Menu for this week....

Menu 51! Thought this looked tasty. Very spring time! Happy Cookin!!!!

Jacki's Review of Menu 43

Today we enjoyed menu 43 and it was delicious!  The Fall-off-the-Bone BBQ Ribs were so good. I used 3 pounds of ribs (I think they were pork loin ribs, extra meaty) and cooked them on high for 8 hours. They were indeed falling off the bone. I used pineapple orange juice instead of pineapple because that is what the store had and it was fine. I used Sweet Baby Rays Original BBQ sauce because it just doesn't get any better. I broiled mine like Tarin did for a few minutes. This recipe is similar to the one we made for the first Our Best Bites cookbook. Very easy and turned out great. The cornbread was also very good. I made mine in a pan instead of muffins. They turn out less dry that way. I slightly undercooked it and it was nice and moist. The Twix Caramel Popcorn was the most time consuming of all the recipes. But, oh-so-tasty! It actually tasted the best before the Twix and chocolate were added. The chocolate was too thick to drizzle on so was rather clumpy. It was still good but next time I would make it without. Addictive either way. I meant to make 1/4th batch but ended up making half a batch - dangerous. :). We had baked potato, fresh fruit salad and garden fresh asparagus to go along with our meal and everything was yummy.

Tarin's Menu 43

 I was pretty happy with all of the recipes. I had the Elders over for dinner last night so it was a great opportunity to cook for them :) The ribs had a good flavor. I ended up using the Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy BBQ sauce instead of the Famous Dave's and it was really tender and tasty. The only other thing I did differently was broiled it instead of grilling it.

I was out of muffin cups so I cooked the cornbread in my pie tin and it was okay. it was moist and Doug enjoyed the taste, but it wasn't cakey and sweet enough for my Southern liking :)

So the popcorn was good, but it makes a TON. Seriously it was a lot, it was messy, and I ended up packaging it off for my Visiting Teachees this month AND sending a whole container into Doug's office on top of what we all at as dessert. It was yummy and sweet, but you couldn't eat too much of it. If I was making it for the family I might have cut the recipe in 1/3. Also I thought that the twix bars were still just a bit too big cut just in half so I cut them in thirds and they were the perfect size. 

Jacki's Review of Menu 37

This was a menu from a few weeks ago that I didn't make because I was sick so I made it yesterday for Mother's Day. I had to make a few changes because we have afternoon church and we wanted to eat right afterwards. I made the Homemade Bread Bowls in the morning. I was a little worried they wouldn't turn out after reading the directions since it only calls for one rising. I looked at the comments section of their blog and several people commented the recipe didn't turn out for them but several also said it did. So I made it as directed and they turned out great. I was envisioning them to be a bit bigger but they were fine and everyone seemed to get plenty full with the portion of soup it held. They had a good flavor too. The Creamy Chicken Chili had a really good flavor. I mixed it all up minus the sour cream and cream and put it in the crockpot on low while I was at church and then added those when I got home before serving. Really tasty. I used chicken thighs instead of breast because that is what I had in the freezer and that turned out well. I served some chopped avocado and grated cheese for optional toppings. The Slow Cooker Rocky Road Chocolate Fondue was so good I wanted to just drink it but I controlled myself. :). Since I was going to be gone and I knew the man of the house would not stir the chocolate mixture every 30 minutes as directed I just put it all in a glass bowl and melted it in the microwave and then mixed in the cream after I got home from church. I then kept it warm in a little crockpot my mom had. We dipped strawberries, graham crackers, marshmallows, and bananas in the fondue - so yummy! Pineapple and grapes would be good too I think. Another fun menu to make and eat! I would definitely make all of these recipes again.

New Menu :)

Since I'm currently sitting in 8 inches of snow my hankering for summer has never been greater. So let's go with Menu 43 because really what says summer more than ribs? 

