No-Knead Bread

So, my latest food-related project has been learning how to bake bread. I've discovered there's a lot to learn -- kneading, judging when dough is done rising, different baking techniques, all sorts of stuff. The first bready-thing I tried to make was pretzel rolls, which were partially successful. Then, feeling a little intimidated, I took a step back and attempted this incredibly easy crusty bread recipe, which I still managed to screw up the first time I tried it.

No Knead Bread

Comments & Modifications:

• The recipe calls for a rise of 12-18 hours. The first time I made this was during the work week, and 12-18 hours didn't fit into my schedule, so I went for more like 22 hours. In a hot house in the summer. Not recommended. The second rise was pathetic and it baked up like a brick.
• The second time making it, I let it rise for just barely 12 hours, and it was a huge success! The second rise was lovely, and it was nice and airy out of the oven. In the winter it might be able to handle a longer first rise, in the summer? I don't think so.
• I don't have a dutch oven, so I used a medium sized round casserole dish with a glass lid. The dough just barely fit inside, but it still turned out okay.
• I still haven't figured out whether the interior is supposed to be moist and chewy, or if I'm still messing something up.

Verdict: Awesome. The second time, at least. This has the crustiness of an artisanal bread, but for a fraction of the price and very little work. Dan and I ate this as a meal with some nice cheese and it was just perfect. I'll definitely be making this again.

Update: Forgot to mention last time that I do the first and second rises in the same bowl, with a wash in between. Working with floured towels just seemed like way too much trouble. Also, the bread is excellent with a couple tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary mixed in before the first rise, and a bit of kosher salt sprinkled on top just before baking.

Quick Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread

Or, What To Do with Extra Buttermilk.

Seriously, there's like a hundred different ways to use up leftover buttermilk. And the baked goods are so delicious that it's totally acceptable to buy a quart of buttermilk and declare the whole thing leftovers. I declare it to be so.

Quick Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread

Comments & Modifications:

• I have issues figuring out how to pour half the batter into the loaf pan, especially if making two loaves. This time the "middle" layer ended up about an inch from the top layer . . . in a four inch loaf. Oops! Not sure how to fix this problem other than by recalibrating my eyeballs.
• I left out the walnuts because I think baked goods are best in their pure form, unadulterated by nuts or other such things.
  

Verdict: Yummy! This was perfect for bringing into work and sharing, and my coworkers definitely approved. I'd be happy to make this again. Also, the batter is delicious.

Pistachio Salad

This technically isn't a recipe I found on the internet; it was actually introduced to me by my lovely mother-in-law at a family gathering. But, since I seem to be using this website as my personal recipe box, I might as well add it just for completeness and such.

Pistachio Salad

Comments & Modifications:

• I have made this using fat free cool whip and sugar free pudding, and it still tastes pretty darn good. I'd probably use the real stuff though if I were bringing it to a gathering.
  

Verdict: Of course this is good, my mother-in-law doesn't know how to make things that aren't totally tasty! :)

Sweet Potato, Corn, and Jalapeno Bisque

Here's another recipe that was just perfect for my stick blender. I love that thing. It's magical.

Also, I did not make bisque in August. I made this back when hot rich soups actually sounded appealing.

Sweet Potato, Corn, and Jalapeno Bisque

Comments & Modifications:

• I thought I was going to die from the amount of heat that cayenne packed. Now, I am quite sensitive to cayenne, so I should have known better than to just throw in 1/4 tsp all optimistically. Next time I will start with just the jalapeno, and add cayenne to taste. No worries, my coworker with the tongue of iron helped me eat it.
  

Verdict: This was soooo good. Too bad I couldn't eat it without gasping and chugging water.

Rich Buttermilk Waffles

Sometimes Dan and I like to whip up an old-school breakfast after church, like pancakes or cream of wheat or, in this case, waffles. I was in the mood to use a real recipe instead of bisquik so I hopped online and found this one.

Rich Buttermilk Waffles

Comments & Modifications:

• I got nothin' to share here. Really, what could I have changed?
  

Verdict: I love Smitten Kitchen, and virtually all of her recipes that I've tried have come out well, but this one was a bit of a failure. The waffles were light and fluffy, I suppose, but it wasn't much different than if I had mixed in the egg yolks and whites at the same time, instead of beating the whites separately. Also, the texture was practically the opposite of crispy, and that was the part I was really hoping would work out. Guess next time I'll stick with regular old bisquik.

Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch

Time to start digging some recipes out from the archives of my brain . . .

This recipe is the first time I ever cooked with rhubarb. We were at the farmer's market and I really wanted to try something I'd never had, and being early spring, there wasn't much available. I was a little skeptical that rhubarb would even taste good, but figured that some variation on rhubarb pie would probably work out.

Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch

Comments & Modifications:

• I think I followed this one pretty closely. Freaky.
• However, if I make this again, I'll cut back significantly on both the sugar and the flour that gets stirred into the fruit. The flour caused it to feel a bit gluey, and the fruit itself was not tart enough to contrast with the extremely sweet topping.
• I'd also probably make a half portion, if it's just for Dan and me, since the topping isn't nearly as good the next day.
  

Verdict: This was a relatively low-risk way to try out rhubarb, what with all the sugar and strawberries and stuff to mask the flavor, haha. It did taste good, but with the modifications above I bet it would be perfect.

Sticky Buns

I must break my blog silence with this most nostalgic recipe: sticky buns. Growing up, practically every time I saw my grandma she had made these, and I would snarf down a few of them pretty quickly. Now she has passed away, so I got the recipe from my mom and gave it a try for myself.

Grandma's Sticky Buns

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 T active dry yeast
• 1 c warm water (100-110 degrees)
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 T butter
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 c bread flour (my mom has used regular flour plus gluten)

Topping:

• 1/2 c butter
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 3 T light corn syrup
• 1 c pecans (optional)
  

Filling:

• butter (1/2 c?), softened
  
• 1/2 c white or brown sugar
• cinnamon (1/4 c?)
  

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
2. Mix the yeasty water with the sugar, salt, 2T butter, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat together using a hand mixer.
3. Gradually add the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, using the hand mixer until the dough becomes too thick. At that point, work the remaining flour into the dough by hand until it is easy to handle. Although no kneading is required, it may be helpful to knead gently to incorporate the flour.
4. Place in a greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to four days, or set in a warm place to rise until doubled.
5. Shortly before rolling out the dough, combine the 1/2 c butter, 3/4 c brown sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan on the stove and stir together until glossy. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle evenly with pecans.
   
6. When you are ready to roll out the dough, turn it out of the bowl onto a well floured surface. Pat the dough out into a good-sized rectangle and spread with butter. Combine the 1/2 c white or brown sugar with cinnamon, then sprinkle onto dough over butter. Starting from a long end, roll up dough into a tight log, stretching the dough as you roll. Pinch the end to seal.
   
