I made one new recipe for tonight’s dinner, though I revisited another from the cookbook that I’ve made before: red chile rice (one of my favorite new recipes from last year). The new recipe: crispy black bean and bacon taquitos.

Adaptations: I used less bacon than the recipe called for to save on calories, and swapped sherry vinegar for cider because I was out of the latter.

What I learned: Though par-cooking tortillas helps with taquito rolling, I still needed to use a taquito to keep them from falling apart when I fried them.

Recipe results: Really delicious. The vinegary romaine really offsets the taquitos, and the bacon really adds another dimension to the taquito filling.

Cookbook verdict: I already knew this one was a winner, even if the recipes can be complicated and time consuming. But hey, if you have tons of different varieties of chiles on hand, Rick Bayless can tell you how to use them!

Recipe: See beyond the jump.

Bacon (recipe calls for six slices. I used my homemade slab bacon + a leftover slice of turkey bacon. Probably the equivalent of about three slices).

1 small white onion, finely chopped

1.5 cups black beans, rinsed and drained

3 canned chipotles en adobo, chopped

vegetable oil (fill a Dutch oven to about a 1/2 inch depth)

12 corn tortillas

2/3 cup queso fresco, crumbled

6 romaine leaves, shredded

1.5 tbsp sherry or cider vinegar

salt

1 tomato chopped (honestly, I’d omit this in the winter; it doesn’t add much)

Fry bacon until crisp and set aside and drain.

Remove almost all drippings from skillet. Add chopped onion and cook on low about 10 minutes. Add beans and chipotles, smashing the beans a bit, and simmer a couple minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Stir in half the bacon.

Heat oil to 375. Cook each tortilla a couple seconds and blot on paper towels. Fill each tortilla with about 2 tbsp bean filling and about 1/2 tbsp queso fresco. Secure with toothpick.

Re-heat oil to 375. Cook taquitos, 4 at a time, a minute or two per side. Remove toothpicks.

Toss romaine with vinegar and a little salt. Put on a platter. Put taquitos on top. Top taquitos with remaining bacon and cheese, as well as the tomato, and serve.

I’ve made a handful of recipes from this cookbook – saltimbocca/saltimbocca salad, penne with sausage and broccoli/tuscan pasta and bean salad. I decided to go with one of the vegetarian sets of recipes here: it starts with edamame salad, and then puts that salad into a soup for an Asian inspired soup with both edamame and tofu.

Adaptations: I really played loose with the edamame salad, given I didn’t realize I was out of frozen peas, swapped bok choy for celery and substituted cilantro for watercress because what I thought was watercress from the Asian market turned out to be a bitter herb. For the soup, I swapped turkey stock for veggie stock since I had it on hand, added additional mushrooms and omitted the extra scallions because I ran out.

What I learned: I forget how hearty and filling edamame is sometimes.

Recipe results: Solid. I’m glad I chose to make the salad a side dish rather than building a meal around it. I actually was more impressed with the soup than I thought I’d be; it had a nice, subtle flavor to it.

Cookbook verdict: A lot of the recipes feature ingredients I’m not huge on (hoison sauce, etc) but overall it has a lot of decent weeknight recipes. Nice for when I’m really sticking to Weight Watchers, though the Points Values on it are outdated since they modified the program.

Recipes: See beyond the jump.

Edamame Salad

1 package shelled edamame, thawed

1 cup frozen peas, thawed (optional, apparently)

1 celery or bok choy stalk, chopped

3 scallions, sliced thin

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

2 tsp sesame oil

salt and pepper

2 bunches watercress or large handful cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients, reserve 1 cup edamame mixture, and serve.

Double Soy Soup

4 cups turkey or veggie stock

2 scallions, sliced (optional)

handful mixed mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini, enoki and shitake)

cooking spray

salt and pepper

1.5 cups cubed tofu

1/4 cup cilantro

Spray pan and sautee mushrooms. Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, add remaining ingredients, heat through and serve.

