Apple and Chicken Sausage Salad

Total Time: 25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best Light Recipe

I only make this about once a year, but it is really, really good. It was one of the completely brand new (as far as I know) recipes from the Best Light Recipe. (Many of the recipes were reworked from original CI recipes.)

I used an Apple Chicken sausage from Trader Joes with a little bit of maple flavoring and they worked really well with this salad. I skipped the walnuts, because I don't like them, and there was plenty of flavor, crunch and interest in this salad without them.

Popovers (again)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Rest Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour

Yes, I did just make popovers last week, but I still have extra milk to get rid of, so I tried this recipe. It is similar, but makes larger popovers. The recipe is a little better than Julia's because the cooking time was more realistic, the popovers popped up more, and were prettier. But I felt like the flavor was missing a little bit. I actually like to eat popovers plain, but these didn't taste as good as last time. I think it needed more salt. I did put in the salt, but comparing the recipes, both called for 1/2 t, where the ingredients in this recipe were otherwise about 50% more in volume. So maybe I should try 3/4 t. instead. I would probably look to this recipe next time instead of the one in Julia's book, just because I like them bigger and the 20 minutes time at 450 works in my oven instead of 25.

Next up for popovers, I hope to try the whole wheat recipe in Whole Grain Baking.

Magic in the Middle Cookies

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour

I can't pass up a good peanut butter and chocolate recipe, so I tried this one from the most recent blog entry at Baker's Banter. These were really delicious. I think they will be better warm, so I froze them after cooled and will defrost in the microwave when I want one.

I don't have the KA scoops, so I had to guess. I do have a cookie scoop, but I don't know the number. I do know it holds exactly 1 Tablespoon of water, but I gather this is not really what the recipe is referring to when it says to use a Tablespoon scoop. (Looking at the scoops for sale, it says that they hold more than 1T and more than 1t.

So I used a real teaspoon to measure my filling. I could tell early on I was going to get a lot more than 26 balls, so I started to allow the teaspooon to be heaping. I assumed I might have the same issue with the Tablespoon scoop, so I didn't level those off, I had them heap too. That worked, I got a similar # of balls from the filling and dough, even though I didn't level as the recipe called for. I ended up with enough for 31-32 cookies, instead of the 26.

These are more work than many cookies, because of the rolling the two balls together then rolling in sugar. But they are very good and I will definitely make these again because they are different than the usual cookies most people make.

Pork Tenderloin Roast

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (???? 2008

I am pretty sure this recipe came from Cook's Country, but not positive, because I could not find it on their site. However, the Best of 2009 book made it appear it was from the magazine. Maybe it hasn't been published there yet.

It was good and easy. You butterfly two pork tenderloins, spread with filling and roll them up together. The filling was flavorful with mustard, butter, and herbs. I used less butter and that was fine, because some of it did leak out anyway.

Banana Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 65-70 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour

I really don't need another banana bread recipe. The ones I have tried are always great. But I recently started reading KA's baking blog (Baker's Banter) which had a recipe that was a little different (with the inclusion of honey and apricot jam.) And I also have just about 1000 frozen bananas waiting to be baked with, so I thought I would try this. I used half whole wheat flour which was good.

Like all quick breads this was easy, and it tasted good. I'm not sure which banana bread recipe I prefer of all the ones I've used, but I will probably use this one again, if I have the apricot jam on hand.

One thing that I liked about this bread, is that it cut very nicely. Sometimes I have some trouble with the bread falling apart when I try to make thin slices. This came out really clean and even.

Caldo Verde

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best of America's Test Kitchen 2009

I really don't know where this recipe can be found. I just got the lastest Best of book, and this version does not give the original source of the recipe. I assumed it came from the International cookbook, but I don't see it in there. There was a somewhat similar recipe in the Best 30 minute cookbook, but more streamlined.

Regardless of the source, I know I liked it, although the final product was a bordering on being too salty. Probably from the sausage. I acutally used half the called for chorizo, which works fine, IMO since it is so flavorful. Anyway, this is a simple soup, with chorizo, kale and potatoes and nice to have on a cold day. I will make this again when I find the chorizo on sale.

The only time consuming thing here is that you need to peel the potoates. Mine were small so it added to the time. Otherwise, a simple recipe.

Popovers

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Bake Time: 40-50 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Baking with Julia

I love popovers, because they are super easy to make and delicious. This recipe didn't work perfectly for me though, because they get too crispy and lose some of the eggy middle that I love. My oven has trouble getting to 450, so I used the Speed baking (air - sort of like convection), since the temp was only a little over 400. Also, I thought it would be good since I was using a muffin tin which doesn't allow as much air circulation. By 20 minutes (instead of called for 25) they were too brown really. (For the record, I had this trouble with the recipe before in a different oven without the air.) So, I need to remember to check these early.

But they were still delicious. I think they freeze well and even just heating up in the microwave works pretty well. (The oven would probably be better.)

Simple Bagels

Prep Time: 10 minutes (plus overnight starter)
Rise Time: 2 hours (3 times)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour

Like any bread, there is a lot of time that needs to pass while making these, but bagels were easier to make than I thought they would be. I really liked these. My one complaint with the recipe was that it said to put the seeds on after baking 15 minutes. This was a big failure. The 2nd time I dipped my bagels right from the water bath into a bowl with poppy seeds. That worked much better.

There are really good and since the recipe doesn't require any special ingredients, I will continue to use it.

Miraculous Spinach Quiche

Prep Time: 21 minutes
Cook Time: 45-55 minutes
Rest Time: 10-20 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Baker's Banter Blog

This is supposed to be like one of those recipes where you mix everything together, but the crust ends up on the bottom. This did not happen for me, and I didn't expect it too. The mixture was too thick for this to happen. But it didn't really matter. It still was easy to slice and serve. It was filling and good, so I would probably make again.

I didn't put the topping on, and I used a 16 oz bag of frozen spinach instead of a 10oz box. That worked well, and I think it was better that way.

Skillet Spaghetti and Meatballs

Total Time: 43 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best 30-Minute Recipes

This was very good. The only reason it gets a "-" is because these skillet recipes end up with pasta that really, really soaks up the sauce, and becomes overgrown. It makes the leftovers not quite a good. 8 oz of pasta ended up feeling like a pound becuase it grew so much. I used 85% beef for this and it worked fine, instead of meatloaf mix. I also used less olive which was also fine. The only trouble I had was with the bread not mashing easily enough. Maybe I didn't cut enough of the crumbs off. I might just use fresh breadcrumbs next time. Getting out the food processor would add time, but maybe not, since I struggled with the bread pieces and that slowed me down.