Recipe Results

Hello there!

Just a quick recap on the recipes I made this week.

1. Cranberry Upside Down Cake - 4 out of 5 stars.  The tartness of the cranberries paired really well with the almond cake.  The issues I had:

• I wouldn't use coarse cornmeal as it states.  The grains tended to get stuck in my teeth.
• Increase the amount of cranberries; once they cooked down, they didn't cover the entire bottom of the pan/top of the cake.
• The recipe calls for almond paste...first time I've ever had to use this ingredient in my entire life.  So now I'm stuck with 3/4 of a can of almond paste and have no idea how to use the rest of it!

2.  Pumpkin Black Bean Soup - 5 out of 5 stars.  My husband doesn't hold back with his opinion on recipes and he loved this one!  I'd call this a healthy comfort food soup perfect for the winter.  In the future, I won't use ham.  I really think it detracted from the subtle flavors of the pumpkin, black beans, and tomatoes.  I wonder if he'd love it as much without the ham?  ;o)

3.  Homemade Calzone - 3 out of 5 stars.  Either it was maker error or the dough recipe on this site sucked.  Considering I made the pull-apart bread dough without any problem, I'd say it was the recipe.  I also purposely left these last two recipes for the weekend since the dough had to rise etc., but I probably won't ever make them together again.  Just takes too much time.  Also, I couldn't find anywhere on that site that said, 'Bake at blah blah for blah blah blah'...annoying.  It tasted good though; but since when has a calzone ever tasted bad? 

4.  Garlic-Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread - 4 out of 5 stars.  As my husband says, "It was good, but it didn't blow my socks off."  And I concur.  Given that it takes a while to make, I'll probably never make it again.  Unless I want to impress my mother-in-law or I have a huge family to feed.

And I'll add one more recipe that I hadn't planned on making.  I saw it on Pinterest (of course) saw that it was super simple and called for Bisquick (that I have and need to get rid of), so voila!  Made it!

5. Mini Bisquick Quiche - 3 out of 5 stars.  It didn't call for any seasoning and with eggs and "heart healthy" bisquick, it could use some.  I put chopped ham and shredded cheddar cheese on the bottom and then chopped dried chives on top.  Not bad but not amazing.  Considering it's so easy, I really should bump that 3 to a 4.

From Care's Kitchen