Recipe Reviews! Week 18

If I had planned better, I would have tried to have a few more 4th of July type of recipes for this week. But, I didn't look ahead to see that it would be the 4th for this post, so I just have non-patriotic-holiday recipes for you! This week's recipes included....

Easy Sourdough Bread

I don't have a picture of the recipe for you as it came from a really in-depth, descriptive, how-to recipe book. This recipe book was given to me by Sheryl and it came from The Prepared Pantry. I've only made sourdough bread a few times in the past using a sourdough starter that Sheryl had also given me. One of the recipes that I wanted to make this week took sourdough bread. I thought about buying some each time I got groceries for the past few weeks, but I always told myself I should just make it from scratch. I didn't even know if I had a sourdough bread recipe. I finally searched through all my cookbooks and found this Easy Sourdough Bread recipe that you begin by making a "starter." (It was the only sourdough bread recipe I had, by the way.) The recipe is a long process- 10 hours minimum, I think. As I was going through the final stages of the recipe, I realized that I had probably goofed it up: I thought I was using a 1/2 cup measure, and here it had been a 1/3 cup. So I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

The Honest Review: Jason absolutely LOVED this bread! He said he would rather eat this bread than my regular Bread recipe. It was pretty
delicious, I would agree. I'm not sure that it turned out as sourdough bread should since I used the wrong size measure cup. As you can see, it had some good-sized air-pockets, and the density of the bread was not even throughout. But, it did still taste really really good! We all enjoyed it a lot, and I have since made it about three more times. I'm still trying to get the recipe exactly right, and I haven't figured out what to do with my leftover starter when I make it- the recipe book doesn't tell me how to keep and feed it. Each time I have made it, I have goofed something up on it, but Jason still says he'd rather have this recipe. It does make delicious tomato sandwiches and grilled sandwiches! This recipe is staying in our collection.

By the way, if anyone has experience with sourdough bread from a starter, please let me know! I'd like to ask a few questions!

French Toast Bake

Back when I first started my "try every recipe I have" project, my sister, Sally, sent me this new recipe that she had tried. As you can see, she made an alteration to the topping and rated it as "Very Good!" I believe she did tell me that she also just used regular white bread instead of the sourdough that the recipe says. I was curious to try this recipe out, but I wanted to try the original recipe first; it sounded like it would be really good! That is why I made the sourdough bread above! I did make only a half recipe for us to try.

The Honest Review: It smelled REALLY good when it was baking! I had originally made it for a light lunch thinking it would be very similar to having regular French Toast for breakfast. It definitely wasn't a lunch-type food. While it tasted quite delicious, we all agreed that it is a dessert-type food. Jason said that it seemed more like a bread pudding dessert. We have not tried this recipe with Sally's alterations, but would like to try it in the future. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Beef Filets
Once again, I don't have a recipe for this food. In going through our freezer, I found a package that said "Filets." I knew it was beef, but wasn't exactly sure what I was going to be grilling. When I opened the package, I saw that they were basically like filet mignon. Since I had some bacon in the fridge, I decided to wrap the filets with bacon and just season it lightly with onion powder and salt, I think. Jason was the grill master for these.

The Honest Review: Jason did a great job grilling! These filets were very tender, juicy, and quite delicious! However, we weren't sure if we were sold on the bacon-wrapped element of the steak. It wasn't spectacular like we were expecting even though it was good. Since I don't have an actually recipe, I'll just say that neither Jason or I are sure if we would try this method again.

Casserole of Potatoes

I found this recipe in Jason's cookbook and decided to use some of our potatoes and serve this as a side. I had never seen, or purchased, Cheddar Cheese Soup so that was a new food item for me. When I opened the can, I wasn't too sure about it - it seemed quite orange! I also shredded my own potatoes for this recipe instead of buying Hash Brown Potatoes, and used my home-made cream soup mix (from Week 16) for the Cream of Chicken Soup. I made the full recipe thinking that I didn't want a half-can of cream soups hanging around.

