Battle of Cream of Chicken Soup - Reviews

I was making a dish tonight that needed Cream of Chicken soup. I have started to make my Cream of Chicken soup lately instead of using canned because then I know everything that is in it, and it is actually cheaper (and generally tastes better) than using the canned mystery soup. Now, if someone were to give me canned soup, I would happily eat it, but I don't mind making it either.

I had run across another recipe that had used more flour in it, and thought that I would try to find it online. I couldn't find anything like what I'd seen before, so I tried this one that I actually found in several different places and it had gotten great reviews everywhere. I must have messed something up, because I thought it was not so good at all. I've looked over the recipe over and over again, and I can't see what I omitted, so maybe whatever people are making with the soup lends well to that recipe. It tasted like flour to me, and really, the flour to liquid ratio seemed really high. As soon as I dumped the flour/milk mixture into everything that had heated up on the stove, it pretty much instantly coagulated and I had a hard time getting all of the lumps out. Probably my error since so many people love it, but I wouldn't try it again. My rating is 1 star here. This recipe makes the equivalent of 2 cans, in case you try it.

This is the recipe that I typically use. I like it because it has a good flavor, but it doesn't thicken up as much as I would love for it to thicken up. It really works well as a general soup substitute, though, since there really isn't anything seasoning it other than the chicken stock (which I use chicken bullion and water instead). I would probably give this one a 4 star rating, but maybe try and put some more flour in it. My cream of chicken soup did not turn out as thick as is pictured below, but again, it is still tasty. This recipe makes the equivalent of 1 can.

from bunsinmyoven.com

One that looks like a good "meet in the middle" recipe is here. It has more flour than my typical recipe so hopefully it should be thicker, but has more liquid than the one that I tried today so hopefully it shouldn't be too thick. I also like that it doesn't have a bunch of seasonings in it already - I had to throw out the sauce for the dinner tonight because the seasonings from the soup didn't go with the curry needed for the recipe. This recipe makes the equivalent of 4 cans, and apparently the cream of chicken soup is freezable, so some people have made it and used what they needed, then put the rest in the freezer. Hmm.

Ratatouille - Review

My oldest son had a great idea a couple of weeks ago - to EAT Ratatouille while we watched Pixar's "Ratatouille". So, I found a recipe and decided to try it out this weekend.

from allrecipes.com

That was amazingly delicious. Like, surprisingly delicious. We had never eaten eggplant before (tofu and eggplant BOTH for the first time in the same week?!), and I was a little nervous about that. The eggplant gets chopped up and you basically cook it in olive oil and garlic until it softens up. Then you put the eggplant in the bottom of a baking dish, and start layering more veggies on top. After each layer, you sprinkle grated parmesan and salt (I used kosher salt). Then you bake it. The concept isn't hard, but it is a lot of slicing. And the result was SOO good.

 First layer - eggplant, then sprinkled with parmesan and kosher salt

Finished product.


















My husband had given strange looks about eating a veggie casserole for dinner (which is what it basically is), but he was happily surprised at the result. Our consensus was that it was fantastic, but you probably want to use it as a side dish. We also learned that my oldest son may be allergic to eggplant because as he was happily scarfing it down, he stopped and said that his throat was feeling strange. Eggplant and sesame seeds. Interesting potential allergies.

I had also (of course) forgotten to chop onion and put an onion layer on it, so I sauteed some onions in a bit of vegetable oil on the stove just as the Ratatouille was finishing up in the oven. The onions, to me, were one of the key flavor ingredients so I'm glad that I did that.

Family Rating: **** (my 4-year old actually gave it a thumbs up too)
My Rating: ****
Cost: $ (depending on your price of vegetables)
Difficulty: Medium. Lots of slicing. Plan on it taking longer than the 15 minutes to prepare that it lists in the recipe to prepare the dish.

BYU Mint Brownies - Review

Holy cow. That is all I can say about these brownies. YUM. And super rich. And yum.

from the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

This author got the recipe from BYU dining, and switched one thing - she changed the margarine from the original recipe to butter. Of course, I didn't actually READ her comments until the end, so I made them with butter. Next time I would just do the margarine. That makes them quite a bit cheaper to make.

The mint frosting is fantastic, and the brownie itself is a nice, thick (but moist), delicious brownie. As I was making these (and grumbling because you have to make THREE layers) I had thought that maybe you could just do a box mix with these frostings and be good to go. No way - you need a brownie that can stand on its own two feet with these super rich frostings.

I made the frosting (both the mint from the recipe and this chocolate frosting) just after I put the brownies in the oven. That is when I had time to do it, so I got it done and just left the frosting out on the counter while the brownies cooked & cooled.

