I have to admit that I have put-off starting the new cookbook (The Food You Crave, by Ellie Krieger) for the cookbook club because I was scared that the food was going to taste like typical healthy food (i.e. mortar board). And really, how am I supposed to follow-up the PW with healthy food?! Since school is back in session & structure has returned, I decided to suck-it-up & try it out. I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised. Even coming in with a negative outlook & looking for something to be wrong, I still found the recipes really delicious.
To wrap-up the summer I made the Salmon with Sweet & Spicy Rub & the Tomatoes with Green Goddess Dressing. For the salmon I baked it instead of grilling because Phil wasn’t home (I don’t grill without him close by; I’m too dangerous with a grill). I think baking it was fine, but I bet it would have been a million times better on the grill. Despite the name, we didn’t think it was all that spicy; next time I will probably add a lot more spice to it. Typically, I hesitate to cook fish because of the fishy taste & smell, but that wasn’t an issue with this dish. For the tomato salad I used spinach instead of romaine. Side bar- I think I must to have been the last person on earth to learn about Green Goddess dressing, but I really liked it! I doubled the recipe for salads throughout the week & omitted the tarragon (the recipe just called for way too much). This was an awesome summer meal; I wish I had made it sooner.
Another night last week I made the Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs & the Smashed Potatoes with Sour Cream & Chives. These potatoes were nowhere close to the PW’s mashed potatoes but were still pretty good & definitely a healthier choice. I did omit the chives, just because I didn’t have any, otherwise I would have added it. The chicken was unique. It wasn’t bad at all, it just had a very unique flavor. I think my favorite part of the chicken was the few required ingredients & the 2-minute prep time. 
Chocolate Cherry-Almond Biscotti- If you’re like me, & notorious for not being able to guesstimate measurements well, you need a kitchen ruler for this recipe. If you over-estimate then it doesn’t bake through well & if you under-estimate, it will break. So my best advice is bringing a ruler into the kitchen. I used cranberries instead of cherries, Cadbury dark chocolate (not the best quality, but a couple steps up from Kroger brand), omitted the orange zest, used regular whole-wheat flour, & didn’t chop the almonds too finely (don’t you think almonds look prettier when you can see them?). I thought the biscotti was really great & went fantastic with my morning cappuccino!
Sweet & Spicy Grilled Cheese Sandwich- This is one sophisticated grilled cheese sandwich. While I did like the idea of making this traditional sandwich a little more novel, I didn’t really like this specific twist. I didn’t feel like the caramelized onions & the pepper jack cheese were a good combination. In Martha Stewart Living (October) there is an article with a bunch of recipes for dressing-up the traditional grilled cheese. I think I will try merging some of those options with this one & see what I get.
Mango Lassi- Apparently I’m not a fan of mangos, & Phil, who does like mangos, didn’t like this drink either. Unfortunately, we just did not like this drink at all; we couldn’t even finish the one glass that we were sharing :-\ 
Phil picked Chicken Marsala Tetrazzini from my SL magazine for dinner last night & we both really liked it. Never having cooked with marsala, it was certainly a challenge especially since I didn’t even know where to find it in the grocery store (FYI- it’s in the condiments aisle). hehe
Ok those were my new recipes from last week. Of course, I’ll let you know how this week goes in the kitchen! 
