52 New Recipes | week one
In 2017, I'm committing to trying one new dinner recipe per week. Can I stick with it? Time will tell. 😉
Allllrighty! It's time for the first installment.
This week's new recipe
Last week, I told you all that I was trying White Chicken Chili from my ATK Quick Family Cookbook.
This was my first time having white chili, and I gotta say, I was pretty underwhelmed.
Basically, it felt like a less flavorful (and less beautiful) version of the Chicken Tortilla Soup that I already make.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. Boo!
The recipe called for pureeing some of the hominy to thicken the soup, but I almost think I'd have preferred it to be brothier.
On the upside, I used poblano peppers, which were new to me. So, there's that.
But I'm thinking I probably won't be making this again...I'd rather just eat tortilla soup!
Next week's new recipe
Up next week: another recipe from my ATK cookbook. This time I'm going Asian instead of Tex-Mex, with an Orange Beef stir-fry recipe.
While I have a lot of Tex-Mex recipes in my repertoire (Tex-Mex is my fave! All the heart-eyes.), my Asian recipe files are a little lean.
Soo, check back next week to see how that one turns out for me.
Your turn!
What new recipe did you try this week? And what's up next for you?
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P.S. Several of you asked if existing Grove customers could buy the cute white caddy that comes in the free Mrs. Meyer's cleaning set (for Grove newbies).
The answer is yes, but not quite yet. The caddies will be available to existing Grove customers on January 9th.
So, if you're an existing Grove customer, click here to add your free Mrs. Meyer's hand soap to your cart, and then on January 9th, you can choose to add a caddy to your cart as well (I don't have pricing info on the caddy yet...apologies!)
My daughter made Chow Mein (from Pioneer Woman's Dinnertime cookbook), with gluten-free noodles. It was "her night" to plan and cook supper. It went over quite well, but the recipe wasn't enough to feed us. PW's recipes fit her family of 6. LOL!
My daughter and I made homemade pork spring rolls - they were so fabulous, they made an encore appearance at our New Year's Day party! I have no idea what's up for this week, but I'm seriously investigating soups, since it's going to be COLD this weekend!
Ooh, that does sound good!
Sorry your chicken chili was not up to par. Chicken chili haas been my church's chili cook-off winner for the past three years!
I tried an orange chicken slow cooker recipe from the new Wellness Mama cookbook last night - and a new chocolate pudding recipe. I thought that the chicken was tasty, but the sauce was very brothy rather than saucy - maybe because I used the Insta-Pot instead of a regular slow cooker? (Do I get bonus points for trying out my new appliance as well as a new recipe?) The kiddos didn't think too highly of the chicken, so not sure if it will make a repeat showing.
Definite bonus points for using a new appliance!
Is this cookbook worth buying? I don't really buy as many cookbooks anymore with most recipes being free online, with comments but love a good cookbook full of many worthy recipes. I will buy it for the $14 if it's worth it!
I do have a bunch of recipes from this book in regular rotation, so yeah, I'd say it's worth the price based on my experience. I mean, not everything in it is something I'll want to eat, but there are enough to warrant $14.
I LOVE that cookbook! Use it all the time. Definitely get it. 🙂
I love the ATK Quick Family cookbook, as does my 30-something daughter, and I think it would be fair to call us bith 'foodies' as a point of comparison. The book is loaded with simple-to-execute recipes that utilize lots of fresh ingredients, so the flavors are terrific most of the time. I've had a couple of 'eh' results, but overwhelmingly they are hits.
Plus there's the bonus points of the food-science kitchen. So many online recipes (I'm looking at you, Tasty superspeed videos on facebook) just ... don't work.
YES. This is so the problem I have with a lot of non Cook's/ATK recipes...they're just not as reliable. Almost all the time, the Cook's/ATK recipes work properly, even if I don't like the dish I made.
The white chicken chili in the best recipe book by americas test kitchen is really good. It uses white beans as a thickener iirc and has a ton of flavor from different kinds of chilies.