7. Cut off the ends, then cut the log into 15 evenly-sized pieces (or cut into 16 and eat one) and place into prepared pan, three across and five down. Cover and refrigerate, or allow to rise 1 1/2 hours. If refrigerating overnight, allow to rise before baking.
   
8. Bake at 370 degrees for 25 minutes. Dump out onto cooling racks immediately, and scrape out any topping remaining in the pan and put on rolls.

Comments & Modifications:

• I mixed up the dough and rolled it out in the same day, then put in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning I took them out of the fridge and left for church. About 1 1/2 hours later, the rolls hadn't risen much, but I baked them anyway and they came out fine, if a little small. But it would be best to plan for more rise time in the morning.

Verdict: How could these not be yummy?? They were everything I remembered. I ate three. Dan and I fought over the topping that dripped on the counter. It was good.

Middle East Inspiration

For the past three weeks my family and I have been on vacation in the Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel. It was amazing! One of the best parts was the food; apparently middle eastern food is something I haven't explored nearly enough! Here are some of the dishes that inspired me:

Lemonade or lemon ice with fresh or dried mint

Bananas, dates, honey, and cream blended together for tasty drink

Maklouvi, or spiced chicken and rice with fried almonds and pine nuts, topped with yogurt

Stuffed zucchini, filled with any of the following:
- rice
- ground beef
- bread crumbs
- cheese
- spices
- sausage

Roasted cauliflower salad with mayo and spices

Roasted eggplant salad with a tangy tomato based sauce

Salads in general, made up of the following:
- a grain, such as rice, bulgur, couscous, quinoa
- diced vegetables, raw or cooked, such as peppers, broccoli, onion, corn,
- a protein, such as shredded chicken or chickpeas
- an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar
- herbs and spices

I'm looking forward to trying some of these!

Pepperjack Tomato Soup

I first ate this soup at Isaac's, a small chain restaurant in the Lancaster/suburban Philly area. I've always thought of them as the place with sandwiches named after birds. However, on this particular day, after a long cold morning of shopping (MCC sale!), I decided to try the pepperjack soup. Yummmmmmm.

Fortunately, it's not too hard to reproduce with simple pantry ingredients, so Dan and I ate this for dinner several times when I had nothing else planned.

Pepperjack Tomato Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• Well, the pepperjack already was a modification based on the comments at the bottom of the recipe, which I can't seem to access now. Basically, in addition to the cream cheese, you just throw in a hunk (2-4 oz) of pepperjack cheese, and maybe a bit of Tabasco.
• With the addition of the pepperjack, I don't think all the cream cheese is needed, maybe only half? Unless you need some more fat in your diet, which I certainly don't.
  
• I've been making half the recipe as written, and it's sufficient for Dan and me for dinner with no other sides. Although, we might fight over the last couple of scoops.
• I went with the higher amounts of dried basil, paprika, and garlic powder. Using dried basil is important; I think using fresh would change the results quite a bit.

Verdict: YUM. This is such a simple and tasty dinner during the cooler seasons. Not too great for you with the sodium from the canned soup and the fat from the cheeses, but it's worth it every now and then.

Apple Pie Muffins

I'm not really sure why these are called Apple Pie muffins. There's no crust, the apple-y innards don't really resemble apple pie, why not just call them apple muffins? I guess apple pie sounds tastier.

Apple Pie Muffins

Comments & Modifications:

• I cut down on the toppings on these a lot, and just used streusel from fridge, again from last fall, oops.
  
• The apples I used may have been "tart" but only because they had been sitting in the fridge for at least a few months. I wouldn't have eaten them plain, but they were fine for baking.
• I subbed dark brown sugar, and I think it added a lot of flavor.
• I may have added some cinnamon to the batter, to compensate for less in the topping. I have no idea, but I'm sure it would work out fine either way. I bet a bit of nutmeg would also be lovely.
  

Verdict: Dan really liked these. Hopefully I won't only make them when I have nasty old apples to use up.

Update: The nutmeg was indeed lovely. However, these muffins are just overwhelmingly sweet. I don't know how to fix that without changing the texture and flavor! Also, I'd increase the salt to at least half a teaspoon.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I promise all these muffin recipes were tested at a rate of one per week, not all at once, like it must seem based on my posting habits.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Comments & Modifications:

• Technically the recipe is for Lemon Blueberry Cake, but it says right there in the description that the cake could be modified any number of different ways. That's why I'm posting it here as Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.
• I used lemon flavored Dannon yogurt instead of plain. It tasted okay, but next time it would be better to find a naturally-flavored and naturally-sweetened variety. I'm not sure what baking might do to that unnatural stuff.
• I bet I could make my own lemon yogurt by mixing some lemon juice into plain . . . better try that next time.
  
• Three large eggs were sufficient; no need to get into partial eggs to convert extra-large to large.
• Of course, I left out the blueberries and added poppy seeds instead.
• I tried doing the glaze, but had a hard time getting it to sink in, even with holes poked into the tops. It made a nice mess on my counter. Next time I would add more lemon flavor to the muffin (via juice or zest) and skip the glaze.

Verdict: After several failures with lemon poppy seed muffins, this one finally got it right. Good texture, strong lemon flavor, they were delicious.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

More muffins . . .

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Comments & Modifications:

• This made more like 18 normal-sized muffins, not the 12 specified in the recipe. All my muffin tops grew together into one giant cake-thing.
• We opted to skip the glaze, since it's a little inconvenient for traveling in a baggie.

Verdict: These were gross. They hardly tasted like lemon. The texture was okay, but nothing special. Move along, move along.

Cinnamon Muffins

Yet another entry in the long list of attempts to satisfy Dan's muffin cravings . . . okay, that sounded dramatic, he just finds them more palatable for breakfast than most other breakfast foods. Plus, they're portable.

Cinnamon Muffins

Comments & Modifications:

• I think I just made these as written.
• Maybe I added a little extra cinnamon?
• I made twelve muffins instead of eleven. They didn't seem particularly small.
  

Verdict: These have good flavor, but are a little dry. I think we could do better.

Blueberry Muffins

Actually, in the allrecipes.com link these are called "To Die For Blueberry Muffins" -- but "to die for" always seemed excessively dramatic to me, so I left it out.

Blueberry Muffins

Comments & Modifications:

• Frozen blueberries are what we had, frozen blueberries are what I used. They did sink to the bottom a bit. I read somewhere that if you toss the blueberries with flour before mixing into the batter they sink less. Also, I didn't defrost them.
• I'm pretty sure I used my own streusel topping for this, since I had some in the fridge (from last fall . . . oops).

Verdict: These muffins are Dan-approved. I didn't try them at all, but he said they were moist and light just like Betty Crocker (what a role model). Hey, whatever floats his boat.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Alas, it has been far too long since my last blog post. You see, work intervened, and although I made time to try out new recipes, I did not manage to blog about them. I'll do my best to dig up what few memories remain, but let's not be too optimistic.

