Ravioli and Escarole Lasagna

I’ve been thinking more and more about cutting red meat from my diet. It really won’t affect me all that much. Looking at this week so far, I haven’t had red meat. The last time I had red meat was last Wednesday when we ate tacos. Of course considering how little I eat red meat (remember I think steak tastes like liver, so I avoid that almost always!), it probably doesn’t matter whether I eat the occasional bit of ground beef. Pork would be harder for me to give up. I love pork sausage, pork roll, bacon, ham steak, pulled pork, and the Carnitas at Chipotle. This would be a major sacrifice and I just don’t think I could do it. Have any of you cut things out of your diets (for non health reasons) that you thought you couldn’t give up, but you made it through? BTW I’m seriously not cutting out pork. Don’t even ask me about it!



Ah, dinner. I had been feeling sick during the day yesterday and I was very concerned that I wouldn’t be able to eat dinner. Less concerned about my food intake and more concerned that I wouldn’t have a blog post for you all. (See how much I love all of you!) Luckily my sickness turned and I was starving. I wanted to make something interesting, but easy for everyone. I’m still on my lazy kick. Don’t judge me too harshly!  The only way I can continue cooking most every day is if I am allowed lazy weeks.  So, Ravioli and Escarole Lasagna (from Everyday with Rachel Ray) was what was for dinner last night. There are times when it’s just easier to substitute ingredients rather than waste what you already have. I had spinach left over from the lentil soup, so I used that instead of escarole. (Both leafy greens, what’s the difference!) You are probably thinking, how in the world is lasagna for the lazy cook? This lasagna is perfect for the lazy cook! It’s only 5 ingredients and those are ravioli, escarole (spinach), 1 24 oz jar of red sauce, Italian sausage, and mozzarella cheese.


All you do is take the sausage out of the casing and cook it over medium heat (crumbling it as you cook) , until it’s no longer pink. Take it out of the pan (I drained the grease out of the pan, it’s not required) and then put the escarole/spinach in with some salt and pepper. Cook that until it’s wilted. Take the jar of red sauce and spread it in the bottom of a casserole dish, layer the ravioli next (I used the refrigerator kind), then sausage, escarole/spinach and the cheese on top. I’m pretty sure I didn’t use as much cheese as suggested (16 oz) that just seems like way too much even for a cheese lover. You pop that in the oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, let it cool for about 5 minutes and there’s your dinner!

Final Proguct:

This was good. It could have been better. When I was eating it I wasn’t sure what I didn’t like about it, if it was the jarred sauce (which I don’t use often) or the sausage. Anthony told me it was the sausage, there was just too much of it. I used 4 links, which was a little over a pound. I didn’t want to waste any. Think I might only use 3 links next time and freeze the extra one. This meal would be a good addition to a weeknight menu, as long as you used less sausage. This will also make for good leftovers.


Tonight I won’t be cooking. We are going to The Owl House. Figure I might as well review the food we have on Facebook tomorrow. It’s a pretty cool place. This weekend I’m really planning on challenging myself by making risotto with asparagus. To say I’m nervous would be an understatement. After work today I might actually run to Wegmans and get a frozen pizza just in case!

2 Easy Lazy Meals

A Facebook page?! Really?!  Who do you think you are?! This is what I was thinking while creating the Facebook page for The Hesitant Cook. I shook off my doubt and my feelings of being an egotistical maniac. Everyone has a Facebook page especially if they have something they are trying to promote or share with a ton of people. And we all know everyone has a Facebook profile. If you want people to do something you put it on Facebook. Facebook is the new way to do EVERYTHING! Okay now I truly feel better about myself and my Facebook page.



I haven’t been overly adventurous in the kitchen this week. The phrase “back to the basics” keeps popping up in my head. That’s probably due to the fact that my last few meals haven’t turned out very good. So this week I made a Curried Lentil Soup in the Crockpot and Pulled Chicken Sliders with Coleslaw. When you see what these recipes consist of you are going to think I’m being very lazy, but they actually both turned out really good! I don’t feel bad about my laziness at all. Except I was so lazy I forgot to take pictures!! I’m so sad about this.


I used a good old trusty Betty Crocker recipe for the Curried Lentil Soup. Before you tell me that this is more of a wintery dish, let me remind everyone that I live in Rochester, NY! Enough said. I love the Crockpot, it feels like a cooking vacation. For the soup, you combine a bag of lentils, water, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, 2 veggie bouillon cubes, curry powder, salt and 2 bay leaves. That’s it for the next 8-9 hours. I added 2 tablespoons of curry for a stronger flavor; you all know I love me some curry! About 5 minutes before you are going to serve this you mix in a can of diced tomatoes. Take the bay leaves out and serve the soup with ¼ cup of chopped spinach. The recipe also calls for some yogurt, but I didn’t bother with that. I’m not a fan of yogurt.


