Spring cooking

I have to say that overall I was a little disappointed in the spring recipes. There were only a few that really impressed me, some I didn't like at all, and the rest were just alright. I did really LOVE the Salmon as a Gift recipe and highly recommend it!!



I'm hoping that the summer recipes will be more impressive!

Updated Syllabus

There is an updated syllabus for everyone posted on the side. Enjoy the summer and have fun cooking!

Still alive and Cooking

Just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and cooking in North Carolina. We have really liked almost everything that we have made so far, but have had little time to post about it. Some of our favorite meals have been the stuffed mushrooms and stuffed shells. As far as deserts go, we really enjoyed the mini cheesecakes and have made them more than once and the choclate toffee crunch cake. Martin really enjoyed this one, but we will probably not make it again for a long time because it was so heavy. Hopefully we'll keep better posts from the meals that we make this year.

Mushroom Galore

My family was overwhelmed by the number of mushrooms on their plate Sunday night. Being the mushroom lover I am, I was ecstatic.

Chicken Artichoke Casserole- This was pretty easy to make. I was excited to try it since I love chicken, artichokes, and mushrooms. I have to admit that it disappointed me though. I'm not sure why, but it was not my favorite. Since it had so much cream in it, I had a hard time eating it for left-overs. I'm trying to lose weight so I try not to eat rich foods, especially when they don't taste great to me.

Marinated Mushrooms- Holy Cow, this made A LOT of mushrooms BUT they were delicious!!!!!! I really enjoyed this recipe. Simple and easy but great tasting. This would be a great appetizer to take to a party, potluck, etc. Since no one else like them, I shared with some friends. My friend Liz could not give enough compliments about them. Definitely going to remember this in the future!

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake- What can I say? Cheesecake, yum! I liked the crust on this cheesecake. The graham cracker/pecan mixture tasted great and was pretty easy to make. I made some cheesecakes over the Holidays and the crusts were harder and messier to make and didn't taste as good. The filling was pretty simple too, especially compared to marble cheesecakes. This was a big hit with my family and tasted even better the next day.

Sorry, no pictures. I'm anxious to hear what others thought. Post away!! (Tonya and Melissa we need to add you so you can post)

In the Kitchen Again!!

Sorry for the 2 month hiatus!! I finally have posted a new schedule. I finished with a few recipes from the fall/winter collections and then started in on the Spring recipes. Due to the fact that there is an abundance of dessert recipes, I've tripled up most of the weeks. I know that may seem overwhelming, especially depending on the week. Feel free to improvise as needed. Maybe you'll decide to make one recipe each over three different days, or if you see a recipe you know your family will hate- just cut it out. I haven't finished with the spring schedule, but I wanted to get us started again. If you see some recipes you're especially looking forward to, leave a comment so I can be sure to include them. I used recipes out of the brunch section for conference/Easter week-end. I'm planning on making the recipes on Saturday to free up Easter for typical Easter foods. I also used some of the Fiesta recipes for the Sunday before Cinco de Mayo.

One more item for discussion and feedback: There is a section in the Spring collection called "Sunday Dinner". There are recipes for two "complete dinners" that are on average about 5 separate recipes. The intro at the beginning of this section claims the recipes are pre-prep and make ahead dishes to simplify your Sabbath. My question is do we want to attempt to make these dinners as suggested, or do we want to separate the recipes over several weeks? Take a look at them at let me know what you think (it starts on pg 27)

Grab your aprons and let's start cooking!!!!!

Catch-Up

Its been awhile since anyone has posted due to the Holidays but as things start to settle back down we should be able to get caught-up again. Natalie and I are working on putting together a new schedule using more of the winter recipes and starting into spring recipes. If anyone has any special requests leave a comment or email me.

