October Food Challenge: Week 5 (a little late)

Ok. So I really did finish up my October food challenge last week but I just haven't posted it yet. I know excuses are excuses but mine is that I have 5 projects due this coming week and all I have been doing is typing and writing for all of these projects. I am really over the amount of group projects, busy work, and assignments that I have for this semester. While it is nice not having near as many tests the extra work is out of control. But alas, I digress back to the food...

So I did postpone the last week of my food making because of the busy, busy schedule I had the week before and being gone for 4 days for a little girls trip. I did finish the last week strong (albeit the first week of November) and here is what I decided to make!

Monday November 3rd: I made this lemon tarragon salmon. The verdict is still out on how I feel about this. The salmon was alright but I was expecting a lot more out of this. The seasoning stuff I made to put on it smelled delicious but it never really baked into the salmon. If I make salmon again I will definitely try to make a different recipe and maybe cook it a different way because I was just not a fan of how all of it turned out from this recipe.

Tuesday, November 4th: I decided to make hamburgers... Finally. I used to HATE hamburgers but over the past few months I have started to enjoy them so it was about time! Unfortunately, it was way to cold to grill them so I had to make them on the George Foreman. Although this is super convenient, the hamburgers just don't taste as good on it. I made some seasoning stuff to put on the burgers and I am not kidding when I say I was crying mixing it into the ground beef. I was dying and this made me nervous to eat them. However, the seasoning was very very good. But I had to eat the burgers with ranch because my mouth was dying! Definitely won't make them as spicy next time but still delicious non the less. I also did a repeat and made sweet potato fries to go with my burgers! Perfect for lunches the rest of the week!

Wednesday, November 5th: Probably one of my favorite things I made! I found this recipe for chicken lettuce wraps that sounded delicious. Again I didn't realize how spicy these were going to be! Call me naive but I didn't realize that chipotle peppers and adobo sauce were going to cause everything to be HOT! These two things were also almost impossible to find in the grocery store separately but combined together you can find them in the "Mexican" section, it may have taken me three stores to get it right but I did eventually! The recipe called for chicken, peppers, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, and I threw mushrooms in there as well! Sautéed all of it on the stove and threw some lime juice on top at the end and it was amazing. HOT but amazing! Definitely a repeat recipe.

Thursday, November 6th: I made a snack for my weekend at ShredFest! They were banana walnut paleo muffins and they are absolutely delicious. I got the recipe from one of the girls at the gym who had made them for our trip to HOA. I threw some protein in them so they would be the perfect after WOD snack and trust me they were. I had a few leftover so I had them for snacks at school this week and they were perfect. Again another repeat. Next time however, I will buy muffin pan liners. I got creative this time and used wax paper because I refused to clean the pan out again but my life would be so much easier if I would just buy the darn things!

Friday, November 7th: I decided to make another snack of cinnamon apple chips. However, I burnt these and they were not very good that way haha. Next time I will try to be a little bit more careful with what I am doing.

So there you have it. My month of cooking experiments! I may not be a cooking expert yet but I sure had a fun month of making new things. I found a lot of great recipes that I will repeat again and some that I am not so sure I like all that much. But oh well, that comes with the territory of being a chef! I am going to keep challenging myself to make something new every week because it keeps life interesting and forces me to try new things! Let me know if you want any of the recipes I used over the month, I am more than happy to share!