Recipe Reviews! Week 14

One perk to living here in Kansas is having fresh produce options in the spring and summer. This past week, a u-pick orchard/produce farm opened for strawberry picking. Little Pumpkin and I went last spring a few times, and the fresh strawberries were well worth the time and cost. I decided to go again this spring and as such, we had some delicious strawberries for our meals this week! Here's a picture of my strawberry picking buddy...

She was eating the strawberries, caps and all, and it took lots of instruction to get her to put the berries in the box! And, she didn't want to
discriminate against the green berries! Back to the recipes, though...

This week's recipes included...

Short Cake

One afternoon, I decided to make Strawberry Shortcake with our freshly picked strawberries. I looked through my recipe books and found that I have several short cake recipes. And, they all looked different, took different ingredients, etc. So, I picked this recipe for which I had all the ingredients. I have made this once before, but it has been a few years. It is pretty vague in the instructions, as you can tell. I believe I used about 1/3 cup of milk, maybe a 1/2 cup, to make a thick, sticky dough. I did grease and flour my cake pan to make sure I could get the cake out. For the filling, I whipped up some plain heavy cream, no sugar or vanilla, for the center, and then added a little sugar and cream for the topping.

Jason asked what the difference is between shortcake and short-bread. To be honest, I don't know, but I have recipes for both! I will have to research that, along with trying all the different recipes I have!

The Honest Review: It was tasty, especially with the fresh strawberries, and we all enjoyed it. The cake, however, seems to be a dense cake and was kind of tough. I remember that from the last time I made it. Jason's one complaint was that you couldn't cut through it with a fork without squishing all the filling out because it was a dense, heavy, tough cake. I don't think that I have had shortcake besides this recipe, so I'm not really sure if that is normal, or not. Also, it could be that the dough is supposed to be a wet, runny dough which may make it a lighter, airier cake. I'm just not sure. We still enjoyed it, though! This recipe will stay in our collection at this time.

Side-note: Does anyone have experience with shortcake and what it's texture is supposed to be like? I hope to try all of the other recipes to see how they compare.

Strawberry Cream Puffs

I grew up with my sister, Sally, making these every summer. And, they were always eagerly anticipated as a royal treat! I had not eaten them in years. A couple winters ago, Jason and I were watching a tv show called, "The Great British Baking Show," and they often used a recipe that they called, "Pate a Choux." (I'm not sure how to get the French accent marks, but they pronounce it "pat-a-shoo" with a light, airy inflection.) I thought the product they were baking looked just like cream puff pastry, so I looked it up and compared the recipes. (My recipe comes from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.) Lo and behold, Sally had been making French pastries all those summers! The recipe really isn't that hard to make, or else watching that baking show (which we really, really liked, by the way) helped me know how to turn out a great Pate a Choux!

(I actually made these last spring, but thought the recipe was fitting to share!)

The Honest Review: They were super delicious! I really like that the cream puff has no sugar, and it balances nicely with the sweet whipped cream and fruit! Jason has said that I can make these anytime, and has mentioned a few times to maybe make them again. Maybe when the next fruit comes into season, I'll make cream puffs again. This recipe is staying in our collection.

 Warm Lettuce Dressing

This is another recipe that I grew up with and remember liking fairly well. It definitely is not a recipe for those opposed to using animal fats! I tried to make this in a half batch, but it still turned out to make quite a bit. I used this for our salad lunches last week.

 The Honest Review: I thought it was pretty good, but didn't quite look like I remembered it in my mind. It turned darker than I recall. I also may have made it too thick; it didn't drizzle onto my salad very well. Jason is opposed to all dressings, but he did taste this one at my request. I don't believe he said it was bad, he just doesn't like salad dressings! I have been enjoying this for salads, but not sure it's worth making just for me to eat, not to mention the calorie content this recipe must have! However, I would rather eat this dressing than some of the store-bought dressings I have had! This recipe will stay in our collection.

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

We pulled some of Jason's leftover barbeque from Mother's Day out of the freezer, and I made home-made macaroni and cheese like my Mom used to make. That is my version of easy mac and cheese! It does take Velveeta cheese, which really isn't cheese, and I am kind of opposed to it because of the processed food factor. However, I had some Velveeta left from a previous recipe and, mac and cheese made with Velveeta just can't be duplicated! At least, that's my opinion. It is something I occasionally splurge on, and that's what we did last week.

