I made two new dishes this week.

Monday: Spicy Sausage Pasta

New dish #1. I’d put this in the “I would make it again” category.

Changes: 1) Used sweet Italian ground sausage instead of smoked sausage; 2) Used a 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes instead of Ro-Tel; 3) Used half-and-half instead of heavy cream; 4) Didn’t add scallions (I didn’t have any); 5) Added the sauce to the pasta separately instead of mixing the pasta directly into the sauce.

Tuesday: Country Captain Chicken

An old standby. Delicious, quick, and easy.

Wednesday: Fish Stew

I had planned to make something else for dinner since I just made this dish a few weeks ago, but I forgot that Wednesday was the beginning of Lent (which meant Paul wouldn’t be eating red meat or poultry, but he could have fish).

As usual, I replaced the fennel bulb with 1 Tbsp fennel seed and served it over rice instead of polenta. I used tilapia for the fish.

Thursday: Chicken with Artichokes in Creamy Mustard Sauce

New dish #2. It was okay, but it didn’t wow me — I prefer stronger flavors.

Changes: 1) Didn’t add grape tomatoes; 2) Used a few teaspoons of bottled lemon juice instead of lemon zest.

Friday: Dinner at Cafe Asia

Paul and I went to dinner after work on Friday before walking to the Warner Theatre to see Nick Offerman perform (you may know him as the Ron Swanson character on Parks and Recreation). He was very entertaining.

Saturday: Richmond

Paul and I spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning in Richmond with my family. Elissa made a fabulous shrimp stir-fry for lunch on Saturday that I need to replicate soon.

Sunday: Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta

I hadn’t made this in over two months; it was a good way to use up a container of pureed pumpkin I had in the fridge. We ate it with rice pasta.

Three new recipes again this week! I’ve been on a roll for the past several weeks.

Monday: CrockPot Pineapple Coconut Chicken

New meal #1. This is the first time I’ve made a CrockPot meal with canned fruit — and it won’t make its way into regular rotation — but it turned out okay. (I discovered after the fact that Paul doesn’t care for pineapple, but since he ate two plates I assume it tasted all right!)

Changes I made to the original recipe: 1) Used 2 lbs chicken breasts; 2) Added 1 chopped red bell pepper (I already had it in the fridge and it ended up being a good addition, plus it added some color); 3) Didn’t add the coconut sugar or optional coconut flakes; 4) Cooked for 9 hours on low. (Also, the pineapple I used was a 20-oz can, packed in 100% pineapple juice, no sugar added.)

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Bolognese

Mmm! Paul and I always love this sauce. He ate his with pasta and I had braised cabbage.

Thursday: Pumpkin Walnut Chicken Coconut Curry

New meal #2. This was very good, but quite spicy. While I enjoyed it, you could definitely tone down the amount of curry powder (I used 3 Tbsp) and cayenne pepper to suit individual tastes.

Changes: 1) Used one regular onion (chopped) instead of a sliced red onion; 2) Used a full can of coconut milk and doubled the amount of pureed pumpkin it called for (I like a lot of sauce); 3) Substituted chopped walnuts for cashews (I sprinkled them on top of my serving instead of mixing them in because Paul doesn’t care for walnuts).

Additional note: The original recipe includes directions for making coconut cauliflower “rice,” but I used regular rice instead.

Friday: Sausage, Artichokes, and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

New meal #3. I used the recipe link above for inspiration but I changed it quite a bit — I’ll post my version later this week.

Saturday: Jojo’s Restaurant and Bar

My sister Elissa, her son Devin, and boyfriend Travis were visiting DC this weekend. Dinner was at Jojo’s on U Street. We’d never been there before; I really enjoyed the atmosphere. We learned that the live jazz doesn’t start until 10pm on Saturdays, which was a bit disappointing since we were there several hours before the music started.

Sunday: Tacos

I didn’t go grocery shopping like I normally do on Sundays because my nephew stayed with us overnight (and I hate-hate-hate grocery shopping on weekend afternoons). I made a simple taco dinner with the last package of ground turkey I had in the fridge. I’ll go shopping sometime after work this week instead (not ideal, but it’s been done before!).

I’ve been on a new-dish kick lately — I made three new recipes last week and three more this week. (Also, I didn’t notice until I started putting this post together that my Wed/Thurs meals both include the word “spicy.” I swear it wasn’t on purpose! I guess I was just in the mood for lots of flavor this week.)

Monday: Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef

New dish #1. It was pretty tasty — the balsamic flavor was noticeable without being overpowering — but it didn’t blow me away. It’s unlikely that I’ll put it into regular rotation in future meal plans.