I’ve made several recipes from this book: an Asian chicken noodle, soup, lobster-stuffed chicken, chicken tikka, chicken and ginger stir fry, Italian chicken packets…and there are plenty more I’d like to make. This week, I settled on Whiskey Roast Chicken, as I wanted something for a whole chicken that involved minimal ingredients purchased (I had everything on hand except for the oats.

Adaptations: I used the white parts of bok choy in lieu of celery because I didn’t have any. I also cooked some roasted potatoes under the chicken so that they would sop up the fat as the chicken cooked. This meant I actually had to add a little fat to the gravy (and I used decadent duck fat), but it wasn’t a big deal. I used steel cut oats instead of regular, which may have changed the stuffing texture slightly. Perusing the recipe, looks like I accidentally omitted the thyme from the stuffing as well.

What I learned: Bok choy works in stuffing, and whole chickens and I have a fiesty relationship – even if a thermometer tells me it’s done, it’s often not cooked all the way through. I also enjoyed using oatmeal in a savory application for the first time.

Recipe results: Very good. The white meat took longer to cook than expected, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The glaze on the chicken really brings a nice flavor to the chicken skin.

Cookbook verdict: You can tell I have a lot of affection for this cookbook, and there still are many recipes to try from it. My only complaint is sometimes the ingredients involved are pretty obscure – fromage blanc, yellow bean sauce, lime marmalade, etc. One asked for some sort of “brown sauce” I’ve never heard of. What?

Recipe results: See beyond the jump.

1 whole chicken

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp whiskey

2 tbsp flour

1 1/4 cups chicken stock

3 potatoes, cut into cubes

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 stalks bok choy, whites only, or one stalk celery, chopped

1 tbsp oil, plus a little more

1 tsp dried thyme (optional)

8 tbsp steel cut oats or 4 tbsp regular oats

4 tbsp chicken stock

salt and pepper

Heat oil in pan. Sautee onions, bok choy and garlic until softened. Put in a bowl with oats, salt, pepper, 4 tbsp chicken stock and thyme.

Stuff chicken with oatmeal stuffing. Rub chicken with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange chicken on a roasting rack with potatoes underneath chicken. Cook for about an hour.

Remove chicken and baste with 1 tbsp whiskey mixed with honey. Return to pan, and move potatoes so they’re no longer underneath chicken and can crisp up. Cook another 20 minutes or longer until chicken is done.

Set chicken aside, and remove potatoes from pan. If there’s enough fat left, add flour and bring to a bubble. If not, add 1-2 tbsp fat to pan and cook with flour. Whisk in 1 tbsp whiskey mixed with chicken broth. Bring to a boil and let sauce thicken.

Serve chicken with sauce, stuffing and potatoes (I added broccoli as well).

That said, I haven’t spent that much time with my only slow cooker-themed cookbook. I think it was a gift from my old roommates, Kari and Vanessa. I decided to make two recipes, both involving barley, because I’ve been trying to cook more with grains this year.

Adaptations: Besides using buffalo instead of ground beef for the stroganoff, I pretty much stuck to the recipes here.

What I learned: Both barley and dried mushrooms are natural fits for the slow cooker.

Recipe results: I wasn’t wowed by the stew (there was a slight sweetness, probably from the carrots or the veggie broth, that tasted slightly off to me), but John was a big fan. I liked the stroganoff dish a lot – the barley was filling and healthy, stretching out the meat in the recipe.

Cookbook verdict: A lot of these recipes were hit and miss, using a lot of processed ingredients like condensed soup, or just a bit more homestyle than my taste. But there still were some interesting options in there. I’m definitely looking forward to making a Thai Pumpkin Soup at some point from it.

Recipes: After the jump.

Mushroom Barley Stew

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup uncooked pearl barley

1 cup dried mushrooms, broke into pieces (I used shitake)

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

5 cups veggie broth

Heat oil in pan. Sautee onion, garlic and carrots until soft. Put in slow cooker.

Add barley, mushrooms, salt and pepper and thyme. Cook on low all day.

Barley Beef Stroganoff

2/3 cup uncooked pearl barley

2.5 cups veggie or beef broth

1 package sliced mushrooms

1/2 tsp dried marjoram

1/2 pound ground beef or ground buffalo

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup minced green onion

salt and pepper

1/4 cup fat free half and half

Place barley, broth, mushrooms and marjoram in slow cooker. Cook on low all day.

