Cook Something Different Challenge

skaps

paprika, chilli powder or chilli sauce

skaps

Last week the OH cooked for me all week so did not cook anything different. Today though have made coriander and lime rice, easy and fresh tasting and have an apple and cinnamon crumble cake in the oven at the moment.

lisa26_2

The other day I made a mexican pie thing! I made it up as I went along. I had some leftover spiced mince from tacos to which I added some chopped peppers, some frozen baby carrots and a jar of salsa. i then topped this with Mash, a sprinkling of cheese and some oregano and baked in the oven. Was quite tasty actually!

rachbc

I made the fragrant pork one pot last night - enjoyed it but will do a few tweaks before it becomes a staple.

My new recipes for next months plan so far are pork and lemon meatballs (Nigel Slater) and honey and 5 spice braised chicken (Gordon Ramsay) - going to scour cookbooks to find a couple more too

babyshoes

Had an experi-meal last night - a sort of potato bake using up old potatoes. Sliced part-cooked potatoes, then layered with cooked bacon bits, spinach and Iceland's cauliflower and broccoli cheese, topped with cheese and breadcrumbs for crispy topping. Came out really nice, but next time I think I will leave out the spinach, as it gave off loads of liquid and diluted the cheese sauce too much. Didn't add much taste either, just another portion of veg. Rather add something like parsnips or carrots sliced up with the potatoes, methinks.

lisa26_2

Just remembered, I have a new one tonight too and I did a partly new one last night

Last night I did pork chops and marinaded them in lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, chilli and some five spice then cooked in a griddle pan. I served them with stir fried veg and noodles.

Tonight I have some chicken drumsticks and thighs marinading in jamaican jerk marinade (from a jar) that I mixed with yogurt. I'll be baking them in the oven with cherry tomatoes, courgettes, mushrooms and jacket spuds. Yum!

misscousinitt

Have been doing a new dish nearly every week - but keep forgetting to post on here:

This week will be Herby Salmon Parcels with Cous Cous - variation on a theme but cooked in a greaseproof paper parcel. Recipe on the good food . com site.

ellemm

Trying ham cooked in cola in the slow cooker for the first time. Fancied it for ages after seeing the recipe mentioned in various threads.

skaps

Cooked beef in coconut sauce yesterday which was my new recipe for the week.

freakyogre

It's review time for April!

• Chicken with creamy pesto and broad beans - yummy! will do again as a quick meal
• Red pepper, mozzarella and spinach melt - I think my pepper had been in the fridge a tad too long as tasted 'odd', but apart from that this was ok. I think I used too much mozzarella too. I don't think i'd do it again, i'll stick to my 'pizza bagel'
• Spicy vegetable meatballs with pasta - using leftover mixture from burgers - really nice, I had some leftover so put them in a wrap with salad and some chilli sauce for lunch the next day and they were lovely. 3 meals out of one recipe, not bad!
• Spiced chicken with rice and crisp red onions - the chicken was really nice considering it just had curry powder on it. The onions were ok, but went from uncooked to slightly burnt in seconds, so you really need to keep an eye on them!
• Fragrant pork and rice one pot - really really nice, I made this last Sunday after a bike ride, but wasn't really hungry, but after trying it, I changed my mind Got 2 portions in the freezer (one I will have this week) and will make again as the flavours were really tasty. I used 1pt of stock which seemed the perfect amount
• Corn and shrimp cakes (serving with rice?) - hmm, ok. The mixture was very wet, so fell apart when cooking and I could taste the raw garlic (it said to use 6 cloves, I did 3 and it was too much and I LOVE garlic!) The rest has been added to some mashed potato in an attempt to salvage it into some sort of fishcake. Worth a try I suppose.

May i'm not sure on at the moment as am trying deperately to use the contents of my freezer/cupboard rather than adding to it so I haven't done a monthly plan. I may end up having repeat meals just to use what I have. I'll try and do one new one a week, but not for the sake of it. This week I have chicken crumble on the list planned as never made or tried it before.