Notes about Recipes in this book

• Lemon chicken & orzo soup

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    I started by cooking some boneless, skinless breast meat in the soup pot & then removed it before moving onto the veg. I used fresh thyme in place of dried & as I'm not a fan of dried tarragon, I left that out. In went the lemon juice, broth, orzo, cooked chicken and parsley as per the instructions - the only other thing I left out was the lemon zest. I wanted to see how big the lemon hit was with just the juice and ultimately, that was enough for me. A last addition was some chopped roasted red pepper for a pop of colour - and this is a really nice bowl of soup.

• Silky roasted butternut squash with apples & sage

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    This is a lovely squash soup! The addition of the beans ups the nutrition and I've made it with both fresh & dried sage. The cinnamon & ginger add some subtle flavour and a nice hit of background heat. My father-in-law LOVES this soup.

• Italian turkey sausage, tomato & white bean soup with kale

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    What a great cold weather soup! I did use pork sausages (hot Italian) and added a handful of frozen corn with the beans. For the greens, I used a mix of fresh & frozen spinach and for the fresh herbs - a mix of basil & parsley. It is really delicious.

  • Maasta on April 13, 2022

    I used ground chicken and fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Very tasty.

• Pizza sauce

  • averythingcooks on August 19, 2022

    I made this sauce using passata, a little less tomato paste than called for and fresh basil in place of dried. It is full of flavour (red onions, garlic, brown sugar & balsamic do lots of work here) and the only other change was some Italian seasoning along with the dried oregano to replace some of the other dried herbs called for as I seldom have dried basil or rosemary on hand. I would make this sauce again.

• Chicken penne Florentine with roasted tomato pesto

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    This made a really nice pan of pasta! I oven roasted my chicken breast & threw in a small pan of grape tomatoes to blister at the same time. Instead of the suggested bacon, I added the meat from a "leek & fennel" pork sausage to the aromatics. There were not enough tomatoes on hand to make her homemade pesto (next time for sure) so I used good quality jarred... and I did save some pasta water to loosen the sauce. With the mix of aromatics, chunks of roasted chicken, blistered tomatoes, wilted baby spinach and flavourful pesto - this is an absolute repeat.

• Cheesy Caprese chicken with roasted tomatoes

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    The photo of these chicken breasts in the book is gorgeous and mine actually came out looking like that. I roasted Campari tomatoes (given as a suggested upgrade from plum tomatoes) and used 4 halves per breast....next time I would use more as they are delicious over the boneless, skinless chicken with the melted cheese (provolone this time), fresh basil and a balsamic reduction. A great little dinner for 2 with salad.

• Lip-smacking maple-curry chicken

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    This marinade (which includes grainy mustard, maple syrup, curry powder and a few other great flavours) was lovely on boneless skinless thighs. I marinated the chicken for around 6 hours and then oven roasted the pan, adding a cornstarch slurry in the last 5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Served over rice with a salad on the side, this was a great dinner choice.

• Chicken enchilada casserole with black beans & butternut squash

  • averythingcooks on July 01, 2022

    I came here just for the enchilada sauce needed for a different recipe. I made it mostly as written except no cilantro (soap!) and I have a jar of jalapeno powder I'm working to get through and so a spoonful went in which added some good heat. Using everyday ingredients, it did its job perfectly and it's good one to have in your back pocket if you need a red enchilada sauce quickly.

• Simple Sunday pot roast with potatoes, carrots & zesty gravy

  • averythingcooks on November 10, 2021

    This was good version of a pretty simple (see title!) pot roast :) I did use homemade BBQ sauce in the gravy and also used fresh thyme & rosemary in place of the dried called for. I have made better versions ( Ina and Dorie) but for such a simple prep, the results here were good.

• Peanutty sesame noodle bowl with crispy tofu & veggies

  • hbakke on March 03, 2022

    I used peanut butter powder in place of peanut butter but I don't think it made much difference in the final dish since everything in the sauce gets blended. Overall this was a delicious noodle bowl that I would make again. I did add a bit more soy sauce and Sriracha at the end for personal tastes.

• Roasted Asian salmon fillets with sesame-ginger marinade

  • hbakke on July 13, 2022

    We both liked the marinade on the salmon. The marinade burned to the pan a bit, so I'll be sure to use parchment paper next time for easier cleanup. Overall, this was a nice preparation of salmon.

• 15-minute Mediterranean fish dish with feta bruschetta topping

  • hbakke on December 19, 2021

    I used frozen swordfish steaks, but another white fish probably would have been better. The bruschetta topping was delicious, although I did add a bit more balsamic vinegar for personal tastes. I would make this again, but with maybe haddock or a similar fish fillet.

• Roasted whole salmon fillet with dill-icious maple-mustard marinade

  • hbakke on February 17, 2022

    This was a delicious and easy dinner that I would make again. The marinade adds a lot of flavor to the salmon.

• Stuffed bell pepper soup

  • hbakke on November 10, 2021

    Healthy tasting soup. The extra lean ground beef wasn't super flavorful, so I might use a higher fat ground beef next time. Overall this was a nice dinner.

• Crisp & colorful grilled corn salsa

  • hbakke on June 30, 2022

    This was great served as a topping/side for tacos. I did add more spices and salt since there was quite a bit of corn that needed to be seasoned. I would make this again.