October 18, 2018   Hi Foodies!

This month Ruby used Handmade Gifts from the Kitchen

Page 98-The front left recipe was White Chocolate and Rosemary Truffles- the recipe was easy to follow, not expensive to make and taste was GOOD.  Ruby suggests that you use less cream and butter as it was too soft for a truffle.

Page 29- Front right recipe was Rose Petal Cookies- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  Ruby suggests you add rose water to dough to bring out the flavor or process sugar with roses.

Page 153- Back left recipe was Lemon Loaf- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.

Page 77-Fig Relish- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.

Ruby would use this cookbook again.

I used The New Midwestern Table (please note that the loaf of bread was my recipe and not from a cookbook)


Page 278- front left recipe was Cottage Cheese- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOT GOOD because it did not taste like cottage cheese it was basically a recipe for ricotta cheese. 

Page 346- back left recipe was Mom's Butter Caramels- esy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  This recipe is a keeper, soft to chew and not a filling jerker.

Page 276-back right recipe was Homemade Butters- easy to follow, expensive to make and taste was GOOD.  One quart of cream  made one stick of butter for $3.84.  You can buy four sticks of butter from the grocery store for the same amount.

September 20, 2018

RUBY

The Family Table, Recipes and Moments from a Nomadic Life

Page 31- Dad's Cuban Picadilla- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL, the olives overwhelmed the palette

Page 58- Green Pea Gnocchi with Parmesan White Wine Sauce- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  Ruby would use a lighter sauce for the gnocchi.

Page 68- Pull Off the Bone Slow Cooked Ribs- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  Ruby said the ribs were good but nothing to WOW about.

Overall Ruby said she would use this book again.

I used Betty Crocker Come Home to Dinner

Page 11- Oriental Pork Soup- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  I would use a little less Soy Sauce.  This tasted better the second day.

Page 29- Creamy Leek and Potato Soup- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  This also tasted much better the second day.

Page 204- Chocolate Rice Pudding- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  Not enough chocolate to be called chocolate rice pudding.

All the recipes were done in a crockpot.

I would use this book again.

August 18, 2018

We have not met for cooking since May but will start meeting again in September..

May 17, 2018

Last month's meeting is not posted because after I finished writing it, saving and hitting publish it disappeared into the great internet sky.  Sorry folks.

Ruby used World's Greatest Christmas Cookies She made:
1. Coconut Oatmeal Cookies on page 47- easy to follow recipe, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  She would add more sugar and butter
2. Carrot Cake Cookies on page 28- easy, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL. She said frosting needs more confectioners sugar
3. Ginger Clouds on page 14- easy, not expensive and taste was WOW.
4. French Macaroon on page 37- easy, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  She would use more egg whites, the macaroons were flat.
5. Lemon Creams on page 50- easy, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.

I used Handmade Gifts From The Kitchen.  I made:

1.Coffee Cream Liquer on page 134- easy, expensive and taste was GOOD.  Not worth making again

2.Strawberry Pastilles on page 92- easy, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD however it did not come together as a candy consistency and after 30 minutes of stirring , I gave up.  This did make a very nice strawberry butter though.

3. Poppy seed & Sesame Seed Crackers on page 118- easy, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.

At our March meeting Ruby used First Prize Pies

The recipe she used was Hawaiian Delight Pie on page 107.  She said the recipe was easy to follow but cost prohibitive.  The taste was VERY GOOD, however, she noticed that the ratio of filling was not enough to fill pie crust so had to be doubled.  This book is not for a first time baker.                .   

I used Half Baked Harvest Cookbook.  The dish at the very front is Braised Mediterranian Lentils with Roasted Spaghetti Squash.  The recipe was easy to follow but the cost was prohibitive.  Taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  I would not make this again as I felt there were to many conflicting tastes.

The next recipe I did was (middle left) Pumpkin and Cauliflower Gratin with Fried Sage.  Again recipe was easy to follow but cost prohibitive and the taste was  NOTHING SPECIAL.  I would not use this recipe again as I could not taste the pumpkin and the cheese was very expensive.

The recipe in the middle back was called Perfect Potato Soup and again easy to follow but expensive to make and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  The soup did taste good but in the long run it is just potato soup, a very easy thing to make.  

The recipe middle right was Death by Chocolate Icebox Cake.  Easy to follow, expensive and taste was GOOD.  I would not make this again as it is extremely fattening and expensive using 48 ounces of heavy cream.  The melted chocolate did not blend with the whipped cream to make a mousse and the frozen Snickers bars were hard to bite on.

The last recipe was Salted Brioche Cinnamon Rolls at the left back was easy to follow, not expensive(first one in this book that was not expensive to make) and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  Not a great roll,  I have a much better recipe using mashed potatoes in the cinnamon roll.

January 18, 2018

Happy New Year everyone

We had 5 VERY GOOD recipes
             1 GOOD recipes and
             2 NOTHING SPECIAL

Ruby used Dinner in a Dime cookbook and did 5 recipes from it.

VERY GOOD- Ginger Scones
VERY GOOD-Classic Macaroni Salad
GOOD-Jumbo Banana Carrot Muffins
NOTHING SPECIAL-Rich Cheesecake Bar-she suggests more cream cheese and less sugar
NOTHING SPECIAL-Butterscotch Fudge Bar-she suggests less butterscotch chips

I used Betty Crocker Lost Recipes and did 3 recipes from it.

VERY GOOD-Sausage Cheese Balls
VERY GOOD-Baked Chicken Kiev- could use more salt and pepper
VERY GOOD-Tuna Noodle Casserole- could use pepper

All recipes were easy to follow and did not cost much to make.