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7.25.2018

Recipe Reviews! Week 21

I'm not sure how to introduce my weekly recipe posts anymore. I do think I'm might start posting them on Monday's instead of Wednesday's, and change up the blog schedule a little bit. For this week, though, it's still Wednesday.
This week's recipes did pretty good, overall, and included...
Sweet Muffins
I grew up with this recipe as "Blueberry Muffins." I remember them being quite a treat with dinner and loving them. While perusing my cookbook, I discovered that this recipe is the base for most of my sister Miriam's fruit muffins. As you can see, the directions say you can use most any fruit in them. I didn't have blueberries, but I did have some frozen blackberries from last year's picking. So I made blackberry muffins!

The Honest Review: My muffins almost never turn out looking like Mom and Rachel's did at home; I'm not sure why. (Can I blame my oven?) However, these still tasted delicious! Jason and Little Pumpkin fully approved, which isn't surprising as blackberries are Jason's favorite fruit. I personally don't think the muffin is too sweet, and the berries add nice bursts of fruit flavor. One thing I always have to remember is that the fruit pockets are piping hot when the muffins are fresh out of the oven, and can burn the roof of your mouth. (I know from experience.) This recipe is staying in our collection.
Alterations: I really want to make these with fresh peaches sometime. That just sounds yummy!

Chicken Marsala
This recipe was on Jason's list of recipes to try from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I believe we have both seen this on the menu at restaurants, but have never tried it. We have never used Marsala wine, but I was pretty sure it was a cooking wine. Jason was surprised when I found it alongside the vinegar in the grocery store- he thought I'd have to go to the liquor store to get it. This recipe was slightly involved with a few different steps and processes, and Little Pumpkin was not being super cooperative that morning. I did discover that we do not own a meat mallet; I subbed in my rubber mallet from the garage - it worked like a charm! I did mange to get it all finished and put together in time for lunch, though!

The Honest Review: I believe I failed somewhere along the recipe, as I think there should have been a bit of a sauce to pour over the chicken and pasta. But, there wasn't so it was a bit dry. The flavor was unique; it wasn't bad, but it was different. We ate it, but we aren't quite sure that marsala flavor is one we completely enjoy. It was fun to try something different, though! This recipe is not staying in our collection.
Oh! I also tried making brussels sprouts for the first time! Some of my sisters LOVE them, and I have wanted to try them. They weren't terrible, but I don't think I prepared them perfectly. I'll have to try that one again.

Cheesy Garlic Bread & Garlic Bread
These two recipes come from my sisters, and the Cheesy Garlic Bread base is the regular Garlic Bread recipe. There are just a few variations between the two, and I wanted to try them both to see which one we liked best. I believe I made a quarter batch of the Cheesy and a half batch of the Regular. I spread the mixtures onto sourdough bread slices, broiled the Cheesy version, and wrapped the Regular version in foil, loaf-style. If you notice on the Regular recipe instructions, it says you can make it Monkey Bread style - I kind of wanted to try that!

The Honest Review: This is the Cheesy Garlic Bread. As you can see, it got a little bit too toasted under the broiler. (I served these with the Chicken Marsala, so there may have been a lot going on...or it was the oven's fault.) It was extra crispy and Little Pumpkin wasn't a big fan of that. Jason tried this recipe first and said, "This is really good!" Even with it being toasty.

This is the regular Garlic Bread. As you can see, being wrapped in foil kept it from getting toasted, and nicely melted the garlic spread into the bread. Pumpkin liked the softer bread much better. Jason tried this bread second, and his reaction was pretty much, "WOW! I really like this one!" And, my personal preference was this recipe, too. We couldn't really pin-point what it was about the Cheesy version, but Jason said the flavor in the regular was just superb. One of the differences in the recipes that I thought of was the lemon juice; the Cheesy didn't take lemon juice. So maybe that makes the difference. Since these recipes are so similar, I'm going to make note of the Cheesy additions onto the regular recipe. This recipe is staying in our collection.
And, if you want a WOW garlic bread some day, make this recipe! (You can thank Rachel and Gail for it.)

Orange Glazed Chicken Stirfry
I have had this recipe for years. In fact, I had it written down on about three different scraps of paper in my manila folder! I don't know where I found it, but I believe I discovered it about 12 years ago while I was living with Jul and Linden. I have made it a few times over the years, but had not made it in the last 6 or so years. I decided to give it a try and see what Jason thought.

The Honest Review: Somehow, this wasn't as good as I remembered it. The flavor seemed to be lacking something. Jason thought it was ok, but agreed that something was missing. He actually mentioned that it seemed similar to a chicken stir-fry dish that is at Chinese restaurants, although their chicken is usually breaded. He suggested trying it with breaded chicken sometime and see if that makes a difference. The flavor wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. This recipe might be tossed from the collection.
Possible alterations to try: Use breaded chicken.

