Posts Tagged ‘Cardinals baseball’
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Catching up
Where did I leave off? Wednesday through Friday kind of got away from me and I’m behind posting my Real Simple cookthrough meals!
On Wednesday I made Pork cutlets with spicy noodles – the noodles were udon noodles which I don’t think I’ve ever even eaten before. They were different – kind of gummy and thick.
After I finished it, I was thinking I should have added more vegetables – maybe some cooked swiss chard or bok choy would have made sense in this dish. It did have shiitake mushrooms, but not a whole lot. By the way, I never eat mushrooms – so this was a big deal!
Mark hated it, obviously.
On Thursday, no cooking took place – we went to a Cardinals baseball game thanks to his generous employer – box seats. For the uninitiated, it means free food & beer!
Free food and beer is delicious.
Last night, I made Steak with Roasted Carrots and Onions.
I added yellow bell peppers for roasting and a roll. This dish was pretty good – fairly low maintenance which I appreciated. Ultimately though, none of the dishes in Real Simple have knocked my socks off. Although I’m only a week into the challenge, I thought I would give my honest review at this point, and we’ll see if it changes at the end.
Cons:
* The dishes are lower in veggies than I would prefer
* The dishes generally call for refined carbohydrates (not whole wheat)
* None of the recipes so far are ones I would earmark for a repeat dish. This has probably been the most disappointing part so far, but I’m hopeful that the next three weeks there will be something amazing in there.
* The recipes call for fresh herbs – which gets expensive and potentially wasteful
Pros:
* I have gone out of my comfort zone and prepared and eaten things I normally would not have (udon noodles, shiitake mushrooms). I really like this part of the adventure.
* I absolutely love the shopping list. It’s made this experience very easy
* Mark has liked everything so far (“good wife” points)
* The preparation times are not long, and fairly true to their estimates
* The cook through has forced me to get in the kitchen and cook!
I do hope that after four weeks I’ll find a few recipes worth making more than once! Turkey burgers are on the menu tonight, plus some R&R for my race tomorrow. Wish me luck! I’ll be back at some point for a race recap.
About Me
My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
