January Dinners

Here are some dinner ideas from around the web. I made each of these in the past 3 weeks. This selection is the recipes I can link to which were successful. Successful being defined as worth making again in the future or worth trying again in the future with modifications. Other dinners without internet presence included: spaghetti, ginger chicken with coconut, creamy ranch chicken, sweet & sour meatballs, steak stir fry with vegetables, honey lime enchiladas, and hummus baked chicken.

• Korean Beef and Rice Bowl - I like this dish because of all its veggies, and it comes together quickly if you purchase the carrots already matchsticked.
• Cuban Tacos - This was a new dish I tried. I liked it, but they were very dry. I don't know if that was a cooking mistake or just the nature of the dish. I feel like they need some sort of southwest-inspired ranch sauce.
• Chicken Pot Pie - Little Hands is particularly fond of this dish; the boy loves a good cream sauce. Making one pie alone is too high an effort for a single meal, so I double the recipe and freeze the second pie. I also stick with store-bought crusts on this one to reduce the workload. To this recipe I add more salt and nutmeg to taste, a clove of garlic per pie, and I substitute the black pepper with white pepper.
• Drunken Noodles - This dish struck my fancy, and my downfall was the rice noodles required 30 minutes of soak time before cooking. I liked the dish, but didn't love it. As with all rice noodles dishes, I found myself hunger again an hour later.
• Meatball Sandwich - Another dish where I was able to freeze half the yield. I drastically cut down the onion, and I felt that was a good decision. Next time I'd take the red pepper down a bit as well. I love a good, hot dish, but the heat in this one overwhelmed the spiciness of the meatballs.
• Fajitas - Yum. I like this recipe better than the pack o seasoning I used to use. I omit the fancy sizzling step, and I just warm up the tortillas in the microwave.
• Beef Stroganoff with Dill This is a recipe that I cut in half. I also use a cheap cut of beef, slice it thin, and then cook it slowly for-ev-er.
• Disneyland Monte Cristo Sandwich My downfall on these was I don't have a thermometer to gauge oil temperature, and my oil was too cold. The other downfall is that each sandwich half takes up 4-6 minutes to cook. This is not a fast dish.
• Chicken CarbonaraIn place of the pancetta I used bacon. I also halved the recipe and doubled the bacon. Delicious despite the fact it clogs arteries.