Tuesday, February 22, 2011

new recipes i've tried



i think you know for sure that you're stuck in a recipe rut when you can't find anything that sounds good in your recipe binder, so you hand it over to your husband to see if he can find anything that sounds good to him.....and he can't. he very sweetly, yet boldly told me, "i think you need to try some new recipes, honey." so i did!



i started out rather fancy (okay, so anything that isn't made in a casserole dish is somewhat fancy to me) and tried a fish piccata recipe i had seen on the food network. i love the show 10 dollar dinners and have tried a few of melissa's other recipes before successfully. the fish piccata worried me slightly, though because josh is not a fish guy at all. he loves his shrimp and calamari, but not so much the regular flaky kind. i had never cooked tilapia at all before, nor eaten capers. oh, and josh isn't a fan of the taste of wine in cooking either. obviously i went out on a limb a little bit with this recipe, but tilapia was on sale last week and i just went for it. and i'm so happy that i did! it was DELICIOUS, josh asked for seconds, there were no leftovers and i'm craving it again just writing about it. i'm ready and waiting for the next great sale on fish and i'm going to try a whole new recipe with it next time.

2 days later i made another new recipe, this time with disastrous results. the meal was much easier to prepare and it sounded pretty foolproof to me, but neither josh nor i could even finish what was on our plates and i've no idea what to do with the leftovers still sitting in the fridge. (i'm not going to post the link to that recipe because that just wouldn't be very nice of me.)

the third new recipe i tried this week was one that i've been waiting months to try! i've been collecting the necessary ingredients and one final, extremely hard to find ingredient finally arrived at our local hardware store. i was thrilled to finally take home my 2 boxes of washing soda and make a 5 gallon bucket full of homemade laundry soap. this past christmas was a "homemade christmas" for my side of the family. each family member had to come up with something homemade to give the rest of the family. my homemade granola, though made with much love, stood humbled next to gifts so artistically designed that i immediately questioned whether they were truly homemade or not! thankfully, my mom went the practical route and made everyone their own pitcher of laundry soap which not only worked wonders on my boys' stained clothes, but also made my granola look less artistically impaired. i asked my mom to bring down the specific type of soap from canada called for in lovella's recipe, though i've since come across other recipes online that call for any bar soap that you find in the laundry aisle. i love the light, lemony scent of the sunlight bars and the day i made the soap, my entire house smelled so lemony fresh. no more giant, expensive jugs of laundry soap for me; i've got plenty to last me a long while and plenty to share as well!

do you have any great new recipe finds to share?


7 comments:

Kristal Sawyer said...

I love new recipes! I will have to try that tilapia one cause we love it around here. Usually I just saute the tilapia in a bit of olive oil and then season with salt, paprika, cumin, and a TINY bit of cayenne pepper. Tastes delicious and super simple. :)

Laura Railing said...

I have tons!!I'll send you a message with them!

Lovella ♥ said...

OH the tilapia looks wonderful. Way to go for trying new things. I think we all have to try and sometimes it just doesn't work out and the leftovers sit in the fridge for the appropriate time out when we can toss them and not feel as guilty.
The laundry soup is great isn't it? I still buy laundry soap in between. .just because I'm that kind of gal but I sure like filling my containers myself now and then.

kelly ens said...

awesome! Way to go!!! :)

kelly ens said...

additionally, I just went out and bought the 3 ingredients for my own laundry soap - i'm so excited! :)

Unknown said...

I used to make our laundry soap and then both stores that I would get the washing soda at stopped carring it and I haven't been able to find it anywhere, people always think I'm looking for baking soda. Where did you find it? I would love to get back to making my own, it costs a fraction of the price as store bought stuff. And I just bought Tilapia yesterday, I think I will try your recipe, looks tasty.

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
I love new recipes... and i have been trying new "one dish" type meals now so that I have a few in mind when my little girl arrives in June. I have been trying some recipes at Annie Eats (just Google it, i can't remember the exact address). Her Taco Mac dinner is great - economical and tasty and my 3 year old loves it too. It's a home-made healthy version of hamburger helper. Hope that helps! Val D