Jacki's Review of menu 7

Today we had menu 7 with my parents and oh my goodness, Audrey was correct. It was soooo Good! The Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops were ridiculously yummy. I started marinating them last night so they had a full 19 hours in the marinade. Richard grilled them and did an excellent job. They were moist, flavorful and tender. And, I don't really even care for pork chops usually. I used the canned pineapple and they grilled up great and had excellent flavor. They paired well with the pork chops.  The Slow Cooker Roasted Vegetables were so tasty too. I started them out in the slow cooker on high but after about 3.5 hours I switched them to the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes so we could eat sooner (the potatoes were not quite done). All of the vegetables were done but not too soft or mushy and so good. We had some corn on the cob and homemade bread to go along with the meal. The Nutty Caramel bars did not disappoint either. We had some vanilla ice cream with them. I followed Dana's suggestion to not spread out the chocolate chips to make for a prettier presentation. Everything on the menu was easy to prepare and I will definitely make it all again. The other 3 tasters were not oohing and aaahing as much as I was about the meal but I could tell they liked it too:)

Jacki and Nika's Menu 11 Review

I was visiting at Nika's home last week and I whipped up this easy meal one night for dinner. Everyone seemed to like it. I did not get around to making the Almond Joy cookies though so I still need to make those for review.  The Cheesy Artichoke Bread was simple enough and very tasty. Somehow I forgot to put the sour cream in but it was still good. The Slow Cooker Creamy Spaghetti was very easy and made a lot. I found it to be just a tad salty so I would probably omit the sausage or sub with ground beef next time and use low sodium chicken broth. We used fettuccini pasta because that is what was in the pantry and it worked great. I have never cooked pasta in a slow cooker so this was fun to try.

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #7

 

We got together last night to cook Menu #7, Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops, Roasted Vegetables & Nutty Caramel Bars.  I got the pork chops in the marinade that morning so they would hopefully have good flavor by that evening.  Dana cooked the Bars that afternoon at her place and she has already posted about them.  That evening Dana prepped the veggies and got them in the oven, while we got our charcoal going.  We chose to roast the veggies in the oven, as we were concerned that the veggies would get kind of soggy in the slow cooker.  We look forward to reading your reviews or comments as to how the slow cooker worked for some of you.  Dana cut up the pineapple as we chose to use a fresh pineapple to grill instead of the canned.  A heads up about using fresh pineapple.  If you do that you need to buy some pineapple juice as you need that for the marinade.  It didn't take long to grill the meat & pineapple and that was nice.  It was a combined effort in the grilling.  Doug got the charcoal going, then Dana and Ashley started grilling the meat and Brett came and took it over so they wouldn't have to do it :)

Now for our review- We really liked everything!  The meat had really good flavor and the fresh grilled pineapple really added to the meal.  We also think that the canned pineapple might tend to fall apart as its cooked on the grill, so I'm interested to see how it turned out for the rest of you.  The oven roasted veggies were really tasty and so easy to fix.  The Bars were very tasty but sooo rich.  We fixed homemade ice cream to go with it and that was good also.  I will say that this is one of my favorite menu's from this book.  I think we all plan on fixing this menu again :) 

Dessert Bars....Rutter Cook Night

We decided to roast our veggies instead of the crock pot this week. So since we were using the oven for the veggies, I made the dessert at my house during the day.
This dessert was SO EASY to make. I think it took me like 15 min to get it all in the pan. I think we all really enjoyed it. It's rich!!!! Saying that, it was still amazing. Audrey made homemade ice cream and they complemented the bars well. The ONLY thing I would change about this recipe would be smoothing out the chocolate morsels. I think it would have been prettier to just keep them looking like morsels. That is totally up to likes and dislikes though. Hope everyone enjoy this as much as we did!!!

New menu pick for week of May 3rd.

Ashley has chosen Menu #7 pg. 26

Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops
Slow Cooker Roasted Vegetables
Nutty Caramel Bars

This will be a nice warm weather meal.
Happy cooking :)

Rutter Kitchen- Menu # 13

 