Stuffed Shells- This was a definate WINNER! The entire family loved these. The bonus was that they weren't difficult to make, just a little time consuming. I was a little intimidated by them at first, but it wasn't bad. Jacob especially, could not seem to get enough of these. My kids are pretty good spinach eaters over all, but I love how this recipe "sneaks" more into our diet. The recipe serves way more than the 4 it claims to. I doubled the recipe since there are 6 of us and leftovers are always good for Jared's lunch. It ended up making 2- 9x13 inch pans with noodles left-over. I guess that good part was that it fed us twice that week. We will definately have these over and over again.

Relief Society Ham roll-ups- I was a little skeptical of this recipe when I saw it called for curry. We have a chicken curry recipe we make on occasion but I couldn't reconcile the thought of using curry with ham. It was a pleasant suprise. I enjoyed the taste of the sauce over the ham. It was almost a little too rich in larger portions, but was excellent in small portions. It was a good way to use our left-over Christmas ham that we froze before heading to Ohio.

Mini-cheesecakes- My husband is the world's biggest cheesecake fan, so he was excited when he saw the day's menu. When people have brought these to parties and potlucks in the past, I always assumed they took a lot of time. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the simplicity. My biggest problem was realizing that I didn't have any paper muffin liners. I did however, have some silicon liners and used those instead. They worked just as well. Its not Cheesecake factory caliber cheesecake, but for the most part everyone liked them.

Halibut Supreme- My kids are unfortunately NOT fish lovers. The nights I do serve fish are filled with complaints and grumbles. When asked what we were having for dinner the night I made this, I slyly replied "Halibut". The kids were curious as to what halibut was, so Jared told them he'd show them a picture before bed. Jacob and Bella ate the meal without any complaints and without identifying that halibut was indeed fish. Xandy and Katy were a little smarter. I believe Katy's exact words after dinner were "I'm not stupid mom, I know that was fish. But I ate it and it wasn't so bad" Xandy too agreed that it wasn't bad for fish. Although I prefer to eat my fish grilled with a spice rub, I guess this is a good compromise. I got to eat fish, and they didn't complain.

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Cake- This recipe should come with a disclaimer that it may case a heart attack. I don't EVER want to know how many calories were in that delicious dessert. It will be saved for only special occasions and served to lots of guests to ensure I can only eat one small piece. My self-control is only so strong! But it was very good!! I had a little trouble getting the frosting to stay on the cake but overall I think it turned out okay. I only put half of the frosting on and we put spoonfuls of the remainder topping over our slices. I was glad there are 6 of us this time cause we each a piece for two night and then it was gone.

I didn't make the Vegetable Pasta Medley yet, but thats what this Sunday's make-up day is. Happy Cooking everyone!

The last 2 weeks of food

Marinated Italian salad- this was okay, but definately not on the favorites list. It was fine the first time we ate it, but we quickly tired of it and I through the rest away last night. I doubt I'll ever make it again

Chicken Alfredo- I could feel my arteries clogging as I made this dish. The recipe claimed to make for 2, so I tripled it. we did NOT need to triple it. A little bit went a long way. I think it fed us all 2 or 3 times. It turned out a little more liquidy than we expected (is that even a word?). I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but we had expected it to be thicker. Jared thought it was good overall, so I may have to make it again even though I swore I wouldn't while I was adding all those fattening ingredients. The older girls seemed to enjoy it also.

Red Pepper Soup- Jared said this was "interesting" and a little too thick (did I do something wrong again?) This did not make the family favorite list. While lecturing Bella about keeping her comments to herself (disgusting was repeated more than once), I told the other girls that applied to them also. Xandy said "I am keeping my comments to myself". Jared asked if that meant she had comments. She replied "Yeah, but I can't tell them to you or I'll get in trouble!" I couldn't help but chuckle. Once again, I didn't think it was that bad. I seem to have opposite tastes than my family. I could do without all the cream though. The person who put together this cookbook really likes cream and sugar. Not very ideal for someone struggling to lose weight. Interestingly, this recipe was found in the Valentine: Dinner for two section. Jared said it should be called the "remain chaste valentines meal". After eating that soup with all the garlic and onion, he doesn't think there will be too much snuggling and kissing!