Two notes:
1) When you are making the brownies, DO NOT try the cocoa and butter mixture in the beginning. It is so gross. I knew it would be awful because there is no sugar in the beginning, and yet I still had to try it. Don't do it. Butter and bitter chocolate is not tasty at all.
2) The freezer is your friend. If you don't use your freezer, these will be a gooey mess. I stuck the brownies in the freezer to cool them down faster (yes, I am impatient). Then once they were cooled, I put the mint frosting layer on. THEN YOU FREEZE AGAIN. If you don't, the chocolate layer will be hard to get on. If you do, it is so easy. Then I stuck it in the freezer again once the chocolate frosting was on to make it easier to cut. Two layers of frosting can be a bit gooey.

Other note here too: One brownie is PLENTY. I promise. I eat sugar like it is my job, and my subconscious kept telling me to get at least two brownies because I usually eat two (or the whole pan), but I seriously couldn't do it. These are great to give away because you make a huge pan, and they are impressively delicious, but there is no way you can possibly eat more than a few.

My 7-year old is reading over my shoulder and said that he eats chocolate like it's his job too. Apparently that is hereditary. :)

Family Rating: ***** (emphatically)
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (especially if you use the margarine instead of the butter - and maybe it wouldn't be so rich....)
Difficulty: Medium. Mostly because you have to make three layers, but those three layers are so worth it.

Pumpkin Waffles & Cinnamon Syrup - Review

This recipe is awesome. Of course it is - breakfast for dinner is always a winner. The cinnamon syrup is AMAZING. It is very easy to make too.

from theidearoom.net

***A tip: Make the syrup BEFORE you start the waffles. Then your waffles aren't waiting and getting cold while the syrup finishes.***

As far as the pumpkin in the waffles goes, I get a can of pumpkin, and then measure out as many 1/2 cup sized blobs as I can and freeze them (and label the bag). That is how much we love these. And then the pumpkin left over doesn't go to waste - you can know you are set for the next few rounds of making these, or other pumpkin-y things.

The cinnamon syrup is fantastic. The only change I make is that it is a bit too thick for me, so I cut the flour down to about 1, maybe 1 1/2 T. Yes, that is up to half of the amount, but it's a bit gloppy for me at the full amount. Also, I have not had a good experience with trying to keep the syrup for longer than a couple of days in the fridge.

We top this with whipped cream as well, and eat scrambled eggs w/ ham. Yum. :)

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Taco Pizza - Review

Since we have pizza night EVERY Friday, we have to get a little creative with the pizza so as to keep it fun and not dread it. My husband had the idea to try taco pizza, which is where this recipe comes in.

from allrecipes.com

This one was pretty good. It is definitely filling, to be sure. To make the "right before dinner" prep a little easier, I got the different layers mixed and ready (tomato paste mix & refried bean mix), and got the beef ready to go. I followed the advice of some of the people who left comments and, once the beef was cooked and drained, cooked the onions in there with it instead of putting the onions in the refried bean mix. I thought that was a good move.

The crust recipe that I used was our normal, easy crust recipe, not the one on the link so I can't comment on that. And, of course, being me I totally forgot to buy sour cream to put on top of the pizza when serving. It was pretty spicy (it takes taco seasoning AND chili powder AND cayenne pepper), and I think the sour cream and lettuce would have helped to tone it down a bit. I think if we made it again, I would probably not put in the cayenne pepper, and maybe even cut the chili powder down. Also, we had to cook the pizza for much longer than usual due to the thickness of the layers. Just a heads' up there for timing.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ***
Cost: $$ (around $7ish)
Difficulty: Medium. There were enough steps that it isn't something you can "throw" together, but splitting the prep up made it much easier.

Chicken Curry in a Hurry - Review

This recipe came from a friend's blog (who, I would like to mention, makes some fabulous stuff - including tasty food). We had tried it a few years ago, and somehow messed it up (I think we used sweetened coconut milk, if such a thing exists) so it was a little sweet. We pulled the recipe out again a few weeks ago and have made it twice since then. It is delicious, and very easy.

from madebymichelle.blogspot.com

It is especially easy if you prepare it estilo Kat....which was learned via my mother-in-law. She has food preparation days where she will do things like cook up a bunch of beef to freeze it in baggies, or will can things, or make freezer jam. I do not can or freezer jam (though I do enjoy it), BUT I have learned the joys of pre-cooking and freezing meat. I get my meat when I can find it on a deal, and then have a little prep day for that meat or meats. I do the ground beef and freeze it in baggies (usually 3/4 to 1 pound worth), and I also will take my chicken breasts, boil them forever (remember: germaphobe), and then cut them into pieces and put about a pound's worth in a baggie. Makes dinner EASY.

