Recipe Verdicts

Unfortunately, last week's recipes were a bust.  Not through any fault of their own.

1.  Almond Butter Cookies - 4 out of 5  These were good and I got to use my leftover almond paste, but my dogs enjoyed them more than we got to.  We had about 14 left when we got home from work the day after I made them.  And that was after I had moved them to the back of the stove and placed a 9x13 inch pan in front of them.  I swear one of them must've lifted the other up.  And I wouldn't be surprised if my cat was in on it too.

2.  Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash - 3 out of 5  I'd call this one average.  It was on the sweet side which threw me off a little.  I'd probably bump it up to a 4 if I knew a better way of cooking the squash instead of in the oven for an hour.  Too long for a weekday meal.

3.  Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos - 3 out of 5  I flubbed this one...my sweet potatoes were taking to long to cook so I covered them, turned the heat up, & didn't check on them, which of course means...burnt!!  It actually wasn't too bad though since I couldn't distinguish a burnt taste when it was all said and done.  And either my spices are old or there just wasn't enough.  Bottom line: I've had better.  Oh, I didn't try the whole tortilla in oven to make taco shells...didn't have enough patience.  :)

4.  Salsa - 5 out of 5  My husband loved it (as did I) and it'll probably be my go-to salsa recipe from now on.  I halved the recipe & did have some issues with roasting the garlic (they turned brown & got rock-hard) so I just added minced garlic I had on hand.

Note:  Have you tried the Tostitos hint of Pepper Jack chips?  I'm not a big fan off grocery store tortilla chips but I LOVE these.  I broke them out for use with the salsa and ended up just eating them plain.  They taste like Cool Ranch Doritos.  Yum!

Recipes for this week

I might not end up making all of these this week since we still have leftovers from last week.

Let's start with dessert!  As I mentioned, I had a bunch of almond paste left so I decided I'd make Almond Butter Cookies.  I have these babies in the oven right now.  I still have a bunch of coarse sugar left over from 2 Christmases ago (yikes!) so I rolled the cookies in that for a special touch.

From Allrecipes

Savory dish #1: Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash
Not a cheap dish by any means considering the pound of quinoa I bought cost $6.18.  I predict this will be a yummy vegetarian dish I can feel good about eating.  And it looks like it's just enough for two!

From What's Gaby Cooking

Savory dish #2: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos
I love love love love love sweet potatoes and black beans together.  I especially love them in burritos.  I have a ton of corn tortillas that I need to use so I'm just going to make them tacos instead.  I saw this neat thing on Pinterest where you can drape tortillas over the rungs of your oven (Is that what they're called?  I can't think of it right now) & bake for hard taco shells so I think I'll try that out.  And I think I'll make this salsa to go along with it.  I love homemade salsa.  It's 10 times better than store bought & oh so good!

From One Particular Kitchen

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

On the Menu This Week

I typically make two savory dishes and a dessert per week.  It's generally enough to get my husband and I through the week.  And yes, I go grocery shopping every week.  How about you?  I find that the food I purchase usually goes bad if I buy for two weeks.

Savory meal #1:
Pumpkin Black Bean Soup.  This sounds sooooo yummy!  You can find the recipe at my sister's blog: venetianblond.blogspot.com.

Savory meal #2:

Homemade Calzones & Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread.  

I LOVE pizza.  Very much.  The Chew (I'll admit it, I love this show!) just did an episode about last meals and I decided that mine would be pizza.  I thought, "Really Nicole??  Pizza?"  And YES.  Pizza.  :)  Aside: I say '...just did an episode...' but that's 'just' to me since I'm catching my episodes on Hulu.  Another aside: I've made Carla's Eggs in Heaven (from The Chew) two weekends in a row...love it!!  Except by the time the whites are done the yolks are overcooked--haven't quite figured out how to solve that problem.  Any suggestions?

AT ANY RATE...back to what I was saying.   

Dessert:

Cranberry Upside Down Cake.  

I bought a huge bag of cranberries a while back and I need to make room in our freezer, so I figured this recipe would be a great one to try.  For the life of me, I cannot remember why I even bought them in the first place.  It's not like I was going to make cranberry sauce or anything.  Oh, I remember...it was for an ice ring for a punch I made.

I bet it'll be a good week.  Happy MLK day everyone!

My new love: my juicer

My sister got me a Black and Decker juicer for my birthday back in November. 

Partially because I was intimidated, partially because I misplaced the owner's manual and couldn't figure out how to disassemble to prewash the darn thing, & partially because I didn't have a juicing recipe book (I know, I'm lame), I didn't juice until this week.

So when Santa Claus brought me The Big Book of Juices, I was ready to try my hand at juicing.

This thing is insanely heavy...must be the type of paper they used.  At any rate, I've made 3 or 4 juices from it and they've all been really good.  Granted, I'm doing the beginner juicer's plan so it's been mostly fruit juices.  Today I made one with 1/4 cucumber...interesting, but still tasty.  Tomorrow calls for 1/2 of a pineapple (I'm just going to use some frozen chunks I have), 1 apple, 1 celery stalk, & 3 carrots.  Definitely a little more adventurous.

The reasons I like this book: tons of recipes, breakdown of what the juices help with (digestion, skin, immunity etc.), information on different fruits/veggies and how they should be prepared (they recommend citrus be pressed rather than juiced), and in the back there's some plans...like the beginner's plan I mentioned, juicing plan if you've been sick a lot lately, weekend fasting plan, etc.  They also list juices that help with lots of different ailments like acne, anemia, etc.  Those are the only two I can think of right now.  :)   

The thing I've been leery about is upping my pesticide consumption.  If I had all the money in the world & lived next to a whole foods grocery store, I'd buy organic.  When I was buying the items for my juices this week I was confronted with my first dilemma: organic cucumber for $3-$4 or the non-organic for mere cents.  I went non-organic. 

Because of my fears, I decided I'd make a fruit & veggie wash I had heard of.  1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon baking soda, & the juice of half a lemon.  You spray it on, leave it for 5 minutes, and then wash your fruit or vegetable.  I have NO IDEA if it actually works, but it certainly calms my mind a little.

I'll leave with this tip to keep in mind: If you decide to make this wash, remember that vinegar + baking soda = BIG MESS!  I forgot until it was too late. 

A Christmas Story

Many many years ago in a land far far away (aka ~25 years ago and when I lived in Florida) I asked Santa for the Barbie & The Rockers Hot Rockin' Stage after I saw this commercial:



Did you see those moves?!  Oh the colors!  Oh the fun!  My life would never be the same!  I couldn't live and my barbies certainly would be crushed if I didn't get that toy from Santa!!

Funny.  My little 4 or 5 year old brain didn't hear that very important phrase at the end...'Dolls each sold separately.'  And this is what I received:
 

Which, I mean, ooooooookay, not bad...that's a bunch of stuff in a box.  But I was expecting a PARTY IN A BOX!  Does that look like a party?  Not to me!  Where were all the barbies?  Where was the dancing??  Where was the music???  Where was the fun????  Oh, I'm supposed to supply that?  Well phooey. 

That said, I would give my right arm something important to be able to pull that out of a box right now, slip some barbie legs into those pink leg holders and then, with the slight movement of a nob, make those barbies turn first to the right and then to the left.  And then to the right again and then to the left.

P.S. In doing research for this post I also found video of another very influential barbie I had.  *Sigh* I so miss my friends.