Charlie's Kitchen

These two recipes are always a big hit and are absolutely delicious when topped with some fresh, thinly sliced carrots and cucumbers, sriracha, and sesame seeds.

It's double duty Mexican day! Today I cover two recipes from this week, Adam's classic Burrito Fete from his time in France, and an easy weeknight meal, Sheet Pan Nachos. Both dishes are sure to please, and offer lots of opportunity for customization. Enjoy!

This recipe takes me back to my very first introduction to Indian food, the naanwich from the cafeteria at Pacific Lutheran University. While not an exact replica, and likely not a true to traditional rendition of Indian chicken curry, this recipe is one of my all time favorites. I've made this dish for several sets of dinner guests and it is typically a homerun. I didn't have the time to make naan bread from scratch this time around, but the store-bought naan stood in well.

While not originally on the meal plan for this week, I pulled this recipe out and was able to whip it up using a variety of leftover ingredients. This is one where you don't have to follow the recipe to the letter to end up with an easy and tasty meal, and is great to use up some odds and ends you may have in your fridge.

This recipe is a kid & crowd pleaser, though it never comes out very pretty or presentable. Essentially a massive pizza roll, it can be customized to your audience, and even if the crust falls apart, it's still darn tasty.

Alright, I didn't like last week's experiment of a single mega-episode, so I'm going back to one-a-day style. This week we're cooking up recipes from my very own archives, recipes that I have cooked many many times and that I absolutely love. TODAY'S recipe tops that list, it is one of my all time favorites, and I just can't get over how much I love it. The original/base recipe is from delish.com, but I do my own thing and either double or triple the sauce because it is so. darn. good. 

This week I'm trying out something a little different. For the past couple weeks I haven't done any recording during the week and have just recorded all five episodes over the weekend, back-to-back. This is a little tedious for editing and trying to make everything approximately the same length. So this week I've just recorded one mega-episode where I cover all recipes from the week, and will probably try it again next week as well.

Here's what we've got cooking this week:

- Chicken Tetrazzini

- Swedish Meatballs

- Tuna Noodle Casserole

- Beef Stroganoff

- Baked Chicken Kiev

Let me know if you like or hate this new format. Send your comments to charlieskitchenpodcast@gmail.com!

Do you like mushy beef and vinegar? Then you'll LOVE today's recipe! I'll also talk about a couple of the great birthday gifts I received this year!

Ham and potatoes in a creamy, cheesy sauce. I couldn't ask for more! I'll also touch on a sweet salad and a refreshing mocktail.

Lesson learned: don't try to substitute imitation crab for real lobster.

This chicken chop suey is pretty much a chicken & veggie stir fry over rice. Comes together quick, and extremely versatile, this recipe is not too bad for quick weeknight dinner!

Our next cookbook adventure will be through Betty Crocker's Lost Recipes! A collection of updated vintage recipes, classics, and perhaps some things that were better left in the past.

Finishing off our trip through Hollis' Real Life Dinners cookbook, we try out a fantastic one pot recipe. But a questionable substitute takes things a little too far...

A pleasant spin on several of my pantry staples, this recipe ticked most of the boxes for us (with the addition of some ever-required meat).

You'd think I'd have learned by now that meat + greens does not count as a meal to my husband.

Taco Tuesday, doesn't get much more straight forward than that. But we also go on some dessert tangents and a walk down berry memory lane.

Simple, kid-friendly, tasty tasty pizzas. 

We wrap up the first week of Hollis' Real Life Dinners with some good ole fried chicken! I mistakenly made the side dish planned for this recipe earlier in the week so had to do a little improvising.

Adam wants to know when I'll stop trying to pass a vegetarian soup off as dinner-worthy. Not today, I guess!

This classic dish was marred only by my use of store-bought crust. 

Today's recipe is a rather simple yet tasty combination of several ingredients I almost always have on hand.

We're finally finishing up our last recipe from Ina Garten's Modern Comfort Food cookbook! Going all fancy with lamb today...

What do you get when you cross two unusable ovens and an impending snowpocalypse? A new cookbook and today's episode! Today we diverge slightly from our path and begin next week's new cookbook a tad early.

FIRE IN THE KITCHEN!!

Sometimes it's best just to leave a recipe alone rather than stuff in a shoddy substitute...

Who knows where you can find boneless skin-on chicken breast? Certainly not me! Tune in to find out what happens when you try to substitute plain old boneless skinless in today's recipe!

INDOOR BURGER SUCCESS. I couldn't believe these burgers. Darn good.

Bread tangents and pasta for days... and days... and days.

One of these days I'll learn to carefully read the recipe before getting started! Tune in to find out what mishaps happened this go-round with homemade chicken enchiladas.

Beautiful weather, cereal mishaps and delicious food. 

Next up on the menu is Roasted Sausages & Peppers with Fresh Corn Polenta. I get my first taste of fresh fennel, and I find yet another use for that roasting pan that I don't have. With 2 pounds of sausages and a heaping bowl of vegetables, let's see how this recipe turned out.

In this first recipe from Ina Garten's cookbook Modern Comfort Food, we're cooking up some good ole salmon fillets and trying out our hand with zoodles.

Time to dive in to a new cookbook. These next few weeks I'll be preparing recipes from Ina Garten's latest cookbook, Modern Comfort Food. This book features a bunch of familiar flavor combinations with some great updates and twists.

Today we have two reasons to celebrate. First off, this is the last recipe and episode around Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking cookbook, woohoo! And second, I've got two words for you: Meat Candy. Tune in to find out what this is all about!

A twist on jambalaya? I guess you could call it that. Today's recipe, Spicy Sausage Rice, is a completely average take on the classic rice + meat + vegetables.

What do you get when you cross puff pastry with a bunch of beefy goodness? Today's recipe, of course! Delicious meat pockets, aka beef empanadas.

We took some liberties with these lettuce wraps, in that some of us ate them with lettuce on the side, some ate them with no lettuce at all. How did it taste? Tune in to find out!

The rebound and recovery from last week's bad ending. Has Gordon Ramsay's meatball sandwich redeemed this cookbook?

The worst recipe to date, and a slight change in direction... tune in to hear what went wrong and where we're going next

Today's recipe is the Bacon, Pea, and Goat Cheese Frittata from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking cookbook

In this episode we try out the tomato risotto recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking cookbook

I made my first ever stuffed bird for this recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking cookbook -- Stuffed Roasted Chicken

In this episode we try out our first recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking cookbook -- Coconut Lime Pancakes

In this episode we get a quick introduction to the first cookbook we're trying out -- Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking.