Recipe Reviews! Week 8

This week was my first week at my part-time job, and I was gone 5 afternoons/evenings in a row. As it turned out, this week's cooking seemed to be a lot less than any of the past weeks. I didn't think I'd have any new recipes to share, and I tried to put some together at the last minute. So, the recipes that I do have for this week are...

 Crustless Bacon & Cheese Quiche

I'm not sure where this recipe originated from. I obviously copied it down from somewhere, but I have never made it. I made a half recipe, as I
didn't think Jason and I needed to eat an entire 9"x13" pan of it.

 The Honest Review: It smelled really good, and it tasted ok, but it just wasn't very flavorful. While I was making it, I thought it was odd that it took absolutely no spices; not even salt and pepper. The interesting part about this quiche is that Little Pumpkin LOVED it! She normally refuses to eat anything that is primarily eggs, but she ate this like a champ! Jason and I both thought maybe we could try it again sometime, and spice up the recipe a bit to see if we like it better. This recipe will stay in our collection at this time.
Alterations: Add salt, pepper, garlic. Maybe try combining with the Greek Frittata recipe from Week 6,

Mustard Glazed Pork Roast

Mustard Glazed Port Roast, cont.

I thought this recipe looked really good, but was pretty sure I knew what Jason was going to say about it since he doesn't approve of using mustard for anything. Or Italian dressing; Jason has an issue with salad dressings, too. I made it using the Red Wine Vinegar and Apricot Preserves.

The Honest Review: It was delicious!!! We all loved it- even Jason! The only issue I had with it was that I left it in the oven too long, and it was a bit dry. (Pumpkin and I had taken Gunther on a walk while it was baking.) Other than that, the flavors were great and we all agreed that we would make this recipe again. This recipe will stay in our collection.

Alterations: Make only a half, or quarter, recipe of the basting sauce. Test the meat temperature prior to the 2 hour mark.

Beef Tacos

Jason has been begging for tacos, so I finally made up some taco meat for him. I've never really had a taco meat recipe, but always went by my recipe for Taco Soup. This time, I decided to go ahead and write down my "recipe" for taco meat. 

(I didn't get a picture of our tacos, unfortunately.)

The Honest Review: They're pretty good, in my opinion. I like this recipe better than some store bought seasoning packet blends I've had. Jason has never complained about my ground beef tacos, and is always excited to eat them. This time, however, I was informed that technically ground beef is not used for authentic tacos, and never used for authentic street tacos. (My bad!) Don't get me wrong, Jason still thoroughly enjoyed the ground beef taco meat that I made. He has just finally made me aware, after all these years, that when he asks for tacos, he is envisioning something completely different than what I make. So, there will be other taco recipes coming in the future! At this time, however, this recipe will be staying in our collection.

Korean Beef Patties

I have never had this recipe before, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was cold outside, so I just pan fried them, instead of grilling like Jason prefers. Since it didn't specify how to dress the burgers, we just ate them plain on hamburger buns.

*Shaun J., this is the recipe I mentioned the other day.

The Honest Review: They were amazing!! Jason LOVED them, and asked for them to be made again. Little Pumpkin was the only one that was not impressed; she did not eat it. We didn't put any sauces, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. on it, and it's not really that type of burger. We did determine that the burger tastes like the filling in pot-stickers, and it would be excellent with the pot-sticker sauce. They really were delicious! I wish I had made more than 4 burgers- they didn't last very long for leftovers! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Use a leaner beef (I used 80/20 this time); with the addition of the toasted sesame oil, it got really greasy when frying. Make it into pot-stickers or egg rolls!

Crisco Perfect Pie Crust "Toaster Strudels"

This is the pie crust recipe that I grew up with, and use for all my pies. It turns out well for me about 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time, I blame the weather.

I used my home-made blackberry, and plum, jam for this recipe. To make this, I just made the pie crust, rolled it into a large sheet, cut out rectangles, and spooned a heaping tablespoon, or two, of jam onto one side of the rectangle. With a knife, I cut a design ("P" for plum) into the top half of the pastry for venting. Then, I wet the outer edge of the pastry, folded over the top half, and crimped the edges with a fork. I believe it took them about 25ish minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The Honest Review: We really like these Toaster Strudels. They are quite yummy, and make for an easy snack or breakfast. Jason always gets excited when I make these. I could probably dress it up a bit by adding a powdered sugar icing drizzle on top, but that's just more sugar in my opinion. And, they taste good without it so I usually don't mess with an icing. I did freeze this batch, and we just get out what we need and warm them in the microwave. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Thanks for checking out my Recipe Reviews for this week; I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any thoughts about these recipes, feel free to leave a comment!