Culinary Goods

I looked at a bunch of recipes and then made this up. It was good—it gets a 7.6. I will make it again. It is free of MSG—hooray! Blend these things together: 1/2 cup mayo 1/2 cup sour cream 1/4 cup buttermilk 1 T. olive oil juice of 1/4 lemon 3 green onions 1 clove garlic 1/2 tsp. salt cracked pepper 1/2 tsp. dried dill 1 Tbs. dried parsley

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, Holly, and really like it. It tasted good, is easy and is simple. 2 diced carrots 1/2 C. corn 1/2 C. peas 1 sheet Pepperidge Farms puff pastry 1 can cream of chicken soup 1/2 C. cheddar cheese 1/4 C.- 1/2 C. milk 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut up. Jared grilled it and flavored with sage and rosemary (these two seasonings are a must). Mix all ingredients together and cut the puff pastry into strips and lay across it. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

I tried this recipe from meltskitchencafe.com, and I liked them better than I thought I would. I give them a 7.8. Keep in mind, I don’t love kalamata olives and feta cheese and those things, but I would make these again. I did change them a bit, so I put those changes in bold below. Mediterranean Chicken Wraps 4 cups cooked and shredded chicken I didn’t measure this 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese (about 1 cup) 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt Instead of this, I used 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. chili powder, 1/8 tsp. salt, and some green onions and made a sauce out of it 1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, patted dry and chopped 1/2 cup black or kalamata olives, chopped 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 (12-inch) flour tortillas, white or whole wheat I liked them on white 4 ounces baby arugula or spinach (about 4 cups) we used spinach Directions In a large bowl, combine the chicken, fe...

So, I did like this. However, it has a lot more potential than my first try indicates. I tried to combine a bunch of different recipes, and I kind of screwed it up. I would give this an 8 though because of how good it could be. When I make it again, here is what I will do: 1 cup almond milk 2/3 cup pumpkin 1/2 tsp. brown sugar (if you can have sugar without problems, use 2 Tbs. maple syrup) 1 frozen banana (this is for sweetness. you can’t actually taste this much) 1/4 tsp. cinnamon dash cloves, nutmeg, and ginger teensy drop vanilla

So, I love turnovers (These get an 8.5). Well, mostly I love puff pastry. My most awesome friend Rebecca is a pastry chef and decided to show me how to make puff pastry from scratch. It’s a ton of work! I honestly think this will go on my list of things that are worth buying pre-made. Which is saying a lot for me. This takes about 5 hours to make from start to finish.  You have to roll it a ton, hence Rebecca below looking a bit frantic. In addition to turnovers, she made cookies called palmiers, or something to that effect. They do look cute: Anyway, here is the recipe: Puff Pasty Dough 500 grams all purpose flour 10 g. salt 250 ml. water 130 g. butter 250 g. butter for folding in. The directions are so intense. Look them up online if you want to make this. For the apple filling, we used the apples from the Annie’s Eats caramel apple bars that I blogged a few weeks ago. We added caramel as well, and they were great. We baked them at 425 for about 20 minutes.

  These were great. I give them an 8. I looked at a bunch of recipes online, and finally decided to improvise my own. Here is what I did: 2 sweet potatoes 1 Tbs. olive oil a few grinds black pepper 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/2 tsp. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1/4 tsp. cumin 1/2 tsp. oregano flakes So, you cut the potatoes into fry shape. You then dump the oil and spices on them and mash them  around until they are coated. Put on a hot cookie sheet and bake at 425 for about 30  minutes. Flip them half way through and then broil if they don’t crisp up properly .

I had this at book club, and it was awesome. These get an 8.3. My friend Lisa made it, and she used fried plantains which she then smashed into little bowls in a lime juicer (she did this once they were fried by putting a plastic bag in the juicer, putting the piece of fried plantain in, and then smashing it and re-frying it.) Then she added a filling that was based on the recipe below, which came from foodnetwork.com. However, she did make changes, so it was kind of the same and kind of original. I put the changes in bold that she made. Tilapia Ceviche Recipe courtesy of Marcela Valladolid Ingredients 2 pounds tilapia fillets , finely diced* see Cook's Note 1 cup lime juice (about 8 large limes) 1/2 cup seeded chopped tomato 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced She did not add this 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup clam-tomato juice (recommended: Clamato), optional 1 tablespoon b...