Here I am again, at the end of the week, with one recipe not made yet. How has this happened two weeks in a row? Quick answer: The Doc. First the stomach flu and this past week, he wanted to eat out “so that I wouldn’t have to cook.” I’m not sure if he’s tired of my cooking or really just wanted something different.

We did get through three out of four, and I can guess how well the last one will go over tonight.

First we had Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar & Garlic, wild rice, and broccoli. The description on the chicken recipe said it was “gourmet” and “a dinner that will impress anyone.” Well, it wasn’t bad. I followed what some of the other reviewers said and skipped using flour on the chicken, used more mushrooms and a little less vinegar. Finally, I used cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Now while I agree that it was fairly good, if I wanted a chicken dish to impress someone with, I’m going with the roasted chicken and garlic-sherry sauce I’ve posted previously. It’s so good it could make you cry. The chicken with balsamic just didn’t compare. Rating: 4

Shrimp Stir-Fry with brown rice was next. It was okay, but I’ve made better stir-fry dishes before. The wee beasts eat shrimp well and they were willing to try some new veggies (baby corn and water chestnuts) because they were covered in the sauce. So overall it went over well. Rating: 4

Next, we tried the Lime Chicken Picante with Salsa Verde Corn & Bean Salad. The chicken was good. I don’t think it was anything special. The salad was really simple and really good. Little A charged right in and snarfed it up. Big A had to pick things out. First the black beans because he thinks all beans are from the devil. Just touching them to move them out of the way caused some retching. It’s his thing. Then he wanted the red peppers moved to the side. Then he declared that he didn’t like mangos that are cooked. I told him they weren’t cooked, just sliced and stirred in. So he declared he doesn’t like “stirred mangos.” Uh huh. So after moving those to the side, too, he was left with corn. And a few of those weren’t okay to him because they had bits of cilantro clinging to them which rendered them inedible. In the end, I think he had about six kernels of corn. Whatever…more for the rest of us! Chicken. Rating: 4. Salsa Verde Corn & Bean Salad. Rating: 4.85

Pasta e Olio, cucumber and tomato salad. This is the one we’re having tonight so I can’t give it a fair review. But based on what I know the beasts have eaten in the past, I can hazard a good guess. It’s a really basic dish made up of pasta, garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes, butter and olive oil. If I throw on a good dose of parmesan cheese, it will almost be like giving them simple buttered noodles with cheese. They’ll eat it but they’ll do much better if I take a jar of store-bought sauce and pour a couple tablespoon’s worth of sauce on it. So since I’ll have to modify it for them to eat like champs, I’ll give it an early-bird review. Rating: 3.75

Hopefully I’ll have better luck next week getting all of the food made and eaten. Wish me luck!