Ahh....maybe my problem is that I tried the one in the quick cookbook.
Give white chili another try, but try a different recipe. The one we love has white, great northern beans, and a can of green chilis. It's tasty. You thicken it with a rue, but I've made it without and it's still yummy.
I like the white chicken chili recipe on the back of the great northern bean can. It can't be beat.
So which book was this from the ATK page?
Yeah, the white chicken chili recipe in this cookbook is amazing! https://www.amazon.com/Make-Ahead-Recipe-Cooks-Illustrated-Magazine/dp/1933615141
I looked it up and the same white chicken chili recipe is also on cooksillustrated.com, if you still have your subscription. It's a bit time consuming, but sooo good. You should give it a try! Bummer that the faster recipe isn't as good. I was hoping it would be, thanks for the review!
Yup, that's the one! The Make Ahead is our favorite of the Best Recipe books.
It also makes a lot so we usually freeze half or more of it when we make it so we can enjoy it again later. (Which is true of most of the Make Ahead recipes.) Now I kind of want to make some...
I have that one too, actually! I'll check out the chili in it.
I love the pulled pork recipe from that book. Any other recommendations?
I don't have the cookbook in front of me because I'm out of town, but I think we've tried the lasagnas (I think there is a meat and a veggie?), the Indian curry sauce, and the Beef Tamale pie. They are all good!
I've never had an actual recipe for white chili, but the stuff I make doesn't look anything like your picture. Quickie version of my basic recipe is:
- cook a pound of navy beans in the slow cooker overnight
- then saute one large onion, one red bell pepper, and a pound or so of mild green chilis (I use the frozen kind that come in a big block, you could use canned), and a couple pounds of chicken thighs (chopped up) until chicken is thoroughly cooked
- throw in some garlic, cumin, oregano and salt to taste (actually, you should probably put the cumin seeds & salt in at the beginning, or at the same time as the onion)
- add one can of corn, a cup or two of mashed potatoes (the secret ingredient), the drained, cooked beans, and enough chicken broth to make it into a thick chili-like consistency.
- let it simmer for at least 30 minutes to blend the flavors.
Sooooo Yummy! I make it in giant quantities so I can freeze it, but if you're experimenting, you might want to try a smaller batch using canned beans & chilis to make it easier.
The casseroles are really really popular when we make them for new moms, especially the Tamale Pie that Karen mentions (we double the beans and use less meat usually since we get beef in one pound packages). We always get asked for the Tamale Pie recipe once they get out of baby boot camp. Also there's a blue cheese and onion tart that we make a lot for company. Rustic Caramelized Onion Tart.
The slow-cooker curried chickpea stew is popular when we have vegetarians over.
We weren't impressed with the vegetarian bean chili, but did like the slow cooker texas chili which is more of a potroast. The pasta dishes were also mostly not impressive (except the crazy delicious lasagna which takes hours to make), even the ones in the casserole section.
The spinach and gruyere strata is probably the best strata recipe we have. The breakfast strata is good but really heavy.
I'm flipping through reading my husband's notes in the book. "delicious and enchanting I didn't know you could get that slushy consistency at home" he says about Lemon (or Lime) Ice.
Maybe we should spend some time this weekend making some stuff out of this book. It's been a while and there are still a few recipes we haven't tried yet.
(Like one of the other commenters, we make new recipes all the time. It's how I get excitement in my life. I think we even have a blog post about that a few years back...)
p.s. Here are my husband's notes on the white chicken chili for anyone thinking about the best recipe make-ahead version:
yummy, great depth of flavor
not hard to make
don't forget cilantro, scallion, lime juice, etc. when serving *seriously [we did this twice-- cut everything up and then just forgot!]
maybe skip the bone-in skin-on split chicken breasts and just use boneless, skinless
use less broth/water, start with 3 cups (2 cups in step 4)
I made two new recipes this week, one was a beautiful cobb salad with homemade honey mustard/ranch dressing and the other was un-stuffed cabbage soup. Both will be on regular rotation!
Gold stars for trying two!
curried sweet potato & white bean soup - the flavour is fantastic but the beans were ever so slightly under so even when pureed it just wasn't quite smooth. would make again though!
My new recipe was the chipotle chicken kabobs with the dipping sauce--and we all loved it! And I have tried that Chinese Orange Beef recipe and it's delicious. I'll have to find my next recipe to try next week.
Aww, well that's a bummer! I'm not sure if it helps, but I've found that poblanos are more flavorful when you roast them (we have a gas stove) or broil them. The skin peels off easily with a knife and you're left with a delicious smoky flavor.
We tried out a tequila lime chicken recipe from Pioneer Woman last night. It was horrible. Well, it wasn't super horrible, but it was very bland. I was a little surprised since the chicken marinated for 24 hours. Sigh. We picked up dollar menu dinners instead. We'll try again next week!
I've got some leftover tamales from Christmas which I am going to create into my own version of a tamale pie. I'm going to chunk them up, pour chili with beans over them, top with onion and shredded cheddar and pop into the oven. I guess that's really more of a method than a recipe!
I tried out a recipe for crockpot marinara. I did pack mine full of extra veggies, but even as a plain sauce I think it would be good. This will be my go-to pasta sauce from now on. It was easy and delicious. Here is a link to my blog post: http://ahomeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2017/01/new-recipe-challenge-marinara-sauce.html
I make about two new things a week, and have done so since becoming a young bride some 35 years ago - it was the only way I could stay excited about being in the kitchen, and that still holds true today now that it's just DH and I.
This week's newbie was a parmesan celery vegetable soup recipe from Better Homes & Garden's Oct 2016 magazine. Flavor profile was terrific, helped, I think, by making it several hours before we ate it so the flavors could develop. Really lovely for a night when you want something light. I served it with a loaf of warm bread.
That's so sad about the chili. If you're keen to try again, the white chicken chili recipe from Budget Bytes is absolutely delicious. I've made it many times! And it in no way would remind one of tortilla soup.
Yes, indeed! I made it on New Year's Eve and everyone loved it! Had never even heard of White Chicken Chili before your new recipe challenge, Kristen, but this one's a keeper. We added tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream. You might like avocados!
You know the old saying: If at first you don't succeed, give it another shot!
Budget Bytes has a few other good-looking recipes, as well. 🙂
I tried making the BudgetBytes white chicken chili this weekend! It was delicious with a LOT of black pepper to give it the right spice. And tortilla chips on top, of course 🙂
I love Budget Bytes! Very delicious recipes my family loves include: chicken yakisoba, lemony cucumber & couscous salad, homemade enchilada sauce, nam sod, blackened shrimp pasta, pork gyoza, and glazed pork chops. Oh man I'm hungry typing up this list!
I tried two new recipes this week! I made homemade Philly cheese steaks which were amazing! And something called beef and potato layers which also has tomatoes and cheese and onions. That one was good, belly-filling comfort food but not something I got terribly excited about. Definitely making cheese steaks again though! Easy and yum!
At Christmas dinner with friends we got a recipe for cranberry (and apple) sauce made in the Instant Pot and turned around and made that for a family gathering over New Year's weekend. Very yummy!
I switched up my regular chili "recipe" (I don't measure, just dump spices until it tastes right, lol) and made it into black bean chili. It used up some frozen bell pepper and some other veggies from my freezer, which was a plus.
I'm sorry your white chili didn't turn out. We love it around here, but we use white beans instead of hominy. I got our recipe from one in the Sweet Potato Queens Cookbook. I recommend it highly!
We are not white chicken chili fans either. It SOUNDS good, but always just seems meh. I do love poblanos though!