Thoughts…it tasted like lentils.  I know that's not a very enthralling description, but I didn’t feel like the curry was very prominent. Anthony thought there was nutmeg in it, which is strange since there wasn’t. Would I make this again? Of course, it’s a comforting soup and it seems pretty healthy.  I would just add more curry or maybe some other Indian spices. There were also leftovers which is always a good thing in a house where people don’t want to cook every night!


Next up, Pulled Chicken Sliders with Coleslaw. My mother-in-law actually sent me this recipe and I figured it was time to give it a try. I’m very glad I did. It’s super easy and fast. This meal is perfect for a weeknight or if you want to be lazy. All I had to buy was a rotisserie chicken (I love those!), a bag of coleslaw mix, and green onions. First, mix 1 cup of bbq sauce with 3 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Shred/Pull the chicken, I used the breasts and the thighs since those are the easier parts to shred. Add that to the bbq sauce mix. To prepare the coleslaw, combine mayo, green onion, dill pickle juice, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add the coleslaw mix and toss. We toasted the slider buns (Thank You Wegmans, for the slider buns!) and heated the chicken in the microwave. Then we put the chicken on the bottom buns, topped that with the coleslaw and put the roof on (the top bun). We heated up a can of baked beans to go with it (love, love, love Bush’s Grillin’ Beans) and BOOM you have dinner!


Thoughts…super yummy and super easy! I even really liked the coleslaw and I thought I didn’t like coleslaw because of the mayo, but this one was good. We had the leftovers the next day and the sliders were still great! Everyone who eats chicken should use this recipe. I know I will be making this often!


Sorry about the lack of pictures today. I promise this won’t happen again. To make up for the lack of pictures, here is a picture of the stuffed cabbage we made a few weeks ago. Delish!

Destined For Failure...

Are some recipes just destined for failure?  I believe they are.  Seems to me that if you were to write a recipe you would test it out numerous times to make sure everything you were stating was fact.  I would hate to be the cause of someones meltdown in the kitchen.  There are times though when I completly follow a recipe and the meal still turns out terribly.  That is a recipe destined for failure.  Come on recipe writers test these recipes out.  Pretend like you can't really cook and need extra special help to do it.  Make these recipes fool proof.  Yes, I know.  Nothing is fool proof in my hands, but honestly this last one wasn't my fault.

The recipe:  Soba Noodles with Shrimp, Snow Peas,and Carrots.  Healthy, easy, tasty.  Those are the three words that come to mind when I see the title of this recipe and this is food that I really want to eat and enjoy.  Everything was going smoothly.  Prepping this dish was easy enough, though I did lose a little piece of skin from my thumb while grating the ginger.  I survived that though and was still in a good mood.  In fact this night was the most calm and collected night I've had in the kitchen in a long while.  I followed all the instructions and WHAM.  Soba is way over cooked!  Honestly now that I think about it I should have paid more attention to the length of time they have you cook the noodles (7 minutes).  Once before I made soba and noticed it cooked pretty fast then too.  Even the shrimp were a little chewy, that was my fault since I only had already cooked shrimp on hand. 

Final Product:

The sauce was yummy (it has peanut butter in it so that's a given) and I would make this again, but would definitly not cook the noodles for very long.  Whoever wrote this recipe must have had some crazy soba, because I had the normal stuff and it didn't need 7 minutes. 

Lost Mojo

I cooked dinner last night and it was horrible.  Nothing was hard, I had no problem prepping the food.  It was the outcome.  I'm a big Emeril fan so when I saw a recipe for Braised Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms it sounded like something I might really enjoy.  It also has great reviews. The outcome for me was greasy sauce, undercooked chicken (that could have just been my paranoia), and the white rice I made was terrible.


Final Product:

Even if my rice had been good, I think the sauce is just way too greasy.  Anytime you cook chicken with skin on and bone in, in a sauce that already has oil and butter in it, you are going to get a mess.  I was so excited to try this recipe too.  Chicken thighs are much cheaper than chicken breasts and I need a new thigh recipe.  Sadly this one will not be sticking around.  You can try the recipe if you dare, maybe you will have a better outcome than I did and you can tell me where I went wrong.  I hate to even admit what happened to the leftovers...they were trashed.  Neither of us finished our dinner and neither of us would have wanted the leftovers.  So sad. 


The biggest problem I'm having is cooking rice.  I can cook basmati rice pretty well. Put white rice in front of me and I am sure to ruin it.  What am I doing wrong?! Does anyone have any tips?  The rice last night ended up mushy and crunchy!  How is that even possible?!  We will either only be eating basmati rice or boxed rice until I can figure out how to cook rice.

