Chopped Challenge #13: Macaroni & Cheese Pot Pie

Well, it seems that I have misplaced/lost/accidentally deleted the photos for Chopped challenges #11 and 12. :( I'm usually so careful about my photos, but I seem to be missing the pictures for those two challenges and a couple other recipes I planned to post. I think I probably uploaded some of the pictures on the memory card but not all of them, and then when I looked at the card later, I saw those same photos, assumed I had transfered everything on the card already, and deleted everything that was on it. C'est la vie. There's nothing I can do about it now. For the record, for challenge 11, I had to cook with chicken, Italian seasoning, tri-color pasta, and flavored wine. Justin left it up to me to pick the flavor of wine. It could be blueberry, peach, strawberry, etc.--anything that specifically listed a flavor on the label was fine. I decided to go with an orange and peach flavored one and used it to make Orange-Honey Chicken with Asian Pasta Salad. I marinated the chicken in the wine and some of the Italian seasoning, and I also used it along with some honey to make a sauce. I coated the chicken with some panko and baked it until it was done, and then I served it with the sauce drizzled over it. For a side, I combined the tri-color pasta with some diced onion and bell pepper, as well as some Asian sesame dressing to make pasta salad. It was pretty good. I think the pasta salad was my favorite part.

For challenge 12, Justin had to use cream cheese, king cake-flavored vodka, chai powder, and frozen waffles. He turned that into Boozy Ice Cream with Chai Topping and Waffle Chips. He used the vodka in some ice cream, like in the Boozy Wedding Cake Ice Cream recipe, and he combined the cream cheese with some pudding mix and the chai powder to make a topping with a consistency that was somewhere between pudding and mousse. Just before serving, he toasted the waffles and cut them into quarters to use for dipping into the dessert. It was tasty, and the mixture of the warm waffles with the cold ice cream was really nice.

That's enough about those though. On to today's challenge! Justin gave me boxed macaroni and cheese, ranch seasoning, pork sausage patties, and frozen broccoli to use. I combined those to make a macaroni and cheese pot pie. In the end, I think it could've been a little saucier--it was definitely more on the dry side--but otherwise the flavors were good. You could just make an extra 1/2 recipe of the sauce (minus the extra cheese) or even just add a bit more milk so that it thins out a bit, and that would probably take care of it. If you like your sauce on the thicker side though, try it as is.

Chopped Challenge #10: Choripollo Flatbread Sandwiches

For our tenth Chopped challenge I gave Justin Pillsbury pizza dough, chorizo, chives, and mashed potato flakes. One of our favorite Mexican restaurants near our last apartment in Indiana had choripollo on their menu, which was a mixture of chicken, chorizo, and cheese sauce. It was really delicious, and you just tossed it onto a tortilla with rice, beans, etc. or inhaled it straight from the plate. Originally Justin was going to attempt to make some sort of choripollo empanadas, but he ended up just turning his idea into more of a sandwich instead, using the pizza dough as the bread and putting the cheese sauce on the side for dipping. The flavor was really good, and I would definitely have him make these for dinner again sometime.

Lasagna Soup

Sorry for the lack of posts again lately. I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, and trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days is surprisingly time-consuming. With Thanksgiving coming up, too, I wouldn't expect too many posts in the next couple weeks if I were you. That being said, let's get on with it.

I'd like to introduce you to one of my new favorite soups. It's really easy to make, and it tastes delicious. I expected to enjoy this recipe, but I didn't expect to love it quite as much as I do. Justin decided as we were eating the leftovers that it kind of tastes like the adult version of spaghetti-o's, which is probably why I'm in love with it. Spaghetti-o's are one of my inner child's ultimate favorite foods--yes they're terrible for you, I know, but I really don't care. If you're not a fan of canned pasta, however, don't be scared into not trying this recipe. It's really nothing like spaghetti-o's; Justin just thought that the sauce in particular reminded him of it a bit, but in a good way, I swear. Give it a try, and see what you think!

Sausage and Tortellini Soup

It's getting colder outside, so you can expect to start seeing a lot more soup recipes on here. I love soup because it warms you up but also because it tends to be fairly low in calories, as long as you're not making anything that's heavy on the cream. This soup has a wonderful combination of Italian flavors, so it makes a nice alternative to a heavy, pasta dinner. Try it out next time you're craving spaghetti. For an even lighter version, use Italian-style chicken or turkey sausage instead of pork.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

One of my favorite smells in the whole world is the scent of a dark roux cooking. Nothing else can transport me back to my childhood so easily. A lot of my favorite recipes (Cajun and otherwise) start with a roux, but a roux this dark, aromatic, and flavorful can only mean one thing--gumbo.

If you haven't actually had gumbo before, it's kind of like a stew. Generally it's served over rice, though some people prefer potato salad. You make it with some sort of stock and add in various meats and vegetables. My favorite combo is chicken and sausage, but seafood gumbo is also delicious. The most important ingredients though are the ones you use to thicken the gumbo. You can use filé, okra, or a roux as your thickener, and each one provides a different overall flavor. My favorite is gumbo made with a roux, but to each his own. (I do like to sprinkle some filé, which consists of ground sassafras leaves, over my gumbo anyway though because I like the earthy flavor that it has.)

