Tarin's BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad

I really liked this recipe a lot and it's perfect for a hot summer day. And everyone said that it looked like a salad that you would get in a restaurant. This is definitely one that will be used again. I just need to find a longer platter to serve it on.

Kim's cobb

Here is my salad:


We liked it at our house (well, the adults did). I couldn't get the kids to eat it. They liked the chicken though. It tasted fresh and yummy and was perfect for a summer dinner. I don't think I did anything different, I just followed the recipe. I am not a blue cheese fan, so we did the ranch/bbq sauce combo and we thought it was delicious.

I didn't get a chance to make the ice cream but an ice cream maker has been on my list of things I want for a while, so hopefully we get it soon and I can try that recipe. It sounds delicious.

New Recipes for the Week of August 28th

The recipes I picked for the week are the Mexican-Style Sweet Shredded Pork on pg. 140, the Creamy Cilantro-Lime Ranch Dressing on pg. 85, and the Lime-Cilantro Rice with Pineapple on pg. 204.

I have a recipe for Cafe Rio style pork already, but this one is a little different from mine and I haven't made my recipe for a long time. I also love that it's a crock pot dinner. It will be fun to see what everybody does with these recipes: salads, tacos, burritos, etc. Yum!!

Heidi's Cobb Salad

I fixed the cobb salad this past Tuesday.  I had a meeting at Connor's school so I fixed it and got the kids plates ready and then left them home in Daddy's supreme care.  I didn't use the green onion since we are huge fans.  The kids liked their salads without the eggs and cheese.  I think Ashley actually prefered hers with just ranch and lettuce.  Kenton and I really liked the salad.  I even got a text from Kenton while I was at my meeting that said "The salad is excellent!"  That is high praise coming from his regarding a salad!  :)

Heidi's Asparagus and Pasta

I fixed the Asparagus and Pasta sometime last week.  My family isn't big fans (okay, not at all) of asparagus.  That's okay, I like it so more for me!  I thought the asparagus was really good and enjoyed it.  I ended up cooking it in the oven since Kenton was already cooking the zucchini and chicken on the grill for me.  We really, really liked the pasta.  Ashley had about 3 helpings of it!  My kids didn't like the zuchinni, but liked the rest of it.  I am sure that I will fix it again!

Leslee’s Cobb Salad

I made this salad on Wednesday for a little lunch I was having.  I did most of the prep work the night before like cooking the chicken, eggs, and bacon.  I covered the chicken in our favorite bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) and heated it up just a bit before serving.  I made sort of a salad bar with everything for people to fix their own.  The only thing I forgot was the green onions.  I didn’t end up having time to make the dressing but I am not really a blue cheese or feta fan so we just used the bbq dressing and ranch suggestion.  The salad was delicious and everyone loved it! I have been eating the leftovers for lunch for the past few days.  I forgot to take a picture of my salad but I am sure it was just as beautiful as the one in the book:)
I haven’t gotten a chance to try out the ice cream recipe yet but I will try to make that soon and post about it!

Jacki’s Review of Cobb Salad, Blue Cheese Dressing and Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream

I made the BBQ Cobb Salad for dinner on Sunday along with the Zesty Blue Cheese dressing and it was sooo good.  It took a bit of time to get everything prepared but very worth it.  It was raining so I just cooked some chicken tenderloins with BBQ sauce on them in the oven until they were done.  I forgot to buy a tomato and we didn’t have any ripe in the garden so I used a fresh garden cucumber instead.  I mixed up the blue cheese dressing a few hours ahead of time so it could chill and blend flavors.  I only used one tsp of fresh pressed garlic which was plenty and I used  a little more than 1/4 tsp of table salt instead of the 1/2 tsp of kosher salt.  It was flavorful and zesty!  I served the salad with some whole wheat bread and it made for a great meal. 

