Adventures in the realm of the edible... week 1

My quest for food exploration and domination began anew in my vacation time right after Christmas... In the space of that week and a half I was a little preoccupied with holiday ingredients served in non-seasonal ways, and played with recipes for Sweet Potato French Fries and Pumpkin Tortilla Soup. I was really pleased with both -- the fries were nearly effortlessly (I thought chopping the raw potatoes might be a pain, but it was no big deal) and the pumpkin tortilla soup is worth the work I think... It is kind of more tomato-y then I was expecting, but I love the home-fried tortilla strips and the thick consistency of the soup. I improvised with beef broth instead of vegetable -- I don't know if that changed the flavor at all, but next time I'll probably either follow the recipe more closely just to give that a go, or figure out a way to add meat and see if I can trick my boyfriend into tasting it. He was pretty anti-pumpkin when I broached the topic of trying the recipe initially, so I made it solo and currently have a good bit of soup in my freezer on standby for future lunches. Which works fine too!  In case you don't believe me, see how good it looks?  Photo is from thekitchn's website, click through for the recipe!

I also gave Balsamic Poached Chicken a try, and wasn't quite as happy... I love balsamic dressing, but actual balsamic vinegar is a little too zangy for me. Plus, they aren't kidding when they say it will "perfume" your entire house... I can't approve of a vinegar-scented living room, thanks anyway. The roasted new potatoes and asparagus were great though! Awesome way of cooking vegetables, imo.

I still have stacks and stacks of recipes, to say nothing of the wide wide world of the interwebs, so my cooking journey begins here! And off we go...