For starters, if your recipe calls for an odd number of eggs … don’t cook it!
Jul
24
Author: Barb
Jul
24
Classic Cheesecake – 4.8 stars
Page 287 I love cheesecake. The smooth, velvety texture and the slight tang in the flavor are absolutely wonderful when they come together. I love them so much that I make a pumpkin cheesecake every year at Thanksgiving and I even created my own cheesecake recipe in a baking contest at the Woodstock Fair one […]
Jul
23
Zucchini Squash Strata – 3 stars
Page 179 I like zucchini sautéed with garlic or battered and fried, and I used to grow or every year in my garden back on the Massachusetts homestead. Squash, on the other hand, has to be fried just right and never mushy. Mushy squash goes in the trash and not in my mouth. This casserole […]
Jul
23
Chewy Granola Bars – 3 stars
Page 313 I have made my own chewy granola bars for years, and one thing I insist on in the final product is that a kid can eat it in the back seat of a moving vehicle without having to go to the car wash for a vacuum afterwards. These do not pass that test. […]
Jul
21
Dessert Crepes – 3.2 stars
Page 317 Meh. That’s pretty much the summary of dessert crepes in general for me. What you put in it totally makes or breaks the score on this one. I used Nutella and bananas but you can use anything sweet. The grands might see this as a novelty and it could be a good way […]
Jul
21
Chicken Mushroom Spinach Crepes – 4.5 stars
Page 211 Until I made this one, I had exactly 1 crepe in my entire life. It was in 2004, and my best friend and I got one from a street vendor a couple of blocks from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris. I cannot remember what it tasted like so I can’t […]
Jul
19
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread – 4.1 stars
Page 63 Pumpkin cheesecake bread would be a better name for this one. The cream cheese filling turns into layers with a cheesecake-like consistency. Since we love pumpkin cheesecake (and have it every year during the holidays) we were definitely predisposed to like this one … and we did. My first frustration with the recipe […]
Jul
18
Ham and Spinach Puffs – 4.0
Page 149 Appetizers, hot or cold, don’t often get air time in our house. I will occasionally set out some baby carrots with ranch dressing when we delay lunch for an early holiday dinner as the main meal of the day. Every so often I will pick up a veggie tray when the gathering for […]
Jul
16
Creme Brulee – 4.5
Page 295 I first had creme Brulee in 2001 at Ruth’s Chris while working on a project in New Jersey. It. Was. Amazing. At those prices, it has to be. Almost 20 years later I finally have found a recipe that I can whip out and make whenever I want to. This is so simple […]
Jul
15
French Onion Soup – 4.2 stars
Page 115 I love a good French Onion soup, especially in cold weather, but I will eat a bowl any day, any temp if it is well made. The flavor of this one is really good but… the thyme sprigs need to be taken out. The directions have you pull the bay leaves out but […]
Jul
15
Spring Vegetable Risotto – 3.8 stars
Page 181 It’s arm night again – risotto is an upper arm workout if you do it right. The local stores have a really limited variety of mushrooms, so I used baby portobellos because I like them (when cooked the way I like) and they were available. Their earthy flavor overpowers this a bit; and […]
Jul
12
Pulled Brisket Sliders – 3 stars
Page 263 Served with Coleslaw and Dinner Rolls At $10 a pound you need a pretty darn good brisket recipe to make it worth it. This one isn’t terrible but isn’t nearly as good as my recipe. It isn’t smokey, and the Worcestershire sauce and teriyaki give it an odd flavor. The recipe also refers […]
Jul
12
Dinner Rolls – 4.8 stars
Page 47 Here is another winning bread recipe that is going to be my new go-to dinner roll recipe. It makes enough for even our big family so you can feed a tribe with it. Which also means you have enough to eat them with just about anything you want for days after making them […]
Jul
12
Coleslaw – 3 stars
Page 264 Served with Pulled Brisket Like potato salad, if you like this stuff you probably have a recipe you use religiously and anything that doesn’t taste like your recipe is just a bit “off”. I have a recipe that closely approximates the KFC slaw, which is really wet and a bit sweet. So something […]