Stir fry ground meat, celery, green onion in pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Add meat mixture and half and half to crock pot. Cook on high 15-20 minutes. Check seasonings and serve.

This cookbook has been on my shelves for awhile. I think I got it not long after moving to DC, possibly off the Barnes & Noble sales rack? I’ve made a couple recipes from it before, including a couple risottos.

I decided to make parsnip, eggplant and cashew biryani (though the fried root veggie chips were a tempting alternative).

Adaptations: I trimmed down the calories on this recipe by cutting down the butter, oil and cashews, and by using brown rice instead of white. The brown rice meant for a significantly longer cooking time, but it ultimately worked well.

What I learned: This recipe used the classic technique for cooking biryani, and I think I’d be much more inclined to make a traditional Indian version now. The parsnips were a nice touch – sweet and substantial.

Recipe results: This is a doozy of a recipe, with tons of steps. It probably took me a good three hours to pull off, so this is not a weeknight meal. But it’s a tasty vegetarian meal that looks pretty impressive when you pull it off.

Cookbook verdict: I already knew this was a reliable cookbook for vegetarian meals, though the recipes are often very time consuming.

Recipe: See beyond the jump.

1 small eggplant, sliced

10 oz brown jasmine rice, or basmati rice

2 parsnips, peeled and cored

3 onions

2 garlic cloves

1 inch piece ginger, grated

2-2.5 tbsp vegetable oil

4 oz cashews

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1.5 cups veggie stock

2 tbsp butter

2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

handful cilantro, chopped

Sprinkle the eggplant with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Cut into bite sized pieces after drying.

Soak rice in cold water for 40 minutes. Process 1 onion, garlic and ginger in food processor with a couple tbsp water to make a paste.

Slice 2 onions thin. Heat 1.5 tbsp oil in dutch oven and sautee for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Add cashews to Dutch oven and cook for two minutes. Add raisins and let them swell up. Set aside.

Spray pan with cooking spray. Add peppers and eggplants and cook for 4-5 minutes. Repeat with parsnips and set all aside.

Add another 0.5 to 1 tbsp oil to pan. cook onion paste for 4-5 minutes, to brown. Add spices and toast  a minute or two. Stir in yogurt.

Bring mixture to a boil. Add stock, parsnips, eggplant and bell pepper to pan – season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300.

In another saucepan, bring 1 and 1/4 cups salted water to a boil. Add rice and cook 5 -6 minutes and drain. Note: if you’re using brown rice, you may want to double the cooking time here. I ended up just cooking the casserole for longer, but I think I could have saved time by doing this here.

Drain rice. Add on top of layer of parsnips in Dutch oven. Sprinkle onions, cashews and raisins on top of biryani. Cover with little dots of butter.

Using a wooden spoon, make a hole in the middle of the rice mixture. Cover with two layers of foil, then lid. Bake for 40 minutes and check. My rice took another 35 or so, on account of it being brown rice.

Garnish with eggs and cilantro and serve.

I actually really love this book (by Milton Crawford). It’s a cheeky, whimsical book that has a very British feel and definitely embraces the hangover. It starts with a funny quiz you take to find out what sort of hangover you’re suffering from, and then the cookbook is divided into recipes to appeal to each subset of hangover.

We determined John was dealing with “The Atomic”, and one of the suggested recipes was for a potato hash with avocado and bacon.

Adaptations: The cookbook encourages you to experiment with this recipe, whether it be adding cheese, putting a poached egg on top, etc. My only adjustment was using a bit less potato than asked for (just because we only had one potato in the house) and using turkey bacon for mine (John got regular).

What I learned: All about hangovers. Also, I should be putting Worcestershire sauce in my home fries more often, apparently.

Recipe Results: Any recipe prominently featuring avocado and bacon is all right with me, and we were really blown away by how delicious this was. It hit all my breakfast cravings.

Cookbook verdict: Funny and (for better or worse) practical, with surprisingly good recipes. I look forward to experimenting more with this cookbook, particularly a lot of the spicy-looking dishes. Not that I’m going to be hungover soon or anything…right?

