What's been cooking - 16 May 2010

This week and next I'm trying out recipes from Sophie Gray's latest Destitute Gourmet cookbook 100+ Tasty $10 Meals. The crew at Random House sent me a copy, so after my two week intensive cookathon is up, I'll give you a complete review. In the meantime, here's what we ate this week:

Sunday: Takeaways for Mothers' Day - Chicken cashew from Thai Orchid. Yummy!

Monday: Chilli bean and potato bake (A hearty vegetarian dish that was cheap to make and easy to whip together.)

Tuesday: Teriyaki beef stirfry (This was good but next time I'll double the marinade so there's enough leftover for sauce.)

Wednesday: Chinese chicken and cabbage with crispy noodles (Our favourite meal of the week.)

Thursday: Pork and peanut noodles (This was tasty and quick to make, but the pork flavour come through rather strongly so next time I'll marinade the pork mince before cooking. Also, the recipe called for bean sprouts but these were too stringy to eat easily so I'd recommend using mung beans instead.)

Friday: Simple sausage hot pot (A flavoursome all-in-one dish that came a close second in my affections. No photo sorry.)


Saturday: Swiss steak (Actually from another Destitute Gourmet cookbook because I had some beer and blade steak that needed using up.)

It's been fun trying a new recipe every night this week.

Our favourite recipe is the Chinese chicken and cabbage with crispy noodles. The flavours of the marinade are so good, they turn a simple chicken and cabbage dish into something incredible. And crispy noodles make anything taste good, although I read the ingredients for the first time this week and noticed they contain flavour 621 (MSG). Now I'm going to have to try and track down a non-MSG variety to feel good about eating them again. Any ideas?

Let me know what's been cooking at your house. Come link up your menu plans or write a comment below.