Jambalaya Grits

I don't know where my mom found this recipe. I just know that it's amazing. She started making this probably sometime when I was in high school, so even though it's not one of those "childhood favorite" kind of foods, it's still one of my ultimate comfort foods.

If you haven't gathered this by now, I love grits. Growing up in the south will do that to you. If you don't like grits, it's probably because you've only ever had the bland kind they serve with breakfast at restaurants. Grits need lots of salt and lots of love to make them delicious. Jambalaya grits are special because they get even more love. They get chicken. And sausage. And ham. And mozzarella cheese. Oh my. I always make this as a dinner, but I suppose it would be just as delicious as a breakfast or brunch item. Be warned though; this recipe does make a decent bit of food, so make sure you're hungry--you'll want to eat all of it. I promise.

Chopped Challenge #4: CajuMex Burritos

Last night it was Justin's turn to cook for yet another Chopped challenge. This time I gave him orzo (my favorite type of pasta), mozzarella cheese, andouille sausage, and taco seasoning. He turned those ingredients into a delicious, over-stuffed burrito with both Cajun and Mexican influences--andouille and shrimp provided the Cajun aspect, while the taco seasoning and chorizo covered the Mexican side of things. The combination was really quite yummy. I look forward to making this again sometime, though I might try to lighten it up somehow.

Chopped Challenge #3: Baked Pizza Roll-ups

It's time for Chopped challenge #3, and this time Justin chose gorgonzola cheese, poblano peppers, diced tomatoes (canned), and... wonton wrappers. Yep. Wonton wrappers. Clearly my first thought was to make some sort of wonton, probably fried. Then I thought about cutting the wonton wrappers in to strips, frying them, and using them as a garnish on a soup or someting. The other ingredients were fairly wide open--he didn't choose any kind of meat, so I could do almost whatever I wanted with the other three ingredients.

I started thinking about what to do with the gorgonzola, and my first thought was pizza. That's pretty much the only way I've ever had gorgonzola before. If I did something pizza-related, I could also use the tomatoes. Wontons often have some kind of pork filling, so I decided to pick up some sausage and go for a sausage pizza kind of filling. I could just toss the poblanos in there and call it done, but I thought it would be nice if there was a dipping sauce to go with the wontons. I settled on a modified version of my easy Alfredo sauce with a poblano twist.

Creamy Mexican Gumbo

I'm using the term "gumbo" lightly here. The only thing gumbo-y (that's a word, right?) about this is that it's a soup made with a basic roux served over some rice. Other than that, this really resembles gumbo not at all, but I didn't know what else to call it. Basically it's poblano cheese soup poured over ground sausage and rice, but that doesn't sound nearly as catchy.

Texas Toast Pizza

Justin and I saw an ad for Pizza Hut's new garlic bread pizza, and the ingredients to make it at home immediately went on our grocery list. For toppings, I went with crumbled, all-chicken Italian sausage, and Justin chose crumbled chorizo. We also used slices of fresh mozzarella, my absolute favorite thing to put on pizza.

This is an extremely quick and easy weeknight meal, especially if you go with toppings that don't need to be cooked separately. All you have to do is cook the Texas toast, top with sauce, cheese, and whatever other toppings you desire, and pop them back in the oven until the cheese melts. Aside from cooking the sausage, this took literally all of 10-15 minutes to make.

Chopped Challenge #1: Sausage & Herbed Polenta Cakes with Citrus-Tequila Rosé Sauce

Justin and I spent a lot of time watching Chopped on Food Network when we were living in Indiana. At some point, we decided that we should give it a try ourselves, but we never actually got around to it for whatever reason. We thought about it again recently and decided to actually try it this time. Our plan is to alternate who cooks and to do this once per grocery list (every two weeks or so).

For the challenge, one of us selects four ingredients that the other must use to cook dinner. We can use whatever other ingredients we want, and because right now we're telling the cook what the ingredients will be when we're making our grocery list, we can buy whatever extra supplies we need while we're at the store. (We don't have a lot of pantry space here, so we don't have a ton of extra, basic ingredients on hand usually.) The only two guidelines we really set up are that the four ingredients all have to be something we both eat--I can't make him cook with peas, and he can't make me cook with pumpkin--and they can't all four be super calorific, meaning we can't pick butter, bacon, heavy cream, and maple syrup. Lol.

Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

When Justin and I got married, we had a small, intimate ceremony and reception with our families and close friends. We didn't have a lot of money to spend, but we still wanted it to reflect who we are and the things we love. One way we did that was through food. We went with a New Orleans-inspired menu, and my grandparents and my Aunt Jean cooked it for us (with a couple contributions from me and from Justin's mom). We had a hard time deciding on the menu because there are just so many great Cajun dishes that we love, but we wanted to choose things that would appeal not only to my Louisiana family but also to Justin's Indiana family. Something that we thought would bridge that gap well was jambalaya. It's chicken, smoked sausage, and rice with some seasoning--what's not to like?