Chili
We inherited a lot of dark kidney beans, in the can, so I've been trying to find recipes that use them. Usually when we make chili, there's no real recipe involved. If Jason makes it, he just adds stuff, puts in some spices, and it always turns out well. In his cookbook, there were two chili recipes, and this one came from his Mom. I did have to buy the Williams Chili Seasoning packet, as we don't typically have chili seasoning packets on hand. I may be wrong, but I don't think I had ever heard of the Williams brand of seasoning packets before moving here to Kansas.

The Honest Review: It was good, but a little bland. We looked at the chili seasoning packet and it recommends 2 tablespoons per pound of beef, and the recipe only calls for 2 teaspoons. Jason did mention that he had never followed a recipe before, but that this recipe was nice - maybe just spice it up a bit more. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Corn Bread
You can't have chili without Corn Bread! Or, if you're from a specific high-school in Wyoming, it's Chili and Cinnamon Rolls - I never quite understood that. Anyways, I discovered this recipe a few years ago. It is from my Betty Crocker cookbook, but is made similar to what I believe was my Grandma's favorite corn bread recipe: baked in a hot skillet with butter to get a nice, golden crust. Jason tends to prefer corn bread that comes in a box mix for about .75 cents because it is sweeter than most home-made recipes. I'm kind of a "make it from scratch most of the time" person. Because Jason prefers his corn bread to be sweeter, I did put in the 3 tablespoons of sugar that it suggests. 

The Honest Review: It really looks pretty when it comes out of the oven, I think. I personally really like this recipe and think it is quick and easy to make. When asked his opinion of the corn bread this time, Jason said that it could be sweeter, but that it is pretty good. I don't think I grew up eating sweet corn bread, and I like my corn bread with butter and honey, so I never thought about it needing to be sweet. I will have to try and improve that factor. This recipe is staying in our collection.
Alterations: Increase the amount of sugar to 1/4 cup maybe?

Jason's Marsala and White Wine Reduction Meal
I have no recipe for this, and I'm not even 100% sure what all is in it. Jason made himself supper one evening with a turkey and cheese (I think) wrap, grilled glazed tomatoes, and mushrooms. He did something in the skillet with the mushrooms and tomatoes that turned out AMAZING!! It smelled and looked so good that I asked him if he could make it for me to eat. I do know that he used some of the Marsala wine, some white wine, and butter in his cooking that he also drizzled over the entire plate at the end. It tasted so good! If you ever come to visit, I'll make sure he cooks a meal for you!

Orange Creamsicle Popsicles
This was another one of my attempts at making Jason's childhood favorite store-bought popsicles. I had found a recipe at 100 Day of Real Food's blog and thought I knew what all I needed to try and make them. But.....I failed to re-read the recipe when actually making them! I used the basic ingredients- plain yogurt and orange juice, but forgot about the maple syrup and vanilla. Fail!!! It was a pretty big failure. They didn't taste bad, but the plain yogurt and orange juice flavors definitely did not mix well together by themselves. Jason asked if couldn't I just buy Orange Creamsicle pops the next time I want to try making them. 😂 Poor guy- he really is a good sport when it comes to my cooking and trying to make new recipes. I'll have to look for his childhood favorite in the store sometime.

Well, that concludes my recipe trials for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe got some new recipe ideas!
Here's a question for you: How do you eat your chili? With Corn Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, or something else?


7.20.2018

Product Review: Thieves Essential Oil-Infused Laundry Soap

Theives Essential Oil-Infused Laundry Soap
Created and Distributed by: Young Living Essential Oils, LC

About the Product: Thieves Laundry Soap is produced by a fairly well-known essential oil company called "Young Living." Their laundry soap is said to

7.18.2018

Recipe Reviews! Week 20

Even though I have been trying recipes from my personal recipe book collection for 20 weeks now, I feel as though I've barely scratched the surface of my recipe collection! With that being said, the recipes this week included...

Egg Casserole
This recipe comes from Jason's cookbook, and it looked really simple and easy to make. I did make a half-batch of this, as so far both Jason and

7.17.2018

Welcome to Hard Work U!

I recently posted some photos from our vacation trip to Branson, Missouri with Jason's family. One thing I have heard of several times, and kept seeing signs for on the drive there, was this College of the Ozarks and their student-run, farm-to-table restaurant with home-made ice-cream. It is commonly known as "Hard Work University," and Jason and I decided to go check it out on this trip.

