Dinner for a month - Week 1

I was hoping to have more photo documentation of the new recipes we've tried this week, but some of them were much more appetizing (photo-wise) than others.

1/1 Imitation Mimi's Cafe Carrot Bread with Raisins and Almonds and wassail (though it was an old recipe!)- Very moist, but a bit too dense.


1/2 Taco Lasagna - This needed a layer of rice and a topping of broken chips to be enjoyable.
1/3 Imitation Pf Chang's Orange Peel Chicken - The breading on the chicken did not hold up during the "toss in sauce" stage, but it had a nice flavor.

1/4 - Dinner at church

1/5 - Crumb Topped Cauliflower (to go with a roast James made) - A great flavor (onion, lemon, and a bit of parsley in the crumb topping), but the topping didn't "stick" very well with the cauliflower; so the textures didn't mix that well. A decent side dish that will make it to the table again.

1/6 - French Vinaigrette Dressing - This was used on a nice salad with cauliflower, carrots, and mushrooms. We needed something easy and "new" while we finished off the week's leftovers.

1/7 - Gourmet Dinner Club Night - I was assigned something I've made before, but in my defense it was a new recipe for stuffed mushrooms. They were OK; I wasn't wild about the addition of parsley to the recipe, though I did enjoy the dusting of paprika on top. I most likely will go back to my original recipe.

1/8 - Mushroom Pasta and Hot Fudge Pudding - The pasta was very similar to stroganoff, though I was hoping for more of an Alfredo taste. The pudding (from a new copy of an old cookbook my mom had from 1957) had a nice consistency and flavor, but I would have enjoyed it more had we coupled it with a dish of ice cream.