We got together Monday night to cook.  I precooked the ground beef so it would go quicker that night.  When Dana got there she started in on the Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls.  She followed the recipe using granny smith apples.  It was pretty simple to do.  She had a couple extra egg rolls, so she just used cinnamon sugar on them and rolled them up and baked them also.  Then she started in on the Korean Beef and Rice.  Since I had already precooked the beef, she put it in the skillet and just went on from there.  Very simple! We didn't do the red pepper flakes as we had little ones trying the meal.  When Ashley got there she started in on the Ambrosia Fruit Salad.  Such a nice fruit salad.  We followed the recipe, but didn't add the marshmallows and coconut.  We let people add those when we were ready to eat as not everyone in our family likes them.  Now for our review :)  The Beef and Rice actually tasted pretty good.  It was a different kind of dish.  We served it with rice and the diced green onions as suggested.  We added some more soy sauce and also some hot sauce when we ate it and it tasted alright.  I think it would be better with thin sliced beef.  Maybe this is a play on dirty rice.  We liked the fruit salad.  If I fix it again, I will probably skip the yogurt and just use the juices from the cans.  Other than that, it was really good.  The little apple pie rolls were good and kind of fun to make.  I think that I still prefer the regular pie crust, but I think these would be fun to make for a change or with your family.  It was a fun menu to try :) 



Leslee's Catch Up

First up menu #24
The meatball subs. These were a big hit with the boys at our house but the girls thought they were a little too spicy or zesty. Not sure why. It was a pretty quick meal to make though which I appreciated! I don't have a picture of the M&M cookie pie, but we have made it several times before and it is very good!

Next up is the turkey wraps! I really liked these and liked that they were a different dinner idea that we usually don't have. I wrapped mine up in lettuce which was good and reminded me of something I like to get at Which Wich. I failed a bit at my squash because I didn't cook it enough. It was still pretty good and I will try it again! My s'mores cookies were also a bit of a fail, I think I needed to add more flour. Then my marshmallows nearly caught on fire, haha. I just pulled the burnt part off and and the kids still loved them:)

We had the white bean chili last night and it was delicious! I forgot to take a picture. I put it all in the corckpot since I knew that would be easier and then added the sour cream before serving. I left out the cream and it was fun.

New pick...menu 11

Let's have the creamy slow cooker spaghetti, bread and cookies from menu 11

New menu for week of April 19, 2014

Before it gets too hot let's cook Menu 37.

Homemade Bread bowls

Creamy Chicken Chili

Slow Cooker Rocky Road Chocolate Fondue

Jacki's Review of Menu 24

Yesterday we had menu 24 and the reviews were mixed.  I really liked the Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs but a couple of tasters would have preferred a meat/sausage meatball and one thought the marinara sauce I used had too strong of a flavor. They wouldn't order it at a sandwich shop:). I did use ground turkey breast so maybe just ground turkey would have been better - a little moister.  I guess I will enjoy eating the leftover turkey meatballs myself:). Most thought the Baked Zucchini Fries were good but next time I would salt the zucchini wedges a bit before putting them in the egg and bread mixtures. I thought they were a little flavorless but maybe that is because I used regular breadcrumbs instead of panko breadcrumbs? I also could have cut the wedges smaller I suppose but overall they were good. The M&M's Cookie pie was fun and very easy to make. I served it with some vanilla ice cream. I made some fresh squeezed homemade lemonade to go with our meal and it was soooo good. Another fun menu to cook and taste!

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #24

 

We got together this past Monday night to cook Menu #24, Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs, Baked Zucchini Fries and M&M's Cookie Pie.  Johnny and I started out with mixing up a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream in my little ice cream maker  to go with our cookie pie.  Meanwhile Dana mixed up the cookie dough and divided it in half.  We decided to put M&M's in one half and Reese's pieces in the other half of the cookie pie.  We just used the regular sized candy pieces.  She said that it was pretty simple to fix.  Next Dana mixed up one batch of the meatballs, as we weren't sure how well turkey meatballs would be eaten up ;)  She followed the recipe and it went pretty fast.  While they were cooking she started in on the zucchini fries and she doubled that recipe.  She cut up some thick and some thin so that we could test how strong the flavor of the zucchini was.  Once the meatballs were done, we started cooking those.  When Ashley got there, she helped with the zucchini and started getting the buns ready to broil.  For the buns, we just used some small sub sandwich rolls.  We also fried up some wild mushrooms in tempura batter that Doug had harvested.  We liked this menu.  The meatball sandwich was good with the marinara sauce drizzled over the meatballs.  The meatballs did have a little kick of spice and that must have been from the Montreal steak seasoning. If you are feeding children, you could leave that out I think.  The zucchini fries were really good also.  The coating was nice and light with a little crunch.  The cookie pie was a hit.  I think most of us liked the Reese's pieces half the best! Plus, you can never go wrong with some homemade ice cream.

