Hi All!

This is my second try at doing this post.  Wish me luck this time.  I'm trying something new.  We are gong to add pictures of what we have cooked.

Ruby used Ultimate Cakes Cookbook and did a recipe called Chocolate Forticimo.  It was easy to follow and not expensive to make and taste was VERY GOOD.  She suggests that you triple the frosting recipe and add 1 cup of powdered sugar instead of the 1/2 called for in the recipe.

She said" This book is awesome, definitely not for the meek.  Some recipes take some work but the results are a delicious adventure to the palette."





 

 I did Better Homes and Gardens Big Book of Healthy Family Dinners.

Chicken and Pasta Primavera on Page 119- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  It left me hungry for something tasty.  The sauce was barely there and had no taste and the chicken needed more seasoning.  I would not do this recipe again.

Greek Town Pizza on Page 86- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  I would substitute ground pork for the beef and would add more Feta cheese.  I would make this again.

Mini Cheesecakes on page 267- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  I would probably use graham crackers crushed up or I would add butter to the crushed vanilla wafers to make a crust.

I also did The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook.

Maple Buttermilk Sandwich Bread- easy to follow, not expensive and taster was WOW.  This bread does not freeze well.  I will try freezing the dough next time.

Buttermilk Molasses Rye Bread on page 88- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was UGH. Bread fell apart and was tasteless.

Corn and Scallion Fritters- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  I would add more scallions and corn and cut the cornmeal out substituting just for for the cornmeal.

 Our next meeting will be on May 15th at 11:00AM.

Hi Everyone

Patti, Ruby and I met on March 20th.  We had some really good food.  Here are the results:

Patti used Valerie Bertinelli's One Dish At A Time cookbook.

1. Lasagna Alla Besciamella on Page 133- recipe was easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  The recipes for the meat ragu and besciamella were on page 134.  Patti did say that the Pomi Strained tomatoes were a bit expensive but well worth using.  She would not change anything in the recipe.  I tasted the lasagna and I would say the taste was WOW.

2. World's Easiest Quickbread on page 82- recipe was easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  Patti said that she thought you could add rosemary or herbs of your choice to bump up the flavor if you wished.

3. No Crust Quichettes on page 13- recipe was easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  Patti said that she used olive oil like the author said to coat the muffin tin and that she would never do that again.  The quichettes stuck to the pan, making the pan very hard to clean.  She would try solid shortening instead.

4. Chicken With Prunes and Olives on page 141- recipe was easy to follow, expensive to make and taste was VERY GOOD.  She said she used green olives instead of the garlic stuffed olives because the garlic stuffed olives were very expensive.

All in all, she would use this cookbook again.

Ruby used Olivia Newton John's Livwise.

1.Mushroom Soup With Lemon on page 124- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD. She would add a teaspoonful of salt to the recipe.

2. Red Kidney Bean Dip on page 72- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.

All in all she would use this cookbook again.  She said it had unique wholesome recipes that are healthy and worth the time.

I used Mr. Food Test Kitchen-Just one More Bite:

1. Blueberry Cheese Breakfast Tartlets on page 13- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  Just make sure you really stretch the dough in the cupcake pan, otherwise you will not be able to fill the tartlet with the best part, the cheese filling.  Don't buy the jumbo biscuits if your pan is a regular sized muffin pan.

2. Rolled Italian Meatloaf on page 72- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  I would not use mozzarella in the loaf, I would use cheddar cheese and I will try using spinach in place of the basil next time.  Also, I would use a mixture of beef broth and tomato sauce to cover the loaf instead of just tomato sauce.  When tomato sauce is cooked down on the loaf for an hour it tastes like tomato paste, a little to strong for me.

3. My Mom's Stuffed Cabbage on page 70- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  I used red cabbage and though the taste was good it was a pain to wrap around the meat mixture.

4. Easy Friendship Bread on page 20-easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  All in all, I would use this cookbook again. 

Our last meeting was on February 20th.  Dealing with all the snow that we have had put a cramp on our cooking.  However, we did manage to do some recipes.

Ruby did Better Homes and Gardens 75 Years of All-Time Favorites.

Maryland Fried Chicken on page 175.  She said the recipe was easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  Her comment was "The chicken was very tasty and low fat."  She said she would use the cookbook for more recipes.

I did Cooking Light-Lighten up America.

Cranberry Orange Scones on page 33- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was NOTHING SPECIAL.  I would add a little more sugar and maybe some cinnamon.  I had to substitute lemons for the oranges because my stomach objects to oranges quite vehemently.

Butter Crunch Lemon Bars on page 299- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  When doing the recipe I forgot to whirl the cottage cheese before adding the other ingredients, so they turned out a bit grainy.  I will attempt to do it again the proper way and see how it turns out then.

Chicken Diva on page 143- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  I had to use baby bella's instead of the cremini's and it still turned out very good.

Meatballs and Spaghetti on page 137- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.
My husband loved the meatballs and he is a tough critic.  The spaghetti part was just regular spaghetti that you buy in the store. 

I will definitely use this cookbook again.

Hi Again

Our meeting was held on January 16th.  It was just Patty and me. 

I used The Pioneer Woman Cooks a Year of Celebrations.  My critiques are:


1. Spicy Barbecue Sliders on pages 40-41:  Recipe was easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  I wouldn't make this recipe again, but, if you want to try it , I suggest you add less barbecue sauce and more whiskey.

2. Turkey Tetrazzini on pages 297-299: easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  As suggested, I substituted chicken for the turkey and chicken broth for the wine.  My only criticism would be that I did not particularly care for the panko on top- I would mix the panko or just unseasoned bread crumbs with a lot of parmesan cheese and put that on top.  I would make this recipe again.

3.No-Knead Cloverleaf Rolls on page 278: easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  My comment would be to have some oil or flour nearby- the dough is extremely sticky.  I would make the rolls again.

4. Toasted Ravioli's on pages 180-181:  easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.  My comments would be to make sure you have casserole dishes to put the flour , egg wash and breadcrumbs in.  Also, I would probably use the small ravioli even though it would be more work.  I would not make this recipe again because it was so messy and I don't like using all that oil and deep frying.

Patty  used One Big Table and the following are her critiques:

1. Transylvanian Goulash on page 455- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was WOW.  She commented that she would cut down a little bit on the broth-start with 2 cups instead of 3.

2. Creole Shrimp on page 260- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was VERY GOOD.

3. Butterscotch Pie on page 729- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD but very sweet.

4. Pie Day Committee's Crust on page 693- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD. Patty said it had good flavor.

5. Croatian Venison Gulas on page 471- easy to follow, not expensive and taste was GOOD.  She commented that she could not find the Vegeta seasoning and she added some garlic powder.

Patty said she would use this cookbook again.

That's it for this month.  We meet again on February 20th.