Charlynn's Torture Chamber

I shared with Trina my struggle with feeding my husband and she was so generous to take the time to share some of her favorite recipes, so I thought the least I could do was take photos and share my results.

It all started on Tuesday last week. I made chicken pillows for dinner. The husband didn't appear to like them but he ate it all (really slowly). I think he was being nice. He did say he thought they were okay. I thought there was too much cream cheese. I think they are worth a second shot, especially since they are so easy. I will try them again with half as much cream cheese next time.


This was my lunch of leftovers the following day. I decided it was better with broccoli because then the excess cheese could be used as a sort of sauce for the broccoli.


Wednesday was Cuban Beef Picadillo. This recipe was from a Williams Sonoma Cookbook given to me as a Christmas gift. It was disappointing. It was pretty much just ground beef and rice. The sad part was this was probably the most expensive meal we had all week because I had to buy spices, red wine vinegar, and I few other ingredients I didn't have to make it.

The husband didn't like it at all. He forced himself to eat five bites and walked away.

Even though dinner was a bust, I'm still glad I did it. It still felt good to sit down to a dinner and get full. I am tired of just snacking to fill up on calories. I do feel like I won't be able to eat ground beef for awhile though.

The best part was the awesome Jiffy cornbread, which was only 44 cents.

Cheers to cornbread!!!




Thursday was Caramelized Baked Chicken Drummettes. This recipe is from AllRecipes.com. The husband did eat four drummettes and mashed potatoes but also said he didn't like the flavor. He said that it tasted too much like Teriyaki which he doesn't like.

I thought the meal was delicious and I enjoyed it. The husband definitely likes potatoes more than rice so I'm going to make an effort to have potatoes more often.

I won't cook the next two night because of work. That's good because I need to work on eating leftovers and it will give the husband a break.

I'm craving my fish usual so I may eat that for lunch tomorrow before I dig into the leftovers :)





I went to Logan today and loved playing with Margie and her girls. They are so good and happy.


Sunday I cooked Allen Bros. BBQ Roast Beef sandwiches (thanks to Betsy) on Rhodes Dough Crusty Rolls (so easy) with scalloped potatoes, green beans and cantaloupe. The husband said he didn't want me to make ribs with BBQ sauce because he doesn't like BBQ sauce but he said he would eat this beef his mom gave us. I thought the dinner went super well. The husband had thirds and wanted more, however he wouldn't say he liked it. He would only say he didn't hate it.

Here are the scalloped potatoes made from a recipe on AllRecipes.com.



Here is the whole meal.


I finally got to have the fish I was craving for Monday's lunch. This is (Costco's) Panko Breaded Tilapia with rice and salad. It is so easy (15 mins. in the toaster oven) and so good. It is a usual for me. The husband has tasted a bite of mine and says it is good, but he never wants to eat it when I offer because he doesn't like fish.




Monday I made Lentil Soup (with a grilled cheese for me, the husband didn't want a grilled cheese). I'm so glad I made one for me. I had never had lentil soup before and it was about as I expected. Not something I want to eat again.

I made it because the husband saw a recipe for Lentil Soup when I was browsing and expressed an interest in it. When he ate it, he said it was fantastic. However, neither one of us ate any of the leftovers. They were donated to Clare.


After dinner, we went to a movie at the library about Nazi Germany. It was based on the lives of real people and terribly real, but a good movie at the same time.



Tuesday was the husband's birthday. He didn't want to go out to eat because his grandparents were taking us out to celebrate on Thursday but I also didn't want to torture him with a home cooked meal.


So I cooked dinner and gave the husband the option of whether to eat or opt out with no guilt. He opted out, but I like to think he regretted it. This was Chicken a La King courtesy of Trina served with leftover scalloped potatoes. It was like a super easy version of chicken pot pie and was my favorite meal all week.


For Friday and Saturday I made a Chicken Noodle Casserole (the husband chose instead of beef stroganoff). We both agreed it was good and worked well for me to take to work and for him to eat at his leisure. It has a light cheesy sauce in it. However if I ever make it again I will make major improvements to the recipe. The way the recipe is designed, it tells you to first cook the chicken with onion and garlic and then the chicken continues to cook with the vegetables in the broth, and then cooks some more in the oven for 20 minutes, hence juicy chicken turns dry. In addition, I would cook the noodles just a little bit, because they cook too much in the oven with the sauce making them softer than they should be. The husband was awesome to eat so much of this and not complain one bit about the obvious flaws.


Thank you to Trina for giving me so many good ideas and the motivating push I needed to keep trying.


Thank you to Aunt Sandefur for the updated photo for my profile.