Recipe Reviews

I really love to find and try new recipes. Sometimes they aren't all that and a bag of chips, but occasionally, I hit a winner. In the past week, I have found two recipes that are going to become staples at our family dinner table!

Lasagna Soup
Recipe source: Family Fun magazine

I really love Family Fun for their craft ideas, but they always have some interesting kid-friendly recipes as well. This one sold me just on the picture alone. Now, I don't exactly consider this to be a soup but rathermore like a "stoup" (in hommage to Rachel Ray). Nonetheless, it was a HUGE hit around our dinner table. Now, if you leave the recipe "as is", it makes 13 cups. I don't know about you, but that's a heck of a lot of soup for a family of four (considering the petite one doesn't eat that much). I chose to cut the recipe in half. I used a mild italian sausage made by our local grocery store which was a little spicy (I know you are laughing at me, Ms. M!); next time I might try their sweet italian sausage blend. I also did blend the full amount of the ricotta & parmasan cheese because this is Wisconsin after all and everything is better with more cheese! The next time, I would probably add a little more pasta as well (and would proably have even more leftovers). This fed our family well plus we had a full serving of leftover. Be sure to serve with either garlic bread or breadsticks
to make it even yummier!


Ranch Style Chicken
Source: The Pioneer Woman

If I were stuck on a ranch, I think I would cook just as much as The Pioneer Woman. This woman just has a knack for coming up with some of the best recipes though I must admit, she really loves her butter and bacon. Not the greatest when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but you can always modify! I have to say, hands down, this is probably one of the best chicken dishes EVER! I think it has to do with the honey mustard combo. Ian suggested that the only way it could possibly be better would be if I could get the bacon, cheese and chicken to all stay together when he cut it. Not sure how to do that, but I kow I'll be making this agin so I sure will try! I did use my Pampered Chef stoneware to bake the bacon rather than fry it in the pan as she suggests. I just spooned a little bit of the bacon grease into my skillet when I went to sear the chicken. I'm thinking the next time I will use turkey bacon to bring down the fat content. I don't think the lack of grease will affect the searing since I use non-stick cookware anyhow. I would say though, if you have these ingredients on hand, this is what should be for dinner tonight. Seriously, I could probably eat this every week!

Ok, that's it for now. If I come across any other winners, I'll be sure to let you know.