Like I mentioned before, it is really important to make sure your coconut milk is unsweetened. Also, we have made this recipe as written before, and it is wonderful, but tonight when I made it I realized I had neglected to check the recipe carefully and I didn't have tomato paste or spinach. Oops. So I substituted a couple of tablespoons of ketchup for the tomato flavor (I figured the tomato paste was being used more to flavor than to thicken things up), and I threw in some frozen peas for the veggie kick. I'm not sure if peas are curry-blasphemy or not, but it was really good. I am happy with the recipe either way.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $ (it actually may end up being a touch over $5, depending on your chicken prices)
Difficulty: Easy. The only thing to chop is an onion and the chicken, and the rest you just throw in and cook.

Greatest Granola - Review

One of my friends posted this recipe for granola, and it is our favorite. It is SO-O-O good. Good enough to get my husband to eat breakfast whenever we make it, which is not a normal thing for him. Usually if he eats breakfast, he eats leftovers instead of breakfast food (gross), so this is huge.

from 320sycamoreblog.com

It's one of those recipes that is good enough to give away, but then you think that maybe you'll try a little.....and then you realize that you CAN'T give it away because you NEED it. So if you plan on giving some away, make sure you have enough of the ingredients for at least a double batch. :)

We don't put nuts in ours because we have a nut-averse child, and it still is fantastic. I add the full 2 tablespoons of cinnamon because I love how full the flavor is. We have also discovered ground flax, which the kids don't notice and handle better than flax seeds. Wheat germ is also a good stealthy add-in, as mentioned in the recipe.

Also, I shared this with my mom and she mentioned that it worked better for her to mix the dry ingredients together first, then add the rest because then you get a more consistent texture. I tried that this last time and it was great. But even the throw-it-all-in-at-once granola is great too. We love it.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy. You put stuff in a bowl, mix, and bake. A'int no thang.

Tofu Stir Fry - Review

One of my good friends passed along some vegetarian recipes that her family loves, and one of them was for a Tofu Stir Fry. I have never in my life felt inclined to try tofu, but since we have been starting this vegetarian thing I have felt strangely liberated to try new and strange things. Like compressed bean curd (which is what tofu is). I bought the tofu last week from Sprouts (only $.99 - crazy!) and it sat in our fridge, with my husband giving me funny looks and asking what "that" was for. I told him we were going to have tofu stir fry. Bless his good-natured heart, he just nodded and said, "Okay" and went about his business. Good husband. :)

This was all that was left when we were done. For days, the kids begged for tofu. I'm telling you - this is a good recipe.

I modified the recipe that my friend gave me because I realized that a lot of the fresh veggies that needed to be chopped up were ones that I typically buy frozen at the store (sugar snap pea stir fry veggies), so I just opted to toss a bag of frozen veggies in, added some extra frozen broccoli, and called the veggies good.

It wasn't too hard to throw together - especially after I "lazy-ified" it. The only trick was with the tofu. It isn't hard to do, you just have to plan to give yourself some extra time (30 minutes) to press out the liquid in the tofu.

As a side note, awesomely enough, there are some packages of tofu with Po in it from Kung Fu Panda. Po eats tofu kids. Just sayin'. And, yes, the "Dragon Warrior" eating tofu was definitely part of my sales pitch to the kids. And it worked really well.

Back to the tofu: Take the tofu out of the packaging and cut it in half. You only need half of a block of tofu. Cut it into pieces to fry up (I tried to imagine what cut up chicken would look like and tried to cut accordingly), BUT before you chuck it in the pan, you have to actually press some of the storage liquid (water? soy liquid?) out of it. My friend said to put it inbetween layers of cookie sheets and paper towels (cookie sheet, paper towels, tofu, paper towels, cookie sheets) and then put heavy stuff on top of the pile to help press the liquid out. I was in the middle of using one of my cookie sheets, so I just made a cutting board, paper towel and tofu sandwich, the same order. I used two layers of very absorbant paper towels on each side, and they were SOAKED by the time it had been pressed for about 30 minutes (the minimum recommended time).

Other than the tofu pressing (which is NOT hard), everything is pretty much just chucking stuff in and smelling all of the good smells.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 bag frozen stir fry veggies
- 3 T. peanut oil
- 1/2 pkg. extra firm tofu
- 2 cloves garlic (or, if you are like me, use 1 tsp. of refrigerated pre-minced garlic)
- 1-2 T. sugar
- 2-3 T. soy sauce

Directions
- Heat the peanut oil in a pan
- Add the garlic and let cook for 10-15 seconds
- Toss in your veggies and tofu (I forgot to put the tofu in until later. Still turned out great)
- Add the sugar (I used 5 tsp. and it was perfect for us)
- Add the soy sauce
- Cook until everything is nicely browned