Oh and somehow I managed to move our chicken spoon rest into the flame that was cooking the rice and it cracked and broke.  I love that chicken spoon rest and now it's damaged goods.  I forgot to take a picture.  I'll take one and post it tonight.  I almost cried.  Only I could manage to break a spoon rest this way. 

My Fasting Thoughts

I was fasting in protest to the proposed budget cuts to nutritional assistance programs in the United States. I tracked my day of fasting on Facebook. Below is a recap of my status updates throughout the day on April 6, 2011.

Post 1:  It's 8:00 a.m. and I glanced over to my right where I normally stash my cereal and there isn't any there. Coffee for breakfast might be okay though. At least I'm not hungry yet.
Post 2:  Just heard the word Whopper and am suddenly very hungry.
Post 3: ‎ 10:23 and my stomach is starting to grumble. Makes me feel sad for everyone that feels this way and can't afford food to stop the grumbling.
Post 4:  I just got out of a meeting and thought "Oh good I can eat now." I forgot. Sigh.
Post 5:  Food smells all around me.
Post 6:  Huge growl coming from my stomach. Guess it likes the smell of my orange tea steeping. It will be sad when all it gets is more liquid.
Post 7:  Hmmm think I'm getting super hungry. I just felt woozy. Guess the one piece of gum I chewed didn't help me.
Post 8:  Now that I've left work expended some calories and found an I could be towed notice on my car I'm ravenous!
Post 9:  Fading fast. I might have to break down and have some chicken broth.
Post 10: Cat litter commercials even have food in them. What a great combination. Yuck!
Post 11: It's been 24 hours now. I appreciate the fact that I can feed myself whenever and whatever I like anytime. I'm riding the fast out and will eat in the morning.
Last Post this morning:  Well I had my first bite of food at 7:20 a.m. I wasn't as satisfied by it as I thought I would be. I think it's because if I really was a food insecure person I wouldn't be eating today again. Today I'll be posting on my blog today some thoughts I had while fasting yesterday.

My overall experience with the fast was actually quite good. Looking at my posts I think I was being a bit dramatic at times. I really never felt that terrible. There were a few times while I was sleeping last night that I felt nauseous, but that's about it. Since I'm not one of the many people going hungry in our county, it probably helped knowing that when I woke up today I could eat whatever I wanted. Boy did I feel guilty after I ate my bacon, egg, and cheese on a wheat bagel with hash browns. Selfish much.

Since this is a food blog let's talk about food. I only had 3 cups of tea, 3 cups of coffee, and 2 pieces of gum (couldn't give up that habit even if I wanted to!) yesterday. Why was it that if all I had was liquid I wasn't feeling very hungry? Are we hungry, or are we really just thirsty? I've read numerous articles that say that we eat when we feel hungry even though all we really need is to quench our thirst. The day before the fast I was pretty busy at work and I didn't get to eat my breakfast until around 10 a.m. (Normally I eat between 7:30-8:30 a.m.) I'm not even sure it was even necessary to eat my breakfast at that point. I think I could have done without it and just ate out of habit. I need to become a more conscious eater. Eating out of boredom is something I do a lot and was probably the hardest thing I had to overcome during the fast.

We are a food obsessed nation (almost every commercial I saw last night had some sort of food in it) and I am a food obsessed person, but with food costs getting higher and higher it's getting harder for a lot of people to afford to eat the way we all like to. I will be taking a closer look at what I purchase at the grocery store this week, because my total at the register keeps rising every week. I can't imagine how scary it must be for people not as fortunate as me. There are many people in our country who have to go to bed hungry and not know whether they will be able to eat tomorrow or even a week from now. How did our country get so out of whack? It's unbelievable. Everyone should have food to eat. It's so sad that the people in charge don't seem to understand how important food is for survival. Here's to hoping that we continue to value the nutrional assistance programs available in our country so that nobody has to go an entire day without food. Donate to your local food bank if you can!

Fasting for Hunger

Tomorrow April 6, 2011, I will be joining in the Feeding America Fast. Budget cuts have been proposed that would affect certain Hunger Programs:

Cuts to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) would mean that nearly 81,000 low-income seniors would lose monthly nutrition assistance. Cuts to programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) will reduce the capacity of food banks and local agencies to distribute food in their communities at a time when demand for emergency food assistance remains at unprecedented levels. Reductions to other low-income safety net programs that help families afford housing, utilities, child care, and other basic needs will only make it harder for struggling families to put food on the table.

