Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Cauliflower and Cream

Total Time: 33 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (January 2004)


This was pretty good, but has a lot of fat for a quick weekday dinner. I made a significant change to the recipe which calls for 2 cups heavy cream and replace 1.5 cups of it with chicken stock. It worked well. I'm sure it would be even better with all the cream, but I just have no desire to eat something that heavy, because I will only need a tiny serving to fill me up.

The sauce also include sun-dried tomatoes, thyme (I used dried), dry wine (I used vermouth) and a splash of balsamic vinegar. It was a good sauce with a touch a creaminess from 1/2 c. cream. 

I did my usual mistake of prepping during cooking, instead of prepping before, which made some of the work a little stressful, trying to get things ready in time. I really should prep more before I start.

Cook's Illustrated Favorites - January

I started this blog to help me keep track of recipes and to organize my cooking. It has helped with that, but it could be better. Last year I did some "Favorites" posts for Everyday Food magazine which reminded me about some really good recipes. I want to keep that up and include Cook's Illustrated now because I truly forget to re-use some really great recipes.

I am hoping to ultimately have Favorites lists for every month so I can always find a tried and true favorite any time of the year. 

My Cook's Illustrated January/February Favorites 

(Note: the links are to my blog posts, not the recipes. The posts have links to the recipes (but sometimes behind a ATK paywall)

• January 1999 - Spicy Stir-Fried Green Beans and Scallions (I liked my first CI magazine so much I bought some old issues in book form. I love this quick vegetable recipe with rice.) 
• January 1999 - Cream Cheese Brownies 
• January 2001 - Crisp Think-Crust Pizza (The very first Cook's Illustrated recipe I ever tried. I still like this better than their newer thin crust pizza, from January 2011. I can get a super thin crust with this one, probably because of the overnight rise and plastic wrap roll-out.) 
• January 2002 - Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies (Yum!) 
• January 2004 - Oven Fries (Not exactly low-fat, but easier than frying and probably less fat.)
• January 2005 - Black Bean Soup (My favorite version of the soup. I need to make this again soon.) 
• January 2006 - Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits (So fun to eat with the flakes, and delicious) 
• January 2007 - French Onion and Bacon Tart (rich and delicious. I need an occasion to make this again.) 
• January 2008 - Almost No-Knead Bread (CI/ATK's take on the no-knead bread.)  
• January 2009 - Quick and Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup (The entire recipe is done in 2 hours, including the homemade stock. The trick is ground chicken.) 
• January 2009 - Chewy Chocolate Cookies (I only made once, but they were very good.) 
• January 2010 - Best Beef Stew (I have a lot of stew recipes I like, and this is one of them.) 
• January 2010 - Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper 
• January 2010 - Red Beans and Rice (Very tasty, and fairly simple to make, but not quick)
• January 2011 - Nut Crusted Chicken Cutlets (This is close to becoming a staple recipe for me. I love the leftovers in a salad. The crust stays on it even after being refrigerated.) 

I also really liked but haven't blogged on 

• Twice-Baked Potatoes - January 1999
• Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Cauliflower and Thyme-Infused Cream - January 2004 
• Hearty Lentil Soup - January 2004 
• Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake - January 2004 

I was thinking about adding all the January magazine recipes from Cook's Illustrated that I still want to try, but that list is about 30 recipes long, so I will not add them here until they are tried and become favorites. I wish I could try them all this winter, but it probably won't happen. That list includes: 

• French Toast
• Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza
• Apple Turnovers
• All Beef Meatloaf 
• Gingerbread
• Crossaints (someday!!) 
• and lots more 

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2008)

I am not a fan of raisins, but I had some dried blueberries that are about to get too old, so I tried those and that was a delicious combination. I am now interested in the idea of substituting these blueberries in anything that calls for raisins.

I should have used parchment paper, the bottoms were getting too dark, before they were cooked through. (When will I learn.)

They ended up a little flat, even though I did not forget the baking soda. They were still delicious and very chewy. Overall, these are just as good as the other Oatmeal cookie recipes that I love. The King Arthur Flour recipe and the recipe from the Best Light Recipe.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Prep Time: 40 minutes (sweet potato mash - can be done ahead)
Prep Time: 22 minutes
Bake Time: 18-24 minutes

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (November 2003) 

I have made these biscuits many times and they always turn out good. They are a little more work because you have to cook the sweet potato first.

I usually get 11-12 biscuits out of these instead of 8 by making a little smaller. My picture isn't great, but they looked good.

Crescent Rolls

Prep Time: 19 minutes
Rise Time: 3 hours
Chill Time: Overnight
Shape Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 2 hours or more
Rise Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 22-26 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes


Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 2001) Note: If you don't subscribe online to Cook's Illustrated, you can find the recipe with Google fairly easily.

I brought these to Thanksgiving dinner that someone else was cooking, and finished up the rolls while the turkey was resting. It worked out great.

This recipe is quite old. It was from 2001 – the year I discovered Cook's Illustrated – and I've wanted to try this recipe ever since then. The instructions are fine, but I would have liked a little bit more detail on the shaping and how the dough should feel. Maybe if I read the original article, I would get more info. I think I have really become used to having videos from ATK PBS show or Everyday food, and I missed that with this one.

The dough rises initially with a 3 hour rise, then chilling overnight, then shaping, then chilling some more. Finally you set them out to warm for 1 hour before you can bake. That may sound complicated, however, you can leave the dough in the refrigerator for long periods of time (up to 3 days), and you can even par-bake the dough, allowing you to finish them with shorter bake time after freezing.

So, despite the long time these take overall to make, the recipe is quite flexible to fit into your schedule, if you give yourself enough time for all the steps. They are really fairly simple and worth the effort. I did try the par-bake method, and it worked out well. I was able to bake them while the turkey was resting at 350, and the timing was perfect. To try to bake them fully with one oven for a holiday meal with a turkey or roast might be difficult because they start at 450 and you need a preheated pan in the oven where you can add hot water.

Next time I make these, I will try to shape my initial rectangle better before first the chill. It would have made rolling out into a larger rectangle easier. I had lots of scraps from trimming because my rectangle was not great. I decided to use them to make "practice" rolls so I could try them before serving to larger group. That was fine. The 16 real rolls were still large, and I had 4 rolls from practicing.

Overall, this recipe is a winner, and I will use again.

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.