Recipes this Week

Hey everyone, sorry to be posting this so late! It's a crazy week here so I decided to only choose 2 things:

Puffed French Toast, pg 64
Buttermily Caramel Syrup, pg 70

Happy Cooking!
Tarin

Recipe Catch Up

I have a few recipes I tried lately from the last few weeks.

First up is the Double Chocolate Waffles.  These were delicious! I served them with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. I made a gluten free and regular version, both really tasty!

One night last week I made a big batch of the grilled taco chicken.  The first night we had it in tacos.  That was good and I preferred the taste of the seasoning to the packet of taco seasoning.  The next day I used the extras to make the Taco Soup.  This was easy to make and tasty.  It more liquid then some other versions I have made but still good.  Sean appreciated that there wasn’t beans in there but I think they would be a nice addition.

I made the Stovetop Kettle Corn for our little Halloween Preschool Party and it was a big hit, especially among us moms! It was pretty easy to make and was really good!

Kim's review

Last week I made the 3 recipes I chose.

First up, the pumpkin shake... yum!!! I was a little hesitant when I was adding the pumpkin puree but mixed with the ice cream and everything else it was yummy and delicious. I made it for my kids who quickly gobbled it up.


The chocolate waffles (this is my husbands attempt to try and take a "pretty" picture! I thought these were really good. They are really sweet and you fill up on them fast. When I fisrt started pouring the batter to make the waffles I thought we weren't going to have enough for everyone but since they are so rich, it's hard to eat a lot. I think we even had a little left over. We didn't have any cream, that would have tasted yummy on them but probably made them even sweeter.


I LOVED the Greek couscous. I didn't add the olives or parsley. Also, I threw some chicken on our George Foreman and tossed it in. I didn't chill it for 2 hours either. We actually ate it warm and thought it was delicious. It all came together in just a couple of minutes and tasted fresh and light! YUM!! I ate some for leftovers yesterday and it was still really good but I think I kind of preferred it warm.

Since it is starting to feel a little bit like fall here I thought we should make a soup..
Chicken tortilla soup pg. 100
with the Grilled Taco Chicken pg. 114
And Stovetop Kettle Corn pg. 256

Happy cooking!



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Location:New recipes

Leslee’s Recipes

Last week we made the Cookie Sundae Cups for dessert.  I too had to cook mine for awhile and I think I might have cooked them a tad bit too long.  They were still nice and soft though when we ate them hot with ice cream and the toppings on top.  Very yummy!

Last night I made the Greek Couscous Salad but made a few changes.  I can’t eat couscous so I used quinoa instead.  It seemed like the best substitution.  Everything else I followed except substituting the cucumbers for broccoli (Sean doesn’t like them!).  I also just used regular olives because I wasn’t feeling too adventurous to try the other ones.  I guess I took a lot of the Greek out of this salad!    I thought the dressing was just a bit too oily but I didn’t end up using it all anyway.  Overall I thought the salad turned out great and it was light and fresh tasting. We ate it with some grilled chicken.  It was a good alternative to rice or potatoes!

Tarin Playing Catch Up

So I while I don't have any pictures I have done a couple of our recipes so far...

I loved the cookies in the cups. I've done this before in a bigger sized container and was glad that I tried it in the ramekins, they are officially called pizookies but I know that there is a restaurant in Utah called The Chocolate that calls them cazookies which is where I saw them for the first time.   I also had to cook them longer, I don't know if it's because I put more dough in than I was supposed to but they turned out yummy.

The other one I just did was the white bean chicken chili. I haven't really had many chicken chili's before and I figured that this would just taste like a soup, but when I took my first bite I really thought chili. I made it on the stove top and let it just simmer for about an hour before serving it. I also thought the lime at the end was the perfect flavor! We also crumbled up tortilla chips and I tried it with some sour cream and cheese and it was just delicious. It was so easy, healthy, and yummy. Even Jack liked it and he hates all things chicken. Definitely a keeper.