Stuffed Mushrooms- I LOVE stuffed mushrooms. That being said, this recipe was not one of my favorites. It was good, its hard to go wrong with me and mushrooms, but I've had some I like a lot better. I would make this and serve it to others, if I didn't have other ingredients on hand, but I would prefer some of the other kinds I've had.

Apple Torte and Harvest Hamburger Soup

I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the Harvest Hamburger Soup. After adding all the ingredients to my pot, I was unsure whether I'd like it or not. There seemed to be a pretty high ratio of potatoes in it. I don't like alot of potato chunks in my soup. It was pretty good though. The girls, Jared, and Jared's Mom all really liked it too. Jacob didn't eat much, but then again he never really eats anything.

The Bavarian Apple Torte was excellent. We thought the taste of the filling complimented the apples wonderfully. Our apples were juicy and tender. (Jenni- I wonder if the difference comes from using different types of apples. I used Fuji apples. I know some varieties don't bake as well as others) We also loved the way the almonds toasted on the top. Jared wasn't sure if he would like it or not, but it was a winner. This recipe will definately be made again. Both of the recipes have inspired Jared's mom to get the cookbook. She really enjoyed both dishes.

Lots of food. Little time to blog.

So...its been a while. The month of November flew by! We have made all of the dishes, even one several times, but have not been together with camera, computer, and blog technician. So where to start...

Pork and Baked Apples:

We loved the pork. It was so easy, and using the yogurt was a fantastic way to cut calories. In fact Martin used yogurt and crackers to bread his Parmesan Chicken. It turned out great as well. The Apples, we have made several times. I think we are coming to realize that with this cookbook, we just cut down on the sugar on pretty much every recipe. We cut back on the apples which made them just right. We really enjoyed this meal.

Squash Casserole and Applesauce Muffins

This has been one of our favorite recipes so far! We have made the squash casserole 4 times. It was even given a coveted spot on the Thanksgiving spread. Like all the other recipes, each time we made it, we cut back on the brown sugar. We actually really like it without any brown sugar at all. The first time we made this meal, it was our treat to host Terry and Joan and they loved our meal too! We had a great time. The applesauce muffins were excellent, and a great way to use our whole wheat flour (we have not ventured into making bread yet). Overall a great meal!

Hearty 6-hour stew and Pumpkin Bread

We should do more crockpot compatible recipes! We enjoyed being able to put this one in before church and coming home to a complete meal. We thought that it would be better with real onions instead of onion soup, but we still liked it. Martin made the pumpkin bread. He added way too many chocolate chips which in the end made it delightful! Any extra chocolate is fine with me. We really liked this meal.

Harvest Hamburger Soup and Bavarian Apple Torte

The soup was good. A great way to get in lots of veggies. I had never used consume before. What is it really? I'm afraid it made the soup a little greasy, but we enjoyed this warm entree. But it was super easy to just cut up all the veggies, open cans, and cook. The Apple torte was interesting--as Martin said. I have never had apple torte like this, so I'm not sure if it turned out as it was supposed to. The crust and fillings were of course very sugar heavy. I didn't leave out any ingredients though, cause, as I said, I had never had this before. Are the apples supposed to be a little dry? We both thought it would be better if they were more juicy. Maybe I baked it wrong or something. But, with that being said, sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and fruit, still make a tasty combination.

YUM

Hello from Missouri.  I'm Elise Morrison (Jared's cousin's wife). Terra invited me to the group and we are so excited to have set menu plans for at least one day a week. :)

I made the beef stew on Sunday. I used ground beef, but it turned out heavenly. Usually a new recipe is met with such complements as, "We like when you cook things that we're used to," or "You really don't have to experiment in the kitchen."  Luckily, this one was a winner! SO GOOD! It was simple to make and we loved it.

Catch up!

