Pepperoni Pasta Bake

Prep Time: 27 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes
  
Recipe Source: Everyday Food (October 2012)

I liked this recipe because I made it ahead and then was able to put in the oven later. Also, I happened to have some leftover pepperoni and ricotta that needed to be used up, so this was perfect.

It was relatively simple to make considering I thought filling the shells would be a pain. I could probably make this quicker if I started boiling water sooner.

I used only 15oz ricotta which was plenty to fill the shells. I also used frozen spinach instead of the zucchini. It all worked well. I didn't have fresh basil, which would have been nice.

It got a thumbs up from my picky eater. He didn't realize that there was spinach in the shell filling.

Blueberry-Orange Cornmeal Muffins

Prep Time: 13 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes
  
Recipe Source: Everyday Food  (Video with recipe)

I tried a "healthy" blueberry muffin recipe from Everyday Food a month or two ago and was underwhelmed. But this seemed quite different, so I tried it and really liked them. I used lemon instead of orange because I didn't have an orange. Not surprisingly, that worked fine.

The mixture is quite thick, but I was warned in the video (from link) that this would be the case, so I didn't worry. I did skip adding the flour to the blueberries for that reason though.

These have a nice little glaze on top and a slightly crunchy texture. These are not the "best" blueberry muffin, but good if you want something different and like cornmeal.

Summer Beef and Rice Casserole

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2012) video at link
 
The prep time on this is based on having the sauce already made. It uses this Quick Meat Sauce which is nothing special, but fine for a "quick" sauce with meat. The nice thing about it is that it makes enough for two recipes, the original, and this one.

I had one small problem with this recipe and that was that the rice was a tiny bit crunchy still. Next time I will pour the rice in while I am heating up the sauce, so it gets a head start.

Other than that, it was delicious and very easy.  I will make again. I love meals that include the veggies in the main dish like this.

Harvest Pumpkin Scones

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chill Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 22-25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour

These are good. Really good.

I have struggled making scones, which is a seemingly simple thing to make. I always have trouble getting the dough together. It is either too wet or too dry. This time it was leaning towards too dry. I decided to get my hands dirty and just try to knead it all together until it wasn't dry anymore. I worried that it would make too much gluten develop and make tough scones, but that did not happen.

I used cinnamon chips in these, which thankfully I have seen recently at the grocery store. Perhaps because it is Fall? Not sure why, but I should go buy some more, because they are hard to find. I only used 1/2 c. though so I have still have some left for something else.

There is only 2/3 c. of pumpkin in these, so the pumpkin flavor is subtle, especially with the other spices and cinnamon chips. They tasted perfect to me.

Glazed Citrus Doodles

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Glaze Time: 5 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes
  
Recipe Source: Everyday Food (May 2012)

These are nice cookies that are a take-off on snickerdoodles, which I have never made. I liked them. They are a tiny bit of work because of glazing, but not too bad.

The recipe had a video, which is helpful to watch first. I am enjoying the daily videos from Everyday food.

Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: C

Make Again:No

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (January 2008)

It is pretty rare that I don't like a baking recipe from Everyday Food. But the times I don't are usually from the January issue! The reviews on the website were good, so I was hoping to like it.

But these just didn't have much flavor. I thought they would. I like all the ingredients, but there was something about them that was just bland. And they seemed a little dense and heavy. Maybe I messed up something, but I don't know what that would be.

They are edible and fine, but nothing special, so I won't make again. 

Chipotle Chicken and Rice

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Yes
  
Recipe Source: Everyday Food (July 2009)

Crazy summer for me so far, and very little cooking. This fall is going to be crazy as well, and after that I am hoping going to get my life back and not be so busy anymore. But I need to eat real food, so I am going to try to cook once or twice a week and make enough to freeze my leftovers.

Last summer I got re-inspired to cook from the iPad version of Everyday Food. I did not renew my subscription, but I may do that again later. For now, I'm getting inspiration to cook from their daily video, where they do one recipe from the magazine (new and old) in a 3-4 minute video. I'm really enjoying them.

This was a nice recipe. Very simple and it tasted good. My favorite part was it fit into my plans to freeze extras very well. I shredded some cheese up, cut the chicken into small bite side pieces, and made burritos from the leftovers. I got 10 (in 8" tortillas) wrapped up and frozen for future meals.

I used boneless chicken breasts and only cooked the chicken for the 25 minutes with the rice, so it was faster than their times.

I will probably do this again when I run out of the leftovers, because it was so easy.

Pretzel Sandwich Buns

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Rise Time: 45 minutes 
Roll/Water Time: 10 minutes
Rise Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour Website


These were simple and quite nice. Don't let the bad reviews on the website deter you. I guess there were some errors in the original recipe on the web, which have since been fixed. These were not really pretzels, but a very nice sandwich roll, with a bit of pretzel flavor and nice soft buttery interior.

It is helpful to click on the Blog link and see how the rolls should be shaped. You basically make a pretzel roll with lots of overhang, and keep the overhang going around the pretzel until the two ends meet in the middle. They turned out perfectly.

Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour (Website)

This recipe is pretty similar to the one you will find on Quaker Oats containers. The main differences are replacing half of the butter with shortening, more cinnamon and 1t of vinegar added. These are really good. They are different than my other favorite oatmeal cookie from the Best Light Recipe, which have a butterscotch flavor to them. The texture on these is really good. They are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I've already made these a few times over the past two years, and I will continue to make them again.

This last time I tried an experiment of one pan with parchment and one without. There was a huge difference! The pan without the parchment, although lighter, ended up almost burning the bottoms of my cookies. From now on, if it tells me to use the paper, I will.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep Time: 12 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour

I haven't made chocolate chip cookies in a long time, and this recipe was highlighted as a favorite on the KA's Baker's Banter Blog so I decided to try it. They were quite good, but I felt a little disappointed in their looks, since they didn't spread much. Probably because of the way I measured my flour, which is always different than KA's method, and results in too much. (I forgot this fact when I made these.)

But they still tasted great. A nice crispy crust with soft interior. I think that is because they use shortening and butter, instead of just butter.

Who knows if/when I will make again, because there are too many good cookie recipes, but the recipe is definitely one to keep.