And what better recipe to post about after a long hiatus than something I made just the other day? Hopefully this will help me get back in the groove.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Comments & Modifications:

• I omitted the lemon zest; too much trouble.
• I think I used salted butter, but it may not make much difference.
• Since I had real cultured buttermilk in the fridge, that's what got used, rather than soured milk.
  
• Instead of carefully placing the raspberries facing up or down, I scatter them, and most of them ended up sideways. They all sank into the batter.

Verdict: Since Dan's first reaction on taking a bite of this was "Wow!" we can probably can call this a winner. My coworker also made it, and she and her husband had a hard time holding back from devouring it on the spot. The tart raspberries worked perfectly with the creamy, buttery, not too sweet cake. We think it would work well with blueberries, and I think blackberries might be okay too but it's hard to say. I hope to make this again soon because the batter was excellent!

Ratatouille

Here's another yummy-looking recipe, this time from my friend Kimberly. Seems my friends like cooking as much as I do. :)

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

• 2 small eggplants
• olive oil
• 3 medium sized zucchinis
• 2 shallots
• 3 garlic cloves
• 18 to 20 oz fresh tomatoes
  
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 T parsley, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fine sugar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Chop eggplant in small cubes. Place in colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Leave to drain at least 30 minutes.
• Chop all zucchini in small cubes.
  
• Chop the garlic and shallots thinly.
• Dice peppers.
• Heat 2 T olive oil in a dutch oven.
• Add the zucchinis and eggplants and cook for 5 mins until softer. Remove from pot and set aside.
• Heat 2 more T olive oil and then add the garlic, peppers and shallots. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until softer.
• Add the tomatoes and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes before adding the zucchinis and eggplants again.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add the chopped herbs, the bay leaf, and the sugar, and cook uncovered on low heat for 1 hour.

I look forward to trying this. Thanks Kimberly!

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

I bought an immersion blender!! I broke it in on this recipe.

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• I used kielbasa, because it was in the freezer and because I like it.
• It's important to brown the kielbasa in the same pot that you make the soup in, because the yummy brown stuff really contributes to the tasty flavor.
• Obviously I used my blender instead of a potato masher. The blender doesn't do "chunky" very well, so I went ahead and pureed the potatoes entirely.

Verdict: This is really, really good. When I gave some to a coworker, she immediately went online and purchased her own immersion blender just so she could make this soup! It's not that bad for you either, although using turkey kielbasa or something a bit lower fat would probably help. I'm not a huge fan of spinach, but despite that I'll definitely be making this soup again.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Dan really likes to take muffins to school with him for breakfast. He's not naturally a breakfast eater, and the muffins go down more easily than most other portable options. I've been making muffins from a mix, but decided to try something homemade this week.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Comments & Modifications:

• Not much to say here, since it's not wise to mess around too much with baked goods.
• I had a huge lemon. It was fine.

Verdict: When I talked to Dan after he tried his muffins on Monday morning, he said they were tough and overdone. I was surprised, since I took them out of the oven when the tops were still nice and pale. Come Saturday I decided to try one of the leftovers, and it wasn't overdone at all! Turns out Dan doesn't like the dense type of muffin; he prefers the tender cake-like muffins. Guess I'll be looking for some more recipes.

Overnight Apricot Oatmeal

Now, if I'm looking for a recipe for my breakfast rotation, this is totally it. Full of fiber and vitamins, and tasty too, what more could I ask for?

Overnight Apricot Oatmeal

Comments & Modifications:

• It's got overnight in the title, but I just cooked it on the stove. I worried about it getting burned or too dry, and plus the crockpot is so much hard to clean! It's super easy on the stove, just combine all the ingredients in a medium pot, and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down until it's just barely simmering, and let it cook until it's thick and the oats are chewy, giving it a good stir every so often.
• Based on some of the comments, and my laziness and cheapness, I used regular milk instead of buttermilk. I'm sure it would taste fine, but having to buy buttermilk and make sure I used it all before the expiration date would prevent me from ever making the recipe.
• I added a bit more sugar (splenda, actually) than called for, and a bunch more salt. Oatmeal tastes bland to me without salt.
• The one modification that really makes the recipe for me is a splash of almond extract. The apricots, at least the ones I bought, are sweet and flavorful but the taste doesn't quite permeate every bite like I would want. The almond extract, if you add just a splash, heightens and intensifies the apricot flavor without being overwhelmingly almond-y. It's awesome.

Verdict: Well obviously I like this oatmeal, since I had it for breakfast every day for the last month. It's really convenient to make it on the weekend and store in the fridge, then reheat in the morning at work when I'm ready to eat. (It does need a bit of extra liquid mixed in before reheating, since it congeals nastily in the fridge.) One recipe-worth is just about five servings, for me.

Now that I have a base recipe, I've been thinking of other tasty flavors that might work well with steel cut oats. Fresh fruit would certainly be tasty, if added after reheating. I imagine cinnamon and maple syrup and honey would all be nice, though probably not at the same time. I wonder what other spice combinations would work? There are enough possibilities to keep me eating breakfast for a long time. :)

Granola

It's been so long, I'm starting to forget the details of some of the recipes I've tried! This is one from back around Christmas; homemade granola can be a good gift for people who are otherwise hard to buy for.

Granola

Comments & Modifications:

• This makes a crunchy, very crumbly granola. There won't be clumps like in store granola.
• Instead of peanuts, I used a mixture of sliced almonds, macadamia nuts, and a few walnuts. The macadamia nuts were really, really good in this, but I only used them because they were left over from another recipe. Pretty much any nut mixture will work, as long as they're chopped fairly smallish.
• No wheat germ for me. Why buy a whole container for 1/4 cup?
• I didn't put in any dried fruit. There's some in the basement, but somehow it just didn't appeal to me in this recipe.

Verdict: This is pretty good granola, for not too much work. I liked it well enough with milk, but in yogurt it's delicious! I think it's kind of caloric for how full it makes me feel, so this probably won't be on my regular rotation, but it's good to have something different for breakfast every now and then.

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

I recently reconnected with my friend Karen from high school on Facebook. Apparently she enjoys trying new recipes as much as I do, plus she has three little kids with different food preferences, so the more recipes they all like the better! Here's a recipe she posted, from Elaine on BBC.

I was a bit skeptical; I've tried cooking with lentils in the past and they never seemed to turn out right. (I think it was my technique; lentils need longer cooking over lower heat.) Plus the ingredients in this list didn't seem particularly flavorful (flavor in = flavor out). But, fortunately, I finally decided to give it a try, and boy was I glad. The flavors from the cloves and the bay leaves morph with everything else into a super tasty, satisfying stew.