New Recipes!!

Please excuse my crazy pregnant mind. I think these recipes are a little random, but they each sound so good to me right now!

Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce (pg 63)

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake (pg 244)

Greek Couscous Salad (pg 79)

I know these things don't go together, but don't they all sound so yummy?! Happy Cooking everyone!

Kim's review

I made the white chicken chili and it was delicious. The first time I made it I did it in the crock pot and the second time (yes, it was that yummy!), I did it on the stove. Each time it was perfectly tasty and a winner at my house. It is easy but so delicious. A keeper for sure!



I made the cornbread and I liked it. Like everyone has said (and the cookbook too), it makes A LOT!! I thought the taste was perfect for me. They were just a little crumbly for my liking. It made a huge mess when my little boys were trying to eat them. They loved them by the way because they each thought I made cupcakes for dinner!


This apple dessert was easy and good... not delicious for me. It's one I'm not sure I will make again. We all liked it, but it didn't make anyone fly to the moon! By the way, I was watching a friends kids while she went to an ultrasound to find out if she is having a boy or a girl, so that is why my icing is pink and blue.... it's a boy!!!

Jacki’s Cookie Sundae Cups

I made this recipe last night for dessert and it was REALLY good – you  can’t go wrong with chocolate chip cookie dough and ice cream:)  I followed the recipe as directed except it took about 20 minutes to cook the cookie dough instead of 12-14 like the recipe said.   The dough had been chilling in the fridge since I  made it earlier in the day so maybe it took longer since it was still cold.  It was all pretty simple and straight forward.  My dough didn’t rise all the way to the top of the ramekin like in the cookbook picture so maybe I didn’t add enough but it seemed like plenty.  Very tasty!

Leslee’s Recipes

 

White Chicken Chili- This was so easy to fix and turned out very tasty! I used canned chicken, so I just dumped everything into the crockpot and let it cook for several hours.  I forgot to add the cilantro but it was still delicious!

Apple Streusel Bars- I made these on Sunday and took most of them to a church function. Sean sampled the rest of them and said they were delicious! They were pretty easy to make and smelled good!

Cornbread- I made the cornbread as well last week and I loved it! I used a package of gluten free cornbread mix and a box of gluten free yellow cake mix.  Both boxes called for a lot of eggs, butter, oil, etc so I felt like I was adding a ton of stuff.  I ended up with a lot of corn muffins!! I thought they turned out really tasty.

A quick recipe

Since we don't have a new recipe up this week, let's just try the Cookie Sundae Cups (pg 213). They look delicious and any excuse to whip up some cookie dough (or buy some:) is fine by me!
This should also give us a chance to catch up as well. I know I have a few recipes I need to post about.
Also I will put up a new selection schedule since we are all finished!



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Jenny's Guiltless Alfredo, White Bean Chicken Chili, and Cornbread

This week I made the Guiltless Alfredo pasta and the chicken chili.

I made the alfredo pasta without the chicken. I just added a little more bacon than what it called for. I think it would be good with chicken and next time I would add more artichokes since I am a fan. I didn't have quite as many as what the recipe called for. I also thought it would be yummy with sauteed mushrooms and maybe a white or yellow onion sauteed instead of the green onion. My husband really liked the pasta a lot. I thought it had a good flavor. I am wondering though if next time I would bake it. I'm not sure why that step was in there, except maybe to melt the cheese more. But it was creamier before the baking and I thought it looked great! Either way I am sure it would be good.

I made the chili yesterday and it was the perfect day to make it! It was rainy and stormy and on the cooler side for Houston. I really liked this recipe. I have another white bean chicken chili recipe I had been using, but this one is better. The other one is just kind of peppery and this one has a great flavor with the cilantro and the lime juice. Yum! I read at the bottom of the recipe, after the fact, that avocado would be a good thing to add. I agree. I think a little diced avocado would be a good addition, but again...I am a huge fan. I was wondering how the chicken would turn out in this soup. Sometimes I think chicken gets tough when it's cooked in soup, but this chicken was so tender. I had some leftovers for lunch today and the chicken was still really tender.