The Honest Review: This dish.....left a lot to be desired. It was palatable, but not anything we really enjoyed. The flavors just weren't that great and I think it was the Cheddar Cheese Soup, to be honest. It was just odd. Jason only had one helping. Pumpkin and I tried to eat it for leftovers, but it seemed to decline after the first day. We ended up throwing most of it away. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Broccoli

I typically don't use a recipe for making broccoli, but I saw this as I was perusing recipes and decided to try it. It seemed like a no-fail recipe, although I rarely cook vegetables in the microwave. That was a new experience for me. I didn't have wax paper, but covered the dish with our microwave splatter cover thingy. I'm assuming that it did the same job! I did top the steamed broccoli with Parmesan Cheese as recommended.

The Honest Review: This turned out really well! I was actually impressed with the microwave cooking. We've never eating broccoli with Parmesan Cheese, but it was actually a nice addition. We all enjoyed the variation, even though we also quite enjoy our regular cooked broccoli with just a little salt and pepper. This recipe variation will be a nice addition to our broccoli making in the future. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Texas Potato Wedges

We have made a variety of potato wedges from various recipes in my cookbooks, but this one was new. Jason's friend, Stephon, was coming one weekend and he basically only eats meat and potatoes - no vegetables, and definitely no cheese. In trying to come up with a complete meal to feed him, I saw this recipe that did not take any cheese. I only made a half-recipe, though, as I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

The Honest Review: These potato wedges turned out.....weird. First of all, they baked firmly onto the pan such that it was extremely hard to scrape them off. Second, the flour coating didn't really crisp and remained a powdered coating on parts of the wedges. The flavor....it was "enh;" nothing to write home about. Jason wondered if this recipe would be better deep-fried, but I'm not sure he liked the flavor well enough to try it again. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Dilly Bread
This is one of Jason's famous family recipes. I think his Mom created the recipe and we have had it at his parents house several times. I don't normally buy biscuits in a can but, in staying true to the recipe, I made an exception. This bread was also part of the meal we made when Stephon was here.

The Honest Review: We LOVE Dilly Bread! It is a nice, pull-apart, savory bread that is a nice addition to a steak or roast type of meal. It is a dish that is easy to eat way to much of because it tastes so good! I typically make it using a home-made biscuit dough, but Jason truly prefers it made with biscuits from a can. Either way, it is really good! I would recommend everyone give this recipe a try, as it is really simple and quick to make, and tastes great! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Mayonnaise
One of my recipes called for some mayonnaise and, instead of buying some, I decided to find my recipe for home-made mayo! I am almost certain I got this recipe from my family, and that it was created by my sisters, Gail and Rachel. I first made this back in college and I remember Brittany, my room-mate at that time, made fun of me for my home-made mayonnaise. Excuse the handwriting - when I write fast, it comes out as chicken scratch. Oh, I also made the "tart" version, if you can decipher the recipe!

The Honest Review: I personally think this home-made mayonnaise is pretty darn good. I prefer the Miracle Whip style of mayo, so this cooked, slightly tart version is pretty close to that, in my opinion. If you like the original Mayonnaise type of mayo, than this may not be for you. Jason, who thinks all condiments are disgusting, thinks my home-made mayonnaise is also disgusting. He will never eat it, and doesn't want it in any of his food. I don't think Pumpkin has had mayonnaise on any of her foods yet. Even though I don't use condiments hardly at all anymore, I do occasionally like having mayonnaise around. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Salsa and Chicken Quesadillas

I honestly have no idea where I got this recipe from. But, I do know that I have been carrying it around since I was in college. I think I saw it in a magazine somewhere, but I'm not sure. This is the recipe for which I needed the mayonnaise that I made above. The last time I remember making these quesadillas was when I was at Tongo Station in Australia, so that was several years ago.

The Honest Review: First, I had a very hungry Pumpkin that day and I didn't let the quesadilla's brown in the skillet as long as I should have. Thus, they look a bit pale. Even though the recipe had mayo in it, Jason reluctantly tried a bite and said it reminded him of Taco Bell sauce which he doesn't like. Pumpkin and I ate it and thought it was ok, but I didn't find it spectacular. I did kind of like the additional flavors that the chili powder added- I may try to incorporate that element into my general quesadilla making in the future. But overall, I wasn't impressed with this recipe. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

I had a few more recipes that I wanted to share this week, but I feel I have overloaded you already! I will just have to add them to the next couple weeks, or maybe do a post specific to desserts....I've made several of those lately, it seems.
Let me know what you think of these Recipe Reviews! Do you find them interesting? Helpful? Too much at one time? Find new ideas to try? Let me know - it's fun to hear from you!