Vegetarian Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

• 4 T oil
• 1 c finely diced celery
• 1 c finely diced carrots
• 1/3 cup chopped onions
• 2 cups lentils, washed
• 6 cups water
• 1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 small bay leaf

Directions:
In a conventional soup pot, sauté the vegetables in oil until soft and translucent. Add lentils with remaining ingredients and cook over low heat for approximately 2 hours. Serves 8-10


Comments & Modifications:

• There are lots of different kinds of lentils out there, but the regular cheap green ones were fine.
• Only 1/3 cup of onion? Hah. I added a full cup and it was great. Plus, that used up exactly half of the massive onion I got from Produce Junction.
  
• I added a bit more than a cup each of chopped carrots and celery, and next time I think I'd add more, maybe 1 1/2 to 2 cups. They kind of get drowned in lentils.
• Similarly, I'd probably double the amount of stewed tomatoes. Which I did cut into smaller pieces, but next time I'd do that before adding them to the soup instead of after, to reduce fishing-around time.
• Some chopped zucchini might work well with this. More veggies are always good.
  
• I added only 1 1/2 tsp of salt, but it could have used the full two teaspoons. Karen said that the ratio of sugar to salt was more important than the absolute quantity of each, so I probably won't mess around with that too much in the future.
• My stove is apparently very weak on low, so the stew turned out underdone. Apparently Karen's stove puts this at a light simmer on low, so I'll adjust the heat next time. Even with undercooked lentils it was still enjoyable!

I will definitely be making this again in the future! Tasty, cheap, and healthy! What more could I ask for?

Cauliflower Soup

I made this recipe right after discovering Produce Junction. Mmm, inexpensive veggies.

Cauliflower Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• Cauliflower can be finnicky, so I only used half a head since I wasn't sure whether we would like the soup.
  
• I didn't put in nearly as much milk as was called for, and it was fine. I like thick soup, it says on my spoon better.
• A dash each of garlic powder and onion powder was fine; doing it the real way might taste better, but laziness is nice too.
• No butter! It didn't really need it, either.
• Also, no toast. Maybe the toast would have been nice, though.

Verdict: This was good, with a nice creamy-salty-sweet thing going. The cauliflower flavor really goes with the parmesan. It was a bit more work than I like for something that won't be enough for a full meal, but it would be fun to make for a first course for company.

Crockpot Pizza Soup

Pizza soup! What a good idea, all the yumminess of pizza condensed into a bowl of nice, hot soup. I took some liberties with this recipe, and it was totally worth it.

Crockpot Pizza Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• Instead of using pizza sauce from a jar (yuck), I took a 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes and ran them through the food processor until just a bit chunky. This has been my new thing lately; it tastes so much fresher than the jar stuff, plus I can customize it with whatever flavor add-ins I happen to need.
• I think we added water at the end to thin it down, until it looked right.
  
• I used red pepper, not green, because they were the same price and red tastes better.
• I don't like mushrooms. We did put in about half of what the recipe calls for, but Dan diced them up so tiny that you couldn't even tell they were there. It was perfect. :) Next time we'll put in all the mushrooms.
• No need for chopped tomatoes when you start with whole peeled tomatoes, eh?
• We used some sort of cooked sausage from the supermarket, I can't remember what.
• I put the pepperoni in the microwave for a bit to get some of the fat out, which helped, but there was still a sheen of oil on the soup after it was done.
• No pasta for us.

Verdict: This was really good, like comfort food good. Next time I'd add all the mushrooms, and maybe more peppers, and maybe some other veggies if I can think of some that would work. The sausage didn't add a lot of flavor, so I think next time I'd use spicy sausage and put less in. Because if I can help it, there will definitely be a next time.

Southwest Chicken Stew

I am so ridiculous. It's been so long since I last posted that I can't remember anything about the recipes I've tried since then. Oh well, better to write down something than nothing . . .

Southwest Chicken Stew

Comments & Modifications:

• This was in a Giant grocery store ad. This is probably not be relevant.
• I think I pretty much followed the recipe. It's been so long, I have no idea.

Verdict: I do, however, remember that this was okay but not great. I liked the potatoes with the mexican flavors, but somehow the chicken didn't work for me. It was too dry or something. I think we ate most of it and threw the rest away. I bet it would be awesome with beef strips.

Eggplant Parmesan

Okay, I have to admit here that this isn't the first time I've made eggplant parm. It's just the first time I've done so using an actual recipe, instead of making it up on the fly. Using a recipe can be helpful, sometimes.

So, I picked up some eggplants a couple of weeks ago, thinking I'd try something vegetable-based and relatively health. (This is right after I started reading In Defense of Food.) What I didn't realize, though, is that eggplant soaks up a TON of oil while being fried. I mean, waaay more than I actually wanted to eat. So while it turned out most deliciously, this should probably not be considered a health food.

One more thing to note. Supposedly, "male" eggplants have fewer seeds. Supposedly, you can identify "male" eggplants by looking for a dash-shaped indentation at the bottom of the eggplant where it connected to the stem. I looked for "male" eggplants at the store, but the results were inconclusive; they were just as seedy as every other eggplant I've ever purchased.

Eggplant Parmesan

Comments & Modifications:

• I salted and drained my eggplant for only a half hour or so, but didn't notice it tasting bitter or anything. I think the shorter time was probably fine.
• I think it's important here to slice the eggplant thinly. I made this twice, and cut the slices a bit thicker the second time to reduce the amount of total frying time. When I sliced more thinly the eggplant got nice and crispy, which both Dan and I preferred.
• I used half regular (homemade) breadcrumbs and half panko. Yum.
• We were too hungry to let this sit in the oven for half an hour, so we layered it straight onto our dinner plates.
  
• Er, we didn't have any fresh basil, or fresh mozzarella, and I didn't use any parmesan either. Dan did use some regular mozzarella but I didn't bother.
  
• The main thing I learned from this recipe is that tomato sauce made from whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes from a can is easy, cheap, and really delicious. Seriously, it had such a fresh tomato-y taste even though I chose not to add the garlic and olive oil. I'm never ever going back to the jarred stuff, ew.

Verdict: This was deeeeelicious, but I don't think we'll be making it again. Too much oil, even if it is olive oil. I hear it's possible to make eggplant parm by baking instead of frying, and I hope to try it that way someday, but my expectations aren't that high.

Crockpot Vegetable Curry

I made this, like, two months ago, but I still remember more about the results than I will next time I want to make it, so here we go.

Crockpot Vegetable Curry

Comments & Modifications:

• I think I pretty much followed the recipe as is. It's already really easy to make, after all.
• Oh, except don't cut up the potatoes the night before making this. They turn a weird color, kind of blackish, that is very unappetizing.
  

