Top 100 recipes

It's that time of the year isn't it - where the top 100s and 50s and 10s come out. RecipeZaar kicked it off with their top 100 recipes of the year.

The top 10:
1) Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
2) P. F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps
3) Fannie Farmer's Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese
4) Best Ever Banana Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
5) Bourbon Chicken
6) Cracker Barrel's Hash Browns Casserole - Copycat
7) The Best Chili You Will Ever Taste
8) Oreo Balls
9) Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe
10) Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

From 2008, the top 100 gives us this top 10:
1) Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
2) P. F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps
3) Bourbon Chicken
4) Puppy Chow or Monkey Munch
5) Best Ever Banana Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
6) To Die for Crock Pot Roast
7) Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
8) Fannie Farmer's Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese
9) Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti
10) Beer Bread

There are lots of repeats there from 2008 to 2009, reflecting that the "classics" of the new century are not found in well-worn books and handed down recipes. They are the handed around, blogged about, passed on and printed out.

I however am not a fan of American cooking - the flavours are strange, and some of the ingredients are not available here. So I looked at the taste.com.au list. Which was only 50. So I looked at them all and there are lots on here to comment about!

50. Banana bread (Yum. A favourite around here)
49. Bread & butter pudding (Not a favourite of mine. MIL makes it but I can take it or leave it)
48. Tuna mornay pasta bake (Yum. Another favourite)
47. Greek salad (Dislike olives. And without them it's not a Greek salad. So not yum)
46. Vanilla cupcakes (Yum)
45. Lemon slice (Double yum!!)
44. Choc chip banana muffins (Shmeh - take it or leave it. Not a fan of chocolate)
43. Banana cake with cream cheese frosting (Yummo - made my own tonight, for dessert)
42. Beef sausage rolls (Yum)
41. Easy fried rice (Yum)
40. Chocolate mousse in minutes (Good for a dessert - I serve mine in tea cups)
39. Basic roast beef & vegetables (Yum)
38. Thai red curry chicken (Yum)
37. Mediterranean chicken bake (It took me til now to find something I didn't immediately say "Yum. Made it. Been there. Perfected it.")
36. Pumpkin & spinach salad (Yum - two of my favourite vegetables)
35. Classic quiche lorraine (Yum)
34. Hearty beef casserole (Yum)
33. Chicken & sweet corn soup (Yum)
32. Chocolate brownies (Again with the chocolate?!)
31. Easy fried rice (Again?) (But - still yum)
30. Pasta salad (Yum)
29. Mediterranean chicken casserole (Again?)
28. Spaghetti carbonara (Yum)
27. Chicken and cheese pasta bake (Hmmmmmm. It would depend on the chicken. I dislike immensely reheated chicken)
26. Creamy potato bake (Yum)
25. Butter chicken (Yum)
24. Cheesy potato bakes (Yum) (Anything with cheese and potato gets my thumbs up!)
23. Red wine garlic slow cooked lamb shanks (Yum)
22. Chocolate chip cookies (More chocolate)
21. Irish stew (Hmmmmm maybe?)
20. Basic pancakes with lemon & sugar (Yum - a staple around here)
19. Gingerbread men (Yum)
18. Beef stroganoff (Yum)
17. Potato & leek soup (Yum)
16. Rich chocolate cake (*sigh* I wish I liked it)
15. Chocolate caramel slice (Yum - I'll eat the caramel, you have the chocolate)
14. Thai beef salad (Yum)
13. Hearty chicken and vegetable soup (Yum)
12. Sticky date pudding (Yum)
11. Slow cooked lamb shanks (Yum)
10. Pikelets (Yum)
9. Chewy Anzac biscuits (Yum) (This is starting to read like a "here are the 50 dishes that describe Australia's cuisine)
8. Basic scones (Yum)
7. Classic shepherd's pie (Yum)
6. Apple crumble (Yum)
5. Zucchini slice (Yum)
4. Basic scones (Again? Cheats!)
3. Classic cupcakes (Yum)
2. Pumpkin soup (Yum)
1. Banana bread (Yum - again. #1 and #50?)

So really a list of 50 turns into a list of several less. But still a great list!

So - things Emma does not like:
- olives
- corriander
- reheated chicken
- chocolate
- bread and butter pudding

and has very strong Australian roots and flavour references. But with a babe on the way - and the In Laws getting us a chest freezer for a Christmas, birthday, wedding, housewarming gift - I have been thinking lots more about making foods and so have started a calendar with TheHusband so that we know what to make. We are both members of it and I have synched it with me Ipod. The idea was simple enough and not mine to be honest. I created a Google Calendar, and then tried to come up with 35 meal ideas. Ooooooh boy that was hard! Then I set them to repeat over 5 weeks and let them be.

After a week, it is proving a goddess-send. It means I just have to "look" at something rather than try to work out what we are going to eat. It also means that my energy goes into the dish, not into what we're going to eat. And we can use things out of the cupboard and kitchen to substitute and still keep some consistency.

For example - tonight was chicken and apricot or mango. But we don't have any apricots or mango. Nothing tinned or jarred. So it went onto the shopping list so there is stuff in the cupboard for next cycle, and I made a roast chicken instead. So we're not slavishly adhering to the menu plan but it's a plan.

This falls into the "oh dear with have no money and bills to pay and something has to be cut down" category as well. I cleaned out the pantry and there is a LOT of food in there. Not too many repeat packets (though there were 3 containers of brown rice!) and not too many open, and nothing infested thankfully. We could easily live out of the pantry for a month though. And I aim to make things for the freezer as well so we can eat out of that post bub.

Ugh I've waffled enough. I'm going to go and make some hot chocolate and have a small piece of banana nut cake and retire for the evening.