The cornbread I actually made a few months ago. I made it before we officially started the cookbook and I made it along with their red beans and rice recipe and their honey butter. I wasn't so much a big fan of the cornbread. I kind of like a more savory, corn-y type of cornbread. It was also during my first trimester and their is no accounting for what does or doesn't taste good at that time! Part of the problem maybe too was the honey butter. It was really, really, really sweet. I thought honey butter was just...honey and butter. But their recipe adds a fair amount of powdered sugar to the honey and butter. So it was super sweet honey butter on top of sweet cornbread/cake. Oh well. Maybe I will have to try it again under different circumstances :)

Audrey's BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad & Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream

Here's the Chicken Cobb Salad. We really liked it and it was easy enough to fix. We already eat a lot of these meals during the summer, so I knew that they would really like this recipe. I didn't fix the blue cheese dressing, as they didn't want to try it :(

Here is my version of the ice cream, courtesy of Jacki's suggestion. I did use the full fat vanilla ice cream after reading her review and it turned out great! I let the ice cream soften up and then added chopped up cherries that had been frozen and then thawed. I stirred them in and then added the grated dark chocolate. Put the mixture in a freezer safe container and let it refreeze. It tasted really good. I did like it best when it was still soft. I don't have a ice cream maker, so it was fun to try and make my own version of it.

Here is the mixture after adding the chocolate.

We liked both of these recipes and I will fix them again. Hope that those of you who haven't tried them will!

Jacki’s White Bean Chili, Cornbread and Apple Streusel Bars

I made all of these recipes last night for dinner.  The White Bean Chili recipe is very similar to others I have tried.  It was really easy because I used canned chicken – the only work was dicing the onion and opening cans.  It turned out really tasty.  I did end up adding a few drops of Tabasco sauce to kick it up a notch.  I also added a little less broth than the recipe called for.  I thought the addition of the lime juice at the end was very fresh tasting.  The cornbread tasted good and I like it sweet but I prefer a more dense and  rustic texture – more ground corny rather than yellow cake mixy so I will not use the recipe again but it was fun to try it – I will just stick with the Jiffy mix.   The apple streusel bars were very good.  I thought I had almond extract for the icing but didn’t so I used vanilla extract but I definitely think the almond flavor would have been excellent.  I was lazy though and just put the frosting on with a knife instead of squeezing it on with the baggie so it doesn’t look as nice. 

Recipes for Oct. 2, 2011

It is rather chilly here on the east coast so let’s make some Chili this week (har har:) 

White Chicken Chili             102
Corn Bread                                43
Apple Streusel Bars              212

Kim's review

Some of the things I made I totally forgot to take a picture of.

I made the thai noodle salad and thought it was really good. Next time I will half the recipe and add WAY LESS dressing. I added the whole recipe and my meal was swimming in dressing. It wasn't a very "kid friendly" meal at our house at least but I thought it was really good.


I also made the french dip sandwiches. I followed the recipe exactly except I added provolone cheese instead of swiss (not a big swiss cheese fan). It was delicious. The meat was yummy, the au jus was delicious and the whole family enjoyed it. We used the left over meat to make the taquitos the next day... YUM!

I made the dinner rolls the other night. I wasn't a huge fan of them. Mine were pretty heavy. I thought they were going to turn out light and fluffy, but mine weren't. Maybe I should have added less flour, let them raise longer... I don't know. Any suggestions??? They tasted yummy but I didn't love the heaviness of them.


When I made this dessert I don't think I have ever seen my husband SO HAPPY!! He was literally in heaven. It was delicious and we will make it again for sure. My husband claims this will be a recipe that will be passed down for generations in our family!

