Catchin' Up in the Kitchen

So, that whole thing about posting what I've been cooking on a weekly basis hasn't really panned out, has it?  What a shocker, especially if you know me (and especially if you know me lately).  It probably wasn't that wise to "commit" myself to something like this just before the holidays, when I knew we'd be busy and traveling.  As it was our fridge was mostly bare for a good part of late December, so dinners were interesting, to say the least. 

Instead of trying to hold myself to a standard that I clearly couldn't keep, even for a week, I'll just try to post periodic updates for recipes worth your time.  How 'bout that??

Let's see.  Since my last update, I've made:

• John's favorite chicken enchiladas twice
• Spanish Spaghetti - very good; a nice variation on the traditional spaghetti with meat sauce.  Next time I will up the spice and saffron a bit based on our preference for a bolder flavor.  I also didn't have time or interest in purchasing actual sherry, so I got some sherry vinegar and just put a couple of splashes in as an alternative.  Worked for us.  I made it with whole wheat spaghetti; I usually try to do this with most any pasta these days because there are so many better-tasting options available now.  A lot of times I cannot even tell the difference in taste, so why not add some fiber and whole grains to your diet while you're at it?!?
• Turkey meatloaf.  No recipe, just used a pack (usually about 1 1/4 lb) of 99% fat free ground turkey, chopped up half a green bell pepper very finely (since the 99 turket can get dry in a hurry), a couple of tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs, handful of grated parm cheese and seasoned with garlic powder (out of fresh garlic), seasoned salt and some grilling pepper that is in my pantry, which is basically seasoned pepper.  I also added a couple tablespoons of some crushed tomatoes that I had in the fridge and a few glugs of my favorite barbecue sauce (Rudy's, linked to it previously in one of my recipe posts).  I mixed about half of that combo into the meat and saved the rest to spread on top.  Mixed it all up with my hands and put in a loaf pan, topped and baked at 400 for about 30-40 minutes (didn't really pay attention to the time, just until it was done in the middle).  I actually prefer doing turkey burgers with the 93/7 ground turkey, but I have a hard time finding it sometimes.  The 99 worked and really it was a totally delicious outcome for such a hodgepodge process.
• Ina Garten's Baked Penne with Five Cheeses - it was decadent and tasted awesome, but I'd maybe tweak it a bit becuase the sauce stayed a little too soupy for my liking.

I've certainly made other things; just nothing to write home about.  I hope to start taking some food pics with my new toy that John got me for Christmas - yay!