Valentine's Day Dinner

Today was day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT. Since it was Valentine's Day I decided t make a romantic Valentine's Day Dinner for my hubby and me. I made a Heartthrob Salad, Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (not from the cookbook), and Steamed Lobster Tails (also not from the cookbook, which hubby cooked). I had also made some Chocolate lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream, but we were too full after the other dishes that I didn't cook the lava cakes and they're still in the fridge waiting to pop in the oven. I'll review those as soon as have those.

Since there are several recipes here, you can click on each of the links below to review our thoughts about each of them...

HEARTTHROB SALAD
PEPPER-CRUSTED FILET MIGNON WITH HORSERADISH CREAM
ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT BUTTER
CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES WITH PISTACHIO CREAM

54 recipes down, 493 more to go.

Roasted Asparagus, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT so I decided to make a romantic dinner for my hubby and myself. I personally love asparagus, and know it goes well with red meat and had some baby asparagus on hand so decided to do a roasted asparagus recipe from the cookbook. Here's our thoughts on this side dish...

ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT BUTTER, pretty good...

My hubby is not a big fan of asparagus, or any cooked vegetables, for that matter. I grew up eating mostly canned veggies, so mushy vegetables are right up my ally, however, since I've been married and my hubby hates mushy veggies, I've learned to cook them so they're mostly tender-crisp.

I was watching the Worst Cooks in America recently and Anne Burrell was teaching them to cook some vegetable, green beans I think, and she said "when it's warm, it's done", so I've been trying to put that technique into practice.

This recipe calls for the asparagus to be roasted on a cookie sheet coated, sprayed with cooking spray, with the asparagus lined in a single layer, then covered with foil and baked for 450 degrees for 5 minutes, then uncovered and cooked for another 10 minutes. I didn't use regular sized asparagus, but tiny, very thin, baby asparagus, so thought the cooking time should be less. And, since my hubby's so adamant about his veggies being CRISPY, I just cooked them covered for 6 minutes and they were quite warm, and as Anne Burrell would say, when they're warm they're done. So I decided to serve them after the initial bake time.

After they're done you toss them with the butter mixture I prepared in advance. The flavors of the butter mixture were good, and not overpowering. We both liked this asparagus. I would have preferred them cooked a little longer, but my hubby liked them just the way they were, which says a lot, knowing he really doesn't like cooked veggies, or asparagus very much. He actually liked this dish, so that's a huge compliment for this dish.

I would make this recipe again. I would like to try it cooked a little longer like the recipe calls for. I'm sure we can come to a happy medium between dear hubby and myself. But, overall, this was a good way to cook asparagus and the flavors were good and went well with the meat.

53 recipes down, 494 more to go.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Italian Meatloaf

Today was day 10 cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT. We are babysitting our 2 grandsons for the weekend, ages 3 and almost 2, and since they're kids, I needed to do kid friendly recipes. I made a classic baked macaroni and cheese, and an Italian meat loaf, knowing the boys like both of these dishes. Here's how they turned out...

ITALIAN MEAT LOAF WITH FRESH BASIL AND PROVOLONE, excellent!

I wasn't sure how this was going to over over with the boys, since it did have some fancy ingredients in it... sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil, but both boys ate it, which I was happy about. Everyone else that was here tried it as well, including our two daughters and their husbands. Everyone absolutely loved it. The fresh basil in the recipe really made the Italian flavor stand out. I really do love cooking with fresh herbs and ingredients, they make a big difference in recipes. And my husband is a huge sun dried tomato fan, and he liked it quite a bit as well. Everyone said this is a definite keeper recipe, and there is no tweaking that needs to be done with it. An easy recipe that everyone liked.

CLASSIC TWO CHEESE MACARONI (Baked Macaroni and Cheese), how can you go wrong with macaroni and cheese?! There are three macaroni and cheese recipes in this cookbook, and I went with this one as it's the simplest of all three recipes, and I figured simple for the kids would be better. The flavors were excellent. Ok, I have to admit I'm one of those people that grew up eating the box mix macaroni and cheese, and I'm used to the super creamy mac & cheese. I've only had baked macaroni and cheese a couple other times before this, and both times I thought the dishes were dry. I thought maybe they just needed a little more milk or cheese or something. But this recipe was pretty much like that as well, not as creamy and wet as the boxed macaroni and cheese is. If I could get this a little wetter it would have been perfect. For a simple classic dish, it was good, especially the flavors. One thing I could find, however, was "light" Velveeta cheese, which the recipe calls for. We could only find regular Velveeta, so I'm not sure this really was a "light" version. However, everyone liked it. I'm looking forward to trying the other two macaroni and cheese dishes in this cookbook in the future.

21 recipes down, 526 more to go.

Mushroom and Swiss Burgers, Garlic Fries

Day 8 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT was a comfort food meal of burgers and fries (Mary, this meal's for you, being simple folk that we are!!!). They were good, but there's still a bit of a learning curve and adjustments that need to be made to recipes. Here's our take on these 2 dishes...

SMOTHERED BURGERS (Mushroom & Swiss Burgers as we called them), good burgers, but I used too much meat...

The recipe called for 1 lb of ground chuck, which you're supposed to use for 4 servings. I couldn't find ground chuck so used ground sirloin. The meat was good and really juicy. I made the mistake of thinking the 1 pound of meat I has was for 2 portions since I cut almost all the recipes down to 2 serving sizes, and only made 2 burgers out of the one pound of meat. They were really big burgers (of course, each burger was 1/2 pound). They took longer to cook, and were really big burgers. Not a problem with my hubby however, as he ate his entire burger. I ate half of mine and that was plenty. The meat is definitely meant for 4 servings, not 2. However, the burgers were really good and tasty, definitely ones we'd make again, with the right portion size.