-From the Feeding America Blog, March 15, 2011

I encourage everyone to take time this week and think about what other Americans, who are not as fortunate as us, are experiencing daily. Even if we just skip one meal it might help us to see how important all nutrition assistance programs are! I’ve committed myself to experiencing an entire day without food, to better understand what it’s like to be hungry. Anyone that knows me understands just how difficult this will be for me. I had to fast once for 8 hours before I had a medical procedure and I thought I was going to waste away! I was even allowed a clear liquid diet prior to the eight hour fast and all I could think about was all the food that I couldn’t eat. There are many people who are fasting for a much longer time than I am. Mark Bittman who is a food journalist, completed a four day fast, read his blog here.

Do I think this one day fast will make me a better person or American? Probably not, but at least while I am hungry I will think about everyone who struggles with this issue every day and I will have a better understanding of why all of these programs are critical to millions peoples survival.

Some Meals I Thought Were Worth It

Getting into the kitchen doesn’t scare me very much anymore, but it does still annoy me. I can’t be the only one out there who just doesn’t have any desire to spend every night after work in the kitchen. Sometimes I really can’t get up the energy to cook, like Sunday night when we ordered sushi. Of course I had been in the kitchen for awhile at that point. I FINALLY bottled my beer Sunday. It’s a Nut Brown Ale and it smells really good. Lately I haven’t really cooked anything that felt blog worthy. I’m waiting for the next great idea. In the meantime I did manage to cook three meals that I would like to share with everyone.

The first meal is Arroz Con Pollo (Rice with Chicken). Awhile ago we watched Throwdown with Bobby Flay featuring Arroz Con Pollo and we both really wanted it. I finally decided to make it and I figured why not use the recipe that Bobby Flay used on this show, Adobo Seasoned Chicken and Rice. It looked tasty on the show, but sadly he didn’t win. I had to cut the recipe a lot, but in the end it worked out quite well. Season the chicken and then sauté the chicken until both sides are browned. Put the chicken in another pan, cover and let it cook through over medium heat. Meanwhile you cook the onions and peppers until they are tender, and add tomato and garlic and cook for another minute. Next up the rice has to cook with chicken broth and salt and pepper for about 10 minutes, then add the peas and cook for another 10 minutes. To finish it off you can stir in green olives, cilantro (parsley for us), oregano, and lime juice.

Final Product:

It was a nice meal, very filling. I just used chicken thighs, bone in and with skin, which gives the meat more flavor. I was scared that I would over season the chicken and I ended up not seasoning it enough, so I will season the thighs a bit more next time. Both of us really enjoyed this and we will be having this again soon. I loved the salt of the olives in the rice. Yum!

The next recipe was for an Italian meatloaf. This recipe was created by Giada de Laurentiis, Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I absolutely loved this! It was the moistest meatloaf I have had in a long time. Everyone should try this recipe! I’m not going to bore you with the details of how to make it since I’ve previously blogged about making meat loaf before, just get these ingredients and cook! Yes, I'm talking to you! Do it.

Final Product:
The final meal I’m going to share with you today is Stewed White Beans with Spinach and Bacon. I know it doesn’t sound very appealing. I’ve been on a bit of a health kick lately and I love to try any recipes with beans as they are so good for all of us. Cook up some bacon, I used 5 slices chopped and I think that was enough, the recipe calls for 8 that might be overkill. Keep two tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pan and add the potatoes and cook them until brown. Add the onion and cook until soft. Next the beans, chicken broth, and lemon juice is added and you let that sit until almost all the liquid is gone. Stir in the spinach and cook for about a minute. Add bacon on top and some scallions and parmesan cheese. And YUM!! It really was good. I swear to it. The bacon helped give it a little more flavor then it would have had without it, so if you are going meatless I would add some more spices or some hot sauce to this. This is also super easy and perfect for a weeknight meal.

Final Product:

Overall I’ve been having some pretty good luck with my cooking lately. Or maybe I really am learning. (I said MAYBE.) I’m looking around to try some new things that I can share with everyone. I finally have come up with one idea. I’m going to have another battle of the meatless vs. meatfull. This battle will be between a vegetable meatloaf and a regular old meatloaf. I might have to cook the meaty meatloaf with some sort of addition, because I can’t see it even coming close to this veggie meatloaf recipe that I found. So if you have any spectacular meatfull meatloaf recipes that you want to see pitted against the meatless meatloaf send them my way. (Comment below and I'll send you my email address)

Another item I need to discuss with everyone. MY MOM DID NOT USE MANWICH. I repeat my mom has never used Manwich, she was a bit offended that I even considered that possibility. So I asked her for the recipe for the Sloopy Joe’s she used to cook up when I was little and of course she no longer has it. She did tell me the secret ingredient might have been A1 sauce. A1 sauce? I was a bit dumbfounded as I’ve NEVER (apparently to my knowledge) liked A1 sauce! The quest is on to find a Sloppy Joe recipe that includes A1 sauce and is still a little sweet. Once I have found the right recipe I will be cooking up some more Sloppy Joe’s and hopefully finding a match for what my taste buds are craving.