"Cooking Every Recipe" Thug Kitchen Edition: Week Two

Hello friends! As you probably figured, week two was supposed to go up this past weekend. I ambitiously thought I'd be able to post amid my sister-in-law getting married . . . but clearly not. It's the Thursday after and I still feel like I'm recovering. My husband and I were both in it, hosted another bridesmaid at our home, and were involved with the bachelor/bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinner, and clean-up afterward. I mean, I say that like not every other member of bridal party does those things? Haha. Needless to say, we managed to do our two recipes last week, but we haven't made anything this week. It's fine though! We'll for sure be back on the cooking train in July. I had a feeling, didn't I? I knew things would be crazy. But, of course, it was totally worth it. The wedding was beautiful, the love between them was amazing to witness, and it truly was a blessing to gain another brother-in-law (what am I up to now? Four?). I'm excited for them and for the future of our families.

That being said, let's get into last week's two recipes!

Day Three: Pozole Rojo

Rating: 🌿🌿 1/2

This recipe marketed itself as a mix between a soup and a chili. Knowing that both Robby and I have great recipes for chili, our hopes were pretty high. He was definitely more excited than I was about making it. With off-the-beaten-path ingredients like tempeh, though, I was a little skeptical. Have you seen tempeh before?? It reminds me of a suet cake that you'd sit out for your birds . . . but we followed the recipe to its specifications, topped it with the suggested toppings and dug in.

Robby said it was a recipe he'd make again, with some adjustments to spices/flavors, which I 100% agree. To be fair, the authors did say "adjust to taste" at several points during preparation. To me (and to my mom, who I sent some home with), the flavors were bland. All the toppings tasted similar when put together, and the Pozole Rojo itself was one-note. There were no depths of flavor, no journey from the initial bite to the final taste. To me, it felt like neither a soup nor a chili.

So I'm glad that Robby is optimistic with this one. We've got a bowl of it still left in our fridge from when we made it last week and, to be honest, I'd be fine throwing the rest away. But we both agreed that it has potential in the future, and we gave it 2 1/2 plants because of that.

Day Four: Coconut-Lime Mango Rice with Red Beans

Rating: 🌿🌿🌿

I was genuinely excited for this one, and it wasn't disappointing. My only qualms were of no fault of the authors, either. A) I should have known better than to make another recipe with mangoes - seriously. I had used mangoes for just about everything in the past two weeks. I was done with mangoes by this point. Like, soo done. B) The mangoes were ripe, ripe and therefore really, really sweet.

Otherwise, this recipe was a hit. The coconut milk made the rice creamy. The lime and mango transported you to another country. Topped with cilantro, the flavors were lovely. We had a ton of leftovers, so we've eaten it for breakfast and added a fried egg to the top, letting the gooey yolk run down into the rice kernels. We've eaten it alongside other dishes. It's great reheated, and it's a great staple dish to have around. If I'm hungry between meals, I'll have a spoonful of this reheated and it holds me over until the next meal. We'd definitely make this again, but only after we've had some time to miss mangoes. Haha! And even if we excluded the fruit, it would still be a great way to spice up an already great dish. Loved it!

Coming Up

Starting off the first weeks of July, we have Eggplant Soba Noodles, Spiced Chickpea Wraps with Tahini Dressing (one Robby's not looking forward to - he hates chickpeas!), Sweet Corn and Green Chili Baked Flautas, Creamy Ravioli with House Marinara, and Mixed Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna. As always, we're keeping an open mind. I'm excited for most of these recipes, but I am skeptical about the chickpea one too.

If these recipes sound interesting, you have two options. You can either go buy the book right now because it's on sale for $11.02, or you can wait and see what we think in the next couple of weeks. Also, check out their shop if you haven't already. They have a few really cool t-shirts, if you're in the market for a statement tee.

Thanks for following along on the journey! I was so excited we got a positive response on Instagram. Now that things are kind of settling back down, I'm staying hopeful that we'll be able to cook a little bit more consistently moving forward. Happy Fourth, everyone. Stay safe, and enjoy the holiday.

Yay! xoxo