New Recipes 29 and 30 - Skillet Enchilada Pasta and Chicken & Mushroom Marsala

Nothing terribly exciting going on around here...  Seems like the schedule keeps looking like this - wake up, go to work, work, work, go to gym/yoga/run, home, cook dinner, clean up dinner, bed.  Oh the interesting lives we lead!


This week, the hubs and I had two new recipes on the menu.  We were supposed to fix Skillet Enchilada Pasta on Monday night.  Unfortunately, I got stuck at the in-laws house because their neighbor was talking and wouldn't hush.  She "cornered" me and basically interrogated me for almost an hour.  By the time I got out of there, we scrapped the new recipe on Monday and decided to make it on Tuesday.

This is our "bastard" version of Skillet Enchilada Pasta. Our changes:

• Used 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper and about 1/2 of an orange bell pepper
• Added some squash (had extra leftover from veggies cut up for salads)
• Used cheddar instead of feta - something just didn't seem right about using enchilada sauce and feta cheese

Last night, we fixed Chicken and Mushroom Marsala from CheapHealthyGood.  I have to admit that I almost didn't put this on the menu because she used the word "moist" in her blog title.  I hate the word "moist". Anyone else?  After I read that she disliked the word as much as I did, I figured I would let her use of the word slide ;-)  

Again, we have our "bastard" version of this dish.  I think the only change was the omission of parsley.  I didn't buy any and didn't think to use dried.  Blah.  Oh yeah, and I added a little bit more Marsala when cooking the mushrooms (1/2 cup as opposed to the 1/3 she called for).  This turned out wonderfully!  The hubs loves mushrooms - me not so much.  BUT, cooked mushrooms in wine?  I'm game!

Fixing this meal actually brought back memories that I had kinda hidden in the back of my mind...  After I sat down to dinner, I immediately had visions of sitting at the home of my childhood doctor and his (now ex-) wife discussing the day over dinner.  My childhood doctor and his wife had a son named Jack.  Jack was born with epidermolysis bullosa.  Poor Jack was covered with blisters, etc. that were similar to that of a burn patient.  Most days, I would ride my bike to their house, "play" with Jack (read books, watch Barney, etc.), and help Emily with various things around the house, etc.  Sometimes, I would join them for dinner after helping with Jack's bath.  Emily loved to fix Chicken Marsala.  It quickly became a favorite of mine.  Spending time with Jack was a great learning experience for me.  While he was only on Earth for eight (too short) years, he taught many people lessons that they would never have learned otherwise.  Wow...  Great memories.