Dinner Variety

We’ve both been home for more than a week! This has opened the door for the backlog of recipes. Ready for something different? Let’s do this.

The Winners

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili (*psst, it’s actually curry)

I had some doubts about any chili that involves coconut milk. I should have known better than to accompany this white chicken chili with tortilla chips. However… as a curry? It’s a really good recipe! Serve it with rice and it would be a great meal.

Ease: 5/5

Flavor: 5/5

Make it again? Yes, but with rice and not Mexican flavors

One Pot Greek Chicken & Lemon Rice

This is definitely not a recipe for those nights when you only have a few minutes to throw something together. With 45 minutes in the oven and 10 more to rest, one pot Greek chicken & lemon rice is definitely a Wednesday meal for us — the one night when I have an hour or more to cook at dinner time.

Ease: 3/5

Flavor: 5/5

Make it again? Yes

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Look, I love chicken parm. Yet no matter how hard I try to bread the cutlets and pan-fry, approximately 50% of the time I’m left with naked chicken and a pan full of breading. The chicken parmesan casserole eliminates this problem entirely. You get all of the same flavors — including the Panko breadcrumb goodness — but without the cutlet challenge.

Ease: 5/5

Flavor: 5/5

Make it again? Yes

Homemade Naan

You can’t have Indian without naan. It’s just wrong. I usually use the Trader Joe’s frozen naan. But on this particular night, The Assistant opted to help me mix, knead and roll homemade naan. The flavor and texture were excellent. I recommend rolling it thinner than you think is necessary, and cooking over lower heat than you’d expect. And also making a double batch, particularly when you need to compensate for your butter chicken cauliflower slurry (see below under “Nope.”)

Ease: 5/5 (as breads go, this one is straightforward and easy)

Flavor: 5/5

Make it again? Yes, absolutely

This Is Fine

Slow Cooker Chicken Tinga

One of my local restaurants has a chicken tinga tostada that I love, so I had high hopes for this slow cooker chicken tinga. Was it good enough to make again? Probably. Am I in a hurry to make it again? Not really.

Ease: 5/5

Flavor: 4/5

Make it again? Probably in a couple of months

One Pot Spicy Thai Noodles

The one pot spicy Thai noodles had mixed reviews here. I added chicken for some extra protein for the kiddo after Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The Assistant and I liked it more than The Husband, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to the drunken noodles from my local Thai restaurant.

Ease: 4/5

Flavor: 4/5

Make it again? Maybe

Crockpot Lasagna Soup

I love lasagna. I mean, really, it’s the best. And if I can half-ass the lasagna on a late night? So much the better. Turns out, crockpot lasagna soup doesn’t really taste like lasagna. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine soup. But if you’re craving lasagna, look elsewhere.

Ease: 3/5 (I forgot that I had to brown the meat and I was scrambling to get out of the house on time)

Flavor: 5/5 (assuming that you accept it as a soup and don’t expect it to taste like lasagna)

Make it again? Probably

Nope

Potsticker Noodle Bowls

I had really, really high hopes for the potsticker noodle bowls. We all love potstickers, and while I’ve made them before, the work isn’t worth the payout. It’s basically a deconstructed potsticker, which sounds awesome, but somehow doesn’t really work in reality.

Ease: 4/5

Flavor: 4/5

Make it again? Probably not

Instant Pot Pho

We’re in the rainy season here, so soupy things have been popular. I opted to give pho a try. Instant Pot pho is a nice diversion from my usual soupy efforts, but it felt like there should have been more to show for the work I put into it. It says that the yield is six servings. Somehow we managed to barely get four from the recipe. I don’t know where the rest of the broth went, but we couldn’t have fed two more people.

Ease: 3/5

Flavor: 4/5

Make it again? Probably not

Instant Pot Indian Butter Chicken

Have I mentioned that The Assistant loves Indian food? If we go out for a meal, it’s always his first suggestion. He leans towards chicken tikka masala and butter chicken, whereas I’m more of an aloo gobi kind of girl. So to me, Instant Pot Indian butter chicken sounded like the ideal meal. He’d get his chicken, and I’d get my cauliflower. Everybody’s happy! Well… not so much. I have a Cuisinart pressure cooker, not an Instant Pot, which apparently cooks at a very different temperature and pressure than the recipe requires. The cauliflower basically dissolved into a weird slurry. This was… not ideal. I’d be willing to retry, possibly with a different recipe.

Ease: 4/5

Flavor: 3/5

Make it again? Not without modifications

 

Have you been cooking anything interesting? Let me know in the comments.

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