That is IT. It is really easy with the frozen veggies. My husband commented that it is the best-flavored stir fry that has come out of this house (and we have tried to tweak our flavors on our own stir fry - I would have to agree with him). My boys wanted to eat dinner with chopsticks (no problem!) and commented over and over again about how much they loved the tofu, and actually asked for seconds of the tofu. Weird. And awesome. The texture of the tofu was still softer than meat (Maybe because I didn't have enough layers of paper towels to press out the fluid? Maybe because it is bean curd?), but it still browns to look just like cooked meat. It is strangely cool. And I love that I don't need to be paranoid about making sure it is cooked as thoroughly as chicken and wondering if I'm giving my family food poisoning by not cooking things well enough. Go vegetarian! This is definitely one to repeat.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (under $5 with the tofu and frozen veggies - would probably be more if you cut up fresh veggies)
Difficulty: Easy. The only thing is remembering to allow time to get the tofu ready.

Easy Baked Manicotti - Review

This recipe from Kraft foods is so delicious. And easy. And delicious. And vegetarian too. :)

from kraftfoods.com

All of my kids will eat it (even the picky little one), and it's kind of fun to fill up the ziploc bag with the filling, snip the corner, and fill the cooked manicotti shells. I fill one side as far as I can, then flip it over and fill the rest of it in from the other side. This was my first exposure that I can remember to ricotta cheese, and I love it. It has such a good texture and gives it a good flavor without feeling too "dairy". I also will line the bottom of my baking dish with tin foil to make for easy cleanup afterward.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (due to the cheeses - probably around $7)
Difficulty: Easy. Multiple steps, but they are not time-sensitive, and there is no chopping involved.

Macaroni & Cheese - Review

Awhile ago I was looking for a good, homemade Macaroni & Cheese recipe and found this one from the Pioneer Woman. I had tried a cheese muffin recipe of hers a couple of years back and LOVED it, and have had several people send on recipes from her that I hadn't gotten around to trying and so I was excited to try this one. And I was honestly a little disappointed. This recipe was good, we all ate it, but it wasn't as "wow" as I was hoping for. The mustard was definitely detectable, and was a little overwhelming. I think that SOME dried mustard is good, but this was too much for me & my family. Especially with the work that went into making it. I might try it again (maybe?), but with less mustard.....or I may just search somewhere else for that perfect "Mac & Cheese" recipe.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ***
Cost: $ (probably around $5, depending on your price of dairy)
Difficulty: Moderate - you have to make a roux and then later temper the egg to put into the roux. It isn't bad to do, but it's not just chucking stuff into the pot. It takes some babysitting.

Bulgur Wheat with Dried Craisins - Review

I found some Bulgur Wheat at the store and thought it seemed like a healthy thing to try, and found this recipe to use it in. SOOOO good. Our first intro to bulgur wheat in our house and ALL of the kids ate it and wanted more. We make it when we have the Sage Pork Chops.

from allrecipes.com

We doubled the recipe, and that was a good size for our family. Again, I would highly recommend. Very easy, and very tasty.

Family Review: *****
My Review: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy

Breakfast Potatoes - Review

On my quest for a good breakfast potatoes recipe, I found this one from Our Best Bites. It was genius. I had tried to make them "from scratch" before, and been frustrated when the potatoes took forever to cook, or looked like they just absorbed oil, but were still hard. BUT, this one is a two-step process. A smart one.

from ourbestbites.com

After cutting up the potatoes, you BOIL them for five minutes to get them on the road to softened up. Then you put them in the skillet and finish what I had been trying to do unsuccessfully before. And they are very good.

Two modifications that we make: 1) We use more than four small-ish potatoes. They are good enough that we definitely eat more than that and would love to have some left over. 2) I'm not sure how anyone can endure 10 dashes of Tabasco sauce, unless they meant drops and not "small arm flicks worth". I did about five of what I would call dashes on one side, then flipped over and did two on the other side, and we were definitely feeling the heat. I can't imagine what 10 on one side and "to taste" on the other side could mean. I think about three would be perfect for our family.

We make ours in an electric skillet too. Watch the onions once you put the potatoes in. They can get a little crispy.

Other than the "heat" factor and the fact that the recipe doesn't make nearly enough - it is awesome. We've made it a couple of times and will do it whenever we have our "breakfast" nights, which is every weekish or two. So good!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy. Especially since it doesn't need much babysitting. Super delicious.

Prize-Winning Meatloaf - Review

This meatloaf recipe is the one that I grew up with. It is perfect. And it is made with oats instead of crackers or whatever people put in their meatloaf, so it's even healthier. Right? I think the picture on the website does not do the flavor justice. Neither can any picture I take when it's done here. It is so good though. And very easy.

from quakeroats.com

Make sure you use a leaner beef, or you'll have your meatloaf swimming in a pool of fat. Or, I suppose you could bake and then drain it, but you may have issues with it falling apart. We usually use 93% lean because, oddly enough, our local store prices it cheaper than even the 80% lean. Go figure. Also, we always substitute 3/4 c. tomato sauce and 1/4 c. water for the tomato juice, since we usually have tomato sauce on hand. And if you are using dried onion flakes, you need about 1 tablespoon of onion flakes instead of the 1/4 c. chopped real onion.

