Weekend Cooking: Three Winning Dinners

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A few weeks ago I won a wonderful giveaway from my friend @florinda_3rs. It was a three-month subscription to a magazine service and app called Next Issue. Naturally, the first thing I did was gain access to a whole bunch of cooking magazines.

This past week, I used the app to find dinner ideas. I tried three new recipes and all were winners. By the way, in case you're curious, Next Issue includes a number of magazines that feature food and cooking, such as Saveur, Bon Appetit, Better Homes & Gardens, and Country Life.

Rather than type out the recipes, I thought it'd be simpler to share the magazine's photos, my thoughts and tweaks for each dish, and the links to the recipes on the magazines' websites. That way you can print out a copy of whatever looks good to you or pin it to your Pinterest boards.

The Eating Well recipe was for Baked Vegetable Soup, which is started on the stovetop but finished in the oven. What I liked about the method was that I didn't have to watch the liquid level or stir the soup. Instead, I put it in the oven and forgot about it for an hour. Nice. The only thing I did differently was to use a single bag of artichoke hearts and to add two Hungarian wax peppers, which I wanted to use up. The recipe doesn't call for a lot of seasoning, so I added dried basil and some thyme.

From Southern Living I made Beef Kabobs with Broccoli Slaw and Peanut Sauce. As some of you may know, I have a slight peanut allergy, so I made this one with Sunbutter, a peanut butter substitute. The recipe suggests two kinds of beef, and I picked the rib eye steak. I made the recipe pretty much exactly as it was written, and we both loved the flavors and how easy and fast it was to put together.

Finally, I made the Pork and Pinto Bean Nachos from Cooking Light. There were quite a few steps to this recipe (and dishes to wash!), but the result was well worth it. My pork tenderloin was a bit bigger than the one called for, so I used more chips and more cheese (so much for the "light"!). I didn't make the topping, instead I scattered jalapenos and onions on top of the beans and underneath the cheese and served the nachos with diced avocado in lime juice and chopped fresh tomatoes. There were plenty of leftovers, so we had this two nights in a row.