Yuccata Be Kidding Me!

Hello again!! This week was rather interesting, I had 7 people over for dinner :)!  Joining us tonight was, Monkey, Princess, The Boyfriend (YES!  No early start!), Daisy, JLC, Fil, Fro and of course, me!  I also bought a brand new frying pan because when I made the bison burgers, it totally ruined one of my pans :(.

The ingredients:  Yucca, Smoked Mozzarella, Prosciutto and Polenta. (yep! I used four this time!)

What I made:  Chicken Breasts, pounded thin, stuffed with smoked mozzarella and prosciutto and rolled in bread crumbs.  A yucca and veggie stir fry and polenta fritters. 

The responses:

JLC: She LOVED the chicken, but felt the stir fry was not crisp enough, and I used too much yucca.  She thought that the polenta fritters were good, but that they needed some kind of light flavoring to it.  Perhaps a light sauce or something.

Fil: He thought the whole meal was amazing.  He felt the stir fry was good, but had too much yucca in it as well.  He enjoyed the fritters too.

Fro:  He says the chicken was good, but the mozzarella made it taste a little dry, he still really enjoyed it.  He agrees with JLC and Fil that there was too much yucca in the stir fry.  He didn't think the fritters had enough to them, it just needed something extra.

Monkey:  He thought that everything was all awesome, but there was too much yucca.  He liked dipping the chicken and the fritters in honey mustard. 

Princess:  She says that the stir fry could have either used less yucca or more of everything else.  The chicken was good, but it could have used some kind of a sauce.  The fritters she didn't care for, and only ate one of them.

Daisy:  She is a very picky eater and says she didn't like anything.  But, she did eat some of it. :)

The Boyfriend:  He thought that the stir fry was good and that, while there was a little too much yucca in it, it was really filling.  The yucca is a little heavy.  He said the chicken was 100% awesome, no complaints at all.  The fritters were pretty good, but they didn't have a lot of flavor. 

Me:  I have to agree that the stir fry was a little yucca heavy.  I didn't even manage to finish all of it.  Looking back, I wish I had done something different with the yucca, maybe a mash of some sort instead.  Or perhaps if I hadn't put the sesame garlic sauce in it, it might have tasted a little better.  I may use it again, just in some other way.  I thought the chicken was really good, and the smoked mozzarella made it taste kinda smokey, which was nice.  I didn't care for the polenta at all, and I have so much extra left of it, I'm not sure what to do with it!! :)   If anyone has some ideas on some other way to make it, I'm all ears!!


Again, I would consider this a pretty successful meal.  I've been told that I need to make the chicken again, and to make it a part of the "regular rotation" of meals. :)  I hope everyone is enjoying the blog! :)  And remember, I NEED IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, ANYTHING!!!! :)


Thanks,
Jazaray

Kids came home hungry!

Well, I was expecting to do this tomorrow, but both Princess and Monkey came home very hungry and wanted to try the dinner! :D   YAY!


Their responses: 

Monkey: He liked everything about the meal, even the arugula!  he did end up putting some sweet vidala onion dressing on it, but he said he would have eaten it even without the dressing.  He'd had the potatoes before, and he liked the sausage but said it tasted like I normally make it.  And he too, loved the chayote. :)


Princess: She liked the chayotes, a LOT.  She didn't even wait for me to warm it back up!  She didn't really care for the arugula, but she said it tasted better with the cheese.  She has also had the potatoes before, and said the sausage was good, but not out of the ordinary. 

All in all, I think this was a successful dinner. :)

Thanks,
Jazaray

Bittersweet Victory

Well, this week was certainly interesting.  Princess and Monkey decided to go over their friends houses for the day and wouldn't be home for dinner, and The Boyfriend had to leave early for work, again.  I had already invited three of my friends over for the dinner, so I could not postpone it for another day. 

Ingredients for this week were:

Arugula, Lime(no, I have never cooked with lime..), and Chayotes (I have no idea how to pronounce that one..)

What I made:

Sweet italian sausage seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, Adobo, lemon juice and lime juice, also with lemon and lime zest grated into it.  My own creation of paprika sliced potatoes, sauteed in butter with salt and pepper for taste.  There was a recipe on the bag that the Chayotes came in, so I used that for it.  And an arugula and green pepper salad with shredded carrot and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  

The responses: 

JLC: Yep, she came over again for dinner!!  JLC has eaten arugula before and she likes it ok, it's appearently a bitter green and I didn't know that. She told me that as I was cooking, so I tried to cut the bitterness with some lemon juice, lime juice and the Parmesan cheese.  JLC enjoyed the whole meal and especially liked the chayote!  She asked for the recipe so that she could make it sometime.  I had already thrown out the bag, so I went digging through the garbage to find it!  For those who'd also like to try it, I'll include the recipe at the end of this post.  She said that not everyone enjoys arugula, and you have to be careful with you prepare it with.

Fro: This was his first time to my apartment, and I've known him for 14 years!  He did NOT like the arugula, at all, after the first bite, he wouldn't eat any more of it.  It ended up in the garbage. He is now making tons of arugula jokes about how horrible it is! :D   He also liked the chayote very much.  He said you couldn't really taste the lemon/lime in the sausage, but that it is probably because sausage is such a strong flavor.  He didn't realize that the paprika potatoes were potatoes and almost wouldn't eat them until he was informed of that. 

Fil:  Fil is JLC's boyfriend, and they come over fairly often.  Fil also didn't like the arugula and most of it ended up in the trash.  He's a pretty quiet kinda guy too, so didn't really say much until I squeezed it out of him!  "It was good."  Well, at least that's SOMETHING!

Daisy:  Yep, my goddaughter was here again too and she ate the meal with us this time!  She liked the sausage and that was about it. :)  She never eats much of anything so I wasn't surprised.

Me: I also didn't really care for the arugula, but I did eat it all.  After I put some buttermilk ranch dressing on it. (I tried it without first!)  It is very bitter and not something I'm looking forward to having again.  Perhaps if I figure out how to make it less bitter.  I also really enjoyed the chayote and I will definitely be making it again!  I agreed that you couldn't really taste the lemon/lime in the sausage and I've always liked my potatoes. :D  I have some leftovers, so I'm going to make The Boyfriend, Princess and Monkey try some tomorrow.


I can't seem to find my digital camera, so I had to take pics with my cell phone and forward it on to my email addy. 

Here's the recipe for the chayotes:

4 medium chayotes
2 medium onions
butter
salt and pepper
2 eggs
american cheese (I used shredded mozz.)

Cut the chayotes in half, place in boiling salted water and cook until tender.  Approx. 15 mins (I cooked it for 15 mins, and I don't think they were tender enough, when I cook them again I will try 20 mins)  Scoop out the pulp and reserve the shells.
Chop the pulp and drain.  Mince the onions and fry slowly in butter until transparent.  Add the pulp of the chayote and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Break the two eggs over the mixture and cook over low heat for a few minutes, mixing well until done.  Stuff the shells and top with grated (shredded :P) cheese.  Place in a hot over at 400 degrees F until melted and golden. 

Sorry the pics are so crappy :(

Thanks,
Jazaray