Pure beefy yumminess.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (will be near $5 or just over - just depending on your beef prices)
Difficulty: Easy. Mix a bunch of stuff together, put it in a pan, let it cook.

Lemon-Lime Bars - Review

If you need a super-yummy dessert, these are fantastic. I was attracted to the picture in the Taste of Home magazine (they make things look so good!) and decided to try them. They. Are. So. Yummy. Really.

from tasteofhome.com

When I start most recipes, I do the painful stuff first. Like chopping the vegetables, grating the peels, etc. And I make sure to preheat the oven. Pretend like you are watching a cooking show where they say, "Look how easy this is!" and then they take ingredients that are magically cut or grated and measured, and they just dump, dump, dump - voila! They don't show the painful prep part. The part where you have a toddler screaming at your heels because they want you to pick them up, and you look down at them, look back at the huge knife in your hand, look back at them, back at the knife, back at them and say, "Um. I kinda need both hands right now. For like 10 minutes. And then I'm going to be using dangerous heating instruments....Baby Einstein video?" Yeah. They don't show that. Long sermon short: Grate your lemon peel first. But even before you do that, WASH your lemons with soap and water. You are putting peel into your food. Don't grate the pesticides in there with the peel. Always wash your fruits and veggies. And then cut/peel/dice/slice/grate whatever you need to do before you start your recipe. Then you can fly through the other techniques of the recipe without going "BAH! I need 2 MORE teaspoons of lemon peel. What next?!"

After you grate your lemon peel (it took me 1 normal-sized lemon's worth to get 4 tsp. - I had washed six lemons. Apparently I have no ability to gauge peel yield. If you budget 2 normal-sized lemons, you should be set), squeeze your lemon juice. It took me 3 lemons to get the 1/3 cup required. So that left me with 3 clean lemons....to put back into my fridge and wash again later when I'm using them for real. Haha!

If you have lemons, use lemons for the crust. Lime tastes great in the crust. Lemon tastes great in the crust. It's all the same.

As far as the crust goes, follow directions as listed, BUT when you get to the part where you are supposed to "press the crust into the pan" - don't use your fingers. Use the back of a measuring spoon. Or use slightly wet fingers. Otherwise you'll have a bit of a mess and find yourself washing your hands a few times before the crust is pressed. Margarine works just as well as butter.


The filling is straightforward. Mix and dump. When the lemon bars are nearly done, keep an eye on them. The longer they get "cooked", the "eggier" they taste to me. Unless you like eggy tasting lemon bars. I, of course, didn't follow my own advice as I got distracted with other things and had to smack myself in the head when the timer went off and the lemon bars were browned. They were still SOOOO melt-in-your-mouth good. That's a winner.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Moderate. Mostly because it requires a "crust" step and a "filling" step. And peel grating and lemon squeezing. It's really not awful once you've worked through it, though.

Perfect Roast Chicken - Review

A couple of years ago I checked out a Jamie Oliver cookbook and found this awesome roast chicken recipe. I was slightly intimidated, but thought we could give it a go. It wasn't too bad to make, and it was FANTASTIC. I also found a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding that more than once has singed my arm hair and, actually, started an oven mitt on fire. Didn't know that could happen, but it can. Obviously they were good since I made them more than once, and put my arm hair and oven mitts at risk again.

Back to the chicken - this was FABULOUS. We just made it again last night. The lemon makes it. And the "veg" is amazing. I always forget to add more than what is said, and always regret that I didn't cut more up. The kids weren't the biggest fans of the carrots & onions, but my husband and I LOOOVED them. So good. I could have just eaten those and been a happy person.

from jamieoliver.com

Honestly, this isn't a hard recipe AT ALL....providing you have tackled a whole chicken before. If not, it's not that bad. A little gross (to me), but not bad. And you'll feel proud of yourself for trying, and be surprised when you succeed. Take the chicken from the bag. (Aside: you can get a "roasting" chicken or a "fryer" and they are both fine. At least I assume they are. I usually get a fryer because they are less expensive, and the only difference I can see is that the roasting chicken has a bump that looks like one of those pop-out thermometers. Just be sure to cook it long enough to kill all the yucky stuff.)