Okay, so I've been a slacker when it comes to posting and taking pictures! I'm going to try to be better! Let's start back to the pork chops and sliced apples. We really liked the pork chops! It was very easy and I will be doing that one again. The apple slices were good, but if I'm going to take the time cutting the apples I would rather make apple crisp! The squash casserole has been my favorite dish so far! I LOVED it! Nick and Weston not so much. In fact Weston hardly touched it. I had to go to a couple stores to find the butternut squash. It was very easy. I even thought it tasted better the next day. I guess I will make it when Nick is gone on trips! The whole wheat muffins we thought were okay. But they were again very easy to make!

A Win/Lose week

The Whole-wheat Applesauce muffins were a HUGE hit. We even used homemade applesauce from the apples we had picked earlier this year. I made them before church for a morning snack. (A benefit of late church) The first batch was gone so quickly that I made a second batch after we got home. The squash casserole didn't go over as well. I really liked it, but the girls did not. Jared said it was tolerable but not a favorite. I once again had the advantage of getting sugar reduction tips from Jennie and Martin before I made my food. Maybe we should just automatically start reducing the sugar in recipes from this cookbook. These people really like their sugar! I'm not sure why my family didn't like this dish. It was very tasty! Oh well, I guess you win some and you lose some.

I'm not eating that

Those were the words out of Westons mouth when we finished putting the spider together. He thought that eating spider bread was so fun! We all really enjoyed this fun bread for the week of Halloween! I definitely will do this again for Halloween! But we had the same problem as you Marty and Jennie, too much for just the three of us! We will only use half of the bread that it calls for next time! That was a lot of bread! But FUN!
The Pumpkin Bisque was very interesting! Nick and I were not so sure what to expect. But we were pleasantly surprised! It was incredibly simple which I really liked! Nick agrees with Jared that it is not a great main dish. I'm not sure I will make this again. But it was fun to try!

Apples and Pork

The kids and I had picked a bunch of apples earlier in the month to make applesauce. I had made a couple batches but hadn't had the time to finish. This was a great way to use up some more of the apples that were becoming overripe. It was pretty quick and simple to put together. Personally, I wasn't a big fan. But then again, I'm pretty picky about my apples. I thought the topping/sauce was a too sugary. My family once again disagreed with my assessment. Everyone loved the apples. The girls were fighting over seconds before they even finished their first helpings. I've been trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our meals and this is a great kid-friendly dish. (Although, I've yet to see apples served a way that my kids won't eat them.) It would also make a great after school snack or FHE refreshment. The girls were busy watching Twitches when I made it, but I think its something Katy and Xandy could make together without much help from me. They are getting to the age where they are asking to help cook and bake more often and like recipes they can do mostly without help.

I liked the idea of using yogurt to coat the pork instead of mayonnaise. I have a really good chicken recipe that is coated with a mix of mayonnaise and pesto. I think I'll try substituting the mayonnaise with yogurt for a healthy variation next time. Jared gave me the raised eyebrow look when he saw me spreading yogurt on the pork but in the end he liked it. I didn't realize that I didn't have any sage at home until I went to make it. Being as it was Sunday, we proceeded without the sage. I was going to borrow some from a friend until I realized it only called for 1/2 tsp. It hardly seemed worth the drive. I don't know how much of a difference the sage would've made, but we enjoyed the recipe just fine without it. I could see us making this recipe again. All of the ingredients are items we usually keep on hand, so it would make a great meal on those "what on earth should I make for dinner?" nights

Halloween Bites

Due to a week-end chalked full of chili cook-offs, dinner parties, and potlucks, I made last week-ends meal on Monday.
Pumpkin Bisque : This was incredibly fast and simple to make. I love that the only "cooking" part was sauteing the butter and onions. I'm not a big fan of cold soups, so I did warm it up before serving. I also had the advantage of talking to Jennie and Martin first so I decreased the sugar by half. I really liked it. Jared thought it was okay, but not as a main dish. The kids weren't big fans. I think it has potential to become a seasonal repeat. Who knows, it may even grow on the rest of the family.


