Hearing crickets

Is anyone cooking out there?

Soup cookbook suggestions

Can anyone suggest some yummy, not too complicated, flavorful soup cookbooks?

Cover Recipe - Beef with Oyster Sauce

We made the cover recipe the other night. We made our own rice, used fresh broccoli, more garlic and we used the oyster sauce option. It was a little salty for my liking but it was quick and good. At dinner we discussed that we would use more veggies next time and find a way to get a sauce with as much flavor but a little less salt. We served it with a fresh green salad and it was a dinner worth repeating!

Spiced Orange Chicken

This recipe is so easy and delicious! I made many substitutions, but used what I had and was on sale! I just cooked the chicken (I used the chicken quarters that were on sale at Market Place) and toward the end, added the other ingredients. I didn't use the boneless chicken breasts and didn't flatten them as listed in the recipe, so cooked for a bit longer. I didn't have the orange marmalade they called for, but used some of the apricot jam I made this summer instead. It was the end of the jar, so used the jar to mix up the rest of the ingredients. One can of the mandarin oranges that were on sale this week at Market Place, some orange juice and cinnamon were perfect! My husband loved it! This is one to remember!

Pork Chops with Peachy Mustard Sauce

This is a tasty treat! I had a package of boneless pork ribs instead of the pork chops, so used them. After cooking them for about 12 minutes, I realized that they were thicker than the 1/2" thick pork chops they had called for. And, being pork, I thought they should be cooked thoroughly, so continued to cook for another 10 minutes. This increased the time over the stated 15 minutes, but worked out ok for me. The sauce is really tasty and so easy! My husband loved it! I kept the pork separate from the sauce, and I was able to reheat the it and serve it over the pork again. It looked just as lovely and the flavor is fabulous!

I made some rice to accompany it since I didn't have the beans and tomatoes they called for. I sauted some mushrooms, red peppers and onions to mix in and it was lovely.

Vegetable Panini with Feta

I tried the Vegetable Panini with Feta on page 168 of the 5 Ingredient, 15 Minute Cookbook. The Caesar salad mix was a great boon and included the Caesar salad dressing, so I didn't have to buy that extra. However when I went to buy it the second time, I discovered that buying a head of Romaine and chopping it is MUCH cheaper and I already had the dressing in my fridge anyway. And although my time is a major factor, so is my pocketbook! We loved the presentation of the salad in the hollowed-out French bread, but also enjoyed this as a salad with a slice of bread on the side. The feta cheese made this into a gourmet salad sandwich!

All of us loved this and it's one to repeat at a moment's notice! It truly took only 15 minutes to put together. Hollowing out the bread and slicing the red onion were the time-consuming factors! We didn't serve it with the Tomato Soup, but could see that it would be a tasty addition!

Been cooking a lot from Foster's

I have to say that I have cooked biscuits, crepes, pancakes, chili and a couple of soups from Foster's and they have all been tasty. I just wanted to shout out a quick "Thank you" to Suzanne for suggesting it! The problem I am running into right now is that I don't seem to have enough time to pull of most of the recipes. Any helpful hints out there?