Verdict: This was good, but nothing special. I think Dan and I were a bit tired of spicy food, because we managed to eat some of the leftovers and threw the rest away. Oh well.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

So the inspiration for this dish came from, of all places, a Weight Watchers frozen meal. I can be super lazy about preparing decent food for lunch at work, and on the days that I don't know what to eat there's always a Lean Cuisine or WW meal to back me up. (I don't really recommend this, since Lean Cuisines probably violate about 50% of the guidelines in In Defense of Food, but we can't all be perfect.)

Anyways, so I picked up a new WW meal to try, the sweet and sour chicken. And when I tasted it, I thought, this would be easy to make at home! And so it was.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Comments & Modifications:

• Er, I kind of didn't measure too well on this one either. I have no idea how much chicken I used, although it might have been close to a pound. Also, I really like red peppers and pineapple, so I put lots of those in too.
• I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, as usual. I don't know if it's the egg white marinade or what, but this chicken came out super tender and flavorful, more so than I've ever been able to achieve. There wasn't much of a coating, but it was okay because the chicken was so tender.
• I used all red peppers because that's what I had. Also, have you seen the price of yellow peppers at the supermarket?
• I followed the recipe for the sauce pretty closely, and even measured! But then at the end I threw in a bit extra brown sugar, and some of the leftover pineapple juice, since that's what I like.
• I added some extra cornstarch at the end to thicken up the sauce. It's hard to eat watery rice with chopsticks, after all.
• This went perfectly with a scoop of brown rice.
  

Verdict: In case you couldn't tell, I really liked this dish. I'll definitely make this again. Never again will I get the nasty sweet and sour chicken from the Chinese restaurant! This is way better! The sauce even had that weird reddish color as the restaurant stuff, but it was nice to actually know what was in it.

Caribbean Black Bean Soup

Yay! After a couple of months of feeling a bit half-hearted about eating healthfully, I'm back on track. What's the reason for the sudden inspiration? Well, there's this book that's so interesting and challenging that I really think everyone I know should read it. It's called "In Defense of Food" and it's by Michael Pollan, who you may remember also wrote "Omnivore's Dilemma." He has some very compelling reasons for Westerners to change the way we eat, to escape the spiral down into obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. So I've been slowly attempting to incorporate some of his principles into my own diet.

Not that I was thinking about Michael Pollan when I decided to make this recipe. In fact, I made this dish right around Christmas time when I had a nice cupful of leftover ham to get rid of, and too many Christmas calories to deal with. Not that it's unhealthy; I think it's actually pretty good for you. But still.

Caribbean Black Bean Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• I halved all the ingredients because this was for my lunch at work, and it's really hard for me to finish a huge pot of soup without Dan's help.
• I'm pretty sure I used red pepper instead of green. Red peppers are awesome and delicious. Green peppers are nasty.
• I might possibly have not precisely measured anything in this recipe except the spices. I have a really hard time caring about precision when it comes to soup, because in most cases it just really doesn't matter in the end.
• I don't have an immersion blender yet, and getting out the food processor seemed like too much trouble, so I just kind of smooshed some of the beans against the sides of the crockpot instead. Seemed to work well enough.
• Sour cream is not for dieters, or at least not for dieters with my kind of willpower, so I left it off.
  

Verdict: I was really looking forward to eating this. All day it bubbled away in the crockpot, releasing delicious smells to tempt Dan and me to take just a little taste before it was done. However, when I got to work the next day and reheated it, I was pretty disappointed. I don't know if it was the color (the ham got stained black from the beans), or the spices (they just didn't taste right to me), or the consistency (very thick), but I had it for lunch one or maybe two days before throwing out the rest of it. So sad! But, at least the beans were cheap. If you're going to cook up something nasty, better to do it with cheap ingredients, I must say.

Lentil, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew

I made this so long ago I can hardly remember what changes I made. Even so, here are my thoughts.

Lentil, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew

Comments & Modifications:

• I used frozen chopped spinach instead of fresh.
• That's it. It's not like there's much to modify here.

Verdict: Somehow, when I decided to make this recipe, I forgot that boring ingredients = boring food. This stew tasted exactly like nothing, unless you count the weirdish combination of lentils and spinach, which doesn't work very well, by the way. I bet there are spices somewhere that would be appropriate for this kind of stew, but I couldn't think of any, so it went into the trash. Oh well.

Christmas Egg Casserole

It has been far, far too long since I posted anything useful on this blog. To get my creative juices flowing again (if they exist), I'm going to post a recipe of my mom's.

We have a long-standing tradition of having this casserole for breakfast the morning of Christmas day. It's very flexible and easy to customize, and hard to screw up. When it was decided that Dan's family would come over for brunch this year around Christmastime, I figured it was time to get this recipe from my mom.


Christmas Egg Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c butter
• 1/4 c flour
• 2-3 c milk
• 18-24 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  
• 1-2 lbs cheese, sharp cheddar or your preference, shredded
  
• 1-2 lbs bacon, sausage, and/or ham, cooked and crumbled
  

Directions:

1. Put butter in a medium saucepan to melt over medium heat. Whisk flour into butter, and cook 1-2 minutes to form a roux. Add milk, whisking to blend flour lumps, and heat until thick to form a white sauce. If you have cheese ends leftover in the fridge they can be melted into the white sauce.
2. Spread some of the white sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Layer eggs, cheese, and meat until you run out, and then top with the remaining white sauce and one last layer of cheese. I like adding bacon on top of the cheese, but best to do this after it's been in the oven for a while so the bacon doesn't get burnt.
3. Casserole can be stored in the fridge for at least a couple of days without coming to harm.
   
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until hot and bubbly.

When I made this for Dan's parents I used 24 eggs, 30 oz of sharp cheddar, 1 roll of bulk sausage, and one package of bacon for the topping. My mom usually uses a mixture of ham and pre-cooked bacon bits, which is also good. Really, it doesn't matter what you use, it all turns out okay somehow.

Molasses Oatmeal Cookies

I need to make these cookies!

Grammy Davis's Brer Rabbit Molasses Oatmeal Cookies
Source: Amanda Davis

Combine in bowl:
2 c oatmeal
1 c flour
½ c sugar
½ t salt
½ t allspice
½ t cinnamon
½ c Crisco
½ c Brer Rabbit molasses
1 egg, unbeaten
1 t baking powder

Stir until just mixed. Drop in large spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325°F for 12 minutes. Do not overbake.

Curried Pork with Apples

This one was kind of spur of the moment. I hadn't planned anything for dinner, but there was a pork tenderloin in the freezer (actually there were several, but one expired in January 2007) and some apples in the fridge, so we decided to go with it.

