Culinary Goods

This was good. It wasn’t perfect, but I give it an 8 because it could really be improved to make it super awesome. It came from a recent issue of Fine Cooking magazine. First, mine was dry. I forgot to do the pasta water thing, so that was not cool. But, the flavor was good. I noted my changes in bold, and here is what I would do differently next time. Classic carbonara has egg in it, and the pasta needed it. It needed something to smooth out the texture. I would add 2-3 eggs to the pasta by mixing them up, adding the parmesan cheese to the egg mixture, throwing that on the hot pasta in the skillet and stirring it constantly for about 30 seconds until it was coated. Then I would add the other stuff. This would make it much better and would really put it into the excellent category, at least in my opinion. Or, just make classic carbonara and add squash. That would be awesome too. Summer Squash Pasta “Carbonara” by Domenica Marchetti from Fine Cooking Issue 130 Kosher salt 5 slice...

  My awesome friend Jaime sent me this recipe, and it was quite good. There are some changes that I would make, which are noted in bold. They get an 8.6. Also, these made a ton and it was super expensive to make. These would be great for a big party where you have to serve quite a few people. I also added almonds, which I did not toast, and I just cut them in half and added them to the coconut. Finally, these need a lot longer than you think to cool down and chill. I would refrigerate them for at least 2 hours before you try to cut them. In fact, I put mine in the freezer, and that worked great, because when the chocolate melts it makes a mess. Almond Joy Bars (With or Without the Almonds) added by Opal Jackson-Cakmak 25 Min  Prep time: 45 Min  Serves: 36 Ingredients 10 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature I would actually add an additional 1-2 Tbs. 3/4 c light brown sugar, packed 2 1/2 c flour 1/2 tsp fine sea salt I used normal salt 28 oz sweetened conden...

This came from melskitchencafe.com and it was seriously awesome. We give it an 8.3 and it’s going in our permanent recipe file. I also wanted to mention that my new pressure cooker is the best thing I have bought in a long time. Anyway, here is what I did differently. Cheesy Zucchini Rice Yield: Serves 4-6 as a side dish Ingredients 1 cup long-grain white rice I used brown rice and did 1 1/4 cups 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth in my pressure cooker, you only need a 1:1.25 ratio, so I did that and used half chicken broth and then because I ran out the other half was vegetable broth 1 medium or 2 small zucchini, grated on a box grater or with a food processor (no need to peel beforehand) we did 2, and you could probably even do 3 small ones 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder this was a must, and because I added more rice, I’m going to increase this a tad next time Salt and pepper, to taste I added 1/2 tsp and I salted my personal rice with more 1-2 t...

First, these recipes aren’t entirely new, but Stefani needs them posted, I made an unusual amount of pie lately, and I did a couple of new things, so here you go. Also, one thing about my Dad is that he makes the best pie I have ever had. I will try my whole life and probably not be as good as he is, but he did give me a good start. So, I made a banana cream pie for pretty much the first or maybe second time ever. I always make coconut because I like it better, but I had a friend request it. Now, this pie looked much better when I had put the fresh bananas around and decorated it all cute, but bananas oxidize and I had to drive this to Logan, but the coconut cream on the bottom looks just fine. I made a double batch of pastry cream, and I couldn’t very well waste it. So, I made two. I give the coconut a 9.5 It is truly amazing. Here is the recipe for banana cream pie, which comes from my dad: Banana Cream Pie (1 pie) 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour 1/4 tsp. salt 3 cups milk 4 egg...

So, John loves yellow cake, and I have to admit I like it as well. However, I like the taste of boxed cake. I was hoping to replicate that same taste with a homemade version, but while it was similar, they probably use some industrial artificial flavor 16BX65 or something to get that flavor. It’s nothing natural, that’s for sure. I found an awesome cake recipe on melskitchencafe.com for the yellow cake and I followed it EXACTLY. I give this an 8.5. Anyway, here is the cake recipe I used: Perfected Yellow Cake Yield: Makes two 9-inch layers or three 8-inch layers Ingredients 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (13 ounces, 368 grams) 2 teaspoons vanilla 3 large eggs, room temperature 2 large egg yolks, room temperature 2 1/4 cups cake flour, lightly measured (9 ounces, 255 grams), see note for high altitude adjustments 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (see note) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk (1% or above), room tempe...

So, we tried a recipe similar to this a long, long time ago and tried to recreate it. The original idea came from Fine Cooking. That is where we found the original tomatillo sauce with Anaheim peppers. So, we used that. Then we fried corn tortillas. We added some grilled chicken that had been cut up, some chopped onions, some Monterey Jack cheese and then put the sauce on top and baked it. These were good. They get an 8.3. But, the best version is probably a combination of this recipe and the one I blogged a few months back. Next time, I will do what I blogged about a few months ago where I make the taquitos sauce base with the chicken onions and cheese added in, put that in fried corn tortillas with a bit of the green sauce, add some of the green sauce on top (with perhaps a bit of sour cream, a couple of Tbs. mixed in), then cheese. I will add olives and enchilada fixings. That would make it just about the best I could possibly make it.