I made a number of changes to the original recipe: 1) Used 2 Tbsp coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce; 2) Added 1 chopped onion (a proper beef-in-CrockPot recipe isn’t complete without an onion, if you ask me!); 3) Used homemade chicken stock instead of beef broth (it’s all I had).

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Spicy Creamed Steak

New dish #2. I’ve already published the recipe, located at the link above. (It was the first time I’ve posted a recipe in months! I really need to get better about that.)

Thursday: Spicy Coconut Chicken Casserole

New dish #3. I really enjoyed the creaminess of the chicken and rice contrasted with the crunchiness of the veggies (due to steaming the green beans and red bell peppers for the last 10 minutes of cooking time).

Changes I made to the original recipe: 1) Used 1.5 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken breast instead of chicken legs; 2) Used regular white rice instead of jasmine rice (didn’t have any); 3) Didn’t add lemon wedges (didn’t have any).

(This is a shot of the veggies steaming on top of the rest of the ingredients. Very colorful!)

(Finished dish)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Tacos

I made a late lunch of ground turkey tacos with homemade seasoning, so we ate various leftovers for dinner later in the evening.

Sunday: Super Bowl

Paul and I went to a small Super Bowl party where we consumed party fare for dinner. I didn’t feel like cooking so I purchased a container of brownie bites to contribute. I know…lame!

I ended up making three new recipes this week. I needed some variety!

Monday: Beef Bourguignon

This was the first new recipe. I don’t know how to pronounce the name of this dish (haha!), but I really liked it.

Paul and I were off work due to the MLK holiday, so I decided to make a recipe I’d discovered only a few days before that required several hours in the oven — perfect for an afternoon spent at home. It had a number of time-intensive steps (removing the fat from the meat, browning it, and taking the dish in/out of the oven a few times), but it wasn’t difficult. And the result was super-tender beef and a very flavorful sauce.

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Country Captain Chicken

We hadn’t had this since early December. I missed it.

Thursday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken

New dish #2 for the week. The intention was for Paul to eat this meat on sandwich buns, but I ended up adding too much liquid so the consistency was thinner than it should have been. We ate it over rice instead.

I thought it was okay, but even with the addition of Greek yogurt to tone down the heat it was definitely pretty hot (I like spicy food, but I generally don’t make things spicy-hot). I probably wouldn’t make it again unless I were trying a new recipe or editing this one.

Friday: Fish Stew

This is my sister’s recipe; it always turns out great. As usual, I substituted one regular onion (chopped small) for the shallots and used 1 tbsp fennel seed instead of chopped fennel. We served it with rice.

Saturday: Banana Cafe

It had been a few weeks since Paul and I had dinner at a restaurant so we decided to indulge. This place serves Cuban/Puerto Rican food — very good.

Sunday: Slow Cooker Turkey Ziti

New dish #3…Ziti in a CrockPot! Craziness. (I called this Turkey Ziti instead of Beef Ziti because, well, that’s what I used.) It only needs five hours of cooking time so I wanted to try it on a day where I wouldn’t be at work for 9-10 hours. (Note: I used gluten-free rice pasta.)

Paul really liked it. I thought it was fine, but I would add more sauce if I make it again — I thought it was too dry. Other variations I thought of would be to use a mixture of half turkey/half ground sausage to increase the flavor, or adding a layer of spinach to increase the (currently nonexistent, unless you count the marinara sauce) veggie quotient.

Monday: CrockPot Red Curry Pork with Pickles

I added pickles to the mix like I did last time. Really, really good. I’ll likely never make this dish the original way again.

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Cuban Picadillo

Thursday: Holiday Party

Paul attended a staff-only (belated) holiday party after work, so I made myself a protein shake for dinner (I’d been snacking throughout the day so I didn’t want a large meal).

Friday: CrockPot Pork Ragu

Saturday: Baby shower

Paul and I attended a co-ed baby shower (the guys left for a few hours while the mother-to-be opened gifts and the ladies chatted, but they rejoined us later). Free party food!

Sunday: Penne with Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce

I hadn’t made this since last September! That’s way too long. It’s incredibly delicious. Very easy to make, too.

Monday: Periodontist, Round 2

Although the first round of gum grafting went fine (I had it done on one tooth last August), the second round didn’t go quite so smooth. I had two teeth grafted this time, and they had to give me extra shots of Novocaine — twice — because once they started working I could feel pain.

When it was all over, the periodontist told me he’d had a difficult time doing what he needed to do (although he was ultimately successful). Whatever he did, the extra work involved my right cheek because for three days after the procedure it was puffed up like a chipmunk (it wasn’t fun going to work in that condition!). Six days later, my right cheek is still stiffer than the left, with pain near the cheekbone if I press on it with my fingers, and a yellow bruise near my jawline (which is fading now, thank goodness).

