Chili Cheese Dog Bake and other recipes we've tried lately

Have I mentioned lately what a joy it is to cook for my children. No? Guess why.

(pulls out own hair and screams internally)

Kids, man.  WTF.  Work all day, come home, dash into the kitchen to make them a healthy-ish, usually delicious dinner, and they complain, turn up their noses,  whine, and the little one tosses hers on the floor.  The big one probably would, if he thought he could get away with it.

Can't give up, can't stop of course.  The Beasts need to eat.

Wasn't someone working on a pill or drink that would replace the need to eat food?  

How is that coming?

Chili Cheese Dog Bake - from Buzzfeed.  The Boy said - "I don't want to make you cry, so - " and then he did a "sideways" thumb.  I didn't cook this quite long enough, some of the dough was a bit underdone.  It was ok.

Sheet pan chicken fajitas also from Buzzfeed.  These were good.  Even the kids ate some.

I truly wasn't sure how the vegan cauliflower wings would be received, so I only made a quarter batch, which was a big mistake.  THESE WERE DELICIOUS.

The moment I read the recipe for these flourless sweet potato brownies I was in the kitchen cooking sweet potatos to make them. No one in the family would eat them but me.  They were pretty tasty; you aren't going to fool anyone into confusing them with real brownies, but they weren't bad.  My tasters at work were silent.

Slow cooker salsbury steak is a bit on the processed side, with onion soup mix in the patties, and the sauce made of jus mix and cream of mushroom soup, but it was easy and pretty tasty.  A winner with 3 our of 4 of us.

Hawaiian grilled chicken was a hit with everyone, and super easy.  Just dump a bunch of stuff over some chicken, marinate overnight, and cook the next day.

I had really high hopes for these sausage and mushroom pizza bowls but it was not meant to be.  The Boy convinced himself that they would be awful, even though he loves pizza, and I served it with bread for dipping and/or spreading.  The Girl flat out refused it.  I was too annoyed by their reactions to enjoy it, but The Mister had 2 helpings, bless him.

This week we are trying a new pasta recipe with chicken, a vegan curry, orange baked chicken, and nachos.  What's happening in your kitchen?

Recipes

At one point, not that long ago, I had nearly 20 notebooks and binders filled with recipes. 

 Recipes from friends and family, newspapers, websites, books, magazines... You name it. 

 It was a hobby, collecting recipes. 

Would I ever try them all? Who cares? That wasn't the point. 

Until something in me changed. 

 I no longer have the same passion for cooking and eating that I once did. 

Recipe hunting, menu planning, even grocery shopping were things I used to enjoy. Not any more. 

Last year I went through all my books and binders and 

pulled out the recipes I knew I wanted to keep, 

or really really thought I would try, and recycled the rest.  

I put them all in a box and a few months ago I did yet another purge. 

Below is all I've kept, for now.   A huge difference from the literal boxes I had before.

Years back there was a great website called Naughty Curry that was 

both hilarious and a great source for recipes.  

Their spiced avocado butter was beyond amazing and I truly mourned 

when the website went offline.  

But look what I found in my purge!

Can I get a Hallelujah.  

This Fyltd Blonkal was the highlight of our Swedish Christmas dinner all those years ago.  

It was provided by Mary from Breadchick, another long gone blogger.

My whole collection now fits easily into 2 of those cardboard magazine holders.

There are some good family favorites that need to be re-made, and more exploring for new flavors that needs to be done.  I am just hoping that I'll go back to that place one day.  One day.  

If it's not soon though, it is a comfort to know that I have some of my very 

favorite and special recipes close by - my mom's cheesecake, her lasagne, a big handful 

of recipes from my talented friend H - and some new standbys as well as some

not yet discovered by us deliciousness.  

But I sort of hope it's soon.