Supper and pup-er updates

A friend asked about the recipies I have been trying lately so thought I would share.  So far I have just been using the Taste of Home cookbook I got for Christmas and their magazine (got a subscription for $10 a year!), and we're 3 weeks into the new year and I've prepared 4 new recipies so far!  I'm winning!  They were all good, so I thought I would share the recipes and my thoughts on them:

• Onion Beef Stroganoff: My mom used to make a stroganoff so this was a a call back to childhood.  I'm not a big mushroom fan, so I skipped them and I think it still had plenty of flavor.  Definitely will make it on our table again.  Also very quick to make.
• Chicken Cordon Bleu: I love chicken cordon bleu, and this was relatively easy.  Plus, I got to pound chicken with my previously unused meat mallet.  I only used 2 chicken breasts and cut them in half so they were a little thinner.  I was impressed how good they were given the amount of work.
• Creamy Pork Potpie: First of all, I substituted chicken for the pork.  We always have chicken on hand.  I also halved this recipe; I usually try to do this so we're not eating the same thing for days on end.  I was really impressed with this recipe.  It was my first experience with puff pastry which I neglected to thaw, but my hubby put it in a freezer bag and ran it under hot water which worked pretty well.  I was also a little leary of the cauliflower and broccoli, but this has been one of my favorite new recipes.  I actually liked it better reheated, since it was a little runny fresh.  Maybe I needed to let it set longer once I pulled it from the oven.
• Skillet Roasted Lemon Chicken: I changed this recipe quite a bit.  First of all, I don't have a cast iron skillet, so I just used a casserole dish.  Secondly, Rick doesn't like citrus in his entrees.  So I skipped the lemons completely, but the rosemary and garlic gave it plenty of flavor (though I am interested in how the lemon would flavor).  I also used baby Dutch yellow potatoes instead of fingerling potatoes, largely because I had no idea what a fingerling potato was and the grocer wasn't overly helpful.  Turns out there are also grape tomatoes that look so much like cherry tomatoes that I didn't realize they were different until after I had used the grapes. Anyway, I thought it was really good and different from what I usually make.  The chicken was very moist, and halving the recipe was just enough for one meal for us.

I recommend all of the above, and will continue to share recipes if people are interested in my cooking adventures.

It occurred to me that I have not updated the dog situation.  As you may recall from a previous post, our dog Darby attacked her bed and after the initial destuffing of the bed, it was a game.  The bitter apple spray didn't seem to be helping either.  New plan: duct tape.  Tape it up, spray it with the bitter spray, and viola!  Not bothered since.   

 Darby had also been spending some time under our bed recently, which she does from time to time with no real obvious reason.  She's about 60 pounds and our bed is a platform, so it's pretty low clearance.  I'm not sure what she's hiding from or why she's under there, and it seems like a feat for her to crawl in and out from underneath it.  But she clearly likes it under there from time to time, and will go under the guest bed as well.  Did a little research and it turns out dogs are denning creatures.  Who knew.  So we tried to solve the problem: put her bed under the table in the living room.  Create a den.  She loves it--no more crawling under the bed or pulling her out when it was time to go.  I thought it was a little cramped since the bed is bunched, but she spends all of her lounging time in her den.  It also solves the problem of where to put this large bed so it's out of the way of foot traffic.  Perfect!  We'll see how long our solution lasts...