Zesty Blue Cheese Dressing

BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad

Since we are all friends I will just be honest about my Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream almost disaster.  I don’t have an ice cream maker although I would really like to get one of those Cuisinart ones where you don’t have to use ice and salt.  But, I came up with another plan for now.  I bought some Edy’s slow churned vanilla ice cream and let it soften for a few minutes on the counter.  I pitted the cherries with the straw as mentioned in the cookbook and quartered them.  I grated the dark chocolate in my food processor.  Then I mixed them all together.  The problem was the ice cream was very soft and after I mixed in the cherries and chocolate it was really soft.  I put it in the freezer and checked it awhile later and it was total liquid!  I left it in there and it eventually hardened up and was actually quite good but a bit on the icy side.  If you do the store bought route I would strongly suggest using a good quality regular vanilla ice cream because I think the slow churned has more air in it or something.    Next time I will just buy regular vanilla and mix in the cherries and chocolate just before serving.  Tarin, I hope your mom buys an ice cream maker so you can make the recipe as directed and report on it :)

Sarah's Chicken Cordon Bleu

I have to admit I wasn't too excited about this one because I feel like I have made way too many rolled chicken dinners. But I actually really like it! The panko made it so crispy. I wanted to brown the top with the broiler but I have a phobia of over cooking chicken (yes over cooking not under cooking). So I took it out after a minute under the broiler. They weren't quite as pretty but they tasted great.

New Recipes for Week of Aug 21st

Barbeque Chicken Cobb Salad               pg. 77   
Zesty Blue Cheese Dressing and Dip    pg 87   
Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream                  pg 246  

I am not sure how I am going to make the ice cream without an ice cream maker but I will figure something out!  - it just looks and sounds so good and cherries are still in the stores. 

Sarah's Asparagus and Pasta

I love that my daughter couldn't wait for me to take a picture before helping herself to some asparagus. I thought it was pretty good. Jake isn't crazy about balsamic vinegar (he is crazy) but he still enjoyed it. Hannah loved it too but Eli threw it on the floor and said, "chuck," his was of saying yuck. But 3/4 of us liking it is considered successful!



Funny story...Jake and I spit the shopping list because we were short on time. I put on Jake's list 'bunch asparagus.' Well you can see from the picture how he interpreted that :p Any one have any other asparagus recipes?



The zucchini pasta was just okay for me. I did have to improvise because we ended up needing to feed a couple more families that we were expecting so I am wondering if I just didn't get enough flavor into it. It was a little complicated too. I don't think I could have done it without Jake manning the grill. The thing I did like was the grilled zucchini. I normally am not crazy about zucchini, but I really enjoyed it grilled. I probably wouldn't go and buy it to make it again but next time someone give us zucchini (which seems to happen a lot this time of year!) I will definitely throw it on the grill.

Tarin's Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers and Asian Cabbage Salad

I really liked the Cabbage Salad and I wish that I had let it sit longer. It was light and fresh. And then I was behind on getting my chicken in the marinade so it only sat for about an hour and even after such a short time the chicken tasted really good. I put too many pieces on the skewer so that the bacon didn't get as crispy on the side. I served it with just white rice and it was a great "asian-night" dinner. Another keeper recipe...I'm really liking this book...by the way :)

Tarin's Chicken and Broc

I've made lots of Chicken Cordon Bleu recipes before but this one takes the cake. It was delish! The prep was messy, but definitely worth it. I completely followed the directions except I used Rice Chex in place of the panko bread crumbs and it was really yummy. I cooked them for 30 minutes and then broiled for 4-5 minutes.

The Oven Roasted Broccoli was good. I didn't think it was anything amazing, but it was fine. Definitely paired really well with the chicken. But I also made a Hollandaise sauce to go over both and it added an extra dimension of flavor. I'll definitely make this again.

Kim's Review

This is a little catch up. Last week I made the Fettuccine, asparagus, mousse and Brazilian lemonade.
I thought everything was absolutely DELICIOUS!! The asparagus was easy and yummy and everyone enjoyed it. The fettuccine was amazing. I used all the lemon zest and didn't feel like it was too much (I think I like a little lemon kick though). It was really full of flavor. My husband said he would order that at a restaurant!