Jul
11
Overnight Black-Eyed Peas 4.9 stars
Page 177 Holy cow, these are soooooooo good! But like the seaweed soup, it is totally subjective because as much as I love these Mark dislikes them. Luckily, my score is the one that matters. Black-eyed peas cooked with pork is a common way to cook them, and adding a little pepper juice is also […]
Jul
11
Farmhouse Omelet – 3.7 stars
Page 97 While not bad, this omelet still needs a few things to get it over the 4 star bar. It’s filling with bulk provided by the potatoes, but the flavor is a little bland. Surprisingly enough, I can honestly say it needs more salt. A significant issue is the amount of cooking time on […]
Jul
10
Magnolia Press Chocolate Cake – 4.3
Page 299 There goes my diet. Cream filled and ganache coated, these little chocolate hockey pucks are very tasty. Well, when you use a WHOLE POUND OF BUTTER it’s hard not to end up with a tasty treat. In fact, it’s just a little too rich and sweet. Mark and I split 1 and that […]
Jul
9
White Vegetable Lasagna – 4.5 stars
Page 241 Here’s a fun and tasty way to sneak veggies into your diet. They are hidden beneath layers of cheese and noodles and cheese. Did I mention there is an insane amount of cheese in this? Let me count the cheeses in this … Parmesan – mixed into the filling has a salty bite […]
Jul
8
Creamy Polenta – 4.0
Page 185 It’s arm night! Making polenta is a lot like making risotto as both require constant stirring during cooking. Fifteen minutes of constantly stirring a pot gives you a pretty good upper-body workout when you are stirring something as thick as polenta. I love grits and this is very similar to grits. The recipe […]
Jul
8
Mom’s Seaweed Soup – 1 star
Page 121 The smell of cooking seaweed reminds me of the beach – but not the sunny fun part, just the smelly dead sea life part. And that pretty much sums up the overriding flavor of this dish – dead fish. If you like sushi, you will probably love this soup. Where I come from, […]
Jul
7
Monkey Bread – 4.4 stars
Page 67 Brown sugar cinnamon pull apart bread. ‘Nuff said. But this is a blog, so of course I have more to say. It is yummy, sweet, cinnamony, all you could ask for in a pull apart bread. There are, however, two things that could be done to improve the recipe. First, the “caramel” is […]
Jul
6
Spinach Tortellini Soup – 4.4 stars
Page 109 Soup in July, I hear you ask. Yes. It was a rainy day today so soup was on the menu. And this is a tasty soup for a weeknight as it only takes about 30 minutes if you take it seriously. Well, that and it tastes fabulous! This would likely get a higher […]
Jul
5
Jo’s Peanut Butter Balls – 2.5 stars
Page 285 I have a much better recipe for peanut butter balls than this one. We make a batch or two every Christmas but leave a bald spot when we dip them which makes the Buckeye Balls. Those are sweet and creamy and I highly recommend making them a family tradition. These you can pass […]
Jul
5
Chicken Street Tacos – 4.3 Stars
Page 247 The corn “relish” (that’s my term, not hers) is really good and has a unique flavor that pairs well with the chicken. The sweetness of the corn, blend of spices, and cojito cheese is kicked up a notch by the pickled red onions and it all comes together with the chicken for a […]
Jul
4
Homemade Gnocchi – 3 stars
Page 34 Welp. That was a lot of work. When you don’t have a potato ricer you find the next closet thing to do the job. In my kitchen, that is a garlic press. Any idea how long it takes to run 4 baked potatoes through a garlic press? A long time … like 20 […]
Jul
4
Brown Sage Butter – 2 stars
Page 36 Used with Homemade Gnocchi. Fried sage. That’s what this basically is and that is just weird as a sauce. And do you eat the leaves? Because no where does it say what to do with them after you fry them. I opted not to eat the leaves because that would be just a […]
Jul
4
Braised Short Ribs – 4.8 stars
Page 239 Ribs! Beef, not pork, but they are awesome. The long cooking time in liquid make these incredibly tender. You need either a slotted spoon or wide tongs to get these babies out of the pot. They fall to pieces and melt in your mouth like beefy flavored butter. The vegetable, herb, and wine […]
