Week 5: Cheese Pancakes

The Recipe
2 eggs
5 dl (~2cups) shredded cheese
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1 tsp oregano

Mix everything together in a bowl. It won't look like pancake batter at all - basically like wet cheese ;).

Heat some butter in a pan, and bake the pancakes until golden brown on both sides.

Makes about 5 small'ish pancakes.

The Verdict
I'd never heard of psyllium husk before and was intrigued. Besides - cheese pancakes? What's not to like?!
The batter looked totally weird, and I didn't think they'd ever turn into pancakes, but the end result looked decent enough, and it tasted good too. But very, VERY rich! I'd thought I could eat them "as is", but their richness really needs to be "cut" with something. I had some avocado which worked nicely, but I think salmon or sausages of some kind would do the trick too.

Week 4: Chicken Thai Nachos

Chicken Pad Thai Nachos

The Recipe
2 tbsp lemon concentrate or 1/2 fresh lime juice (1/4 lemon I guess...)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 heaped tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp chili sauce
1 heaped tbsp peanut butter
450g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 (200g) bag nachos
1 cup mozzarella or cheddar cheese, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
2 spring onions, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
avocado

Pour the nachos into an ovenproof dish.

Heat a bit of oil in a pan over medium heat, and cook the chicken until cooked through and easily shredded. Break into smaller pieces if necessary. Add the lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar, chili sauce and peanut butter and stir frequently until the peanut butter has melted and all the chicken is nicely coated. Pour mixture over the nachos. Top with carrots

Add bell pepper and spring onions to the pan and give a quick stir to pick up the last of the sauce. Pour over the nachos.

Top with cheese.

Broil until the cheese has melted - about 5 minutes in my oven, but keep an eye out.

Serve with avocado and chili sauce.

The Verdict
DH and I love nachos, and this was a nice chance from the usual mince sauce I make. The peanut butter gave it a nice twist - I really like the way it tasted :)

Week 3: Tortillas Pizza

The Recipe
2 pizza tortillas per person (thicker than regular tortillas, but I guess you could use one regular one and fold it double for thickness)
1 tbsp tomato paste per tortillas (70g was enough for 4 tortillas)
Pizza toppings such as...
bell pepper
ham
salami / pepperoni
Onion sliced thin
Sausages sliced thin
Gorgonzola (I cannot stand gorgonzola... except on pizza!)
Shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat the oven to 250C.

Prepare all the toppings.

Put the pizza tortillas on a baking sheet and spread thinly with tomato paste. Add toppings to taste, ending with the cheese.

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Mine weren't quite done after 7 but nice and crisp after 8.

The Verdict
A new favourite! All the great taste of pizza with none of the hassle. I absolutely loved it! And since you make individual pizzas, it's easier to cater to everybody's taste as well.

Really yummy, really easy - DEFINITELY something I'll be making again!

Week 2: Stuffed Pepper Soup

The Recipe
1 dl rice (can be omitted)
1 lb ground beef
2 bell peppers
1 finely diced onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (~15oz) tomatoes
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
salt and fresh pepper to taste

In a large pot brown ground meat on high heat and season with salt. Add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes on low heat. Add rice and mix thoroughly.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30-45 minutes or until the rice are done.

Serve with cheese for topping.

The Verdict
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce is a lot of acidity without any sugar to cut the taste! And it did turn out rather sharp, but fortunately that was easily remedied by adding sugar at serving time. Otherwise I liked it well enough, but it didn't "rock my world". It was a solid soup that was really easy to make, but which didn't bring anything spectacular to the table.

Week 1: Honey-Mustard Chicken with Pretzels

The Recipe
3 tbsp honey
4 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp grainy dijon mustard (optional)
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
450g chicken breast, pounded thin
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3/4 cup pretzels or nachos chips crushed
1/4 cup chopped cashew nuts
6-8 slices (rounds) of bell pepper ~1cm thick.

Heat the oven to 200C.

Mix the honey, mustards, oil, lemon juice and garlic, season with salt and pepper and divide in half.
Mix pretzels, cashew nuts and breadcrumbs together.
Dredge the chicken in the flour, dip in half of the dressing, press into the breadcrumb / pretzels mixture and place on the bell pepper slices in an ovenproof dish.
Bake until cooked and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts.

Serve straight from the oven with remaining dressing.

The Verdict
I don't like pretzels - not the ones found in Denmark anyway, so went with the crushed nacho chips. Good call :) I think it would also have worked well with just cashew nuts or a mixture of nuts. The sky's the limit.

There was far too much flour and breadcrumbs mix - I think I could probably have made do with 2/3rds of each. I'll try that next time.

But it was absolutely delicious. The coatings made the chicken so extremely tender and moist - completely preventing the dryness that's so common with ovenbaked chicken. DH didn't care overly much for the breadcrumb coating but loved the dressing. I loved it all :) So next time I'll probably make half-and-half to cater to each of us :) I love it when catering to different tastes is so easy as just leaving out the final step.