Our new recipe this week was ATK's curried chicken (except I used turkey) meatballs with apricot rice pilaf! My BIL came over for dinner and we all agreed it was tasty.
I tried two new recipes this week! One was for apricot-mustard glazed chicken and the other was for roasted vegetables and polenta. Both recipes are from Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. I loved the apricot-mustard chicken recipe! It was tasty and only took about 35 minutes including baking time; it's going into my dinner rotation for sure. It's especially handy as a dinner option for long days with little-to-no dinner-prep time.
The polenta recipe was good, but I think I'd want to play with it a little before adding it to the regular rotation. I love this challenge!
I bought this cookbook from their site just a few days ago, actually, and just this morning was sent an email stating that I was given a refund...with no explanation as to why. So disappointed, because it looks like a good cookbook, especially for that price!
Just a follow-up to let you know that the listing on their website isn't valid. My husband called to find out what was up with my order being cancelled and was told that they don't have any in stock and the listing on the website is a mistake. Boo!
Oh, nuts! Thanks for the heads up, though.
My food-variety issue is across the spectrum so this week we have tried two — roasted vegetables of Yukon gold potatoes, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper. The sprouts won't be a repeat. We eat a really lot of other brassicas and I was hopeful, but no dice.
I also needed something like chocolate chip cookies but faster so tried a blondie recipe. Blondies are hard because I want the middle done enough but the edges still soft enough to eat. This one was OK except that I think it has too many chocolate chips — will try again with half the quantity.
Try making chocolate chip cookies into bars. Just use your regular recipe and put them in a 9x13. There is a recipe on the back of the toll house choc chips if you need one. That's my go to when inbred quicker choc chip cookies!
Yes! I love doing that...I also put the dough into a pie plate sometimes. Easy and quick.
That really works? I have a wonderful tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but have never done that because all the pan cookies have different proportions. Guess I shouldn't have hesitated! I will try and thanks 🙂
Here's the cookie pie recipe we use: http://www.bakingwithlisey.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-pie/
We(my daughter actually) made Mexican Rice from ATK Family cookbook. It was quite excellent. We paired it with Costco's cheese tamales and homemade pinto(refried beans).
I am cooking a turkey breast this week so I might see what 'new' ideas I can find for it.
I love the creamy white chicken chili recipe from Taste of Home, and I'm not sure another white chicken chili could ever impress me after that.
I made an African Peanut Soup from a Weight Watchers cookbook that was really, really good. I did substitute some coconut oil for the non-fat cooking spray they recommended using, which made it a bit less low-fat, but it added some really good flavor. If I make it again, I'd probably quickly hit it with the immersion blender before serving, to deal with any onion chunks that I didn't chop finely enough, but it was tasty and only took about 20 minutes to make, so I'll definitely be making it again, probably for lunches.
Oh, and next week I am trying the New Jersey Crumb Buns that were on this month's cover of Cook's Country. I grew up eating the most amazing crumb buns for NJ bakeries, and I am very excited about potentially replicating them! There is no better Saturday afternoon snack anywhere.
My Cook's Country sub expired, sadly, but I just renewed it with some Christmas money. VERY excited about getting it in my mailbox again. I almost always get a good recipe or two out of each issue, which totally makes it worth my money.
Check out the slow white chicken chili recipe from Budgetbytes.com (one of my favorite cooking blogs!). Made it for the first time in my new slow cooker my girls gave me for Christmas. Super easy and tasty! My NY resolution is to use my slow cooker once a week so I've been perusing the web for recipes. On my third use today-looking forward to a warm, cozy home cooked meal when I get home from work tonight!
Emily
It can be hard to find a good white chicken chili recipe. I've tried a couple that have been underwhelming. I like this one: http://www.averiecooks.com/2015/10/easy-30-minute-homemade-white-chicken-chili.html
I made polenta as a side dish for the first time last night (using ATK's recipe) and it was a hit.
