Recipe Reviews! Week 5

Welcome to Week 5 of my recipe reviews! This week's recipes included...

Blueberry Oatmeal Bread

I don't remember when I found this recipe, but I have been really wanting to try it. I thought it looked really good! I used the old-fashioned rolled
oats for this recipe.

The Honest Review: It smelled delicious! And it looked pretty, too, I thought. As for taste, it was good, but not as amazingly good as I had hoped. We did eat it hot out of the oven because I missed the part that said, "Let cool completely." Later, we tried it completely cooled, and the taste had not really improved. The flavor isn't bad- it just didn't seem to taste as good as it smelled and looked. It is also a very dense, heavy bread. I used it to make French Toast the next day, and we agreed that it made really good French Toast. Little Pumpkin even ate the French Toast (she won't eat regular French Toast). I think some folks would really love this recipe, and maybe even figure out how to make it as amazing as it smells. But for us, it didn't make the cut. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Venison Pepper Steak

Venison Pepper Steak, cont.

I am assuming that my Mom created this recipe, but I'm not sure. I used Antelope Tenderloin for the meat, and served it over the leftover mashed potatoes from my beef brisket experience in last weeks Recipe Reviews.

I forgot to take a photo of this dish. Sorry!

The Honest Review: It was good! Jason typically doesn't like to eat antelope plain, and he said that it was "pretty tasty." I could see this recipe working well with any type of meat, not just wild game, and going well with rice, too. Or, making a variation of a swiss steak sandwich would be good, also. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Hamburger/Cheese/Biscuit Casserole

When I found this recipe, I could not remember ever having it. Grandma always made really good food, so I was suspecting that it would be a good recipe. After I made it, I realized that it is most likely the same recipe that Aunt Betsy served when Little Pumpkin and I visited in January.

(Aunt Betsy's dish looked prettier than mine.)

The Honest Review: It did not taste as amazing as Aunt Betsy's dish. It was ok, but not stellar. One issue was that the potatoes and carrots were not completely cooked so they were a little crunchy. Jason and I both thought that it seemed to be missing something. So either Aunt Betsy has a secret ingredient in the recipe, it is not the same recipe, or I goofed it up somehow. I want to check with Aunt Betsy before we completely rule out this recipe, or if anyone else has any knowledge please feel free to share it! This recipe will be staying in our collection at this time.

Alterations: simmer the meat/vegetable mixture a bit to cook the veggies prior to putting the dish together and baking.

Overnight Crab Casserole

I'm going to be honest here and say that I really had my doubts about this recipe. But, we tried it anyway, and I thought I knew what Jason was going to say about it. I actually put it together and refrigerated it during the day so that Jason could bake it in the night and have a fresh, hot meal for once. He has been bemoaning the fact that all of his meals are leftovers or sandwiches.

I took a photo of this dish, but I didn't think it looked good enough to post.

The Honest Review: Jason's review was, "It was.....interesting. Kind of like a Tuna Casserole, but with crab and.....just interesting." Little Pumpkin and I got to have the leftovers the next day. To be honest, we did not like it at all. The texture was the biggest issue, and flavor the next. Usually Jason is the one that has problems with textures, so I was surprised that he didn't mention that. But, it could be that fresh out of the oven did not have the same texture as leftover from the refrigerator. My apologies to Aunt Marion that we did not enjoy her recipe. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Basic Sushi Rolls

Jason has been asking to make sushi for several weeks. I finally bought the rice and crab meat last week. We have made sushi before, but I unearthed this cut-out recipe from our manila folder collection and decided to make the rice accordingly. And, I goofed it up. I cooked the smaller amount of rice from the recipe on the left, but mixed up the larger amount of liquid from the recipe on the right. Needless to say, I had to make another batch of rice to go with my liquid.

Jason toasted some sesame seeds and made some extra fancy rolls.

The Honest Review: We love sushi! We already knew this, but I figured I could use this experience as part of my Recipe Reviews. Jason typically likes to use Tempura Shrimp and crab for sushi, but we couldn't find the shrimp. I like smoked salmon too, but we were being economical this time. We have an actual sushi making kit with an instruction book that we have used in the past. In light of that, this cut-out recipe is tossed from our collection.

That is the end of my Recipe Reviews for this week. Thanks for stopping by!