Spider Bread: This makes a TON of bread, especially when you accidentally thaw a 5th loaf. I was disappointed that our store only carried the white bread and not the wheat. It actually took a long time for me to even find any bread period. I was relieved when I finally found two bags at the bottom of one of the freezer sections. The spider was relatively easy to form, although trying to arrange it so it fit on the pan was a little harder. I tried to use toothpicks to prop the legs up at an angle. The dough was too heavy for the toothpicks which caused the legs to keep falling. I drew again on the experience of Jennie and Martin and used foil cylinders to prop up the legs. Bella was fascinated watching it grow through the oven window while it cooked. The girls arrived home from school shortly after it came out were impressed with the spider. They were all anxious for it to cool so they could test the spider eggs. The eggs turned out to be the favorite part. A really neat Halloween themed treat. It would be neat to serve at any Halloween party or potluck. You could even cut a hole out of the body and put a dip in there.

Pumpkin Bisque and The monster SPIDER....

The pumpkin bisque was a super quick recipe, that was incredibly easy. The only cooking required was to saute the onions. I was done with the bisque, put it in the fridge and Martin was still working on the spider. When he had the spider in the oven, he asked: "do you still have to make the pumpkin soup?" I can say that this soup had a great pumpkin flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't like it because 1/2 cup of brown sugar made it way too sweet for my liking. It would have been great, had we reduced the sugar content to 1/4 cup. However, Martin liked it and ate all of it throughout the week. I really want to try this recipe again at a later date with less sugar.



SPIDER MONSTER BREAD is all I have to say. Martin made this incredible bread arachnoid. He did a wonderful job putting it all together. He even made a spider web on tin foil with honey and powdered sugar for the spider to relax on. Oh and he made it into a black widow by putting cayenne pepper in a diamond shape on the spider's back. You may ask why we call this the monster spider... It quite a funny story. We couldn't find wheat bread at the store, so we bought white bread dough. I wish I had had time to make our own bread dough. Maybe next time. Anyway, we used the allotted 4 loaves that it told us to use in the recipe. It didnt really register with us that it would actually really be 4 loaves of bread molded into a spider. Next time we make this, we are going to use probably 2 or less loaves. Anyway, Martin started molding the bread onto a cookie sheet. We should have realized then that this thing was going to be a monster, when half-way through the process of putting it together, it no longer fit on the cookies sheet. We ended up having to make tin foil extensions to the pizza stone, just so the legs would have somewhere to rest. It took 4 hands to get it into the oven. We think it probably doubled in size while it was baking. As you can see by the picture, it pretty much took up the entire oven rack. Then there were the eggs. Even more bread! We ate the eggs for dinner and had a huge spider on its spider web. It sure looked awesome though. And tasted great. Martin ate the cayenne pepper part. YUMMY MONSTER SPIDER BREAD!!!

Zucchini Soup and Zucchini Chocolate Cake!

This soup turned out great. We had a great time making it. We were kind of worried about what the flavor would be like, since zucchini really doesn't have much of a flavor. We ended up adding a little bit of roasted red pepper flakes to give it a little bit of a kick. It was ever so slight, but really tasty. It was nice to have somewhat of a lighter dinner (even though it had the half and half). We liked it with the bacon, and cheese. Needless to say, we didn't have much leftover.



I LOVE CHOCOLATE! This was definitely a delectable cake for our tastes. It was so great that we were actually getting some veggies in our cake too. I didn't want to make it in a sheet cake, so we made it into a bunt cake. I just dribbled the frosting down the sides. It didnt' turn out very pretty. It was very moist. Unfortunately, it is just the 2 of us, so we ate the whole thing in about a weeks time. I had a friend make this a couple of weeks ago for a potluck. She made it with 1/2 the sugar, whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of butter, etc. Maybe we should have made it that way for a few less calories. Oh well, it turned out to be pretty tasty. We liked it!