Back to the chicken. Once you take it from the bag, look into the cavities and dig out all of the stray organs that they shove into the chicken for whatever reason. I've never consumed "giblets", can't remember a discussion I've had with anyone about their "giblet" consumption, and I hope to not ever have to ever endure either of those situations. The digging out is the gross part. I just can't think about what I am digging out. My husband, however, will usually pull out the organs and try and figure out which ones they are, and then show them to the kids. Yuck.

After that, you just take the chicken, put it over the "veg", and prepare as stated. I put a generous amount of salt and pepper into a separate bowl so I can take my "chicken contaminated" hands and rub the chicken with salt and pepper (even on the inside of the chicken too) without worrying about getting nastiness on the salt or pepper packaging, or without having to wash my hands every time I touch the chicken. My husband and I are germaphobes, so we wash our hands a lot, especially when dealing with raw meat. Blech.

After you season, leave uncovered in the oven. The chicken will get a good, crispy outside and a deliciously moist inside. Don't forget to follow his instruction to let the chicken sit out for a bit before cutting into it. This will keep the meat from drying out prematurely.

Here was one of our attempts. So tasty. Not as pretty as Jamie's, but still amazingly delicious. Enjoy!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (pretty much just the cost of chicken, which depending on size should be around $5)
Difficulty: Moderate, if you have never done a chicken before. Easy, otherwise. Not much chopping or too much prep work.

Sage Pork Chops - Review

We had some pork chops in the fridge, and luckily I remembered this recipe that we had tried a few months ago. I remembered that we had all liked it, but it had been awhile so I hoped that I had remembered correctly. Oh yes. These are AMAZING. Seriously. And easy. Especially considering how delicious they turn out.

from allrecipes.com

I'm not sure that the picture does it justice. The recipe originally calls for salt, but I think you would probably have a heart attack if you actually put salt on them. Seriously. I had read reviews of people putting in the 1 tsp. garlic powder instead of the salt, and I think that is a good change. They have PLENTY of flavor from the other spices. Also, I subbed chicken bouillon for the beef bouillon since that is what we usually have on hand. And I had three good-sized boneless pork chops on hand instead of the six bone-in chops called for and the recipe worked perfectly.

One reviewer had suggested to make a gravy to go with the pork chops. This sounds scary, but it really isn't. Step 1: mix 2 T. corn starch with 2 T. water in a small cup. Step 2: after you take the pork chops out of your skillet, you just pour the corn starch mixture into the fluid that is left in the skillet, turn the heat on a bit, and stir until it is thickened. Easy, AWESOME gravy.

And thankfully I remembered right - my family loved this one. Everyone kept talking about it all dinner long. Except for the youngest, who is selectively picky. I had written down that SHE actually ate this last time. Not this time, though. The older two were gushing about it, though.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $ (which is shocking for how good they are)
Difficulty: Easy. Nothing to cut up, and the only tricky thing is making sure you flip the pork chops over when your timer goes off so you don't burn anything, but that's not bad.

Hearty Vegetable Quinoa Chili - Review

Again, on the quest for good vegetarian meals, I found this recipe on Picky Palate. It looks nothing like it tastes, and that is a good thing. At least for my family. It looks like a vegetable soup, but it really has a taco/chili taste and smell to it, courtesy of the cumin and chili powder. Chili is a good word for it. I kept calling it a "stew", and then was wondering why it smelled like southwestern fare. BECAUSE IT IS A CHILI, KAT!

from pickypalate.com

Quinoa is a little tricky to find. It is a South American member of the grass family (thank you, Wikipedia), and each grain kind of looks like one of those beanbag chair pellets, but with a little more hint of brown. I found it at our local Sprouts. I have also heard they sell packages at Costco, but we don't have one here in good ol' West Texas, so I couldn't tell you for sure. If you check your local "whole foods" store, they should have it. That's where I go to find things that I think only strange, healthy people would eat. Generally, I can find them there. Also, I think you could substitute rice and still have a good flavor. By the way, when you cook Quinoa, it almost looks like it sprouts. Don't be alarmed - I think that's normal. It's a little different, but apparently Quinoa is full of protein, calcium and other good stuff.

We actually had one of my son's friends from school over while I was making it, and more than once he said, "That smells great! What is it?"

One trick. I didn't cook the Quinoa separately. I am lazy. I threw it straight into the pot when the "cooked" Quinoa was supposed to go in. I had read one reviewer who said they did this, and I decided it was a good idea. Especially given all of the chopping required.

I will have to admit that I was a VERY happy person cutting up all of the veggies. They filled up a decent-sized glass cooking bowl. I typically don't like cutting up veggies, but for some reason these were actually enjoyable to do. Lots of pretty colors. And I was happy because I had bought a bunch of veggies a couple of weeks previously and forgotten about them, and I had wondered how in the world I could use them all up quickly. Problem solved.

