Cooking Rut

I have an ailment that plaques many mothers.

I'd say it's akin to the common cold.

It's the "what's for dinner" problem. The problem where you feel like you're rotating the same meals every 2 or so weeks to your family.

Am I alone?

Perhaps I've aggrandized my problem to make myself feel better.

Whatever it may be, one of my lofty goals for 2012 was to try one spakin' new recipe every 2 weeks.

"That's not very much," you say?

Well, in a house where I only end up cooking about 3 times a week, that is a lot. The rest of the days are filled with mac and cheese, pancakes and fish sticks (for those nights Daddy doesn't make it home) and then the leftovers ... since I have another malady that makes me cook for a family of 7, instead of the family of 4 that I have.

At any rate, these can't just be new twists on recipes that I have cooked before.

I decided that they needed to be BRAND-new. Things I had never made -- in any form.

A new recipe for bread doesn't count, since I make bread every other day.

Even a quest for the perfect cinnamon roll would not count.

No. These need to be things I have never tried.

This month: Chicken Paprikash


Don't judge based on the picture, presentation is not my forte.

and Chicken Taquitos.

photo from ourbestbites.com (their presentation was better than mine!)

I'll start with the Paprikash since that was the boldest adventure.

I got this recipe from one of my back issues of Cook's Country (The Test Kitchen Cookbook's magazine). Someone already typed the whole thing up on some group recipe site here and I refuse to do double work.

It was OK.

I imagine it would have been phenomenal had I been in the mood for Hungarian food.

As it was, I was more in the mood for something cheesy, but after more than an hour of cooking, I wasn't about to pass it up.

This is what your Dutch Oven (technically this is a French Oven, because of the enamel, but who makes that distinction anymore?) looks like after an hour+ of cooking.

I think next time I'll make sure the chicken is smaller.

In summary, totally worth it to make at least once to see if this is the kind of thing you'd like every now and then. Certainly worth the adventure, whether in the mood or not.

The Chicken Taquitos were awesome.

Everyone loved them.

Of course, it came from a new pet cookbook of mine (given to me by my sister) Our Best Bites. (I highly recommend this cookbook, particularly if you spent anytime in Utah near a Cafe Rio. Their imitation recipes of Cafe Rio food are the best that I've found. And I've really searched.)

But you can find the Chicken Taquito recipe here, should you be in the mood. I made my own tortillas (from the cookbook) and I think that made it even better. Although, since I found their tortilla recipe, I haven't purchased any, so it wasn't like I was really going above and beyond.

The kids dipped theirs in ranch; Lane put salsa and cheese over his and I dipped mine in leftover Creamy Cilantro-Lime Ranch Dressing (ala Cafe Rio). I believe there's a link to the dressing at the above link, as well.

And might I add, Cook's Country and Our Best Bites are well worth the investment. I haven't made a bunk thing yet.

Any recipe ideas? Obscure food you've thought about giving a shot? I could use ideas. My head swims with pancakes and chicken broccoli -- mostly because can make them in my sleep and always have those ingredients on hand.

P.S. As a side note, I also made BYU Mint Brownies last night from the Our Best Bites cookbook. Mmm. MMmm. Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmmmmm.

I ate this as soon as I took the photo. Mmmm. Recipe is also published here, should you be so inclined.