I love her Chicken Tortilla Soup. http://www.averiecooks.com/2015/09/easy-30-minute-homemade-chicken-tortilla-soup.html We are having it on Sunday, when the high is in the 50's in Central Florida. 😉
You could try it using a different recipe. Instead of hominy, I make mine with white beans. Either navy or cannellini or Great Northern, whatever I have on hand. The recipes I use are usually a cross between this one http://www.katrina-runs.com/i-got-my-wishsoup-weather and this one http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/11/skinny-slow-cooker-white-bean-chicken.html . The chili powder and oregano combination is what makes it delicious. I also don't use flour in mine. I cook the beans first and partially puree them to make the broth.
I tried a chicken, brown rice and veggie casserole from Thriving Home Blog - and a bonus - it's freezer meal friendly. I subbed all cauliflower because I didn't have any broccoli. I also didn't have celery, so I used celery salt - still fantastic. http://thrivinghomeblog.com/2010/01/chicken-and-rice-it-tastes-so-nice/.
Definitely recommend this one. Also, it made more than the 6 recommended servings.
Sorry you didn't like the chicken chili, we love it. This is such a great idea. I'm going to try some type of curry next week. I have the little jars of red and green curry paste and I'm researching recipes now. I've never cooked curry, I'm not even sure that I've ever eaten a curry dish. 🙂
It's not so much that I didn't like it as that I thought it was unremarkable. Like, more boring than Tortilla Soup.
Hope your curry is awesome!
I sautéed kale with a little bacon and smoked chili flakes for flavoring. I though it was good, my husband, predictably did not. He ate some, but said he didn't think it was worth making again. He really prefers sautéed mustard greens to any other green. I felt he was going to be the problem with trying out new recipes, and so far, he is! 🙂
I am excited to try some new recipes too. I saw that you were not thrilled with the white chicken chili recipe you tried, so I thought I would share one that I use. I found it from Budget Bytes. It is super tasty and the best part, it is made in the slow cooker!
Give it a try...
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/01/slow-cooker-white-chicken-chili/
I tried my hand at Swedish Meatballs for the first time and they turned out great! I served them over homemade mashed potatoes with steamed spinach on the side. The meal was too labor intensive to repeat regularly (since I have a 5 month old), but I'd do it again sometime. I love trying new recipes! Great inspiration here. Thanks!
I bought the cookbook for my daughter. Thanks for mentioning it. Hope they don't sell out before I get mine!
I made chicken Parmesan. I tried it at a restaurant years ago and it was so blah. Just so happened that I had all ingredients on hand, and it came out delicious. Recipe was from Laurainthekitchen.com, I used up my own homemade tomato sauce that I canned back in the summer, and old dry bread to make bread crumbs.
I've been in such a cooking rut for few months, so I'm glad to join you in trying one new recipe a week.
OH MY! We love White Chicken Chilli but ours calls for white beans so that might be the difference. It also ha green chillis in it& its so yummy & begged for here!!! Please try a different recipe you might actually like it 🙂 Have't really tried anything new yet but probably will soon 🙂
Well, I didn't try it this week but last week I made my first "real" New York style cheesecake. I have made lots of other desserts called cheesecakes but this was the first time I actually made a true baked cheesecake. It was similar to the ones I have ordered per slice in fancy restaurants. It turned out so good and I didn't even use a springform pan! I simply cut wax paper to fit a cake pan that has sorta high sides and sprayed with cooking spray. After it cooled, and the risk for cracking was over, I put it in the freezer for awhile. I was then able to flip it out onto a cake plate without disturbing the beautiful top. So delicious and not really hard to make so I'm not sure why they charge so darn much for it at restaurants/stores.
I tried the Zuni Cafe's recipe for roasted chicken and although it was delicious, the whole stems of fresh herbs between the skin and meat made it a little awkward to eat (if you normally eat the skin).
