Heidi's Brisket and smash potatoes

I fixed the beef brisket and smash potatoes a couple of weeks ago.  Our family really didn't care for either. The brisket sauce was way too strong for our taste.

Recipe for the week of 2/24

Lets try the Shepard's Pie page 168 (and Beef Stew pg 165).

Rutter's Kitchen- Fried chicken Taco's, Grilled Corn Guacamole & Billie's Italian Cream Cake

 Here's Dana teasing Ashley about her knife technique ;)

 We felt that we needed to sample the guacamole before serving it to our family.  Yum, Yum!!

 The finished Italian Cream Cake.

 Here's the main meal.

 The crew enjoying their meal.  We all enjoyed the tacos and guacamole, but felt that we would like the tacos just as well not fried with the chicken in the oil.  It was fun to try it though :) The guacamole was very tasty also & a fun alternative to classic guacamole.

The cake was very good, but very very sweet! It's definitely a dessert that you want plenty of people to help you eat.  It was fun cooking as each of us fixed a recipe.  I did the tacos and followed her recipe, except I used bone in chicken thighs.  I cooked them first on the bone and then pulled the meat off and then cooked it with the chili's and spices.  Our guys don't like chicken breast meat.  Ashley fixed the guacamole and she stayed busy cutting up all the ingredients, but the finished product was worth it.  It's fun to have her part of our cooking group! She did follow the recipe, except we just used an iron skillet to brown up the corn.  Dana fixed the cake and that took effort and time and a fair amount of ingredients, but she said it was fun to do.  She did a good job and it tasted great!  I hope that all of you have a chance to cook these recipes as they were fun to make :)

This weeks receipe

This week we are getting caught up on our cooking. We needed a dessert so I think for this week I'll pick

Billie's Italian Cream Cake pg 241

Jacki’s Corn Guacamole and Chicken Tacos

I made the Grilled Corn Guacamole and Fried Chicken Tacos tonight for dinner and they were both scrumptious.  I just used frozen corn and roasted it up in the frying pan in a little olive oil.  I omitted the jalapeno’s because I didn’t have any but it was still very tasty and went well with the tacos. 
The fried tacos were very straight forward and easy enough to make.  Something a little different from the ground beef filling tacos but very tasty.  Hope you all get a chance to make both of these recipes.

Grilled Corn Guacamole

Fried Chicken Tacos

Jacki’s Cowboy Quiche and Bananas Foster

I made both of these recipes last week when my husbands parents were in town and we all really liked both of them.  The quiche was easy enough to make.  I made a pie crust (just my own recipe), used the Costco already cooked bacon and substituted half and half for the heavy cream.  The one thing that would have helped out in the recipe directions is PW says to “salt and pepper to taste” – not tasting a mix of raw eggs and cream!  I think approximate amounts would have been more appropriate.  I just sprinkled some in and it tasted just fine.  I would definitely make this recipe again. 
The Bananas Foster was really yum as well and very easy to make.  I omitted the rum and the whole flame thing and it turned out just fine.  We spooned it over some vanilla ice cream – heavenly.  I think it would taste really good with peaches as well.

 

Rutter's Kitchen-Cowboy Quiche

 Here's Dana working hard on smoothing the filling for the quiche.

 Here's the quiche ready to go in the oven.  We used the pie crust recipe from the book. In fact, I had made the pie crust back at Thanksgiving time and froze it.  I thawed it out over night in the frig and then pulled it out when we were ready to put it in the pan.  Dana put it in the  pan and said that it worked better rolling it etc... since it was cold.  We followed the filling recipe, but added in about a 1/4 cup chopped tamed jalapeno peppers(pickled in a jar). We could have added even more :)

 Here's the finished product!  We did cover it with foil and cooked it for about 30 minutes and then took off the foil and cooked it for another 10-15 minutes. 

 Here's my plate :)  It was very good and we used the broccoli recipe from the previous cookbook. If I changed anything about the quiche recipe, I would add more bacon and chop the onions instead of just slicing them.  We all liked the recipe and will probably cook it again.

Here's Johnny our grandson enjoying his chopped up quiche and broccoli :)

New Recipes for the week of 2/10/13

I'm a big fan of tacos, so lets try;
Fried Chicken Tacos pg 162 & Grilled Corn Guacamole pg 90.
I know that the tacos are fried, but you could always eliminate the frying if you want to make them healthier :)
Happy cooking!

Jacki’s French Onion Soup and Panini

Last night I finally was able to make the French Onion Soup and Panini – kept forgetting to buy the crusty French bread.  I liked both recipes  but I have to say my husband did NOT. 
First, the French Onion Soup -  I thought it had a really good flavor and I loved the bite of the toasted bread and Swiss cheese with each spoonful along with the onions. Yum!  I followed the recipe (only made 1/3 of the recipe) as directed and it was easy enough.  I did start early enough to roast the onions in the oven but it would work even if you didn’t.  Final product = tasty.
Next the Chicken Apricot Panini.  I bought my chicken breasts already cut thin (cutlets) and omitted the sage leaves.  I sauteed my red onions because I prefer them cooked over raw in a sandwich or burger.  The sauce was tasty as well.  I don’t have a Panini press so I just put a heavy Pyrex glass on top of the sandwich as it cooked in the pan.  The one thing I would do differently if I made this recipe again is marinate the chicken.  I did put salt and pepper on it and it was thin and tender enough but it just didn’t have a whole lot of flavor in my opinion. The bread and sauce was good though and maybe the sage would have helped.  I thought the soup and sandwich made for a good meal.  I would like to try the grilled vegetable Panini soon.

My Panini press

Final product!

Leslee's French Onion Soup

When I made this soup I didn't realize it needed to cook for so long so I just eliminated the part where you put it in the oven for an hour and it still turned out great. I sautéed the onions until soft and then added in the broth and let it simmer for a while. I added a few slices of bread and a slice of pepperjack cheese before sticking it under the broiler. It made for a tasty meal!

Recipes for week of Feb. 3-9 2013

Hi all,  lets cook Cowboy Quiche (pg 32) and Bananas Foster (pg 256).  I still need to cook last weeks recipes so I will be busy this week!