Curried Pork with Apples

Comments & Modifications:

• The whole structure of this recipe kind of confused me. I thought that you're supposed to cook pork until it's just barely done, but the instructions have it in the pan for like 35 min. I think it would be better to add the pork and onion to the pan at the same time to speed up the cooking process.
• I couldn't taste the apples much in the end, and wished there were more. Also, I think it would probably help to add the apples later in the cooking process so they don't get so mushy.
• At the end, instead of adding the chicken stock and covering the pan, I left it uncovered and reduced the liquid to a thicker sauce. To reduce cooking time further, I'd probably add only 1 1/2 cups of stock so it doesn't have to boil down as much.
• I used 2 tsp of curry powder, and it really could have used a bit more.
• My bouillon is a bit salty so I waited until the end to adjust salt levels. It needed just a tiny bit more.

Verdict: With the modifications above, this is another winner. Dan even liked this and he's really sensitive to pork that's been overcooked. We'll definitely be making this again!

Pumpkin, Sausage, and Sage Pasta

I've been wanting to make this recipe for a while. Something about the combination of pumpkin, sage, and sausage sounded so appealing to me, even though I'd never heard of it before. So this week I had leftover pumpkin puree (squash, actually, but same difference) from making pies and decided to give it a try.

Pumpkin, Sausage, and Sage Pasta

Comments & Modifications:

• I halved the recipe in case it turned out nasty. Also because dishes like this tend to taste better fresh.
  
• I used whole milk instead of heavy cream. I'm sure it didn't taste as good, but hey, it's the week after Thanksgiving.
• I didn't feel like measuring the pumpkin or milk so I just kept adding more till it looked right.
  
• I omitted the cheese.

Verdict: Okay, but not great. The pumpkin had very little flavor, which is really strange when you consider that fresh is usually much more flavorful than canned. I couldn't get a good balance of salt, either; it was either too salty or practically flavorless. The sausage and sage bits were good, at least. It's good enough to eat the leftovers for lunch, but not good enough to get made again. From now on, leftover pumpkin = more pumpkin pie for me.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Mmm, chocolate bread pudding. I ran across this recipe on another food blog, and the author raved about it so much I just had to save the link. I've been waiting for a good time to try it since many of the ingredients I don't generally keep on hand.

So, this past Thanksgiving weekend turned out to be convenient, because we had leftover italian bread from Dan's family's gathering. (We brought way more bread than was necessary.) I thought chocolate bread pudding sounded like a breakfast mood, so I made it on Black Friday morning (we didn't go shopping).

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Comments & Modifications:

• There's a lot of changes for this recipe. First of all, I decided a 9x13 pan was way too big for just Dan and me, so I started by halving all the ingredients.
• I used whole milk, and did not include any cream. I suspect even skim milk would have worked, not that I'll ever try it.
• I didn't have coffee liquor, so I substituted strong decaf coffee from instant.
• For the future, I would cut back on some of the sugar and possibly substitute Splenda for some of it. I like sugar, but I like not having diabetes too.
• I misread the amount of almond extract and put in almost twice as much. It was good, but probably better to stick with the amount called for.
• Instead of 4 oz grated chocolate, I threw in a healthy handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips and sprinkled some more on top before putting it in the oven. This way you get pockets of chocolate in the bread pudding that really provide contrasting flavors.
• Next time I'd add a pinch of salt. I'm really sensitive to lack of salt in sweet things.

Verdict: This is really, really good. I'd definitely make it again, next time I have all the ingredients on hand and want to gain a couple of pounds. Dan and I had some right out of the oven for breakfast, and the bread cubes were still all distinct from each other; after cooling it kind of solidified into a chocolatey delicious mass. Either way it's very tasty. Probably not really appropriate for breakfast, though.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

This seemed like Dan's kind of dessert, so I decided to give it a try.

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Comments & Modifications:

• I had trouble with the crispy crust. Apparently when using a candy thermometer you aren't supposed to touch the bulb to the bottom of the pan, since then you'll just be measuring the temperature of the pan. Well, I didn't remember that, so my crust is kind of goopy instead of crispy, and it only got more goopy as time went on.
• For both types of chocolate I substituted regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. I only keep so much of the good stuff around, and I was worried that I'd use it all up on a recipe that wasn't worth it. This was a good move.

Verdict: At first, I thought these came out really good. The chocolatey part tastes a lot like fudge, and if the crust wasn't perfect it wasn't a big deal. As time went on, the crust got more and more soggy until it was inedible. Even if the crust were made correctly, the bars themselves are so rich that eating one (1/16th of a 9x9 pan) gave me a stomachache. So, while they were good, I wouldn't be surprised if I never make these again. Oh well.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

So, my coworker and I were looking for cookie recipes because we're both in the mood for baking, and she found this recipe. She made them and brought one in for me, and I was hooked.

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Comments & Modifications:

• This looks like a pain to make, but it actually works out pretty well. You make the crust, and while it's baking make the filling. While the filling is baking, prepare the topping. Then it goes in the oven one more time and you're done!
• This was pretty mushy right out of the oven. I put the pan in the fridge for a bit to help firm things up, which helped a lot. I'd leave a good 3-4 hours before cutting (or less in the fridge) to give it time to cool down and firm up so you can get them out of the pan without falling apart.
• I sprinkled the pecans on before the rest of the topping, because my coworker said the topping was hard to crumble with the pecans in there.
• I'd double or triple the amount of pecans and chop them a little better. I only halved most of mine, and I ended up with 1-2 pieces of pecan per bar. Not really enough.
  
• I multiplied the brown sugar and butter for the topping by 1.5, which turned out to be fine but a little on the sweet side. I ended up using my fingers to crumble and sprinkle, but still got some big sugary sections. No one seemed to mind.

Verdict: These are really, really good. They taste a lot like pumpkin pie, but in a way much more interesting. The crust is really tasty with the oats and brown sugar, and the pecans on top add a lot of flavor as well. I brought these to Dan's family's Thanksgiving, where they were a big hit! Everyone wanted the recipe!

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

I'm really on a roll today with the reviews, aren't I? Good thing it's slow at work. Gives me time to catch up on my real life.

I bought a bunch of apples for Dan on sale for .99 cents/lb, but he didn't eat them quickly enough and they got weird. Not moldy or really gross, just not quite crisp like you want when eating them with caramel dipping sauce that he's obsessed with. So I started thinking about ways to use them up.

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

Comments & Modifications:

• This was pretty easy, and came together quickly.
• I like spices, so I added a bit more than what was called for here. This was a good decision.
  
• The batter was very, very stiff. It took some work to stir in the apples and spread the batter out in the pan.
• When I added the apples, it looked like it was going to be so much more apple than batter. I was wrong. This isn't very apple-y. I'm not sure how it would work to add more, since it was already so hard to stir in the apples.
  
• After baking a lot of the apples turned funny colors, like reddish or dark green. This may be because I used a metal baking pan. It was kind of gross looking, but they tasted fine.
• The brown sugar icing rocked. I know it's disgusting, but I still licked out the bowl when I was done. And *ahem* I may not have been very careful to get it all out when pouring the icing over the cake.
  

