Culinary Goods

These were really tasty and get a 7.5. I served them with pepper jack cheese, feta, black beans, and cilantro. The recipe came from gimmesomeoven.com. 4-5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts* 1 bottle beer  (or chicken stock, if you do not like to cook with alcohol) I used chicken stock 1 small white onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 1 tablespoon chipotle powder (or 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced) I used 1/4. tsp 2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2-4 fresh limes Here's the link:  http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-crispy-chicken-carnitas/

Don't mind the weird bubble-looking thing in the soup- it's just an ice cube. Anyway, this was good and gets a 6.5. The recipe came from vegetarianventures.com 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 white onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced small 1 jalapeno, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 Tbsp cumin ¼ cup all-purpose flour 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth 3 15-ounce cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed 1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies ¾ cup frozen corn 2 cups warmed whole milk (use non-dairy if wanting to make the recipe vegan) I used half and half  Salt / Pepper, to taste Lime juice, to taste garnish options: cilantro, avocado, tortilla chips, pickled jalapenos, radish slices, hot sauce 1 tsp chili powder 1/4 tsp. chipotle chili powder Here's the link:  http://www.vegetarianventures.com/creamy-vegetarian-white-chili/

These were amazing and I loved them. Granted, I love peanut butter and chocolate together, but they were a fantastic, moist, dense brownie. I've had a lot of cakey brownies lately, so this was a nice surprise. Both Jared and I gave them a 9 and the recipe came from melskitchencafe.com. INGREDIENTS 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) butter, softened 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 2 cups (15 ounces) granulated sugar I used 1 C and 2 TBS 4 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup (2 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder (see note above) 1 3/4 cups (8.75 ounces) all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chunk or chocolate chips Here's the link:   https://www.melskitchencafe.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-brownies/

This was a good start, but needed a zillion times more flavor. The capers and kalamata olives need to be doubled or tripled, and some feta or red wine vinegar would be good in it. As is, it gets a 5 and came from Fine Cooking. 1 medium spaghetti squash, halved, seeds removed 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted  1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil 1/2 cup finely grated Grana Padano I used grated Parmesan 3 Tbs. chopped dry-pack sun-dried tomatoes I left these out 2 Tbs. drained and rinsed capers 2 Tbs. chopped Kalamata olives 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil Freshly ground black pepper Kosher salt Here's the link:  http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/neapolitan-spaghetti-squash.aspx

Yes, I know this looks like a cat shat onto my plate. But it's not true. That's the peanut sauce. I paired this meal with Mormon funeral potatoes (because why not?) and garlic green beans.  I've meant to make this recipe for about 10 years. I got it from the chef I worked for at Kitchen Kneads. I remember trying the recipe during one of his shows and I loved it. But I just never got around to making it. Blargh. Oh well, it's as good as I remembered so it deserves an 8. It's like having your chicken with a side of really fancy good peanut butter. But not really. I think I put in too many peanuts so it tasted more like peanuts than anything else. The recipe isn't kidding when it says so make it fresh and don't let it sit. I let mine sit for about 15 minutes before dinner was ready and it wasn't as creamy and smooth; as soon as you make it, eat it.  Balsamic Peanut Chicken (2003 Cuisinart Scholarship recipient) chicken 4 oz. peanuts...

Does this bread taste as good as it looks? Yes, yes it does. It’s a brown molasses bread, and it has great flavor and great texture (even though I was almost all out of wheat gluten). I would bake it a bit longer than I did, but other than that, it was great. It’s dark inside as well, and some recipes called for food coloring or coffee to darken it, and I would not try food coloring. I am a total bread girl, so I would give this an 8, and the recipe came from melskitchencafe.com.   Molasses Bread 2 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees) 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses 2 tablespoons unsweetened, natural cocoa powder 3 tablespoons oil (see note above) I used olive 1/3 cup honey I left this out 2 teaspoons salt 3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional - see note) I only had about 1/2 tsp. left 3 cups white whole wheat flour I increased this to 4 cups 3-4 cups all-purpose flour This was closer to 3 cups 2-3 tablespoons butter,...

If you want to be a drunk Irishman for the day, this is your cake. It's flavorful and tastes like a distant cousin to Tiramisu because of the espresso grounds (I used decaf). I've eaten this for a few days now but I don't think you're supposed to hold onto it for that long. Apparently I do because I'm a gross person. I give this cake a solid 8 for sure. It was tasty and the two people I served it to loved it. To start this is what it was supposed to look like: And this is what my cake looked like: Obviously, I have cake image failure. My sad lumpy cake doesn't look as pretty. If you have any suggestions on how to make a prettier layer cake, tell me because my current layers have an identity crisis. They're too mishapen and heavy to look even. I didn't make any changes to the recipe except I used decaf because I didn't want the caffeine buzz. It's online at fine cooking: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/chocolate-irish-whiskey-cak...