Recipe Reviews! Week 20

Even though I have been trying recipes from my personal recipe book collection for 20 weeks now, I feel as though I've barely scratched the surface of my recipe collection! With that being said, the recipes this week included...

Egg Casserole

This recipe comes from Jason's cookbook, and it looked really simple and easy to make. I did make a half-batch of this, as so far both Jason and
Little Pumpkin have not been impressed with any of the previous breakfast casseroles I have tried. I did use bacon in this, although it says you can use ham or sausage.

Pictured with a Better Bran Muffin

The Honest Review: This tasted very good! I initially thought it tasted just like a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit (which is my favorite if I have to get fast-food breakfast). Jason actually liked this breakfast casserole a lot, and even Little Pumpkin ate it! I was shocked! I wondered what made the difference between this casserole and the others, and two things stood out to me: this one is not made ahead to soak overnight, and it doesn't have any vegetables in it. It is just basically just bacon, eggs, cheese, and bread. It really was very delicious and I will be making this again. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Sour Lettuce Dressing

This recipe says it comes from my Aunt Punk, and I was sure that we had this several times when I was growing up. Upon reading the very vague directions, I messaged my mom and sisters to see if anyone could give me any direction. I asked if it all got mixed up together raw, or if the 2 eggs in the recipe were the hard-boiled eggs in the directions. I got mixed answers, so I decided to try mixing everything up raw. Kind of gross, I know, but I eat raw cookie dough and other such things; how much worse could this be? It was pretty much like a barely thickened liquid, but I tasted it anyway. Then, I decided to put it in a pot and cook it, as one of my sisters had directed. It never got super thick, but it did thicken. (I made a half-batch of this recipe, by the way!)

The Honest Review: Both the un-cooked and cooked versions tasted pretty good to me. Jason did not try this recipe at all. (He doesn't like any salad dressings, in case you didn't know.) I definitely felt a bit better about eating the cooked version than the raw, but they both had the same flavor. I decided to ask my cousin, Sarah, if she could provide the real directions on how this recipe is made. She said that it was supposed to just be vinegar, sugar, and mayonnaise (no milk) poured over baby spinach and hard boiled eggs. So somewhere along the line, this recipe that I have may have diverted from Aunt Punk's original recipe. I haven't tried Sarah's recommendation yet, and will wait to keep or toss this recipe at that time.

Poor Man's Steak

This recipe is one of my sister's easy, dump and stir recipes. I made it in the crock-pot for supper one day when I had to work. I wasn't home to try it fresh, but I did get to try the leftovers. And, Jason filled me in on his personal review of the dish! I did make a half-recipe using beef, substituted half bread crumbs and half crushed tortilla chips for the cracker crumbs (I didn't realize I was out of crackers until too late), and added some Dijon mustard and liquid smoke. I also added the recommended bouillon cube for the crock-pot version.

(I failed to get a photo of this dish.)

The Honest Review: It was.....weird. It was edible, but kind of strange. We couldn't quite pin-point exactly what made it strange, but it did not turn out well for us. I'm not even sure that I kept the rest of the leftovers after I had tried it. Not sure if I did something wrong with the recipe, of if it just isn't our taste and style. This recipe is tossed from our collection.

Cheesy Potato-Bacon Soup

I'm not sure what made me dig out this recipe, as it definitely doesn't seem like a cool, summer-time food. I think I was trying to use up some potatoes that had been sitting around for a while. This recipe comes from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I did not buy the recommended potatoes, but peeled and diced my own. I also didn't have half-and-half, but used half heavy cream and half milk. (I'm actually not sure what half-and-half is....I should probably look into that.) I did make it in the crock-pot as directed.

The Honest Review: This turned out pretty well! It had a nice flavor, although it wasn't overly flavorful. We all thought it was a good meal and enjoyed it, but felt that it could use a tad more flavor. The one downside was that it didn't really thicken like the recipe said. I'm not sure if that was because I didn't use legitimate half-and-half, or if it didn't simmer in the crock-pot well enough to make it thicken. This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Add a little salt, pepper, and maybe garlic.

Fried Deer Loin

We had a package of antelope steak left in the freezer, so I sought out one of my sister Gail's recipes for wild game. I didn't have the ingredients to make the spicy version, so we just had the regular. I believe I used butter for the frying this time.

(I somehow did not get a photo of this meal!)

The Honest Review: It was ok. It didn't taste bad or anything, but it definitely wasn't the most amazing game meat we have ever had. Antelope is not Jason's favorite to just eat, and he usually turns most of it into jerky. I will say that this frying method is one that we have used for elk and really enjoyed it. With more gamey animals, though, I think it needed a little more "oomph" in the spices. I would like to try the spicy version the next time we have some wild game, and then decide on whether to keep or toss this recipe.

Quick Peanut Chicken Stir-Fry

Jason has finally embraced the whole "try all the recipes" program whole-heartedly, and has been searching out recipes for me to make. He even went through an entire cookbook and made a list of recipes that he thinks look good! (It's a long list, too!) This recipe, though, he found on the Taste of Home website and suggested it for dinner one day. We had all of the ingredients, so I made it. Since I didn't take the time to write down the recipe and take a photo of it, I'll just post the link to the recipe here.

The Honest Review: This recipe was good, but.....it was missing something. It was nice to eat, even though it didn't quite hit the mark, in our opinion. It just didn't have that "zip" that we thought it should have. I asked Jason if he would make this recipe again, and he wasn't sure. When he ate it the next day as leftovers, he added some chili flakes to it. He said that definitely improved it, but wasn't sure if it still was lacking something. This recipe is not staying in our collection.

Savory Stuffing

We all love stuffing. Jason loves stuffing mix from a box that cooks in 5 minutes, I love my Aunt Betsy's home-made dressing recipe....we just really like stuffing! This recipe comes from Jason's Mom. I don't remember what I was making for dinner that I decided stuffing would go well with it. I had obviously planned to make it, as I had the right ingredients!

The Honest Review: Jason thought it was great! I thought it was ok, but felt it was a little heavy on the parsley flavor. Maybe I'm just a stuffing snob, but nothing is as good as Aunt Betsy's dressing, and I compare all stuffing recipes to that! I didn't think it was bad- it tasted alright, but if I made it again, I would lessen the parsley amount. Jason, as I said, thought it was just fine! This recipe is staying in our collection.

Alterations: Use less parsley.

Home-made Blackberry Popsicles

The dessert this week was a trial popsicle making. I have a popsicle recipe that I grew up with, but I wanted to try making some with the fresh blackberries that we had picked. I looked on several blogs to try and find a good recipe, but none were quite what I was wanting. I finally just took some of the main ingredients that each recipe seemed to have and made my own dump-and-stir popsicles. I blended up blackberries, banana, and unsweetened coconut milk all together and poured it into my 6 little molds. (I actually "acquired" the molds from my sister-in-law's yard-sale leftovers!)

The Honest Review: They were pretty ok. They weren't spectacular, nor super sweet. Little Pumpkin was a bit unsure about them at first. Jason, who was super excited for popsicles, was disappointed. He said they were alright, but he didn't care for the banana flavor in them. (He doesn't really like banana in things, except for cakes, muffins, cookies, and other stuff I have made.) He mentioned that we should get orange creamsicle popsicles as they are the best, in his opinion. Since I didn't really use a recipe, I don't have anything to keep or toss. But, I now know to not use banana in future popsicle making experiments!

Well, that finishes up this week of recipes! I'm curious, though, has anyone successfully made yummy popsicles using fresh fruit? Do you have a popsicle recipe to share?