Real Simple Easy Dinners: Roundup!

If you’re new to this series, start here, then go here, here, and here, and then here.  Or just get yourself a copy of the magazine. 🙂

So, my brain has had plenty of time to process all of the cooking I did.  I’m rather proud of myself that I made every single meal except one.  That’s 19 new dinners in just 5 weeks (should have been 4 but we lost steam at the end).  Yowzas.  There were meals we will make continually for a long time to come, and then there were meals that we will never make ever again.  But the important thing is that we tried something new and have lots of recipes in our back pocket to refer to.  Hooray!

Our top 5 favorite meals from this experience would be:

#1:  Steak with Cognac Sauce and Salad (from week 2)

#2:  Chipotle Beef & Beer Chili (from week 4)

#3:  Chickpea Spinach Curry with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce (from week 3)

#4: Lemony Tuna and Olive Oil Pasta (from week 3)

#5: Tomato Soup with Roast Beef & Cheddar Panini (from week 1)

A few of my least favorites, which I will not visit again:

Chicken with Potatoes, Bacon and Cabbage

Pork Loin with Sauteed Cauliflower and Capers

Lime and Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

One thing that I love about this whole experience: it has me really thinking about food.  I’m making some changes in our day-to-day diet that I’ll be exploring with you soon.

What about you?  Could you try this many new recipes all at once?  Are you looking for new recipes to try or to make a change in your diet?  What’s holding you back?  For me, it’s the fear of change and trying something and failing.  But I learned through this that one bad meal isn’t the end of the world (though it is a pain in the tushie).