Recipe Reviews! Week 11

Just a reminder that my book give-away ends on Monday, May 14th! Be sure to go to My Reading Reviews and enter for a chance to win!

I was going to take a bit of a break from new recipes this week, but ended up cooking and baking anyways. Apparently people like to eat food, even though I always suggest fasting as a viable meal option! Also, I seemed to have forgotten to take photos of some of my recipes. I was sure I had, but now I can't find them. So I will try to wing it for you when it comes to those recipes.
This week included Jason's birthday, so I decided to mostly make recipes that he has told me are his favorite. This week's recipes included....

Better Bran Muffins

Whenever I make muffins, which isn't that often, Jason mentions that he always liked his Mom's Bran Muffins as a kid. I had never made them
before, so I made them for breakfast on his birthday. I did have to hunt for the Bran Cereal and eventually asked his Mom what it looked like, and where to find it. She uses Kellogg's All Bran Original that Wal-Mart carries; I never found the Nabisco All Bran.

The Honest Review: Jason still loves these muffins! He says they're best hot out of the oven with butter. Little Pumpkin and I enjoyed them quite well, too. They are a nice, light muffin with a small bit of texture from the bran. As for flavor- I don't know how I would describe it other than it's a sweet, subtle flavor. They are really good and, to quote Jason: "One good thing about eating these muffins is they keep you regular!" This recipe will be staying in our collection.

Waffles

Jason has told me more than once that waffles are better than pancakes. Whenever I make pancakes, he always says that waffles would have been better, even though he enjoys the pancakes. I made this waffle recipe for another breakfast, and I'm pretty sure this is the recipe we had when I was a kid.

The Honest Review: Jason, of course, thought they were delicious. And, they are a good waffle. We all enjoyed them, even though we disagree on what is supposed to go on top of a waffle. I grew up eating butter and honey on waffles, Jason says butter and maple syrup are supposed to go on waffles. Either way, this is a good waffle recipe and, I especially like it because it doesn't have any sugar in it. I honestly don't think it needs any sugar; it tastes great just the way it is, even if you eat them without any toppings! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Banana Nut Muffins

This recipe comes from my sister, Miriam, and I have made it in the past. I have never put the nuts in this recipe though. I typically leave the nuts out of things because I've never been a big fan of them. I decided to try it this time. (This isn't one of Jason's much-talked-about favorite recipes- I just had some ripe bananas to use up and thought it'd be a good snack/breakfast food to put in the freezer.)

The Honest Review: (I got a little more artsy with the photo of these muffins.) They were really good, even with the walnuts! We all liked them! I actually enjoyed the walnuts in these muffins and will make sure to add them again. I did think they were a smidge on the sweet side and wondered about the potential of cutting back the sugar amount. They are a nice, moist, light muffin with a good banana flavor. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Try cutting back the sugar.

Pizza

This is by far one of Jason's top two favorite foods! And, his Mom's recipe is his favorite, although I'm not sure how many other home-made pizza recipe's he has had. You can find a photo of this recipe here, in Week 1.

The Honest Review: If you read Week 1, then you already know that it is AMAZING! By the way, the pizza in this photo wasn't baked yet. And, sadly, this exact pizza had a bad ending. When I was taking it out of the oven, I somehow lost the balance of the pan and it tipped half-way out of the oven, dumping ALL of the toppings into the hinge of the oven door and onto the floor. It was very sad, and a huge mess. The pan did land right-side-up, so Jason said that we got breadsticks out of it. The oven got a thorough cleaning for the summer! Anyways, back to the review: You should really try this pizza recipe! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Marshall Dillon Steak

I thought for sure I had taken a photo of this recipe, but it appears that I did not. I think I can re-create it though, and I believe the recipe came from my sister, Gail.

2-3 beef steaks, half a bottle of Durkee brand Citrus Grill seasoning, 6oz. orange juice concentrate, 6oz. pineapple juice concentrate. Rub the steaks with the seasoning, mix the juice concentrates together and pour over the steaks. Let marinate overnight to 3-4 days. Grill to your liking.

First, let me tell you that I'm pretty sure I have had this recipe before and, I think a steakhouse that used to be close to where I grew up served a similar steak. I also think that Darrell S. is the one that created this recipe to mimic the restaurant's steak, but I may be completely wrong. Secondly, I searched high and low for that Durkee brand Citrus Grill rub and couldn't find it. I even looked online, but I would have had to order a case of it, I think. I also couldn't find pineapple juice concentrate. I didn't search as hard for it, but I was surprised I couldn't find it. Maybe times have changed since this recipe was written. So, since I couldn't find the seasoning, I scoured the stores for any citrus blend and ended up using a Baja Citrus Seasoning blend. And, for the pineapple, I used 6oz. of crushed pineapple. Not the same thing, I know, but I did the best I could. I let the steaks (I used beef and deer) marinate for 3 days before Jason grilled it.

The Honest Review: The steaks were very tender; Jason did an amazing job grilling them. Especially since the beef steak was a very thick cut. However, the flavors were......odd. Jason said he definitely wouldn't use that combination on beef. It wasn't bad, and we most certainly ate all of the steak, but it just wasn't good. We couldn't put our finger on exactly what we didn't like although Jason said the pineapple was part of the problem. Sadly, this recipe- which I couldn't find the right ingredients anyway -was a disappointment. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Individual CheeseCakes

Jason had asked for a strawberry cheesecake for his birthday. I had a few different recipes, and his Mom's recipe was the only one that I had the right amount of cream cheese that it required. I did make it as one cake, instead of in cupcakes.

Graham Cracker Crust

Instead of the Vanilla Wafers as the cheesecake recipe called for, I used the traditional Graham Cracker Crust that my sister, Gail, had written out.

The Honest Review: Jason was pretty tickled with the strawberry cheesecake. He said he remembered his Mom making the individual cupcakes, and that they were really good. This did make a good cheesecake, although I may have overbaked it a little. We all enjoyed it with fresh strawberries! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Compare this recipe, and taste, to all the other plain cheesecake recipes.

I believe that wraps up all of the recipes for this past week. For one of our meals, I bought Chinese takeout of Jason's favorite Chinese food- Cashew Chicken. He loves it and often suggests that we could get Chinese food whenever I ask him for meal suggestions. So, we didn't exist solely on the food I cooked this week!

Before I go, here are a few pictures from Jason's birthday:

Little Pumpkin was just as excited for the gifts!

Gunther also tries to be a part of any gift opening going on.

This was actually the day before his birthday. Jason's Mom had come down and brought him a chocolate cake with Twinkie filling for his birthday cake. That was one of his favorite cakes as a kid. I do have the recipe for that cake, so I will have to make it sometime to share with you all!

I hope you enjoyed all of our foods, and Jason's birthday celebration, this week!