  This was surprisingly good. I got the recipe from melskitchencafe.com, and I thought it was awesome-I give it an 8. However, I did a lot of things differently, so I will put my changes in bold below. Here is what they look like: Stuffed Enchilada Zucchini Boats   Ingredients 4 medium zucchini, halved (I used large ones and it was too much) 8-12 ounces lean ground turkey or ground beef (depends on how meaty you want this dish to be) (I left this out) 1 teaspoon salt ( I used 1/2 tsp.) 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (seeds and membrane removed if you want less heat) 16 ounces tomato sauce (I used 8 oz) 1 tablespoon chili powder (I used 1 1/4 tsp.) 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I used 1/2 tsp.) 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (I left this out) 1 teaspoon dried oregano (I used 1/2 tsp.) 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (I used 1/4 tsp.) (I also added 1/2 tsp. paprika and a scan 1/2 t...

For the record, John doesn’t like lemon or shortbread cookies (yes, he IS insane). But, he gave this very dessert that contained both of those items a 9. It was pretty dang good. I got the recipe from ourbestbites.com, and I noted what I did differently below. First though, here is my BFF Rebecca trying it out. See how awesome it is! It was a bit soft in the beginning, so we then froze it for a couple of hours and it was harder. Like this: The picture sucks, but only because John was too impatient to wait to eat it. Yes, the same John who hates lemon and hates shortbread cookies. Here is the recipe: Frozen Lemon Custard Posted By Kate @ Our Best Bites On 07.22.2014 @ 10:08 pm Frozen Lemon Custard {With Shortbread Cookies} Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com Ingredients: 2 cups heavy whipping cream (I got the kind from Costco, but it was too heavy. Next time, I buy normal non-heavy cream on meth) 1 cup half and half (I just cut this out entirely and did half milk half cream) ...

  I got this recipe from melskitchencafe.com, and it was good. I give it an 8.3. I made it in a dutch oven, which gave it great flavor. I would definitely make this again. I put my changes in bold. One-Pot Southwest Chicken and Rice Yield: Serves 4-6 Ingredients 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds) I used 1 chicken breast Salt and pepper 2 tablespoons canola oil I used olive oil 1 yellow onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, finely minced 1 teaspoon chili powder I would use a bit more next time 1 teaspoon cumin I only used 3/4 tsp of this 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice I used brown rice 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth I also had to add some water 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed I used 3 times this much 1 (10-ounce) package frozen corn 4 ounces cheese (used a combination of Monterey Jack and sharp cheddar) this might be good with something else creamy, like a spoon of sour cream mixed in or some cream cheese 2 tablespoons minced ...

This recipe credit goes mostly to my sister Brit, who introduced me to a mixed berry pie. It is incredibly good. That being said, some people (mainly my sister Jenny who doesn’t like anything remotely tart, does not like it). Ignoring her, I give this a 9. It is seriously awesome. I have tweaked and experimented and finally come up with the best dang berry pie I’ve ever had. The picture shows how the filling runs onto the crust. I might try to put smaller slits in next time to see if I can prevent that. You could put a lattice top on, but then you wouldn’t have as much of the yummy sugar crust. Anyway, here you go: Pie crust (see previous posts on pie—my dad has always made great crust and I use his recipe). Make 2 crusts. Put one on the bottom of a pie plate and add the following filling: 2 cups raspberries 2 cups blackberries 1 cup blueberries (I have used frozen berries and they don’t compare—use fresh) Sugar—this is totally dependent on taste—I have used anywhere from 1/2 ...

Ok, boys and girls—this is awesome. I give it a 9.5. I got the original idea from Fine Cooking, but the mousse recipe they provided was sub-par, so mine is better. Trust me.  And, I used a totally different crust, so really, this is my recipe. I am taking credit. We made 2—an Oreo crust (which was the more popular) and a graham crust. First, I gave away the last half of the pie before I got a picture, so that is incredibly sad, but next time I make it I will update the blog because not only is the pie so very good, it is also very, very good looking. In the mean time, here are some tools you will need: First, you need a deep pie plate to get enough mousse in. Secondly, the crust did stick a tad, so you need a decent pie server to get under the pie. And finally, I used a frosting tip to pipe the cream onto the pie in swirls, so it’s very cute. Pictured here is 858, or medium tip closed star tip, but I also use the Wilton 1M tip, which you can see here: http://www.wilton.com/tech...