Recipe Reviews! Week 7

This week's Recipe Reviews is a bit short as we were gone on vacation this past week, and I didn't do near as much cooking as normal. But, I'll share with you the recipes that I did make. This week's recipes included...

 Beef Stroganoff

I grew up with this recipe, and it was one of my favorites as a kid. I especially loved the mushrooms in it! When I made this the other week, I used
antelope steak instead of beef, and served it with rice. Mom always served it with rice, but I have tried serving it with noodles, too.

 The Honest Review: It is delicious! (Don't mind the fresh parsley- it doesn't go with the meal. But, I needed some color for the photo, and that's what I had!) We all love Beef Stroganoff, and I would consider it an easy, go-to meal. It is kind of a comfort food to me. I have made it with ground meat before, but using steak just makes it even better. I personally like it best with rice, as that is what I grew up with. Jason, I think, prefers pasta. Either way is good! This recipe is staying in our collection.

 Creamy Mushroom-Garlic Chicken

I had never tried this recipe before, and thought the concept sounded pretty tasty. I love mushrooms, and garlic, in case you didn't know! It did take a few trips to the grocery store to find the Condensed Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Soup!

 The Honest Review: I was disappointed. Jason thought it was ok. It was edible, for sure, but just very bland; almost no flavor at all. If I were to make this again, I would do it all from scratch, meaning: sauté fresh mushrooms in butter with salt, make a white sauce, and brown the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic. My sister, Miriam, would probably say to make a sauce using white wine and cream after browning the chicken (and include fresh onions and garlic with the mushrooms). When I run out of recipes to try, I'll try making this from scratch. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Cooked Peas

The other week, someone was at my house and mentioned that they had never cooked peas before. So I thought I'd try to write down my "recipe" for cooked peas. I think I got it fairly accurate, but my cooking time may not be 100% right.

(The peas are pictured above with the Creamy Mushroom-Garlic Chicken)

The Honest Review: I love my cooked peas! And, Jason has never complained, and Little Pumpkin likes to eat them! My "recipe" is how my Mom fixed peas my whole life, and I know she got raving reviews from people that ate her cooked peas. This recipe is staying in our collection

Possible Alterations: Check my cooking time, and the amount of milk that I use.

 Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe comes from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I was out of marjoram, however, and am not sure how that may have affected the flavor.

The Honest Review: It was different. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely more of a vegetable flavored sauce than your typical spaghetti sauce. The celery flavor was quite strong, surprisingly, and Jason was not a big fan of that. We both wondered how that missing marjoram may have changed the flavor, but I don't think we (collaboratively) liked it enough to make it again. It might be like the above chicken recipe: when I run out of recipes to make, I might re-try this one! This recipe is tossed from our collection.

"Good on Everything" Dry Rub
This is actually Jason's recipe that he used to make pulled pork to take with us on vacation. The recipe comes from his "Real BBQ" cookbook, and he said that he made a few substitutions for ingredients we didn't have. (He's more of a "dump & stir" cook, and always adds things that aren't in the recipe.) He used this rub on a 10 pound pork butt, and let it marinade overnight before smoking it for about 4 hours, and then put it into the crockpot for another 4 hours.

The Honest Review: It was AMAZING!! The meat just fell apart, and we literally shredded it with dinner forks. Jason did add some Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ Sauce to the meat before we froze it, so that it would stay moist. It was delicious by itself, and delicious on bread (or a bun) with your choice of BBQ sauce. We enjoyed this on vacation, and are still enjoying the leftovers! This recipe is staying in our collection.

For the dessert this week, I made four different recipes for Monster Cookies, and compared them. If you haven't read the Monster Cookie Reviews post, hop on over there and check it out!

Thanks for reading!