Verdict: This was good, but not great. I took it to work and everyone loved it, but I thought it should have been apple-ier. Also, even though it's thin, the taste of the icing totally overwhelmed everything else. Good thing the icing was super tasty.

Now I only have like 17 more apples in the fridge to use up!

Crockpot Taco Soup

Dan picked this one out for us to try. Every week I ask him what he wants for dinner, and every week he says, "Uhhh . . . I don't know?" So I've started showing him the recipes listed to try on this blog, and then he has a fixed set of options to choose from.

This is good, because he tends to choose stuff I'm not in the mood for and would probably never get around to making. And I would be missing lots of good stuff. Like this soup.

Crockpot Taco Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• The recipe as written makes A LOT. I made half and it fit nicely in my smallish crockpot.
• Despite halving the ingredients, I added the full amount of spices. (Well, I didn't really measure the taco seasoning since I have a giant bottle of it. But still.) It had just a bit of a kick which is nicely offset by the sour cream. If you really like spicy food I'd add some tabasco.
  
• This calls for just a small amount of meat. That works great for me, since in my opinion meat is optional and easily replaced by beans, but if you really like/need meat you should add extra.
  
• I agree that cheese and sour cream are not optional. I imagine that crumbled tortilla chips would also be tasty added just before eating.
  

Verdict: This was really good, a lot better than I was expecting. The combination of textures is intriguing: chewy meat, soft starchy beans, crispy corn, soft tomatoes. The cheese and sour cream don't hurt either, of course. I made this during an early cold snap, and it was so nice to come home in from the cold to a bowl of hot soup!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Molasses

It's getting close to Christmas, which means it's time to make cookies. Yay!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Molasses

Comments & Modifications:

• I'm not very good at modifying cookie recipes. They're just too sensitive. So I followed this one pretty closely.
• I forgot to add the salt at first. I kind of mushed the it in after adding the chocolate chips, which may explain why the cookies were a bit bland. Even so, next time I'd increase the salt to 1/2 tsp. If I used salted butter I'd still add the 1/4 tsp salt.
  
• I omitted the walnuts, because nuts just don't belong in chocolate chip cookies.
• This makes quite a lot of cookies. I didn't count, but it was a lot. I had to give them away at work. No one was sad about that.
  

Verdict: These are pretty good, but I really think the extra salt would make a big difference. The molasses flavor, while strong in the raw batter, is actually quite subtle after baking. I took them out of the oven while still a little wet looking in the middle, and when they cooled they were fully baked but somewhat chewy, and very puffy and thick with great texture.

Beef in Pomegranate Sauce

I can't believe how far behind I'm getting in reviewing recipes. It's actually really, really easy for me to try two or three new recipes in a week, especially if I make something sweet that doesn't count as dinner. But I better keep up with taking notes or it will all be for nothing!

Also, I could have sworn I already reviewed this one. Am I going crazy?

Beef in Pomegranate Sauce

Comments & Modifications:

• Instead of leaving the beef in serving-sized pieces, I cut it up into smallish bite-sized chunks. I prefer to cut my food before it's cooked.
• I totally didn't brown the beef. Too much trouble. In fact, I wonder if I even read the directions or if I just threw all the ingredients into the crockpot.
  
• I used a bottle of pomegranate juice from an overstock store, and didn't realize at the time that it was part pomegranate, part apple juice. No wonder it was so cheap.
• I couldn't find fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, so I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes. They didn't really disintegrate in the crockpot, sadly.
• I omitted the raisins, because they're gross.
• The meat sat in the crockpot all day while I was at work, so the beef was a bit chewy.
• We ate this with rice. Mmm rice.
  

Verdict: This was okay. I think if I had followed the instructions more closely it would have turned out better. Next time (if there is a next time) I'd use 100% pomegranate juice to avoid the sweet apply flavor, and I'd also puree the tomatoes before adding them to the crockpot. The way I made it it was edible, but I had to really get motivated to use up the leftovers.

Oven-Fried Tilapia

Another week, another attempt to enjoy tilapia. This time I decided to go for something a bit more traditional, since the parm thing didn't really work out. A recipe for crunchy oven-fried tilapia seemed just the thing.

Oven-Fried Tilapia

Comments & Modifications:

• I didn't really measure this time either.
• I hate throwing away egg parts, so I used one whole egg instead of two egg whites.
• The idea of crunchy fish sticks appealed to me, so instead of dipping the whole fillet, I first cut it into strips.
• I sprayed the fish sticks with a bit of olive oil cooking spray before sticking them in the oven, to give them a little moisture.

Verdict: This was much better than the parmesan-crusted stuff, but it still didn't completely disguise the taste of the fish. The cornmeal provided some nice crunch and lots of flavor, and for someone who actually likes fish I can see this dish being appealing. I, however, ate my fish sticks with lots of ketchup.

Tilapia with Parmesan Crust

Dan and I have been trying to eat more fish lately, at least once a week. To that end I picked up a bag of frozen tilapia fillets from Wegman's the other day, since I've heard that tilapia is one of the least fishy-tasting fishes.

Even so, when it came time to cook it, I looked for a recipe that would drown the fishiness with other flavors as much as possible. Plus, cheese makes everything better, right?

Tilapia with Parmesan Crust

Comments & Modifications:

• I followed the ingredients list, more or less, but didn't really measure anything. I did cut back a bit on the butter and mayo in relation to the parmesan, in an attempt to cut the fat and calories a bit.
• The parmesan mixture was too thick to spread very well over the fish fillets. It took a while to get it relatively evenly covered.
• It wasn't much of a crust. More of a parmesan glob.

Verdict: I wasn't impressed. Parmesan and tilapia don't really go together at all, in my opinion. I won't be trying this again.

Glazed Delicata Squash

I wanted to try a squash that's less stringy than acorn and easier to cut than butternut, so delicata was the obvious choice. Plus, the delicata squash was just so cute that I had to buy it!

Glazed Delicata Squash

Comments & Modifications:

• I halved the recipe since I only had one squash. It made just a little bit more than what Dan and I could eat as a side for dinner.
• I didn't have fresh sage or rosemary, so I used dried. Immediately after putting the sage in, I threw out what was left in the bottle because it smelled gross.
• Unsurprisingly I did not have "fresh unfiltered apple cider or juice" so I just used normal-people apple juice.
• I didn't have sherry vinegar either. There are so many recipes that call for this, I should track some down sometime. Instead I opted to use apple cider vinegar, since the alternatives were white vinegar, raspberry vinegar, or rice wine vinegar, none of which seemed right for this recipe.

Verdict: I thought this was going to be really tasty, but it turned out kind of meh. Now, I suspect this is due in large part to the substitutions I made. The dried spices added a weird texture to the glaze and tasted a bit off (perhaps due to the sage). The cider vinegar, while the best choice available at the time, made the dish a bit too apple-y; I think a contrasting flavor would have added some much needed depth. I liked how easy the squash was to prepare, compared to butternut in particular, but I think next time I'll try roasting it instead.

