How Was It?/What's for Dinner? 1/16-22/12

The Whimsy household will not be at full strength for part of this week, which means there maybe a little more casual meal production. However this month's Real Simple just arrived with a food cover, so when we are all here and not scattering to a thousand different events, the choices should be new and maybe even exciting.

Monday: Sausage & Escarole (or Spinach) Soup
Tuesday: Crock Pot Bean & Spinach Enchiladas
Wednesday: Burritos
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Potato, Ham, & Spinach Frittata
Saturday: Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie
Sunday: Maple Glazed Salmon with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Reviews

How Was It? Well, life happened and it didn't all happen. But here is what did happen and how it went...
Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup: I liked it, but it didn't grab my attention excessively, because I kept forgetting that it existed at lunchtime and when we were in leftover mode on the weekend. Y liked it, he did eat/pack the leftovers. The Kid found it bland, even when allowed to add Cheddar and bacon.
Quiche Lorraine: The BEST Quiche I have ever made. It deserves its own post, perhaps tomorrow.
Steak with Cognac Sauce & Potatoes: It was fine, I didn't bother with the sauce, because I don't think it brings enough improvement to bother with the effort. However this is the meal where I got my salad mojo back. Yay!
Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Shallots & Mashed Potatoes When the cold weather finally settled in and I went to my favorite roasted chicken recipes things didn't not go well. A couple of old reliables, bombed. I guess it was just breaking in a new oven. It was time to get back on that horse. Still didn't achieve crispy, but it was much, much better. Still don't love this new oven that came with the house. We seem to be negotiating some kind of truce.
Creamy Spinach Salmon: meh, why frozen spinach, didn't specified thawed or still frozen, went frozen and it watered down what seemed like it might be a nice mustard-y cream sauce. It was worth the try, good ingredient list, but either details were missing and kind of a poached cooking style. Salmon is better other ways.
Parmesan & Herb Sausage, White Bean and Escarole Soup: No Parmesan & Herb Sausage to be found went Hot Italian, didn't spy any escarole either, recipe suggested spinach. Forgot to tell the boys they could augment with grated Parmesan cheese. The Kid: meh. Y: loved it. I thought it was fine, which is better than the kid's meh, but no where near Y's love of it. It will freeze fine, and Y has more winter lunches ready to go.