Knowing I would be making soup later in the week, I saved some of the fat from the chicken for sautéing the aromatics and the juice from the platter where the chicken rested. Last night I made the Asian chicken soup from the ATK Best 30 Minute Recipes (using canned broth-I froze the carcass for making stock later) and added the chicken juices I saved, which really made a difference. I have made it a few times, but this time was the best yet!
I made a beef-less stew(vegan) made with lots of portobellos and crimini mushrooms. Added some of the Trader Joe's harvest blend mix to bulk it up a bit. Didn't miss the beef at all!
I already tried something I haven't done in awhile.
Had frozen half eaten smoked turkey leg, frozen pork chop bones, frozen cooked chicken back, put all bones into big pot, small amount of water, onion, celery, carrots, (the basic three flavors). The turkey leg yielded more meat, so I just took that out and ate meat.... mmmm, good. Put it back in pot. It's just me, no one else will have this, so, what the heck.
In another little pan, browned some onion, carrots, celery in butter, added bone stock, added shredded cooked chicken that was half off at Albertson's, some frozen peas, some ramen noodles broken up, Bell's turkey seasoning, a tablespoon of turkey dressing that was also marked way down, and, voila, a pretty good soup. With 3 inches of snow on the ground at 5 degrees I won't be going out today, so think I may make more soup again today!! Unless it's toasted cheese sandwiches...
Good on you for the plan to try new things, and the doing.
I made a simple chicken noodle soup last night since my oldest has been asking for it. Everyone thought it was really good except I need to use different noodles next time. I used spiral ones, and they got a little mushy.
I pulled the white chicken chili recipe out of the ATK Quick Family cookbook and Hubs said "That looks boring; let's make regular chili instead." 😛 Since our resolution is to cook TOGETHER rather than try new recipes, I still consider it a success!
Your mention of the orange chicken reminded me of a funny that happened here this year. I found a recipe for "Asian Orange Chicken" on allrecipes that I wanted to try. When I told my sister about it she thought I said "Agent Orange Chicken". Yikes! That was good for a few laughs...
I made your Japanese pork and ramen soup; thanks for sharing that! It was delicious. Love that garlic and ginger combo. And I used the recipe to try out my new Instant Pot, which seemed a little gimmicky to me, but I really liked having the option to sauté and cook in the same (stainless steel) pot. So - thanks for giving me the push to break in my new appliance, as well as the great recipe!
So glad you liked it! Woohoo!
Yay! Fellow Instant Pot newbie!
We tried the clam chowder recipe you posted a bit ago. Really liked, found it fast and easy. I had a place I would go when I wanted clam chowder and they were almost always out when I got there. Now I just keep the ingredients on hand and make when I want, we had it today for lunch. Didn't have half n half so used whole milk, work fine for us. Thanks for posting it.
I made soft & tender hamburger buns featured on anoregoncottage. It's a keeper for sure! I tried to imitate my favorite store bought Onion buns and it wasn't such a great idea. Next time I'll make them with out the onion flakes.
I hate when new recipes are a flop. But I love pablano'S (or however it's spelt!) I roast them and puree them with garlic, cilanto, lime juice, onion, s&p and it makes a great salsa Verde
Hi! Late posting but excited to participate. I made Vegetable Beef Soup from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It was super yummy!
Too bad you didn't like the chicken chili recipe; I've used a couple different recipes and they are definitely not equal. I've had really good white chilis, though, so I keep looking.
I just did a white chicken chili too, but from some random site that had modified a recipe for the Instant Pot.
I tasted it, thought, "Eh." I dumped in a can of tomatillos--problem solved. Too many white chicken chili recipes lack the acid that we love in regular chili, which comes from the tomatoes. Tomatillos help. So do canned green chiles, which are much easier to deal with than poblanos. (I say this as someone who got poblano oil on her contacts once.)
This is my favorite chicken chili recipe: http://www.homebeccanomics.com/2013/12/09/low-cal-chicken-white-bean-and-veggie-chili/. She has another that uses pureed beans but I haven't tried yet.