Thursday, May 27, 2010

Recipe Critiques

I have been busy trying some new recipes out and wanted to post my critiques here more for myself than anyone else. (Except for my Back Door friend)

I have to say that I am thrilled with the new additions to my recipe box. I don't really add them to my recipe box much anymore. I can find them here on my blog which is really nice since my recipe box is bursting at the hinges.

We have a Hispanic restaurant that we love to frequent downtown. I usually end up getting the same thing but finally ordered something new a few weeks ago and LOVED it. I loved it so much that I came home and searched online for a recipe. The entree is Chilaquiles Verdes and the recipe I found is EASY and really good. It was not as good as the restaurant version but I will make this again for sure. The restaurant version had more of a vinegar/sour taste that I really liked. I am not sure if it was the salsa verde that I got. I will have to try a different brand next time. You can find the recipe that I used HERE. Next time I wouldn't worry about adding the milk to the sour cream, I would just serve it with regular sour cream.

Today I made the graham crackers and they are awesome. It was definitely more work than popping open a box of store bought ones BUT I can give them to my girls and I know exactly what is in them and I can verify that there is NO HFCS! Awesome! I used THIS RECIPE found on the Martha Stewart website. It calls for untoasted wheat germ but I had toasted. It worked fine! Also I don't think that Wal-Mart honey is considered high-quality but it worked too! The girls have been scarfing them down all day along with Hubby. I baked half of the "sheets" and froze the others to bake in a few days.

I have also made the 4 Weelicious recipes that I blogged about in the previous post. Hubby can't stay out of the avocado dip. I was super surprised at how yummy it was. I love avocados so I had a hunch but it was even better than my hunch.

The Lasagna Roll-Ups were superb too. Everyone loved these and it provided us with left-overs which I love. I used 10 lasagna noodles instead of 8 and a 9x13" dish. I also chopped up fresh mushrooms and added them. Yum!

I can NOT say enough good things about the Veggie Pancakes. The only bad thing I can say is that Pumpkin my 1 year old was less than thrilled but I am having a hard time getting her to eat veggies in general but I AM NOT GIVING UP! These were absolutely delicious, absolutely! I will be making these frequently. I did chop up some green onions that I had on hand and added them to the mix for a little extra pizazz.

Ok, the Spinach Gnocchi...well...yeah. Let me just say...READING THE RECIPE THOROUGHLY while using said recipe helps alot. I used a whole egg and totally missed the 2 T. flour, so when I added the cute little spinach balls to the boiling water, they completely fell apart. YIKES! I ruined the whole batch. I will try again though and let you know how it goes.

My next attempt at homemade versions of things I have bought pre-made will be granola bars and tortillas! Oh, and these Spring Rolls look delectable!

You have checked out the Weelicious site, right? Get over there if you haven't. I'm in love!

3 comments:

the back door said...

i am so gonna try those graham crackers...one question though - you mentioned the toasted wheat germ but i didn't see wheat germ in the recipe????

Anonymous said...

We love homemade tortillas! I make them all the time here in the Solomon's and they are so easy to make. Here's the recipe I use.
combine:
4 cups flour
2 t. salt
cut in 6 tablespoons oil or shortening
add 1 cup water
knead well and then make balls the size of an egg. Let stand for 15 minutes. Roll thin with a rolling pin. Place on a hot ungreased skillet and cook for about 2 minutes on one side, turn and cook about another minute. makes about 2 dozen.
Usually they cook a little faster for me. they are so good!

Colleen said...

Will please just come to my house and make dinner?