Because I just came up with this list over the weekend, I am only starting with any new recipes I've tried within the last week. I will try to chronicle this list with you, too. I did a lot of cooking this last week, so here we go...
1. Crock Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup. I'm sure we all have a potato soup recipe that we know and love. But I did not. I have tried many potato soup recipes, but a lot of them were just "add a little of this and a little of that." I did not write down my recipe before so I could not really recreate it again. But this time, I searched the internet until I came up with a recipe that I wanted to try. And Oh. My. Goodness. Was it good?? It was amazing!! We served this up with some little dinner rolls for dipping. I had this for supper on Saturday night. Then lunch on Sunday. And again... lunch on Monday. It was the perfect soup to start the fall season (especially here in Kentucky where the weather has been cool, grey, and rainy).
2. Pumpkin Bread. Now I don't know about you guys... but I LOVE pumpkin bread. And what better way to start your autumn season than with soup and pumpkin bread?! This bread did not last long at my house. Both loaves were gone completely within 3 days. In fact, I still have some pumpkin and I might have to make a couple more loaves before the weekend, or maybe a bundt cake with it?! I made a simple glaze of butter, milk, and confectioners sugar to drizzle over this slice of bread below. But it, honestly, was so good without it. #glazenotnecessary
3. Pillsbury Crescent Cinnamon Rolls. Okay. So this, visually, was a complete failure! However, it did taste pretty good. I followed the directions in the recipe exactly. But the crescent dough was not easy to handle. And in hindsight, I might have done it all differently. The dough did not puff up. The filling oozed out all over the pan. It ended up tasting more like cinnamon toast... which I did not hate. This is actually what I made the glaze for (used on the pumpkin bread). I was so ashamed at the way these turned out that I did not photograph them. They looked HORRIBLE!! But they were eaten anyway.
4. Pioneer Woman Lighter Chicken Parmesan. This was amazing! I love most every recipe by Ree Drummond. I use her recipes all the time. This one was featured on one of her shows recently and I thought I would give it a try. So the Sunday before I started making these lists, I made this for dinner. Everyone loved it! And it was gone pretty fast. I also made The Bread (which my mother refers to as Crack Bread because it is so good). I am not including The Bread in my list of new recipes because I've been making this amazing wonder of deliciousness for years!
5. Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo. This was one recipe that surprised me. I thought it might be decent, but it was so much better! I grilled up some chicken inside on the grill pan with a little salt and pepper to add to my pasta. This really was the best Alfredo sauce I've had besides Olive Garden. I served this up with some frozen garlic breadsticks that filled the air in my kitchen as they baked in the oven. We ate on this for a couple of days, too. It was that good.
Overall, these five recipes were a good start to my 40 New Recipes Before 40. Comfort food always makes me feel good, like a warm hug. I cannot wait to try some more and add to my list! And I highly suggest you give some, if not all, of these recipes a try!