GARLIC FRIES, good flavor, but were really overcooked...

We really liked the flavor of these fries, but the cooking time was much too long on these. The fries were cut shoestring size (1/4-inch-thick-strips), and were supposed to bake at 400 degrees for a total of 50 minutes, which was much too long. I think 35-40 minutes would have been more appropriate. I was distracted doing other things and didn't check the fries sooner, so they ended up getting way too overcooked and were very overdone. What we did like about these was the fact that they most definitely DO crisp up in the oven when they're baked. And after they're baked you toss them in a pan with a little butter, garlic, fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese. That really added a good flavor to them. I will definitely make these again, and watch the cooking time on them next time to make sure they don't burn. This is a keeper recipe.

18 recipes down, 529 more to go.

Beef with Rosemary Mushroom Sauce, Onion & Horseradish Potatoes

Day 4 of cooking from "THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT" produced 2 dishes... Beef with Rosemary-Mushroom Sauce and Caramelized Onion & Horseradish Mashed Potatoes.

Ok, so the picture doesn't look that great, I know, it looks a bit sloppy, I wasn't happy about how I plated and photographed this. I was cooking this for my daughter and son in law, and my daughter had to be out the door in less than 15 minutes so I was in a hurry to finish making this meal, and getting it served on time. So sorry about the sloppy presentation and picture.

BEEF WITH ROSEMARY-MUSHROOM SAUCE, good, but not sure about the sweetness of the sauce...

Everyone seemed to like it, but the sauce almost seemed a little sweet, which may have been from the balsamic vinegar in it, but there was only 1 tsp. in the sauce, so not much. I did, however, in my hurry to get this dish served, forget to add the garlic to the sauce when I was cooking it, which I'm sure made a difference in the flavor. There is red wine in the sauce as well, and the flavor may depend on the type of wine you use too, I'm sure. Everyone liked the sauce with the meat, however. I was excited to use to a new grill pan I bought to cook the steak on. It worked great, don't know why I never bought one before, even had the pretty little grill lines on the meat before we cut it, I was pleased with myself about that. I'd probably make this dish again, but experiment a little bit with the sauce, first try adding the garlic and see if that does the trick. Also serving them with a plain mashed potato instead of the sweet onion potato may have been better, as the sauce will flavor the potatoes.

CARAMELIZED ONION & HORSERADISH MASHED POTATOES, loved these, but may not have been the right potatoes to serve with this particular meat dish...

We all really liked these potatoes, especially the sweetness of the caramelized onion in them. I wasn't sure I was going to like the Dijon mustard and horseradish flavors in the potatoes, but it really worked. I used sweet onions, but regular onions would have worked fine too. Serving them with this particular meat dish made it all seem a little bit too sweet, though. I'd make these again, but would serve them with something without a sauce probably.

10 recipes down, 537 more to go!

Champagne Feta Risotto, Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Today was day two of cooking from my "THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT" cookbook. Today I made two recipes, a Champagne Feta Risotto, and Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Artichokes, Lemon and Goat Cheese.

The picture is not very flattering, and the white risotto, and white chicken on the white plate doesn't do a whole lot for contrast either. I actually added parsley and lemon just for a little color on the plate. Here's the synopsis of these dishes...

CHAMPAGNE-FETA RISOTTO, we loved it...

This was my first time cooking risotto. I've seen this cooked on cooking shows a lot and have wanted to try it, so this was a great opportunity. We're not big on champagne around here and don't drink it, but I used it in the recipe as directed and we loved the flavor it added to the risotto. You boil it down until the liquid is absorbed, so all you end up with is the flavor. I needed to add more liquid though because when the rice was still crunchy a bit when the liquid was absorbed. We live at 7,500 feet and altitude can wreak havoc on recipes sometimes, and I usually do have to add extra liquid to rice when I cook it, and it was the same in this case. I tasted the risotto while it was cooking and throughout the process and found that I liked it a little better without the feta in it. Overall, it was delicious and we both decided we love risotto! This recipe is a keeper, I may skip the feta next time, however.

CHICKEN BREASTS STUFFED WITH ARTICHOKES, LEMON, AND GOAT CHEESE, good flavor, but they were overcooked and a little dry...

I've never been good at the whole pounding the chicken out, stuffing it and rolling it up thing. They usually turn out to be a mess and I have a hard time getting them to look pretty once they're rolled up, and tucking in the edges so nothing comes out... forget it! I think I used too much stuffing, but I did the amount according to the directions. Maybe a little less stuffing next time. Also, according to the directions you're supposed to cook the chicken in a hot pan on the stove for 3 minutes on each side, then put the whole pan in the oven and bake them for an additional 15 minutes. I think that 10-12 minutes would have been better, and turning them over halfway through is highly advisable as the side of the chicken that was down was very over cooked on the edge and tough to cut through the edge. The flavors, however, were good. Brian liked them and I thought they were just "ok". Not sure I'd make this one again.

I was going to make a dessert tonight as well, but it's been a long, busy day and I'm pooped. After this I'm off to bed, and it's only 8:35 pm! Will make a dessert tomorrow (I hope)...

Au Revoir!