doing the twirly whirly - my way

i have always wanted to try new dishes, thus i devour cookbooks like a gripping thriller. i hang onto the TV chef's every word. but that's the thing, i want to try and cook all these new dishes, but the family is a bit hesitant about trying to eat it.

as we were going through the aisles of the supermarket the other day, i told the hubby about a pasta salad recipe i wanted to try. it was from alex at ma, what's for dinner? i mean, she's a published cookbook author who is now taping her own cooking show. it has to be good, right? in the middle of my pitch, the hubby said the words i never expected him to say: sure, let's try it.  great, i forgot the recipe at home, i though to myself as i picked the ingredients for the pasta salad. i picked some frozen spinach balls, fusili pasta, italian dressing. 

earlier today, the hubby suggested that we have the pasta salad for lunch. i eagerly read through the recipe and mentally kicked myself. there is no spinach balls in the recipe! what i needed were broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. i got the carrots from the local market. on the other hand, cauliflower costs have shot through the roof and was too expensive. well, i'll just have to wing it.

the recipe called for store-bought rotisserie chicken; i had some marinated chicken which i had fried and shredded. i cooked the fusili according to package instructions. after three minutes, i added the shredded carrots and spinach balls. i had though that the spinach balls would retain it's shape. man, i was SO WRONG. it disintegrated once it hit the boiling water, coating the pasta and ended up looking like pesto.

once the pasta is cooked and the carrots blanched, i drained it and mixed it with the shredded chicken and italian dressing. again, the recipe called for parmesan cheese but since i didnt have that, i used cheddar cheese instead. added some pepper and some more dressing until it tasted just right.

i was a bit worried that jackjack might not eat it, lest taste it. he looked at it and said, "eat ako!" (i will eat), and proceeded to feed himself, even asking for more. my little boy was eating spinach!

thank you so much, alex, for the recipe and inspiration. i may not have followed your recipe to a T, but i'm proud to say i was able to wing it.

is there a recipe that you had tried that came out better than what you expected when you tweaked it?