I was a little nervous about how it would be received by the kids because it has SQUASH (7-year old is not a fan) and TOMATOES (4-year old is not a fan), but all THREE of my children ate it happily. Ha HA! I think it is because it smells so deceptively good. You just want to eat it. Even with little strange sprout-y quinoa floating in it.

Family Rating: ***** (YES! My picky almost 2-year old ATE IT!)
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (probably nearer to $5 than to $10 - just depends if you can get your quinoa and veggies on a deal)
Difficulty: Moderate, due to the veggie chopping. No tricky techniques.

Sausage-Rice Creole - Review

I had found a bunch of rolls of sausage on a great deal, and decided I needed to start finding ways to use some of it. So I found this recipe for dinner. It was really, really good. And not hard at all. One skillet cooking - that's my style. And it was on the Jimmy Dean website. I've learned from my mother that recipes on the sides of boxes or backs of bags or on company websites are fairly reliable. It's part of their sales pitch - why would they tell you to do something disgusting with their product?

from jimmydean.com

The modifications I made to this recipe: it calls for 1 tsp. of black pepper. I stared at that for a second and thought, "That is a LOT of pepper". So I cut it down to 1/2 tsp. I was right - even with it cut in half, it still had plenty of kick. I left the Cajun seasoning at 1 tsp. and thought it was fine. Both of my boys shoveled it down, but didn't have seconds due to spiciness. I also only had a 14oz. can of tomatoes, so I just diced some Roma tomatoes to make up the 14oz. difference (about 3.5 cups) and threw in a little extra chicken broth and water to make up for whatever bit of water may have been in the can. I love the internet - you can look up "substitutions" and work your way around a lot of problems. We also didn't have green onions on hand, but I'm sure they would have been delicious.

I LOVED chopping the onion and pepper for the recipe, and thinking about how my family would actually eat them because they were sneaky vegetables. And they did. And that is awesome. This also did not use any extra fats (like cream of whatever soups), other than what did not drain from the sausage, so that is a plus.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy, only cooking up sausage & cutting up two vegetables.

Homemade Pancakes & Syrup - Review

Our family has a homemade pancake recipe that we LOVE and is very easy. It has come through the family on my husband's side. Originally the recipe calls for separating the egg whites and yolks, putting the yolks in with the batter, then beating the egg whites until stiff and folding them in. We just skip that step and put the eggs in all at once, then beat the batter for a little extra time and the pancakes still end up fluffy. BUT, my mother-in-law has amazingly fluffy pancakes and she goes through the extra step of separating the eggs. Either way, it's a good recipe. Also, we add a little more milk than the original recipe calls for.

     

PANCAKES (or waffles)

      2 c. flour

      ½ tsp. salt

      2 T. sugar

      1 T. baking powder

      2 eggs

      1 tsp. vanilla

      1/3 c. oil

      2 c. milk

     BEAT together well. Cook on 325 degree skillet.

There ya go! It really isn't much more difficult than pulling out a mix and adding ingredients to it, and it has a great flavor.

Also, in our quest to find a good homemade syrup, I found this recipe and tried it today. It was fantastic. Most of the homemade syrups we've tried have been really watery (like the quick recipe on the side of the mapeline extract). This one is the right thickness for a syrup and has a great flavor.

Family Rating: *****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Valentino's Pizza Crust - Review

On our search for the PERFECT pizza crust, I ran into this recipe. It is fantastic. It is super easy, calls for normal ingredients, and has a really silky easy-to-work-with texture after you mix it all together and leave it alone for a bit. We do family pizza night every friday night, and this is a no-brainer for a recipe.

One of our favorite attempts here: sausage and green pepper. That was amazing. The crust is perfect. Always. This was pre-baking.

Our only modification is that I add some italian seasoning when I'm putting the salt in, unless it is a flavor of pizza that wouldn't work well with italian seasoning. Just a few healthy shakes. Maybe around 2 tsp. worth. We also roll ours out and bake on a cookie sheet before topping and it is the perfect size. It is AWESOME! Be sure to knead it well, and it works better if you use some machine (hand mixer w/ kneading attachments; stand mixer).

Family Rating: ****1/2
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy.

Lentil Tacos - Review

I was looking for a vegetarian meal and asking for some good recipes, and a friend passed this one along and said that she was a vegetarian for 10 years, and she liked it. So we tried it.

from allrecipes.com

These were shockingly good. Shockingly because they are LENTIL TACOS. From lentils. It is the first lentil-y thing I have tried that I have not felt like I was eating, well....lentils. If you have never met a lentil before and are wondering where you can find them, they are with the bags of dry beans. If you don't know where those are, at least in my store they are by the rice. If they are not by the rice, just ask someone where to find the dry beans. Lentils will be lurking there. They almost look like small pebbles, and are about the same color. And firmness until you cook them. Don't let that keep you from going out on a limb here.

It had a perfect texture for this type of meal and the flavor was perfect. They were a little spicier than our typical tacos, which is not a bad thing, but are way healthier, more cost efficient, and could be made with items stored if needed. I will be making my tacos this way from now on. We also ate ours in wheat tortillas (that seemed to be the consensus from the reviews) and they were perfect. And it didn't gross me out to eat the leftovers like leftover meat meals typically do - no meat! Ha!

Family Rating: ***
My Rating: *****
Cost: $
Difficulty: Easy

Split Pea Soup with Ham - Review

Today we tried Our Best Bites "Split Pea Soup with Ham". My kids have been wanted to have pea soup since they saw "Rescuers Down Under" a couple of years back. So, we're trying it.

from ourbestbites.com

Modifications:
1) couldn't find smoked paprika = used normal paprika w/ pinch of chili powder
2) didn't have malt vinegar (and didn't see a huge need to buy some for 1 tsp.) = used apple cider vinegar
3) reduced garlic from 4 or 5 cloves down to 3 cloves-ish....my husband is very garlic sensitive and I thought even the 3 cloves might be pushing it.

Review:

My husband LOVED the soup. One of my sons ate it and didn't ask for seconds (which he typically does), the other son didn't eat much of it. I thought it was okay. It seemed to be lacking in flavor, and the texture was a little strange to me since it is based on dissolved peas. And yet, I still had two bowls of it. I am eating some more now for lunch, but added some garlic powder to it and it is much better. I would try making this again in awhile, but stick to the garlic amount in the recipe and try to find some smoked paprika.

Family Rating: ***
My Rating: ***1/2 (with potential)
Cost: $$ (again, probably closer to the $5 end of things, just depending on what you have on hand, and the price you get your ham)
Difficulty: Easy. You literally throw things in a crockpot and wait. Only a couple of things to cut up.

Coconut-Curry Lentil Stew served over Quinoa - Review

This year I have decided to branch out our family's palate. Each week we are eating at least one vegetarian meal. The first couple of vegetarian weeks were great, but this week was not so great. Good way to start the new year.... :(

I was searching through allrecipes.com to find some vegetarian ideas, and came up with Coconut-Curry Lentil Stew served over Quinoa. The picture didn't look too exciting, but it was fairly highly reviewed and highly rated, so I thought we would give it a go.

Not so good. But I will blame myself for that one. Possibly.

Before I make anything that I find on allrecipes.com, I read the reviews. Half of them will give a recipe four or five stars, and then will say something like, "This recipe was FANTASTIC! I only cut the salt by half, added a cup more of chicken broth, added a bay leaf and threw in a handful of barley. SO good. Highly recommend." Yeah. So, I tend to read the reviews to find common themes among the reviewers, and then adapt the recipe according to the majority vote. This has proven to be a great way to approach the recipes there. So I read the reviews to this recipe and saw that, well, they all said basically, "Make the recipe as written. Only I didn't add coconut powder because I didn't have it." And half of them said, "And I added an extra can of coconut milk."

I followed the recipe except for two things: 1) didn't add coconut powder (neither does anyone else, apparently), and 2) I used brown lentils instead of red lentils.

Point of knowledge here: Brown lentils are the ones that you typically find bagged at the store. Think of the most drab color you can imagine, and you have brown lentils. Red lentils are more of a salmon color, and are a bit harder to find at stores. BUT, it turns out that they cook faster. Would have been good to know before I started this. :)

I got to the point in the recipe where the lentils were supposed to be done in about 15 mins. Brown lentils didn't soften up as quickly, and here is where a few reviewers added an extra can of coconut milk. I was feeling cheap and decided not to add the extra can, but added some water. This may have been the part that could have saved the recipe, but who knows.

I finished making the quinoa and the lentil stew, and served it to my family. My 7-year old, bless his heart, ate all of his portion - he doesn't like to make people feel bad. The rest of my family, including my husband who will eat almost anything, ate a few bites and then decided they couldn't finish it. I had to have my husband throw it all down the sink. It was WAY too spicy, and not nearly enough flavor to justify all of the spiciness. Even my husband, who dumps tabasco on everything, said it was too spicy. I get that curry is a different breed of spice, but when you add 3T. of curry powder and 2T. coriander, you are going to have a VEEERY spicy dish.

I have a chicken curry recipe that was given to me by a friend that I like a lot more, and it is much easier. I'll have to post that one sometime.

Family Rating: * (because of the child that finished it)
My Rating: * (because I am not sure if adding extra coconut milk would have helped or not. Otherwise it would be 0 stars because nobody ate it.)
Expense: $$ (probably closer to the $10 end - possibly more - depending on what you have on hand. Quinoa runs about $3.25/lb. where I found it, and the spices all add up too)