Jul
4
Vermicelli Salad – 1.8 stars
Page 165 This is completely subjective, so you may like it. I probably would, too, if it didn’t look like a bowl full of tapeworms with a texture that I suspect also closely resembles tapeworms. Second thing to not like about this is the smell of the dressing. I made it last night and I […]
Jul
4
Walnut Maple Scones – 4.8 stars
Page 71 I have started to develop a taste for Scones. Perhaps part of it comes from watching the entire Downton Abby series about 10 times and seeing Mrs. Patmore making dough at that incredible kitchen work table with the wooden egg bin that holds about 4 dozen eggs. But most of it comes from […]
Jul
4
Old-Fashioned Corn Casserole – 4.9 stars
Page 172 I think labeling this as “Southwestern” corn casserole would be more accurate, but what’s in a name? Corn casserole by any other name is still delicious. And this is an excellent corn casserole. The two magic ingredients are cheese and chilies. Wooo-doggies, do they make this yummy! It’s very simple to make – […]
Jul
1
Burned Baked Goods Hack
Ever had cookies or bread end up a little burned on the bottom? Perhaps the pan was a little too close to the burner or you had to leave it in the oven to cook all the way through which was just a little too long for the bottom. Here’s a little tip for how […]
Jun
28
Garlic Knots – 4.2 stars
Page 43 It’s bread, butter, and garlic … what’s not to love? The basic recipe is pretty sound but on any bread recipe it’s helpful if they stipulate what to do if the consistency is not what the recipe indicates it should be. The dough was not as soft as it probably should have been […]
Jun
28
Huevos Rancheros – 2.5 stars
Page 93 Mark gives this a 3.8, so consider my score as being a bit tainted by personal bias. I hate runny eggs yolks. I also hate black beans, so I left them out which keeps it from being under 2 for me. The runny yolks aside, this still doesn’t get a good score for […]
Jun
25
Aunt Mary’s Cherry Mashers – 1 star
Page 289 I so wanted this to work. I love cherry cordials and was hoping this would be the same flavor without the sticky mess. I spent 2 days getting this worked out to at least be able to judge the flavor of the cherry filling, which is delicious and hits the mark, but the […]
Jun
23
Magnolia Table Final Summary
Originally posted 4/24/2019 1 month summary 2 month summary (There wasn’t a 3 month summary because I was traveling for work) It took me 4 months to finish the Magnolia Table cookbook and it was a really great experience. I thought I was a fairly accomplished cook before I started this process. However, after cooking […]
Jun
22
Peach Cobbler – 4.3 stars
Page 275 The peach stand on Rt 160 has opened with fresh peaches from just up the road so we pulled in when we saw that and grabbed a small box to give this recipe a try. I’ve never made a cobbler this way before so was pleasantly surprised when it actually worked! I was […]
Jun
22
Chicken Piccata – 3.5 stars
Page 209 If I were just scoring the chicken for flavor it would get above a 4. I made the dish for dinner and then had the leftovers with some pasta the next night and the chicken was still excellent. I don’t give it a higher score for a couple of reasons. The first step […]
Jun
22
Coffee Cake – 4 stars
Page 69 I love coffee cake. What I don’t love is the crumbs from the streusel topping that go everywhere when you eat it. The perfect coffee cake in my opinion would be one where the topping stayed on the cake until you got it into your mouth – that would get it a 5 […]
Jun
22
Softening Butter
When a recipe calls for room temp butter there are a couple of quick ways to soften it without melting it, and you do not want to melt it. The recipe will likely have you creaming the butter with something (most often its sugar) and this creaming process incorporates air into the mixture that you […]
Jun
20
2 Month Summary Magnolia 2
84 recipes down, 66 to go I had a question on my Facebook page asking which book I preferred. That’s a really tough question. Each book has some really good recipes I would not want to give up. Magnolia 1 has Jalapeño Drip Jam, Baked Bruschetta, and Lemon Pie. Magnolia 2 has Blueberry Sweet Rolls, […]