Leslee’s Chicken Bacon Alfredo and Dinner Rolls

I made this meal today for lunch and it turned out well.  I ended up using canned chicken which made things a little easier. I also omitted the artichoke hearts and green onions. I was a little skeptical of the white sauce and didn’t think it looked very good as I put it into the oven but I was surprised at how tasty it was. At the ending of the baking time I let the cheese brown up a bit under the broiler.  I am glad it turned out well because I made a double batch to put some in the freezer:) The rolls were relatively easy to make but I only ended up adding about 6 cups of flour to mine.  I was worried that wouldn’t be enough but they turned out great.  I made half of the batch into cinnamon rolls and Sean said those were very tasty too.  For myself I tried out the Gluten Free dinner roll recipe that was featured on the Our Best Bites Blog.  They turned out okay…

Earlier this week I re-made the Chipotle Beef Tacquitos since I didn’t really end up following the recipe the first time.  I opted to use the spice instead of the canned chilies. These were really good! They were a little bit dry but dipped into guacamole or salsa they were prefect! 

Audrey's Taquitos, Salsa and cookies

Here is the meat mixture for the Taquitos. It was pretty simple to put together, but I think I'll follow Jacki's suggestion of using the spice instead of the pepper next time. I still have the rest of the peppers in the frig :(

Here is the finished Taquito meal. I didn't have all the ingredients for the salsa and cookies at this time, so we had fried okra and some toppings to go with them. I didn't find the cheese it called for in the store, so just used a Mexican cheese mixture and I found that it really melted down. I think the Taquitos would have looked better with the asked for cheese :) Also I cooked mine a bit too long and will probably skip the salt on top or else use less. All in all, I liked these.

Here are the main ingredients in the salsa.

Here's the finished product. I couldn't resist a snack after making it. Soooooo good! I really enjoyed all the fresh ingredients.

Here is the cookie dough partly mixed up.Here's the dry ingredients. I sure like just putting all the ingredients in a bowl and using a whisk to lighten them up.

I found the dough pretty dense, more so than my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe.

When I baked the dough up they were great! Very tasty and chewy, which I really like. I did substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips for the white chocolate chips, since some of my family don't care for it. Next time, I will use it instead of the peanut butter chips. I think that I would like that better. I still liked them, but like the option of switching out the different flavors.

On the whole, I liked all 3 recipes, especially the salsa :)

Sarah's Catch-up Post

I will just start by saying I LOVE the Thai Noodle Salad. I didn't make it again so I don't have a picture but it is honestly one of my favorite salads of all time. Especially with the honey roasted peanuts on top. YUM!!

From 2011-09-27 (by Eye-Fi)

I liked these okay. The filling was delicious but the problem is that the tortillas weren't that good. I live in Indiana and for some reason I can't find any decent tortillas out here. I think I will try them again when I find some good ones.

From 2011-09-18 (by Eye-Fi)

The french dip sandwiches were great. I made the french dip first then the taquitoes and it worked out perfectly. It was a little pricey so I am going to have to wait till meat is on a killer sale before I make them again though. But definitely a keeper.

I thought my broiler was broken because it never seems to get very hot, but while making these my husband figured out that you put it in under the oven to broil. Has anyone seen an oven like that before? It seems so bizarre not to mention dangerous!

From 2011-09-04 (by Eye-Fi)

I feel bad because I was the exact opposite of Jenny, who picked these recipes. I love the dressing and have been using it for a while. I think, though, I would probably go back to my other pork recipe (which is from Jenny)! I still really liked it but I just love the pork cooked in coke. We had some people over for dinner who went crazy over it...so it was still a great recipe! They ate so much and LOVED it. I also made the tortillas from the website and they were absolutely amazing! I hope everyone tries them!

From 2011-08-27 (by Eye-Fi)

Loved the broccoli! I wanted to try it with lemon juice but I forgot so I will have to make it again.