Better Luck Next Time

Some weeks I have big plans about all the dishes I want to cook for my blog. This week I was excited to try a couple new recipes that I had found online. While we didn't starve, I ended up totally underwhelmed by what came out of my kitchen this week, so I'm here to tell you about what really happens in my kitchen. I usually just share my successful recipes, to offer ideas of things my friends and family might like to try. But I'm not perfect, so I figured it's better to post my less amazing attempts at dinner, instead of no posts at all!


I'll start with the worst... Tofu and Green Beans in a Coconut Sauce, from epicurious. I used baked tofu instead of marinating and searing my own, but that was really the least of my problems. The sauce was slimy, and totally flavorless. I thought it tasted ok when I sampled it, but once I put the tofu and green bean mixture onto rice noodles, all flavor disappeared. Maybe the worst part was that I used full-fat coconut milk, so it was not even healthy! I mixed a bunch of extra stuff in before Joe ate some leftovers, and he said it was decent, but I won't bother trying to make this dish any better. Blah!


Second attempt was Tempeh Curry from 101 Cookbooks. This dish wasn't really bad, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. I think a problem might have been that I was using pretty low quality curry powder, an issue I've already remedied. I will most likely try this again, but will tweak the spices to get more flavor out of it. Also, I might try to encorporate a veggie into the curry, along with the potatoes. It was a good start, so don't be surprised if you see a full post for this recipe in the future.

These beautiful spices looked so promising...

At least I got to use my super-awesome Shun utility knife when cutting my tempeh. This knife is ridiculously amazing!

I also made fajitas, which were awesome. But I'm not going to blog about fajitas, because I think it's something we all know how to make. Season some chicken, saute it, add some peppers and onions, saute more... then top with cheese, salsa, sour cream, or whatever suits your fancy. To go with the fajitas, I made black beans and rice from my new I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook. The cookbook is a lot of fun, and the beans had really good flavor. The only problem was that the drained beans were pretty dry, and Joe and I agreed we like our black beans a little soupier. This is another recipe that I might play around with, then post when I achieve better results. The cookbook is a good one, though, full of quick and flavorful recipe ideas. I'm sure you'll see me reference it again soon!

I'm not going to bother trying to get this picture to turn the right way... the sideways picture is a nice visual representation of my cooking this past week!

Next week will be better, I swear! Feel free to send me any winning recipes that you really enjoy, because I could use some inspiration. Have a great weekend everyone!