The Honest Review: Jason LOVES macaroni and cheese, so he quite enjoys whenever I make "processed" mac and cheese. Little Pumpkin also really enjoyed this dish. I really like it, but I also think about the carbs, and processed food aspect, whenever I eat this. I do find it super quick and easy to make, especially if I have Velveeta on hand. It is a bit of a comfort food for me, so I've been known to make, and eat, just macaroni and cheese for my meal! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Jason's Pulled Pork Barbeque Take #2
Several weeks ago, Jason had smoked a pork butt to take with us on our vacation (you can find that in Week 7.) In May, he smoked another 10 pound pork butt as the main dish for our Mother's Day meal with his family. In true Jason style, he did not explicitly follow any recipe. Instead, he took a recipe, added a little of this and that, didn't use a few ingredients because we didn't have them, combined it with another recipe, or two, and created an unknown recipe that we won't be able to accurately duplicate. I do know that he soaked this pork butt in an apple juice brine for several hours, and injected the brine into the pork, before putting his made-up rub on it. He also likes to smoke it for a set amount of time, and then put it into the crock-pot to finish.

(The pork barbeque sandwich is pictured above with the Easy Macaroni and Cheese.)
The Honest Review: I thought this pulled pork turned out AMAZING. Even better than the last one. I did not need any additional barbeque sauce with this pork, as it was beautifully flavored, moist, and just down-right delicious! I can't remember what all Jason's critique was except that he didn't think he really liked the brine idea as it left a crisp outer layer on parts of the pork. I thought it was all great, and I know he, and his family, thoroughly enjoyed it, too. (They all like their barbeque; it must run in the family!) Whatever he did for this recipe, I hope he remembers, because I would like it to stay in our collection!

Amy's "FAMILIA"

This recipe was given to me about ten years ago from Mary Z. in Montana. I remember her telling me that it was her daughter's favorite breakfast when she was little, and she really thought I would enjoy it, too. I have never made it before, unfortunately, and finding this recipe brought back nostalgic, fond memories of living in Montana, and the people there.

Every time I have looked at this recipe, I thought for sure that there was some instructions missing. Surely it was supposed to be cooked, or something! I just couldn't envision eating oats raw! I had this recipe pulled out to try for several weeks, and I finally mixed up a 1/4 batch. It was at that point that I realized that it is probably similar to a muesli. I have never had muesli before, but my experience at Grandma's Pantry made me somewhat familiar with it. I actually went to the Grandma's Pantry website certain that I would find some instructions on what muesli is, and how to prepare and eat it, in one of their newsletters. (They didn't have a newsletter article on muesli, unfortunately.) I Google searched "muesli" and finally found an article at the Bob's Red Mill website. I discovered the difference between muesli and granola (one is raw, the other is baked), and ways to prepare and eat muesli. For my first eating experience, I just followed the instructions on my recipe: "Pour on the milk and enjoy," although I did let it soak for about 20 minutes.

(This photo is of the dry muesli mix, in case you couldn't tell.)

The Honest Review: Besides the fact that I realized I had put in cinnamon for a 1/2 batch instead of a 1/4 batch (did you know cinnamon burns?), I really, really enjoyed this. Pumpkin asked for a bite and seemed to like it also. As I said, I let it soak in milk for about 20 minutes before eating. It was like a cold oatmeal, but more cereal-like than cooked, sticky oatmeal. Jason has not tried this recipe yet, and I'm not sure if he will. He doesn't like oatmeal besides my Baked Oatmeal.

Since the first try, I have tried soaking it in milk for several hours and then warming it a bit in the microwave, which was really good. I also tried cooking it like oatmeal, and found that the water:mixture ratio is not the same as for plain oatmeal. I did not enjoy the cooked version as well. I like this muesli recipe so much that it may become my regular work lunch- it's super easy, doesn't have to be heated, tastes good, and is nutritious. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Try chopped nuts in place of the sunflower seeds; try adding coconut flakes, or other dried fruits; try cutting back the sugar.

Well, that concludes my recipe reviews for this week! I hope you enjoyed it and, I'm curious if you found any new recipes that you would like to try!

Also, if you have any experience with short-cake, and it's texture, please share. I would like to know if I'm making it correctly, or not! Thanks!