Since I was on a soft-foods-only diet this week, my meals consisted of a lot of scrambled eggs, protein shakes (whey powder, banana, almond milk), and vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt.

Tuesday: Soft foods

Paul was podcasting, so he ate dinner at his friend’s house.

Wednesday: Weeknight Bolognese

I made this sauce for Paul (with ground turkey instead of ground beef), but I was able to eat some of it as well. Since I was still in pain and couldn’t open my mouth very wide, I ate the sauce by itself (no noodles or braised cabbage), in small bites.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: CrockPot Pumpkin Turkey Chili

My mouth pain had mostly subsided by Friday, so I was able to eat a few bowls of chili (chewing on the left side of my mouth only).

Saturday: Friend’s party

Saturday was our friend Kevin’s annual Gumbo Fest. I was able to eat some of his gumbo and also a few meatballs (all soft; all chewed on the left side of my mouth).

Sunday: Fend-for-yourself

I made turkey burgers for lunch (1 lb ground turkey, 4 heaping spoonfuls of medium salsa, about 3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese, salt and pepper).

Monday: Leftovers

We ate leftovers for dinner before we went downstairs to attend a New Year’s Eve party. It’s so convenient to have friends who live in our building!

Tuesday: Fend-for-yourself

Happy New Year! Although I only had a slight cough the day before, I woke up with laryngitis on January 1st. It was awful — Tuesday and Wednesday I could barely talk louder than a whisper. My voice was noticeably better on Thursday and by Friday I was just a little bit hoarse.

For breakfast on Tuesday, I made bacon, eggs, and pancakes (those were for Paul), and for lunch I made tacos with homemade seasoning (using ground turkey instead of ground beef). We relied on leftovers for dinner again since I wasn’t feeling up to making another meal.

Wednesday: Chicken with Tomatoes and Mushrooms

New recipe; I liked it. My only note is that one can of diced tomatoes wasn’t enough — I had to add an extra can because it would have been way too dry otherwise.

Thursday: Bolognese

I used ground turkey for the sauce rather than ground beef.

Friday: Fend-for-yourself

Saturday: Crockpot Brazilian Curry Chicken

This was the dish I tried to make a few weeks ago when I loaded up the ingredients in the CrockPot and forgot to turn it on. Grrrr!

I’m glad I made it again. Delicious!

Sunday: CrockPot Shredded Beef

When my sister made this recipe a few days ago, she texted me that night to tell me I must make it. So I did!

I wanted to make something delicious for dinner because I’m going in on Monday for my final round of gum grafts. I needed three total — I had one gum graft performed last August so I’ll be getting two done tomorrow. The first procedure was kind of nervewracking, but since it went smoothly last year I’m less nervous about it this time around.

Back to Sunday’s dinner! The only changes I made were to substitute the beef broth for chicken broth (I had some homemade in the freezer), and I cut the rump roast into smaller chunks (about 6-8) because I started my prep later in the morning and I wanted to make sure it was done in time for dinner (I cooked it for 7 hours on low).

Verdict: Delicious! The meat was very tender and flavorful. Paul ate his meat enclosed in soft tacos and I had mine with braised cabbage. I will definitely make this again.

This is my last weekly meal plan of 2012!

Monday: Christmas Eve family dinner at Elissa’s house

Tuesday: Leftovers

Paul and I had Christmas brunch at Elissa’s house, then we left in the early afternoon to drive home. We opened our gifts to each other and then went to visit our neighbors (they live a few floors down from us in our building) for a few hours.

Wednesday: Fish Stew

I took Wednesday off work but Paul had to go in. It was a dreary day so it was nice not to have to go outside.

We ate the Fish Stew with rice (Paul) and braised cabbage (me).

Thursday: Grand Cru Wine Bar

I met two girlfriends for wine and dinner in the Ballston area.

Friday: Chipotle

Paul and I went out after work to celebrate a friend’s birthday at A&D. We picked up food from Chipotle afterward and took it home on the Metro.

Saturday: CrockPot Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Creole

Busy day — Paul and I volunteered at a soup kitchen for a few hours, then had Ethiopian food at Etete for lunch. After that, we picked out a new pair of sneakers for Paul at Fleet Feet.

Sunday: CrockPot Red Curry Pork

As suggested by Paul the last time I made this, I followed the original recipe but added dill pickles to the mix. I chopped them into small chunks (about 2 cups worth) before I added them to the CrockPot. (I just sprinkled them on top — I didn’t mix them in — since they didn’t really need to be cooked like everything else.)