The mousse was light, fluffy and yummy. I've already made it again, and I liked it better the first time I made it. The second time I whipped it too much and it was thick and not as satisfying.


The Brazilian lemonade was really good!! I don't have a very good strainer though and I DO NOT like any type of pulp in my drinks at all. So, I was a little weirded out by the pulp. The next day I went to the store and bought a good strainer so next time I make the lemonade it will be smooth and delicious.



I just made the chicken and broccoli tonight. It was a huge hit at my house. I thought I had chicken breasts in the freezer but it turns out they were tenderloins. So I made mini little chickens and it was perfect. It only took them 25 minutes cook and my kids kept eating them because they loved that they were small. My 4 year old said it was the best chicken I've ever made. The broccoli was really good too. I added the lemon like it said in the suggestions. My husband liked it but thought it was a little too lemony. Like I said earlier I love a lemon kick, so I thought it was perfect!

Leslee’s Meal

I made the Chicken Cordon Bleu last night for dinner with the Broccoli.  I have never made this type of chicken but it was really good! I wished I would have used chicken cutlets or pounded my breasts out thinner because they took forever to cook but still tasted great.  I was excited to use some gluten free bread crumbs I had on had and also crushed up some cereal to get enough.  I probably ended up cooking mine for about 50 minutes to insure that they were cooked through.  For the broccoli I followed the directions but cooked it along with the chicken at the lower temperature for the whole time the chicken was in.  Towards the end the top was getting a little crispy so I put some foil on top and it was cooked just right when the time was up.  I have baked broccoli before but the parmesan cheese was a nice addition!

Heidi's Review of the Chicken Cordon Bleu and Oven Roasted Broccoli

I haven't fixed the fettuccini yet; but I am going to on Thursday night for dinner.  I fixed the Chicken Cordon Bleu and Oven Roasted Broccoli for dinner last night.  The chicken was great and I will make it again.  Ashley and I were the only one's who liked the broccoli; but we aren't big broccoli fans at our house.  We like it raw dipped in ranch dressing :) 

Chicken flattened with seasonings and cheese ready to roll up.

 Broccoli getting ready to go into the oven.

 Ta-da! 

Jacki’s Review of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Oven-Roasted Broccoli, and Brazilian Lemonade

I made these three recipes tonight for dinner and they were all so good!   The Chicken Cordon Bleu was so easy especially since I bought the chicken breast cutlets so they were already thin – I did give them a couple of whacks with my meat mallet just because I have one and it is fun to do:)  I used Swiss cheese which gave the dish a nice bit of tang.  It took about 35 minutes to cook (to get the internal temp 165).  While it was resting I roasted the Broccoli.  I really liked the flavor of the broccoli – something different than just steaming it.  I made the broccoli a little different than the recipe directed – I put the broccoli in a plastic bag and added the oil, S&P, and parmesan cheese and mixed it all up together and then put it on the baking sheet.  Delicious!  I had everything ready to go for the Brazilian Lemonade and the only challenging part was straining it.  It took a little bit of time but I managed.  I liked it so well at this point that I decided to forgo the condensed milk – it had the perfect amount of sweet and tart.  I served some crusty sourdough bread on the side.  Tasty dinner!

Jenny's Lemon-Zucchini Fettucini, Garlic Balsamic Asaparagus, and Chocolate Mousse

I made the pasta last night, along with the asparagus. They were both really good! And I will for sure make them again. They both tasted so fresh and summery. And were pretty too!

After reading Jacki's and Leslee's reviews on the pasta I read the recipe to find out what I could do in advance to make things less hectic. So before church I zested the lemon and also trimmed, pounded and marinated the chicken. Besides that there wasn't much I could do. I made the recipe as directed, but used half the lemon zest called for after reading the reviews. I also just used garlic powder instead of garlic cloves. At first I tried cooking it in the oil like the recipe called for, but it burned pretty quickly, even on a low heat. So I started over and didn't cook the garlic powder, just mixed it in the oil and set it aside. Al helped out and grilled the chicken and zucchini while I focused on everything else.