Buckwheat Cookies

I totally got fun of for making these. I mean, really, buckwheat cookies? It sounds so pretentious, as if adding some buckwheat flour would turn cookies into a health food. Well, I can wish, at least.

Buckwheat Cookies

Comments & Modifications:

• No changes to the ingredients.
• I used my food processor, which rocks because it's so easy. It wasn't obvious to me at what point the batter came together, since it still looked very crumbly, so the best way to tell if it's ready is to squeeze it together and see if it sticks.
• I shaped the dough roughly into balls, and flattened them with the tines of a fork. The cute crosshatch barely survived the baking process, so for the future I would use a flat-bottomed glass dipped in sugar or flour to gently flatten each cookie ball.

Verdict: These were every bit as subtle and delicious as the recipe promises. The cookies were a very unappetizing gray, which combined with the name turned a lot of people off. Everyone who tried them, though, gave a thumbs up. They're like a sandy version of a butter cookie, with extra earthy flavor from the buckwheat. I'll definitely make these again (especially now that I have buckwheat flour to get rid of!).

Almond-Lemon Tea Cake

I've been slacking off with the recipe reviews! Time to catch up!

Here's another instance of a recipe that got made solely because I needed to use up the ingredients from another recipe. It just keeps going and going . . .

Almond-Lemon Tea Cake

Comments & Modifications:

• I didn't modify this one at all. I'm too scared to mess with baked goods.
• I don't have a stand mixer, so I just used my hand mixer.
• I don't have a flour sifter, so I lightly mixed the dry ingredients by hand.
  
• I'm not convinced the lemon zest and orange zest in the batter was really necessary, since I can't taste it at all. Plus, I hate grating zest.
• Almond paste is a pain to work with. I had a hard time getting it to break up with my hand mixer, and pieces kept shooting off in all directions. Eventually it seemed to come together, but it took a while.

Verdict: This came out really, really good. The cake is dense and moist and almond-y, and the glaze is crispy and sweet and tart, and together they are perfect. That said, I'd need a good reason to fight with the almond paste again. This really would be great for a tea party, since the cake is very rich so the slices are tiny and cute.

And now I have a box of cake flour to use up . . .

Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup

I've never been able to make a broccoli cheese soup that meets my standards, so I had high hopes for this one. Also, I learned from making this soup that I love gruyere.

Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• I used fresh broccoli rather than frozen, and eyeballed how much. I probably used more than was called for, but since it's broccoli, who cares?
• I used the gruyere, jarlsberg, and cheddar that the recipe says.
  
• I found that 3 cups of shredded cheese turned into very little cheese in that much soup, so we put more in. Of course, I wasn't measuring the cheese either so I could have been guessing wrong.

Verdict: Despite all the cheese, this soup really didn't taste that cheesy. I added a bit of flour to try to thicken it up, but it could have used more. Also, the cheese kind of gummed onto the broccoli and didn't taste like much. Guess I better keep searching for the perfect broccoli cheese soup recipe.

Groundnut Stew

Here's another recipe that I just couldn't resist, after reading the strange combination of ingredients. It helps that this recipe makes a ridiculous amount of food for very little money.

Groundnut Stew

Comments & Modifications:

• This made a ton of food. Dan and I had it for dinner twice, and I had it for lunch at work three times, and there was still a bit left over. That's 7-8 servings!
• It's better with more sweet potatoes. I only put in two and wished I had put in the third.
• Next time I might try replacing some of the tomato juice with apple juice. You couldn't really taste the apple at all and I think it would have added something.
• Again, we cut back a bit on the cayenne to more reasonable levels. A little goes a long way.
• I would definitely add the optional cilantro, but at the end so that Dan doesn't have to have any.

Verdict: Dan really liked this, I thought it was okay but edible. It's possible that some of the adjustments above might make it more palatable for me. It tasted a little two dimensional, as if there was an ingredient missing that would bring all the flavors together. Maybe more ginger?

Gateaux Bastille

This is a rather strange recipe, but I couldn't resist making it once I read the list of ingredients. Also, I had some leftover prunes I needed to use up from a sad attempt at Mediterranean chicken a while back. And despite the chocolate, these actually aren't that bad for you, since there's no flour and very little sugar.

Gateaux Bastille

Comments & Modifications:

• The liquor store didn't have cute little sample bottles of dark rum, so I used light. I also let the prunes and rum sit in the fridge overnight, which may have contributed to the lack of rum-tasting-ness in the final product.
• I used 70% dark chocolate, since I had some laying around. It was fine, except for this next part . . .
  
• I attempted to melt the chocolate in the microwave. I'm guessing the recipe instructs you to use a double boiler for a reason, since the chocolate seized after less than 30 seconds in the microwave. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, especially since I didn't have enough ingredients to start over, so I did the best I could to mash it back into some semblance of non-seized chocolate. I also added probably another 1/4 c of cream to the chocolate, just to get it soft enough to fold with the eggs.
  

Verdict: Despite my difficulties with the chocolate, the end result was quite edible. The texture is dark and velvety, and the taste is rich and chocolately with occasional fruity bursts. Still, I probably won't make this again, unless of course I have more prunes to get rid of.

Jambalaya

Here's one that I made quite a while ago when I needed to use up some kielbasa. My modifications mean the resulting jambalaya isn't particularly authentic, but it was perfect for Dan and me!

Jambalaya

Comments & Modifications:

• I used a whole u-shaped package of kielbasa, and no other meat.
• I halved the rest of the ingredients, except for the tomato paste, where I dumped in two cans instead of one and a half.
• I used store-bought chicken broth.
  
• I cut back a ton on the cayenne pepper, and ended up using just a couple of dashes. This gave it a very light spicy taste that would probably work for most people.
• I forgot the bay leaves.
• For the future, I would add more vegetables such as bell peppers, carrots, and maybe something green. It felt like there was proportionally too much rice and not enough veggies.
• Also, I'll use the giant stockpot next time instead of the medium one, even for a half batch. It came almost to the brim, and that tomato sauce splashes when it simmers!
  

Verdict: Tasty! Maybe next time I'll manage to follow more of the instructions. Not following recipes is getting to be somewhat of a bad habit for me.

Curried Chickpeas and Black Beans

Okay, time to start reviewing the recipes I've tried!

Curried Chickpeas and Black Beans

Comments & Modifications: For once, I made this almost exactly the way the recipe specified.

• I did leave out the parsley/cilantro because I didn't have any on hand, and I don't think the flavor suffered for it.
• Next time I'll add a little extra water towards the end of cooking, because the sauce wasn't wet enough to moisten the rice.

Verdict: This is definitely a keeper. The flavor is wonderful, and served with brown rice it's quite healthy as well! I keep intending to make this to bring to work for lunch, but haven't gotten it around yet. Maybe next week.