Try something new {recipes}

When I was in school, especially this past year, I resorted to the easiest, quickest, pantry-friendly meals.  There were about 6 meals we had on a regular basis: tacos, taco salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, and Bisquick biscuits), stir fry, hot dogs, sushi from Kroger, Papa John's carry out, or BLTs.

Once I graduated and summer began, I started aching to get back in the kitchen.  I wanted to treat Bryce to some better home cooked meals.  I also wanted to spend more time trying new recipes.  

With that, I have decided to have a goal: try 1 new recipe a week.  I think setting goals can be great, but it can also be set up for failure if it's too big of a goal (hence ONE new recipe a week).  

So far, so good.  Here are some I've tried.

I love Joy the Baker and was perusing her recipe index.  I couldn't remember the last time I made chocolate chip cookies.  I've also never cooked with molasses.  These cookies were rich, chewy, and delightful.

We've never made ribs from scratch but we love a good tender rack of ribs from the River Company, so I decided to try them.

Source: mmmisformommy.com via Elissa on Pinterest

They were awesome and easier than I expected!  I'm glad I tried a recipe using a slow cooker because it was easy!  I always think of ribs being very difficult to get right.

I also made a cookies and cream ice cream pie with a recipe from Cayce.  Sooo easy and delicious!  Plus it is so versatile-you can switch it up using graham cracker crust, different flavor ice creams, and try different kinds of crushed cookies or candy (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, anyone?)

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream Pie
Ingredients
A pre-made oreo pie crust
About half a gallon of coffee ice cream (eye ball it so it will fit into your pie crust)
8 oz cool whip
About 3/4 container of crushed oreos

Let the ice cream and cool whip soften, mix it all together, and put it in the crust.  Harden in freezer.

(sorry, no picture!)

I've never made stuffed chicken breasts.  I found this recipe and it looked awesome in the picture so I thought I'd go for it.

We loved the chicken.  It was perfectly moist and the cheese just oozed out and mixed with the roasted tomatoes.  I served it with salad and toasted focaccia slices which was perfect for spooning the cheese tomato mixture on for extra flavor almost like bruschetta .  It was also an easy recipe to adapt for 2 people (2 chicken breasts).  Here's mine that we enjoyed:

After a couple savory dishes, I was dying to bake something delicious and sweet.

It is just about 7 weeks until the beginning of September, which means Fall is just around the corner and summer is flying by (way too fast considering we will have a child by Fall but that's another thing in itself!).  When I found the recipe for Pumpkin Pull Apart bread on Pinterest, I was sold.  It's the middle of July, but a baked treat with pumpkin sounds so good!

Source: jessicainsd.blogspot.com via Elissa on Pinterest

I have had a can of pumpkin sitting in our pantry and this was the perfect recipe for it.  It was a little involved and took awhile to make, but yes, it was as delicious as it looks in that picture.  You need to try it.  It didn't last long here and I didn't even do the sugar glaze on top.  We ate it right out of the oven and it was sooo good.

We have a big ice cream maker (the kind you use rock salt with) and love it.  But we only use it when we are having more than 2 people over because it makes a ton and is a process.  We have actually only used it a few times since we got married.  It was a wedding gift.  We LOOOOVE ice cream though.  We eat ice cream almost every single night.  We've definitely cut back though since when we first got married. 

Lately we've been thinking about getting a more manageable ice cream maker that makes less with less work.  Some friends told us about an attachment for a mixer that makes just about half a gallon of ice cream or frozen yogurt.  With an Amazon gift card we have, I'm very tempted.  It sounds so much easier than the one we have, just pop the bowl in the freezer or keep it in the freezer, and when the ingredients are ready, take the bowl out and churn the ingredients in the mixer. 

Before we go and buy the ice cream attachment, I wanted to see if I could make home made ice cream without a machine.  So I made this recipe that I found on Pinterest.

Source: kevinandamanda.com via Elissa on Pinterest

2 cups heavy whipping cream + 1 can of sweetened condensed milk + chopped strawberries + 1 teaspoon of vanilla = "ice cream" that tasted more like strawberries and whipped cream.  It was okay, but it definitely was not ice cream.  It would've been great on pound cake.  Maybe it was the flavor I tried?

I still would like to try another non-machine ice cream recipe and see if it tastes like real churned ice cream...just wondering if it's possible to make good homemade ice cream without the churning.