The asparagus was easy and I thought it had a great flavor. A lot of times I focus on the main dish and don't really do anything special with the vegetable, so it was nice to have this recipe and jazz up the asparagus.

Everything came together very nicely in the end. I didn't use any pasta water or extra oil and I thought it was just right. I loved the fresh oregano and fresh basil in the pasta. And next time I want to try it with the garlic cloves as well.

I made the mousse last week but forgot to post pictures or a review. It was a big hit all around. When I was dishing it up I thought it didn't look like very much, but it ended up being the perfect serving! It was very chocolatey and rich and I don't think you could eat a bigger serving without getting a tummy ache :) Anyway, it was a nice, light and fluffy dessert to finish a meal with. And very easy to make!

This is Late, but...

Things got super crazy this weekend and since my youngest sister is heading back off to college one of my cooking days this week got cut. So I'm a little all over the place. My sister and I have already been cooking tons of recipes out of here, but I just keep forgetting to take pictures, but so far they all have been great!

So I decided this week to make the Chicken Cordon Bleu, pg. 112, and the Oven Roasted Broccoli, pg. 199.

Jacki’s Review of Lemon-Zucchini Fettuccini and Garlic-Balsamic Asparagus

I made both of these recipes last night for dinner and they were absolutely delicious.  I had planned to make the Brazilian lemonade as well but time got away from me so maybe tonight or tomorrow  I will try that.  I felt the fettuccini was rather labor intensive but when I make it again I will know how to time things better.  So, my advice to those of you who have not made it yet – read through the recipe a few times first because there is a lot to pull together at the last minute.   The rest of you are probably better at pulling everything together than I am though.  I cooked the chicken and zucchini on the George Foreman so I had a lot going on at once with that cooking, the pasta boiling,  the garlic infusing etc.  But, it was all worth it. I used the fresh basil which I really liked but skipped the oregano because I didn’t have any fresh.  As per Leslee’s tip, I only used the zest of one lemon which was plenty.    Now, my other confession is I was not paying attention and I used 16 oz of pasta instead of 8 oz!  I was so mad at myself after all that work but it still tasted very good and now I have more leftovers!  I will definitely make it again with the correct amount of pasta.  I really liked the asparagus with the garlic-balsamic vinegar marinade.  I cooked that on the George Foreman as well instead of the oven since I had it out and handy.  I agree with Leslee, my kitchen looked like a small disaster after I was done but the end result was a very tasty dinner.

Leslee’s Meals

Last night I made all three recipes for dinner.  They all went together so well and everything was very good!! I made a few small changes including cooking the chicken, zucchini and asparagus outside on the grill.  It was a little tricky to manage all the asparagus out there but they turned out perfectly! I only put a little bit of lemon zest on the finished pasta instead of the 2 whole lemons it called for and I felt it was lemon-y enough.  I also forgot to buy fresh herbs so I just left those off all together. I had a little trouble with the Brazilian lemonade but that is mostly because I need to get some sort of small strainer to make all these delicious drinks.  It ended up tasty and refreshing though.  Summer commented that it tasted like milk!
All together it was a great meal and fun to make! It created quite a mess in the kitchen but I felt pretty accomplished when it was all done:) We will eat these again!

New Recipes!!!

I know I have said this 1000 times, but I am so excited to be cooking from this cookbook. I had so much fun flipping through and deciding which recipes to pick. I finally chose the following:

Lemon-Zucchini Fettuccine on pg. 174
Garlic-Balsamic Asparagus on pg. 192
Brazilian Lemonade on pg. 22

I think the first 2 dishes will taste delicious together. I know that Brazilian lemonade might be a lot like the lemonade we made last week, but I couldn't get over how refreshing it sounded in this crazy HEAT!!!!

Enjoy!