Ratio of ingredients I used: 2.5 lb pork loin, 1 can full-fat coconut milk, 3 tbsp red curry paste, 1 lg onion, 2 cups chopped pickles.

Verdict: Very good! Both Paul and I ate our servings with rice.

Monday: Crockpot Brazilian Curry Chicken

Well, we were supposed to have this for dinner, but six hours into my workday it hit me that I forgot to turn on the CrockPot before I left for work. I usually prep all the ingredients the night before and put the CrockPot in the fridge so I can just pull it out and have it ready to go (it saves me from having to get up earlier than usual the next morning).

On Monday morning I put the CrockPot in the base and locked the lid, but I got distracted and walked away before I turned it on. It’s the first time this has ever happened. I was upset with myself because I hate wasting food and money — not to mention all the time spent prepping the ingredients. Monday’s mistake cost me at least $20 ($9 for the chicken, $4.40 for two organic bell peppers, $2 for a can of coconut milk…plus the onion and spices). And then another $5-6 to buy lunch at work on Tuesday since I wasn’t able to bring dinner leftovers.

Paul ended up eating leftovers and I cooked a chicken breast for myself and ate it with braised cabbage.

Tuesday: Fend-for-yourself

No cooking on Tuesday because Paul and I (and two of our friends) went to see The Killers at the Patriot Center. Paul had seen them in concert twice before but I never had. Great show! It was a late night for a workday but it was worth it.

Wednesday: Fend-for-yourself

Another non-cooking day since Paul was podcasting and I didn’t feel like making an effort just for myself.

Thursday: Shrimp with Spinach and Dijon-Lemon Sauce

Inspired by this recipe that I’ve made in the past, I changed it up by leaving out the pasta, beans, red onion (didn’t have one), and adding more spinach (I used an entire 10-oz box of frozen spinach instead of 1.5 cups of fresh). Tasted great!

Friday: CrockPot Pumpkin Turkey Chili

I know, I know…I made this recipe yet again. We had two friends over on Friday for our annual Love Actually viewing party, so I figured it would be an easy meal that would satisfy multiple people (which it did). Success!

It looks like this, except I served it in bowls — no braised cabbage or avocado.

Saturday: CrockPot Indian Butter Chicken

I LOVE this dish. I put it together in the afternoon while we did other productive stuff like grocery shopping and washing two loads of laundry. (Side note: it will be a happy, happy day when we live in a place that doesn’t require us to lug our clothes to a shared laundry room in the basement. I want my own conveniently-located washer and dryer, please!)

Sunday: Dinner at Elissa’s house

Paul and I left Sunday afternoon to spend Christmas in Richmond with my family. We’ll be there until Tuesday.

Monday: CrockPot Red Curry Pork

Paul suggested that I add dill pickles to this recipe next time (like I do with Diane’s Roast with Pickles). I agree! His suggestion makes me want to serve this again soon. Plus, it already tastes great as-is.

Tuesday: CrockPot Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Yet again…my go-to dish for a weeknight meal that makes plenty of leftovers for me to take to work.

Wednesday: Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta

I hadn’t made this since July so I was overdue.

Thursday: Holiday Party

Paul met me at my workplace to attend my holiday party. It took place on the top floor of the building I work in, with fabulous views of DC. Free food and drink, too. Good times.

Friday: Bolognese

This is one of my favorite sauces that I’ve made many times. Paul ate his with pasta and I had mine with braised cabbage.

Oh, and I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef. The sauce is so flavorful you don’t notice the difference.

Saturday: Asian Spice

We dropped off my car at a Honda service center to have lots of repairs done (the right front shock absorber is leaking oil, one of the headlights is out, I’ve received recall notices from Honda that the airbag needs to be checked…etc). Later that evening, Paul and I decided to eat dinner at Asian Spice in Chinatown. I’ve been there quite a few times in the past, but the last time was a year and a half ago. I had sushi (which I especially enjoyed because they didn’t load it up with rice like some places do…the rice layer was very thin and there was a lot of filling).

Sunday: Baked Tandoori Chicken

My changes: 1) Used drumsticks instead of thighs; 2) Substituted a can of full-fat coconut milk for the Greek yogurt.

This was my first time making this recipe. I wanted to try baking chicken again (I was pretty bummed after the “I threw most of a chicken away because it wasn’t completely cooked” fiasco). It was easier this time because I wasn’t baking a whole chicken — just a rack of drumsticks.

They turned out well. I could taste the marinade but it wasn’t overwhelming. And even though I cooked the chicken longer than the recipe called for (65 minutes instead of 45), they weren’t dry at all. I’d use this recipe again.