Southwestern Style Corn Chowder with Chorizo and Chiles

Corn Chowder

This southwestern style corn chowder is a variation of the corn chowder recipe on page 41 (The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook).  It is a bit spicy and very good.  The fresh cilantro gives the soup a fresh flavor.  

French Potato Salad with Radishes and Cornichons

French Potato Salad with Radishes and Cornichons

We rated this potato salad as very good.  Rick really like the radishes add to the salad.  Please note, I could not find cornichons in my grocery store.  Cornichons are sour pickles made from mini gherkin cucumbers.  I subbed dill pickles in the recipe, I am sure it changed the taste so we will try to recipe again after I find correct pickle.

Greek Style Lamb PIta Sandwich

Greek -Style Lamb Pita Sandwiches

We rated this dinner excellent.  But I need to give you a little more information.  Tonight was the third time I made the pita sandwiches.  The first time I made the recipe "as is" with ground lamb and fresh dill.  It was excellent.  I made the pita sandwiches a second time last week.  The second time I made the lamb burgers with ground chicken.  The ground chicken was about half the price of the ground lamb and didn't really change the taste of the burgers.  Tonight I made the burgers with ground turkey.  The ground turkey was less than $5 per pound.  Tonight I also made the burgers with fresh mint instead of the dill.  They were again excellent.  The lamb burgers were excellent and the turkey burgers were just as good.  Another hint,  instead of chopping the cucumber for the sauce, consider grating it.  We liked the texture better.  I served the sandwiches with a fresh greek salad.  A little cucumber, red pepper, green pepper, tomatoes, onion, celery, olives and feta cheese.  A little lemon juice and oil make a quick and tasty dressing.  Not the quickest week night meal, but it is work the work.

Skillet Olive Bread

Skillet Olive Bread

This was a quick and easy bread to make.  It tasted excellent.  Basic quick bread recipe with savory spices. The bread bakes in the same skillet that you start the garlic in.  I paired this bread with a potato leek soup.  

Slow-Cooker Weeknight Beef Chili

Slow-Cooker Weeknight Beef Chili

There are several different chli recipes in the Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook.  I think we have tried at least three different recipes.  They are all excellent.  They all have very similar seasonings and taste. This time I served the chili with gluten free pasta and corn muffins.  The recipe for the corn muffins can be found on page 348.  The corn muffins were tasty and the recipe only made 5 muffins which was great for just the two of us.  I did substitute gluten-free flour in the recipe with not other additions to the recipe.

Chicken Fijitas

Chicken Fajitas

We rated this recipe as very good.  Be sure to take the time to brine your chicken breasts.  Just a few minutes in the salt water makes a lot of difference to the taste.  The chicken breasts are moist and flavorful.  It is my understanding that brining pork and chicken is an old school technique that has been forgotten in recent years.  More information about brining and salting chicken can be found on page 115 of The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook.

Chicken and Rice

Chicken and Rice

We rated this dish as excellent.  Not really a difficult dish to make.  I am sure you have all the ingredients on-hand.  But, it took about 15 minutes prep time and another almost 45 minutes to bake. Too much time for after working all day, in my opinion.