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Chicken Pot Pie

It is getting to hot to make my sweethearts favorite. Chicken pot pie soup. I improvised and made the pot pie. I boil my diced skin on red potatoes, when they are about half way done I add in chopped carrots. I make a chicken gravy and add in the drained potatoes and carrots, some frozen peas, dices rotisserie chicken, salt, and pepper to taste. I pour this into a store bought refrigerated pie crust and bake until the crust is brown.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-gravy-recipe2-1943390

Grilled Rosemary Chicken with Sweet & Sour Orange Dipping Sauce and Beet Salad

I love this salad. I just need more than the beets, so I added in some orange segments and put mixture on a bed of arugula. I also substituted garlic herb boursin for the goat cheese. The orange sauce with the chicken ties it all together. http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/grilled-rosemary-chicken-thighs-with-sweet-sour-orange-dipping-sauce http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/beet-salad-with-oregano-pecans-and-goat-cheese

Falafel and Tabbouleh with Tzatziki

This was my first attempt at making falafel. It was not a complete fail, but not perfect. I used a recipe that calls for soaked dried chickpeas. The mixture did not call for any kind of binder other than baking soda. It was very wet and hard to compact into a ball. I added panko and some flour and it held together. If at first you don’t succeed try try again. I have more chickpeas. I will try another recipe and see what happens!

Ground Chicken Biryani

Biryani is one of my favorite Indian dishes. I have made it several times. The traditional recipes are very time consuming but worth the work. Typically you layer partially cooked rice with uncooked rice, spices, yogurt marinated chicken, and fried onions, and cook it in the oven covered. This is a quick recipe that still packs a spice punch. I had to fry some onions for the garnish, its one of the best parts of the traditional recipe. http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/turkey-biryani

Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

I had an idea early in the week about an ice cream sandwich. Pecan oatmeal cookies and butter pecan ice cream. By the time I got around to it I decided it was to much trouble I just crumbled my cookies over my butter pecan. It was delicious! https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/raisin-pecan-oatmeal-cookies-1

Chicken Marsala

25 years ago my go to special occasion restaurant was called the Bavarian Cellar. They had German and Italian cuisine. 90% of the time I had the chicken marsala. This recipe is close to being that good. I did of course put my spin on it. I cut up the chicken instead of using cutlets. I add a sprig of rosemary when the liquid is reducing and in the very end I add a little heavy cream. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-marsala-recipe-1951778

Crock Pot Smoked Sausages With Potatoes

I wanted a new sausage recipe for this week. I have a few in my repertoire but I seem to make them to often. So I found this one. It is more of a fall type dish. There was to much liquid in the crockpot at the end, so I transferred everything except the sausage to a stock pot and added in some spicy brown mustard and cooked it all down. https://www.thespruceeats.com/smoked-sausages-with-potatoes-and-cabbage-3055759

Beef and Sausage Manicotti

For most of us we know manicotti as a cheese filling stuffed in a thick pre-boiled pasta shell. For Italians manicotti is a special occasion meal. But, the pasta is a thin egg crepe. For a week night meal making crepes and filling and baking is too much. You can buy crepes, but they are sweet. I used store bought fresh pasta sheets. The delicate fresh pasta makes this dish completely different than my memories, so much better! The recipe calls for ground beef I used 1/2 lb of ground beef and a 1/2 lb of hot italian sausage and some chopped mushrooms. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/beef-and-cheese-manicotti-recipe-1914958