Worth It or Not? (IV)

Need some more dinner ideas that have been tried, posted about, tried and posted about again?  Well, that's what I'm here for (well...when the Spirit and recipes move me, that is).

Today we'll start with Pioneer Woman's Taco Pizza.  I must begin by saying that I didn't follow this recipe exactly.  I didn't have any fresh tomatoes.  Hello?  I don't see them until August.  I also didn't bother to slice up tortillas, fry them and sprinkle them on top.  Garnishes just aren't that important to me, although I'm sure they would give this pizza a nice crunch.  It goes like this...top your pizza dough with black beans mashed with taco seasoning, then shredded cheese and bake it.  Next, top with shredded lettuce and drizzle with a sour cream and hot sauce mixture.

Next time, I will increase the hot sauce amount- I could hardly taste it.  I also drizzled some of my thawed cilantro sauce on top instead of using fresh.  Jamey loved it and I was oddly more impressed with it two days later.  I was incredibly surprised that the leftovers kept well (with the lettuce on top and all).  Somehow the flavors blended better two days later.  Good thing- I now really like it:-).

PW's Taco Pizza:  Worth It if you need a new twist for the grown-ups on pizza night, which we did.

Next, I want to tell you about Simply In Season's Chicken Stir-Fry.  This really isn't a fair review because I'm reviewing my own review.  But, it's just delicious.  I made it again recently and thought you needed to be reminded of it.  It has one of the yummiest stir-fry sauces I've ever tasted.

Simply In Season's Chicken (or Tofu) Stir-Fry: Worth It One Hundred Times Over


Back a few months ago, I started reading Canadian Doomer.  She talks a lot about food preservation and preparedness and she's beginning to convince me that I may need to get over myself and buy a pressure canner.  Anyway, the other week she posted a recipe for Stuffed French Toast.  It called for no sugar (only honey) so I had to give it a try.  It was the perfect way for me to use up the bread crusts and eggs I had on hand.  Boy, was it yummy.  A drizzle of real maple syrup on top would have put it over the top- not because it wasn't sweet enough, but because I just really like real maple syrup:-).

CD's Stuffed French Toast:  Worth It, especially if you have some real maple syrup to drizzle on top.

Next up, is another PW dish, her Sour Cream Noodle Bake.  I tried this recipe because it looked simple and like something my whole family would like.  Both suspicions were correct.  The family liked it and it was easy to put together.  I wouldn't call it fabulous, but if you need another crowd-pleaser in your repertoire, this could be it.

 

PW's Sour Cream Noodle Bake:  Worth It if you need a crowd-pleaser that's easy and you're not up to being blown away by dinner.

Okay, this next one is a real winner.  I needed a baked ziti recipe to take to a church function, so I went searching.  There were going to be other baked ziti dishes there (this was the main course), so I thought finding a recipe that was a little different might give us some variety.  I was really pleased with this.  It incorporated spinach, pesto and sausage (I used ground sausage).  You make your own sauce with the sausage, canned tomatoes (I used stewed), pesto, etc.  You combine this with the cooked ziti/spinach/cheese mixture.  Now this is a crowd-pleaser that is fabulous.  Thank you Bon Appetit via Epicurious- Baked Ziti with Spinach and Tomatoes.

Epicurious' Baked Ziti with Spinach and Tomatoes (and Sausage and Pesto):  Worth It, Worth It, Worth It!