This Month’s Greatest Hits

It’s been a month of great eating, I must say. When I look back on a month of stellar dinners, I smile. And then I think of you, Dear Reader. 🙂

What I SHOULD be doing though is taking photos when I have a month of good dinners – what kind of a food blogger am I?! Obviously an amateur, sheesh! Pardon me, it’ll never happen again.

So here’s another installment of the “Dinner?….Again?! What are you looking at me for…?” series in the hopes it might help, inspire, or cajole you. Alternately, it is a bit of voyeurism in case you are one of those peek-in-the-medicine-cabinet types ever curious about other people’s minutiae.

Indian packets (Tasty Bite is a very reliable brand, but if you have an Indian food market nearby they probably have a great selection of shelf-stable packets and frozen entrées)

Green Chile Pork with pintos, avocado, and rice…I don’t personally follow a recipe for this anymore, but this one from the pork people is a good starting point. I’ve gotten too lazy/busy to brown the meat first – I just dump all the ingredients in the slow cooker. And of course I am fortunate to have access to amazing freshly roasted green chiles, rather than relying on canned. (ps: If you don’t live in CO or NM, move here. Green Chile is a “thing,” like a really really good thing.) Add more or less green chile to your taste. When they are sold in late summer I stock up – some years we can them, lately we just tend to freeze them, either flat or in cubes.

While we’re on the topic of green chile, this Sunset recipe for Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas is fairly spectacular. I went pretty far overboard on the amount of green chile I added to the sauce, so I tempered it by adding some half & half. Delish.

Mushroom Ravioli (store-bought, frozen) with Pinch of Yum’s unbeatable Creamy Cauliflower Sauce (ps: you’ll never go back to alfredo).

Sweet-and-Sour Tangerine Chicken Stir-Fry – I used those cute little clementine oranges rather than tangerines.

Rick Bayless’ Tortilla Soup – such a revelation! Thanks to Food52 for bringing this into my life and mouth. Not your run of the mill tortilla soup. Wonderful depth of flavor from a meatless soup. I added a can of black beans just to bulk it out a bit, tripled the amount of tomato, skipped the chard, and uh…needless to say I did not make my own tortilla chips.

Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup from Pinch of Yum. I skipped the cream sauce addition, and added extra carrots.

Lasagne…this one kind of goes without saying. But it’s one of those things I somehow forgot to eat enough of this winter. So I’ve got to pack my lasagne quota into these few fleeting weeks of spring! Feel free to disagree, but in this homecook’s opinion lasagne is a winter-only meal. I can truly say I have no proper recipe for this. I make it differently every time which is its own blessing and curse. Really helpful to you, right? I know.

Homemade Falafel from Just a Taste with flatbread, tomatoes, cucumber, couscous, and White Bean Dip. I add a blitzed zucchini, which really messes with the falafel recipe but I feel it’s worthwhile to add a veg.

Shrimp, Kale, and Pesto Pizza (wwwhhhyyy didn’t I take a picture of this?!? It was so beautiful and soooo good.)

CORN IS BACK!! Can you feel the elation without my using more exclamation points? Honestly, I’m trying to contain my enthusiasm since my feelings about fresh corn can be quite overwhelming. Nothing makes me happier than corn. OK, maybe no vegetable makes me as happy as corn. That said, when both corn and grilling weather return it is time for Poblano Tacos with Roasted Corn c/o Denver’s Pinche Taqueria as shared in Men’s Journal.

What about breakfast you might wonder?…

Banana Wee-eat Germ Muffins from Weelicious (I add mini chocolate chips, as if I have some choice in the matter).

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sally’s Baking Addiction – these 4-5 ingredient gluten-free cookies are a wonder! I’ve been making a half recipe and then quartering or skipping the baking soda, but that’s up here at elevation. Play around with this wonderful recipe idea for yourself.

What was your greatest gustatory hit this month? Any new recipes tried or discovered? Don’t keep it to yourself…share!