One Dish Dinners

 

I've spend a lot of time listening to NPR at school and I often hear interviews with authors of cookbooks. Every book they talk about sounds awesome, but "Perfect One-Dish Dinners" really sounded like the cookbook for me - so I ordered it. I've always been a fan of one-dish dinners. They're appealing to me because I don't have to worry about all my dishes being ready to eat the same time, they're usually fairly easy to prepare, and I feel like I eat less when I eat dinners with only one dish. And let's face it, cooking hasn't exactly been one of my priorities while in grad school and I think it should stay that way if I ever want to finish my PhD!

Everything I've tried from "Perfect One-Dish Dinner" has been very yummy. My favorites are the quick creamy lasagna made with cream cheese and the jerk chicken chili. I LOVE cream cheese and had never thought of using it in lasagna, but now I will never go back.  The jerk chicken chili was also an interesting recipe, a mix of a bunch of ingredients I never would have thought of putting together myself including cinnamon and chocolate. As the chili cooked, it smelled like a weird concoction and mix of flavors that should should never have been put in the same pot together. After it simmered and the flavors blended though it all came together and it was delicious. I put about half of it in the freezer and I can't wait to take it out and finish it. One of the things that made the chili great was the tender chicken. The recipe called for a whole rotisserie chicken which I bought at the grocery store. I had never bought one of those before, but it was so tender and delicious it definitely won't be the last.

I've been freezing a portion of most things we cook to use in our lunches later on. I'm amazed at how much food we've been able to cram into our little freezer: two 3lb bags of sliced peaches, several containers of frozen fruit, a bunch of game from Kelly and Alex in Montana, several salmon fillets from Mollie and Mark in Alaska, and the leftovers of our one-dish dinners. Can't wait to eat it all! Let me know if you'd like any of the recipes, I highly recommend this cookbook!

-Molly