Our Favorite Recipes

These are some of our "fall back" recipes. We've made them quite a few times without disappointment :)

3-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese
It is delicious. We use a LOT less salt than the recipe calls for (either no salt or 1/4 tsp of salt), and we also don't use the bread crumbs or the fresh parsley. If we make up a batch of this, we divide it into thirds and freeze 2 containers of it for another night. Best mac and cheese ever, but definitely not very healthy.

Mexican Lasagna
Also a favorite. A batch of this will work for a dinner, and then each of us will have leftovers for two days. We use flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas but other than that, we follow the recipe.

Rachel Ray's Tomato and Bean 15 Minute Soup
Yummy! My favorite soup ever. Be sure to use cannellini beans. This soup freezes well, so we usually try to make a double batch.

Rachel Ray's Black Bean Stoup
This soup also freezes well, so it's nice to make a double batch of it (less cooking is always good). We have never made the "Southwestern Monte Cristo Sandwiches" that go along with it, so I can't tell you if it's good. Be sure to adjust the amount of hot sauce you use, depending on how much heat you can handle. Same with the jalapeno peppers.

Emeril's Fried Rice
This is a good fried rice. We have never used 3 types of meat in it (like the recipe calls for). We usually just use 1 1/2 cups of pork. We sometimes use parsley, but sometimes don't bother. And we don't bother using the wonton wrappers.

Buffalo Chicken Salad
This is a good quick and easy recipe. Warning: it is very salty. Probably because of the blue cheese crumbles. We usually just buy a bag of romaine lettuce, and instead of making our own buffalo chicken we just buy a bag of Tyson buffalo chicken nuggets and prepare them according to the box (so you can cut the last 5 ingredients out of the recipe). I think that these are usually about 1/3 of the cost of these. Probably not healthy...but....

Pizza with Red Peppers and Black Olives
We usually just buy a store bought crust from the dairy section at the grocery store. And we usually substitute regular canned black olives for the Kalamata olives. We use a lot less of them than the recipe calls for because E is not in love with olives :)

Steak Frites with Shallot Pan Reduction
This is delicious. The French fries are a little too high-maintenance, though. I'd rather have mashed potatoes. A good alternative to going out for dinner.

Three-Bean Chili
This is pretty easy to make. And since it's from Cooking Light, I pretend that it is healthy.