Recipe: See beyond the jump.

Potato Hash with Avocado And Bacon

1 pound white potatoes, cubed

olive oil, for frying

4 slices bacon (turkey bacon is fine)

1 onion, chopped

sweet paprika, to taste

splash of Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

a few drops hot sauce

1 avocado, sliced

olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 4:1 ratio, mixed together

salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook potatoes 10 minutes. Drain.

Heat olive oil in pan. Cook potatoes until crisp on all sides.

While that’s happening, cook bacon in another pan.

Add onions, Worcestershire sauce and paprika to skillet and cook until onions are soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide potato mixture in two. Top with a few drops hot sauce. Pile bacon and avocado slices on top of everything. Add some vinaigrette and serve

I am pretty sure that this cookbook, Thai Cooking step-by-step, came as part of a care package from our realtor after we closed on our house. I’m also pretty sure that I’ve never used it before.

I decided to try out two recipes from this cookbook for dinner tonight: Chicken and Galangal Soup as an appetizer, and Stir-Fried Chicken with Peanuts and Basil for entree.

Adaptations: I added about 4 oz sauteed mushrooms to the soup for body, used only 2 breasts of chicken instead of three, and used 1/3 cup less coconut milk, substituting broth (basically to avoid opening a second can). For the stir fry, I added in some leftover string beans, and added a splash of chicken broth to the veggie steaming step.

What I learned: Galangal is annoying to cook with. Even sliced thin and chopped, I still found the pieces of it in the soup annoying, and it’s harder to work with than ginger.

Recipe Results: The soup was okay. It has a nice flavor, but has a bit too much meat in it for an appetizer, and the recipe seems to be lacking something (maybe a bit of lime juice next time?). Still satisfying, just arguably not worth the calories. The stir fry is great! Nice, complex, savory flavor.

Cookbook Verdict: Not bad. Colorful and easy to use, and there are a few recipes that look appealing, particularly salads and appetizers. A good basic go-to for when you’re craving something Thai-flavored.

Recipes: See beyond the jump.

Chicken and Galangal Soup (Tom Kha Gai)

2 inch piece galangal, peeled and thinly sliced

1 can coconut milk

1 and 1/3 cups chicken broth

2 breasts chicken, thinly sliced

2 Thai chiles, chopped

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

handful cilantro, chopped

4 oz mushrooms, sliced

cooking spray

In your pot, sautee mushrooms (spray with cooking spray). Set aside.

Combine galangal, coconut milk and stock in pan. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes.

Add chicken, mushrooms and chiles and simmer 8 minutes. Stir in fish sauce and brown sugar.  Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Peanuts and Basil

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 tbsp green curry paste

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1-2 cups snow peas

handful green beans, trimmed

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

splash chicken broth

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 cup basil leaves

Combine chicken and curry paste and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan. Sautee half your chicken until cooked through. Remove from pan. Repeat process with remaining chicken and set meat aside.

Add splash of broth to pan. Steam snow peas and beans for about 2 minutes, covered. Add chicken back to pan and add fish sauce, sugar, peanuts and basil leaves. Heat through and serve with white rice.

I’m a big goal-setter, and usually my favorite goals to check off my list each year take place in the kitchen. One of this year’s kitchen projects is to cook at least one recipe out of each of my cookbooks (which at today’s count was 64).

It’ll be an interesting endeavor – though some of these books are ones I rely on frequently, the majority of them are ones I’ve read for pleasure, used rarely, or in some cases, barely opened at all. Many have been gifts; others have been freebies from food events. Some represent cuisines I’ve merely dabbled in (Vietnamese, Thai). And some (Cooking with Beer, two different bacon-themed cookbooks) are just a little silly.

And while I love to collect cookbooks, I’d say the majority of recipes I make on a regular basis either come from magazines like Cooking Light and Cook’s Illustrated, Websites like Serious Eats, or from my own repertoire or imagination.

But cookbooks shouldn’t just collect dust on a shelf. So this project will give me the confidence to say that if this book has managed to make its way into my collection, at least it’s serving a purpose!