Dana's Kitchen

We couldn't do the recipe together this week, so I made them at home. It was so easy and very tasty! I used orange zest and I added an extra cup of blueberries. Along with adding the extra cup of blueberries, I had to double the coating that was called in the recipe for the blueberries. Other than that I followed the recipe. 

Johnny was ready for breakfast but only ate one bite of the muffin. 

New Recipes for the week of 1/26

Let try the Blueberry. Muffins on page 6.  Hopefully that hasn't been picked yet!

Jacki's Spinach-Artichoke Quiche

I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was good!  I made the crust myself.  I didn't bother with the foil and beans etc. - seemed like a lot of extra work.  I just made the crust, put it in the pie plate and poked holes with a fork and cooked it for about 15 minutes at 400.  For the filling I made it as directed except I only used 1 1/2 cups of grated Swiss cheese because that is how much came in the preshredded bag.  I omitted the thyme.  We both thought it had a good flavor but I would add just a little less of the Dijon mustard and a little less salt next time.  I also made the Blueberry muffin recipe in the book (pg 6).  They were good too.  There is an error in that recipe though so might want to make the correction - step 3 says to combine the remaining 1 cup of flour but it should be 1 TABLESPOON of flour. 

Jenny's Sunday Beef Stew

I made the Sunday Beef Stew last night for dinner.  It was a hit!!  I made it exactly as the recipe calls for.  The only difference was that our store was out of regular tomato soup and so I had to use a can of the low sodium soup.  It was such an easy recipe to throw together.  Very simple in ingredients and prep.

During the afternoon when the stew was cooking in the oven, my 4 year old James said, "What smells so good"?  It really did make the whole house smell good.  Then dinner rolled around and my husband was in heaven.  He kept saying how good it was.  We ended up adding a little salt as we ate it...I guess to make up for the low sodium soup ;)  The meat and vegetables were so tender and the stew really thickened up nicely as it cooked.  It was just a delicious, old school comfort food recipe and it was very well received in my family.  Well, James just ate the "steak" out of the soup, but my daughter Avery loved the vegetables too.

My husband told me to make sure I didn't lose this recipe :)

New recipe for this week

Spinach and Artichoke Quiche page 11

Rutter Kitchen- Butternut Squash Pasta & Homemade Dulce de Leche

 

 

 

 

 

Our pictures pretty well explain what we did.  The Dulce de Leche was very easy to fix and very good to eat.  Some had it with apples and some with ice cream and everyone really liked it.  For the Pasta dish, the veggies were real easy to prepare.  I just bought the squash already cut up from the store so that made it simple.  We did cook and add extra bacon to the dish as we knew that would make our guys happy :) I think the most involved part of the dish was the Pumpkin Sauce.  Dana and Ashley fixed that and it went pretty quick.  We chose not to bake the pasta and sauce once it was all put together as we have done that before with one of their pasta recipes and decided we would have liked it better not baked.  Everyone liked it pretty good.  If you like all the ingredients you will like this recipe.  Dana and I ate on the leftovers for a few days so obviously we were the ones that liked it best ;)

Jacki's Gyro Burger Pitas

I made these for dinner a few nights ago and we both thought they were pretty good.  First I made the Tzatziki so it could chill in the fridge and the flavors could blend.  I thought it had a good flavor - be sure to add a little salt and pepper. For the filling I used ground venison instead of lamb.  I shaped the patties quite thin and in oblong shape. I omitted the rosemary.  I just cooked them in a frying pan.  I used small round flatbread from Trader Joes.  The flavors were all really good.  Having said all that, I would not shape the meat into patties next time.  It just seemed like the meat should be loose like in tacos or thin strips like fajita or the gyros you buy at restaurants.  I would like to try the recipe again using the thin strips of meat (lamb or beef) and use the spices and herbs as a marinade or rub for the meat. Something easy and different for dinner.

For this week I will choose
Apple pie pops- Page 232
Greek lamb pitas- Page 98

We have also made the puff pancakes several times.  I usually have to make a triple batch and they all get pinked right down.  I use a combination of the mini and regular sized muffin pans.  To me it tastes like creeps without as much work and they are all ready at once.

Also, I recently made the pepproccini (sp?) beef and it was really good.  I did it for a freezer meal but I tasted some and it was delicious!  I also used the spicier brand of peppers but it is not spicy nice its cooked so its not a problem for people who are sensitive.

Jacki's Review of her version of Sunday Beef Stew

I made this last night for dinner.  I know, I know, it wasn't Sunday but I changed the recipe enough that I felt I could make it on a Friday:)  My husband is not a fan of tomatoey foods and I knew he wouldn't like this recipe as written so I made a few changes.  I omitted  the V8 juice, tomato soup, water, and beef bouillon cubes and replaced it with 4 cups of beef broth. I also cooked it in my slow cooker on high for 6 hours instead of in the oven.  It made this recipe super easy and fast for a stew.   I just plopped the stew meat in uncooked, added the potatoes and carrots.  I did saute up the onion and celery together before adding. I  added the dried basil, pepper and a little salt.  I poured the beef broth over it all and let er cook.  I added about 1/4 cup of flour mixed with water the last 30 minutes to thicken it up a bit.  I loved the fresh taste of this stew and will make it again but next time I might add a bay leaf and a little less broth or else more of the vegetables.  I do like tomato based foods so I really hope someone makes the recipe as written and reviews it here so I can see how you liked it.

New Recipe

Hey ladies,

For this week I picked Sunday Beef Stew on page 156.  It's been cold here (for Houston) and I think my husbands and picky kids will eat this one :)

And I'll also do my review of the Puffy Pancakes.  I don't have a picture to go with it, but we've actually made these a couple of times.  I made them a long time ago when I first got the cookbook when I needed something quick and easy for dinner.

My husband and kids went a little nutsy for these!  They are just fun to eat, these little warm and light puffs.  We didn't eat them with the berry sauce though.  We dipped them in butter and powdered sugar.  Or if we were being a little more decadent...some nutella.

I have made them a few times since then and they are always a hit.

Puffed pancakes

We made the puffed pancakes for a breakfast-dinner tonight. They were so easy to make and it was nice to have them all cooked at one time! I used regular sized muffin tins but still only needed to cook them for about 15 minutes. Everyone really enjoyed these! They would be a great thing to serve when you need to feed a larger crowd breakfast!




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We didn't pick these cookies but since we had leftover candy canes we figured we would whip up a batch. They were easy to make and really didn't use too many ingredients. They were tasty and something different. Would be fun for a cookie exchange!


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Location:Candy cane cookies