Zucchini, zucchini, and more Zucchini

When Jared discovered the menu for this week, he was less than pleased. He hovered in the kitchen throwing skeptical glances my way. I was tempted to boot him out, but he was using unloading and loading the dishes as his cover for spying on me, so I let him play his little game. He could throw all the comments and glances he wanted, as long as the dishes continued to get done. Besides, I have four kids and am becoming a master at tuning my family out.

I started by baking the cake before church. The girls were helping me since they are really into cooking and baking. When it was time to add the zucchini, I slyly sent them up to get dressed. I had added the zucchini to the batter when I had to stop to take care of something else. They foiled my plan when they got dressed quicker than normal and came down before I had poured the batter into the pans. "Ew, gross, mom put worms in the cake!" (Points goes to whoever correctly guesses who that came from) The cakes baked, and were cooling when we left for church, forgetting all about the "worms" in the cake.

When we got back, I set to work on the zucchini soup. Jared's skeptism did not damper my mood. I was thrilled. I love zucchini and was excited for a healthy soup. Jared was still hovering nearby when I pulled the blender out. At this point, his face turned to pure panic. [One time Jared's mom tried a cold broccoli recipe in the blender. As Jared tells the story, his Dad sat down, took one look at the food in the blender, refused to taste even a bite, stood back up and asked "who's coming to get hamburgers with me?". Jared is now very wary of anything green in a blender. ] Since it was Sunday, I was relieved to know that he couldn't go get fast food.


Guess the girls weren't the only ones forgetting things though, I had forgotten that this soup called for half and half, cheese, and sourcream. So much for healthy soup, hello heart attack in a bowl. The addition of these ingredients greatly calmed Jared's anxiety. He let out a breathe of relief. "Now, that looks more like something I could eat" he announced.

The soup was good, but nothing spectacular. In fact, the girls thought it was the broccoli soup we had the week before. Although, its nice to have a recipe to use up the zucchini from the garden. Not that we had any this year though. Most of my plants died over my 2 1/2 week vacation.

I frosted the cake with the frosting recipe recommended in the book. It turned out more like a glaze though. That would have been fine if I had listened and made a 9x13 inch cake. But, I had made two 8 inch cakes instead and it was a challenge to frost the cake with that frosting. I'm not really a fan of the taste of most frostings either. It wasn't bad, I just wasn't real fond of it. I really liked the cake itself though. It was very moist and I loved knowing I was sneaking more veggies in our food. Jared told Xandy there was zucchini in cake just like there had been in her soup. She was convinced he was lying and said that would be disgusting and this cake wasn't disgusting. Katy replied "haven't you ever heard of zucchini bread before? Thats good, and it has zucchini in it."

Better Late than Never

So last week's meal was great. The broccoli soup was really tasty. That is the same recipe that I learned from my mom. I pureed the broccoli and chicken broth before adding it to the white sauce. I'd be interested in the other recipes that y'all have that are better. I love broccoli soup, so I am open for new ways to make it! I think Martin even liked the soup, when covered with tons of cheese and eaten in a yummy soup bowl.

Martin made the dip. I have had it before. It is pretty sweet. We had some fresh apples from the Buchkovich's backyard that were delicious. Overall, a very yummy Sunday meal!

My pictures I took of the finished products were worthless, so no pictures! I finally got around to making the green beans and pepper. Like you Terra, I had about 5 different things going on last night and didn't allow the green beans to cook long enough so they were not as tender as they need to be so it was hard to enjoy. But I would like to try this recipe again and make sure it get cooked long enough.
I have had the apples and dip many times before. Easy as can be, and VERY sugary, but a fun fall treat!
The broccoli chowder soup turned out great. Very easy! I have a broccoli soup recipe very similar to this one and Nick and I both agree that we like it better then the one from this book. And it's even easier!