New menu pick for week of April 12th

It was a tough choice as we still have some good menus left to choose from. Let fix-
Menu #24  pg. 102
Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs
Baked Zucchini Fries
M & M's Cookie Pie
Happy cooking!

Jacki's Review of Menu 52

We had this meal yesterday and it was a success! For the Low Fat Turkey Bacon Wrap I let everyone assemble their own. I used a Sun-dried tomato wrap, had 3 different dressings (ranch, cilantro avocado, and salsa ranch), sliced tomatoes, deli chicken (I knew I didn't have big turkey fans in my group), lettuce, bacon, sliced provolone cheese, and sliced avocado. Everyone seemed to enjoy making their own and they were delicious! For the Sweet Spaghetti Squash I followed the recipe but I overcooked it a bit I think. Everyone liked it but I must say I prefer my spaghetti squash more on the savory side with just a bit of butter and salt. I thought the S'mores Kiss Cookies were really good. The others liked them as well but thought they were on the sweet side. (Isn't that what a cookie is for?!!:) II used little pieces of a small Hershey bar instead of a kiss because I had some in the pantry. I am really enjoying trying out all these menus and recipes and this was another good one. 

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #34

 

Since we were going to have this for our lunch Saturday for our Easter get together, I started the meat really late Friday night.  I haven't ever cooked a rump roast, so this was a good time to try it out.  I doubled the recipe for our group and followed the recipe.  I did wait to put the pineapple chunks in to cook until the next morning, so they wouldn't be over cooked.  I also hard boiled the eggs for the deviled eggs the day before.  When Dana got there she started the Deviled Egg recipe.  She followed the recipe, but didn't put the pickle relish in since we didn't have any.  This recipe is very similar to the deviled egg recipe that I already use.  We used 2 dozen eggs as our guys really eat these things up!  Meanwhile, Ashley put together the White Chocolate chip Oatmeal Cookie dough recipe.  She followed the recipe and we discovered it does make a lot of cookies! We only baked a sheet of the cookies and froze the rest of the dough for another time.  When it was almost time to eat, Dana pulled the meat out of the crock pot and shredded it up.  We toasted our buns and set out, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles etc...  Dana also fixed homemade salsa and so we had salsa, tortilla chips and potato chips with our meal.  Now for our review.  We found the meat a little tough and it didn't have as much flavor as we would have liked.  Thank goodness for Head Country BBQ sauce :)  Next time I'm using chuck roast!  The deviled eggs were a big hit and also the cookies, especially with Johnny and Lil Brett.  We also had made homemade vanilla ice cream and as that was churning, we added some of the cookie dough to it and that tasted really good!  We will definitely fix some of these recipes again :)

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #5

 

We got together in the evening to fix this meal.  Dana put together the sauce for the Asian Glazed Salmon and thickened it over the stovetop like it suggested.  She then started on the Sesame Green Beans.  She followed the recipe and we did double it.  It took a bit to get the water boiling with the green beans, but once that happened the rest of the dish went together fast.  We didn't have any sesame seeds so we will need to fix this again so we can taste that.  Ashley finished with the salmon.  She put them on a baking sheet and glazed them with the sauce and cooked them like the recipe said.  We wanted to mention that it would have been a good idea if the recipe would have said to separate some of glaze so that we could have used it on top of the fish when it was done cooking.  Maybe you guys figured that out ahead of time :)  Ashley put together the Fluffy Fruit Dip and also cut up the fruit.  I misread the ingredient list for this recipe and only had regular cream cheese.  Ashley just put it in the mixing bowl and whipped it up before adding the marshmallow crème and that worked perfect!  For the fruit we used fresh pineapple that Brett cut up for us and then strawberries and apples.  We really liked this meal.  We also served rice and baked potatoes with it. The salmon had great flavor and was tender and the beans were good with a little zip and the fruit and the dip was excellent!  We liked this fruit dip better than the Nutella dip from a previous menu.  I also wanted to mention that I used the leftover green beans in a stir fry a few days later and they were excellent in it.  We will certainly fix this menu again :)