Potential future student?
While we were there, we learned that students at College of the Ozarks work on the property part-time throughout the school year in exchange for

7.15.2018

Kids Book Review: The Ear Book

The Ear Book
Author: Al Perkins
Illustrator: Henry Payne

This little, miniature-sized, board book was picked out solely by Little Pumpkin when we were yard-saling this spring. I had stopped to look through

7.14.2018

Product Review: Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter

Great Value Creamy Peanut Butter
Distributor: Wal-Mart Stores
About the Product: Great Value is the store brand of Wal-Mart and, as should be expected, they have their own peanut butter. Great Value does

7.11.2018

Recipe Reviews! Week 19

So…if you're trying to not eat sweets, these recipes are probably not for you. You might want to skip reading this post, actually, as all the recipes are dessert, sweet type of recipes! For some reason I have made a lot of desserts the past two weeks, and I thought I'd just share them all at once. First on the list is....
Peanut Butter Fingers
I found this recipe in both my cookbook and Jason's. Jason's recipe comes from his Grandma and it is identical to mine except for the amount of

7.08.2018

Everybody Needs a Head-Smacker

Everybody needs a head-smacker. That one friend, or it could be a family member, that will literally whack you up-side the head when you do something stupid. Or when you say something you shouldn't. It is these friendships that are golden, I believe, and I think that everyone should have at least one of them.

Every now and then something will happen that causes me to remember the time I literally got smacked up-side the head by a friend. It was definitely not one of my proudest moments in life! A few years ago, Jason and I were out climbing with friends one day. While climbing, Jason asked me a question about how I had done the climb and I, without thinking, answered the question very bluntly. In just a few seconds Brittany came up beside me, smacked me on the back of the head, and reprimanded me. (Trust me, I deserved it even though I didn't understand why at the time.) There have been at least a few other times when Brittany has verbally smacked me up-side the head, although she probably would have been justified to literally smack me, too. Most every single time that I can recall has been because I spoke without thinking, or taking into account that I am not the authority on whatever it was I was speaking about. I'm actually not sure why Brittany hasn't dis-owned me over my lack of thinking before I speak. But, that is part of why I believe having a "head-smacker" for a friend is quite valuable.

There have been other friends that have put me in my place or verbally smacked me up-side the head in other instances. It is almost always because I speak without thinking, but occasionally because I did something I shouldn't have. Not one of those instances has been a pleasant, easy reprimand to receive - I usually feel about the size of an inch-worm afterwards. But, after mulling over the instance, and the reprimand, I have usually understood how I was wrong. I would like to think that I have learned something from those instances over the years, but I would venture to

7.06.2018

Product Review: Diaper Rash Ointment

Little Journey Diaper Rash Ointment
Skin Protectant - Maximum Strength

About the Product: Little Journey is a brand of baby care products that is distributed by ALDI Inc. If you are familiar with the Aldi store, than you know what that is. (More details on the Aldi store can be found here.) This specific diaper rash ointment challenges you to compare it to

7.04.2018

Recipe Reviews! Week 18

If I had planned better, I would have tried to have a few more 4th of July type of recipes for this week. But, I didn't look ahead to see that it would be the 4th for this post, so I just have non-patriotic-holiday recipes for you! This week's recipes included....

Easy Sourdough Bread
I don't have a picture of the recipe for you as it came from a really in-depth, descriptive, how-to recipe book. This recipe book was given to me by Sheryl and it came from The Prepared Pantry. I've only made sourdough bread a few times in the past using a sourdough starter that Sheryl had also given me. One of the recipes that I wanted to make this week took sourdough bread. I thought about buying some each time I got groceries for the past few weeks, but I always told myself I should just make it from scratch. I didn't even know if I had a sourdough bread recipe. I finally searched through all my cookbooks and found this Easy Sourdough Bread recipe that you begin by making a "starter." (It was the only sourdough bread recipe I had, by the way.) The recipe is a long process- 10 hours minimum, I think. As I was going through the final stages of the recipe, I realized that I had probably goofed it up: I thought I was using a 1/2 cup measure, and here it had been a 1/3 cup. So I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

The Honest Review: Jason absolutely LOVED this bread! He said he would rather eat this bread than my regular Bread recipe. It was pretty

7.01.2018

My Reading Reviews: Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis
Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Modern translation by: W. S. Kuniczak

Henryk Sienkiewicz was a Polish author of the nineteenth century (1846-1916) and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. It appears that he authored quite a few short stories, as well as books, during his lifetime with his last book being published in 1912. I believe a lot of Sienkiewicz's books were historical novels, although he did publish some works on contemporary subjects including the psychological study of "a sophisticated