Back to Basics, Barefoot Style (February Dinner Night)

Just a few years ago, I didn’t appreciate the Food Network much. I hardly watched it and certainly didn’t know many of the famous chefs. Then one birthday, Heather bought me a Barefoot Contessa cookbook that changed my life. J I remember her mentioning that she’s known for her home cooking and that is right up my alley! After trying one recipe out of the book, I was hooked. Since then, I have made quite a few things, watched her show, researched her online, etc. The only thing left was to plan a dinner night around the ones I hadn’t made! Almost everything I’ve made has come out terrific and this night was no different.

Pesto Pea Salad

This salad was very simple to make and turned out tasty. We actually used Buitoni pesto, instead of making our own and it still turned out good. I thought initially that the pesto would be clumpy but it was actually a nice smooth compliment to the salad. Just mix up the ingredients and you’re good to go! A good summer picnic salad.

K: Thumbs up
N: Thumbs up
R: Thumbs sideways.
H: Thumbs up – I was surprised I liked this. It didn’t sound as appealing as it tasted.


Mexican Tortilla Soup


I had big expectations for this soup because of the raving reviews it gets. After we put it together, I could see why! It is critical to get bone-in chicken breasts. I usually would not bother, but it was the best and most simple piece of chicken ever. The rest of the soup was pretty easy and full of fresh veggies (good way to use up leftover cucumber!). I wondered what it would be like to add fresh corn tortillas instead of just topping the soup with chips at the end, and it resulted in an amazing thickened, fresh and tasty Mexican Tortilla Soup. Wonder what it would be like if I had the patience to make my own broth?

K: Thumbs up- one of my favorite soups ever!
N: Thumbs up
R: Thumbs up!
H: Thumbs up.


Chicken Picatta with Angel Hair Pasta


I remember thinking that this looked like an easy dish to make but it was a little misleading. You just have to set-up an assembly line so that you can easily dip the chicken into the flour mixture, dunk it in the egg bath, and then sprinkle it in the bread crumbs. As always, it was tough to get all the bread crumbs to stick to the entire piece of chicken. All in all, this turned out pretty delicious.

K: Thumbs up- this turned out good, though I prefer my picatta with capers.
N: Thumbs up.
R: Thumbs up - I liked the lemon added to this.
H: Thumbs sideways – This was pretty good, just not sure that it would be made again in my kitchen.


Garlic and Herb Tomatoes

When I first saw this recipe I had never heard of grape tomatoes being cooked on the stove, but after tasting the dish my response was “Wow!”. The dish was very simple and delicious, and a great side for the meal. I imagine that any leftovers would make a great tomato salad if served cold.

K: Thumbs up- can never go wrong with sauteed tomatoes
N: Thumbs up
R: Thumbs sideways. I liked it but I guess the night had overwhelming flavor!
H: Thumbs up – so simple and delicious!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

My roommate made this recipe and made it look so easy for how delicious it tasted! It was extremely moist and full of chocolate, but not overwhelmingly so. I imagine the boiling water helped somewhere with that? It was very, very tasty and thinking of it now makes me want to make it again…soon!

K: Thumbs up
N: Thumbs up
R: Thumbs way up.
H: Thumbs up – Again, I was surprised I liked this because I’m not a big fan of chocolate anything.


Chocolate Cookie Buttercream Frosting

Another roommate specialty of the night. It’s meant for cookies, so she doubled the recipe and softened it with powdered sugar and milk to make it less thick. Very yum and looked terrific on the cake.

K: Thumbs up- the frosting wasn’t too rich which I loved.
N: Thumbs up
R: Thumbs sideways - not sure if I would know how to adjust it as well as Jessalyn did!!
H:Thumbs up.