Sarah's Review

I am excited to be part of this blog! I have been wanting to do something like this for a while because I always need dinner ideas! Jenny Tanner is married to my brother Al. I live in Ohio for the summer and will be going back to Indiana in a week. My husband is getting an MBA from Purdue. We have two kids. Our daughter is almost 5 and our son is 19 months. I wish I had an awesome family picture to post, but this is all I've got! The stranger taking our pictures obviously didn't know we expected him to take at least ten shots ;)

I LOVED this salad! Was there seriously only 2 tablespoons of oil for all those veggies? I left out the red onions because I think sometimes they are too overpowering. Which surprises me that I don't like them but I keep trying and I just don't like them! I also left out the celery and instead used a red pepper, an orange pepper (to make it colorful), cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and the BEST part was the rotisserie chicken. It added such a great flavor that complimented the dressing. I loved the toasted almonds which added a nice crunch.

I took it to a BBQ and thought there would be a ton left since it really makes a large salad. But it was almost entirely gone and everyone loved it. Unfortunately, my veggie-loving 5 year old didn't care for it. I think it might be because there was too many other fun things to do. I will definitely try again though! Thanks for the great suggestion!!

Kim's review

This is just the salad and the lemonade. We are making the mousse tomorrow. We loved both things at our house. I made the salad for 2 other families for dinner and they each LOVED it as well, even husbands loved it!! We will make it again for sure. As for the lemonade, we are already making it again tomorrow, so it was a hit as well! Great recipes so far!

Heidi's Asian Salad, Teriyaki Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers, Lemonade and Easy Chocolate Mouse

I fixed all of the above recipes yesterday for lunch.  I made the Teriyaki Bacon Wrapped Chicken Skewers (page 116, I think) because I knew my family would not be a big fan of the salad.  I started out making the teriyaki marinade for the chicken skewers and made that right after lunch so that it would have plenty of time to marinade.  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.  Here is a picture of the Asian Salad before I put it in the fridge to chill.  I followed the recipe except for the snow peas - I couldn't find them at the store for some reason and the almonds and sesame seeds.

My helpers testing out the chocolate mouse before I put it in the fridge to cool.  They both thought that it was "delicious!"

My plate all ready to eat.  I thought that the salad was good but nobody else in my family cared for it.  Since it was 110 yesterday I thought that it tasted pretty good!  I probably could have cooked the skewers outside on the porch since it was so hot :)  Kenton actually didn't want to grill since it was so hot out so I cooked them in the oven.

 The lemonade was also pretty time consuming to make.  It was pretty good although if I made it again I wouldn't use near as much sugar.  It was too sweet for us. 

 The dessert!  Connor and I really liked the Chocolate Mouse.  It was easy to make and I didn't think it was too chocolaty.  It was a little chocolaty for Kenton and Ashley was just in a weird mood.  Probably because she was so tired.  Overall, I liked all the recipes for the most part although I thought they were a little too time consuming for my taste.

Jenny's Asian Salad and Lemonade

Last night I made the fresh squeezed lemonade and the Asian salad.

We loved the lemonade. It really hit the spot! I don't think I've ever made my own lemonade before, but I will definitely do it again. I only had 5 lemons and I got just about 3/4 cup of lemon juice, so I had to use bottled lemon juice to make up the rest. And I used 2 limes to get the 1/4 cup of lime juice. I ended up putting six cups of water in, plus over a cup of ice cubes that melted down and then ice in our glasses as well. I think it was just the right amount of sweetness.

I really liked the salad as well. It isn't something my husband would normally request/get excited about for dinner, but he was a good sport :) He actually said he enjoyed it. I marinated the chicken in some teriyaki marinade before hand. And I left the snap peas and the celery out of the salad. Other than that I made it exactly how the recipe called for. I would make this salad again for sure, and like Jacki said, I think it would be perfect for a girl's luncheon, a shower, etc. I loved how healthy it was...hardly even any oil in the dressing. And I was also excited to come home from the hot park today and have some nice cool, crunchy leftover salad.

I haven't made the mousse yet, but have all of the ingredients. I'll have to post about it later in the week.