Has anyone tried any new recipes or combinations lately that have turned out really great? Please share, I need some new ideas!

I've done:
Red Lentil and Carrot Soup with Coconut Milk (http://www.recipezaar.com/113554)
and
Pasta with Vodka Sauce (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pasta-in-Vodka-Sauce/Detail.aspx)
and both were fantastic and very easy.

Ridiculously easy seasoning recipe but is soooo good on everything! I use regular salt but kosher salt is really good.http://www.recipezaar.com/57340

It's really, really bad for you but I rationed with myself that since I'd had oral surgery and hadn't eaten in over a day;) but I made homemade potato skins last week. Kinda made the ranch dressing too.

Not new but I also LOVE making baked potato soup, Croque Monsieur without the ham and homemade macaroni and cheese.

I prefer baking though. I absolutely LOVE baking. Sometimes I'll spend the entire night making assorted types of cookies or cupcakes.

Generally with me when I want new ideas I look through the pages of cookbooks (I'm a cookbook fanatic too lol) one of my favorites is The Joy of Cooking (a lot of the recipes are totally easy and I've loved everything I've tried) and the books by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa from the Food Network) for cakes/cupcakes The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is great. I've also loved everything I've made from that with the exception of one frosting recipe. She has some other books that I really like too (one on Christmas cookies) My copy of the cake bible is so, so worn that I'm going to need a replacement (I've had it since '94) Her recipes are always really easy too even though some have seemed like maybe they wouldn't be. They can be a bit pricy but for the most part aren't bad.

I just made this vegetable ravioli lasagna tonight, and I can tell I'll be making it again.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_23680,00.html

I substituted zucchini and mushrooms for the vegetables and used a can of quartered artichoke hearts and it is delicious. The recipe took less than 30 minutes to put together, and then you just put it in the over for about 15 minutes to melt the cheese. Yum!

Several months ago I bought a bottle of sesame oil for cooking. Just to try it out. I LOVE it!

My latest favorite:

Fresh spinach leaves sauted with sesame oil and a little bit of finely chopped onion. Salt & pepper. YUM!

Since I've been dieting lately, I've been making some new things for myself that are mainly vegetarian. I usually make it the night before and put it in tupperware so I can drive home on my lunch break and eat it. I recently made:

Tabouleh (http://mideastfood.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/taboulehrecipe.htm)
(This is my FAVORITE FOOD combined with hummus and pita bread! It's very easy to make but requires a lot of chopping.)

and

Pico de Gallo (http://www.chow.com/recipes/10992)

I've been on an ethnic kick lately. There's a middle eastern supermarket close to home and I went there last week to stock up and look around.

These two recipes are very tasy and healthy for you. Even my boyfriend tried and liked some of the Pico de Gallo (someone who doesn't eat many veggies).

I made some fish tacos from a free Costco cookbook using store bought fish sticks. It was so easy and tasty!

Haven't tried it yet (making it tonight) but I'm making 4 different cupcake recipes tonight (white chocolate, devils food, peanut butter and golden cream-which I've tried before-I'm only going to leave out a few of each flavor and will freeze the rest) I'm making a few different frostings too. So far I've decided on regular buttercream (the easier one you make with powdered sugar instead of the traditional one where you cook sugar syrup) chocolate, white chocolate cream cheese and peanut butter. I'm using chocolate on the golden ones and some of the peanut butter ones, white on some of the chocolate ones, white chocolate on the white chocolate and I've decided to do a mixed swirly thing with the chocolate and peanut butter ones on some of the pb and chocolate ones. I'll probably be up all night.

Gosh, my contribution to this thread is going to be puny compared to all of yours! I made them last night for the first time to go with some pasta:

Italian Rolls

Crescent rolls, can of dough
Italian seasoning
Butter

Unroll the crescent rolls, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Roll them up as normal and bake.



I checked all the links you posted and those look way too complicated for me!

I haven't been cooking lately because I'm so busy with school and work but my boyfriend and I were in the cooking mood about a month ago and made this awesome chicken cutlet parmigiana recipe (courtesy of Rachael Ray ;) )
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30112,00.html

then my cousin and I made and awesome whipped potato soufflé along with some scallions and salad which were amazing :) I'll have to grab that recipe from her sometime for the souffle :)

oh and I made these awesome steaks a while back with gorgonzola cheese melted on top, yum! another Rahael Ray recipe :)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_22517,00.html

No real recipes, but lately we've been throwing everything in the crock pot. Everything comes out so juicy! I love that thing.

Haven't tried it yet (making it tonight) but I'm making 4 different cupcake recipes tonight (white chocolate, devils food, peanut butter and golden cream-which I've tried before-I'm only going to leave out a few of each flavor and will freeze the rest) I'm making a few different frostings too. So far I've decided on regular buttercream (the easier one you make with powdered sugar instead of the traditional one where you cook sugar syrup) chocolate, white chocolate cream cheese and peanut butter. I'm using chocolate on the golden ones and some of the peanut butter ones, white on some of the chocolate ones, white chocolate on the white chocolate and I've decided to do a mixed swirly thing with the chocolate and peanut butter ones on some of the pb and chocolate ones. I'll probably be up all night.

Oh Samantha, I'm here at work at the office and my mouth is watering! I love anything peanut butter and I have never had a peanut butter cupcake! They sound amazing!

Oh Samantha, I'm here at work at the office and my mouth is watering! I love anything peanut butter and I have never had a peanut butter cupcake! They sound amazing!

They were really good, I'd never had them either but when I was searching for peanut butter frosting recipes (I had the one I used anyway but I wanted something printed out so I didn't have to use different cookbooks) I came across that recipe.

http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2004/12/01/peanut_butter_cupcakes_with_chocolate_ganache/

Instead of the ganache I made milk chocolate buttercream (I just melted milk chocolate and beat it with softened butter and added sifted powdered sugar to get it to the consistancy I wanted) and peanut butter frosting. I iced some of them with praline buttercream (same as the milk chocolate but instead of the chocolate I used a can of hazelnut praline paste) some with the milk chocolate then today I made the PB one and did some with half PB have milk chocolate.

Oh Samantha, I'm here at work at the office and my mouth is watering! I love anything peanut butter and I have never had a peanut butter cupcake! They sound amazing!

Me too!! I love peanut butter!! I'm on a diet, but Sam you are making me hungry!! And I've been craving sweets a lot lately, but I'm trying to be good. :D