Lab Cooking
Documenting my attempts at Nolan Lab's weekly recipe shares for 2025. Follow along and join us or check out my thoughts, triumphs, and most likely failures.
Week 1______________________
Thoughts/changes:
Never used Bisquick mix before, was excited to finally buy it.
Used pepper jack cheese
Used sweet onions (caramelized) and spring onions.
Added red bell peppers
Used almond milk because my body hates me
For Next time:
Try adding jalapeños, some extra kick would be nice.
Vibes:
Week 2______________________
Ingredients
(4 servings) 2 cups of penne pasta - make it whole wheat or legume pasta to increase Fiber intake!
1/2 lbs chicken breast – I used plan-based Abbot’s Chopped Chick’n (10oz)
4 or 5 cloves of Garlic
5 fresh green onions – you can substitute for other kinds of onion
2 tsp of olive oil
3 oz of mushrooms – I used blue oyster, it can also work with shiitake or portobello
1/2 red pepper
5 fresh tomatoes – this is to make the sauce, you can buy canned but read ingredient list for added salts and oils
Seasoning: Salt, white pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, and garlic powder.
For extra protein I added ½ cup of 1% fat cottage cheese, you can substitute for any other cheeses, but I recommend low fat cheese to avoid consuming too many saturated fats.
Now the cooking part:
First, I chopped (small dice) green onions, garlic, and peppers and put them in an oiled medium pan at medium heat.
I added the salt and pepper and sauteed until slightly golden, then added the mushrooms and other spices cooked for about 2-3 mins.
You want to chop the chicken breast into pieces and then add it to the veggies. I added more salt here.
When it was cooked and had a nice brown look, I added the tomato sauce.
I used a grater to make the tomato sauce, but you can use a blender or just buy it canned.
I just let it simmer for about 5 - 6 minutes at medium low.
Meanwhile I had the pasta measured and put water to boil add salt to the water before cooking the pasta for best flavor.
Once the water is boiling, you add the pasta and cook it until al dente (read pasta label). Penne takes about 11 minutes. After it boils, you drain the water, and then you can mix the pasta in the pan with the sauce, to serve I added the cottage cheese.
Thoughts/changes:
Fake chicken was surprisingly good
These radiatori noodles were fun
Made sauce using san marzano tomatos, garlic, basil, yellow onion.
Used thyme powder, never really used it before but it's so good
For next time:
Experiment with other mushrooms, stuck with the basic bitch of mushrooms (portobello) for this first try
Could use heat, maybe arriabata sauce next time
I wonder if browning the fake chicken first would be better.
Vibes:
Week 3______________________
Thoughts/changes:
For my heart's sake, I only used 1 stick of butter.
I think I was a bit hasty with the roux, probably could have gone for more brown than golden-brown.
Delicious recipe!
For next time:
I think adding some bacon or andouille sausage for some extra smokiness would elevate the dish.
Vibes:
Week 4______________________
Did I forget how much of a pain in the ass it was to collect pomegranate seeds? Yes
Did I totally overcook the lentils and they came out slightly mushy? Also yes
Did I forget I bought tuna for poke bowls and forgot to use it?
Uh huhDid the lentil salad and sesame crusted tuna still end up tasting good? Yessir
Vibes:
Week 5______________________
No notes, absolute banger, will make again
Also, apparently my friends told me Olive Garden makes a version of this, so I guess I'm an Olive Garden guy now?
Week 6______________________
As a Viet I'm appalled by this recipe...
But as a foodie, I just shoveled 8 of these into my mouth with no regrets.
I think pickling the carrots and also daikon would have been even better.
Vibes:
