutral about this food. I will not ask you to make it again, but if you did, I would eat it." (really, that's exactly what he said. He's so cute!)

Jackson: ate it only after he was bribed with a doughnut. No joke. Side note: he lost the doughnut shortly after finishing his dinner for some infraction. Poor Guy.

Noah: ahhhh, little Mini Me... I love this kid! I understand him in a way that his father never will. It's like seeing what I would have been like if I was a boy... Noah will eat almost anything. It's so cute to hear him say in his little lispy voice, "Mmmm, I yuv keen wah!" Yay Noah!

So there you have it. 3 out of 5 Davises will eat this happily.

Because I love my family, I made this dish with chicken broth instead of vegetable. Actually, I just didn't want to buy veggie broth for only one thing, but love is a much better reason, I think. So, it wasn't vegan. Also, I put cheese and bacon in our salad. And that really was 'cause I love my family.

My next post will be Blackened Chicken. May not be new to you, but it's new to us!