Recipe Review: Rock Cake

In an effort to plan my perfect wedding, I've been thinking about what cake to have. I've gone back and forth between cupcakes and regular cake. But I'm still not quite sure what I want to do. The wedding is less than 2 months away. A decision needs to be made. So, I decided to try a different kind of cake. We are having a stone theme in our wedding, and I found a cool little recipe for rock cakes.

As usual, I didn't want to make the recipe exactly as it is written. Instead of dried fruit and currants, I opted to add a little chopped white chocolate, as that is the way to make my man smile. But that was the only substitution I made. I created the recipe, and the dough is indeed very stiff. It certainly didn't pour like a normal cake batter. Instead, it seemed like a cookie or biscuit batter that I patted out to place on the cookie sheet. But the addition of the baking powder made the little cakes rise nicely. Here are a couple of pictures of my finished rock cakes.

    

These cakes were definitely very cookie and biscuit like. They were sweet and very reminiscent of the Bo-berry biscuits you can get at Bojangles. I actually think they would be perfect for our little offbeat wedding, but I'll get into that more on the wedding blog rather than droning on about it here. Basically, I love this as a little dessert. Since sugar cookies are my favorite type of cookie, this little rock cake is just perfect for me.

Recipe Review: Superfoods Salad with Chicken

Today's recipe to review happened by circumstance. Yesterday, at my meeting with the Custom Built Chiks, the group leader offered Valentine's Day superfoods for us to sample. She had brought in several rosy-hued vegetables and fruits, and we learned about their health benefits. Most all rosy colored foods have one thing in common: a high vitamin C content. You can see what superfoods we sampled by going to this blog post. At the end of the meeting, there were several items we hadn't sampled, including radicchio, radishes and apples. So, since she offered, I took a couple of these items home. And since today is my recipe review day, I searched for a recipe that would allow me to use all these ingredients. I found the perfect one.

This salad recipe allowed me to utilize the radicchio, radishes and apple I had procured from the meeting. And since I had a package of Oscar Mayer grilled chicken strips, I had to do almost no cooking. The only heating I did was a toasting of some walnuts to top the salad and warming the chicken strips in the microwave. Of course, it wouldn't be a recipe review if I didn't substitute a few things. I had gotten a red delicious apple, so I used that instead of a granny smith. Also, I couldn't find walnut oil, so I just used extra virgin olive oil. I didn't have any dijon mustard, so I used spicy brown. Finally, the original recipe didn't have chicken as one of the ingredients, but I felt the meat would help make this a dinner salad instead of a side salad.

This salad was very different than the normal salads I eat. There was certainly a lot of crunch in this salad from the fresh veggies and fruit, and also from the walnut topping. But the flavor was quite pungent. Radicchio has a strong bitter flavor, and radishes tend to be spicy. Even with the sweetness from the orange vinaigrette, nothing could cut through the strong flavors in this salad. The salad was pretty good, but it had more radicchio than I like. Perhaps if the base was regular romaine lettuce with a little radicchio sprinkled throughout, it wouldn't have been quite so "in your face". I probably won't repeat this recipe, but if you really like the pungent flavors of radicchio and radishes, this one is definitely for you.

Recipe Review: Vegan Dinner

In following along with the theme of Comfort Food that I posted for my own recipe yesterday, I decided to try a different kind of comfort food. On a whim a few months ago, I purchased nutritional yeast and soy curls. For some reason, I kept thinking that I would need these ingredients for the vegan meals I would start preparing once a week. Since that purchase, these two ingredients have been taunting me from the pantry. I didn't really know what to do with them because I hadn't done enough research. But finally, I put my foot down and decided to see what their appeal is to the ordinary vegan.

Since I'm an omnivore and love meaty things, I didn't want to try anything too outside the box with these ingredients. So, I decided to keep it simple and see if I could veganize some comfort food. I found a recipe for Homestyle Soy Curls BBQ and one for Macaroni and Cheese (the creator of the macaroni proclaims it to be the best vegan macaroni and cheese in the world, but I have nothing to compare it to at the moment).

I was happy to find that the BBQ recipe was a crockpot recipe. It's always so nice to come home from work and find that dinner is basically waiting on me instead of vice versa. The first thing I did before even putting the first ingredient in the crockpot was to scale down the recipe. I didn't have nearly enough soy curls for 5 cups worth, so I cut the sauce mixture in half and just put 2 cups of soy curls in the crockpot. Also, instead of soy sauce, I used liquid aminos to try to cut back on some of the sodium. Then I dumped it all in the crockpot and set it to low. Since I'm away from home anywhere from 8-10 hours, I figured it's better to cook it on low rather than cooking on high for 5 hours when I won't be there to check on it.

While my BBQ was simmering in the crockpot, I took a moment to total up the nutritional information for both the BBQ and the macaroni and cheese. It is quite a calorie-heavy dinner, but I think I can make it work with my calorie budget if I portion correctly.

For the macaroni, I actually cut the ingredients by 1/3 before calculations. Again, using the liquid aminos instead of the soy sauce helps with the sodium level. Curiosity got the best of me. I had to know what vegan cheese sauce tastes like. I took a taste, and I can detect the "cheesiness", but it definitely isn't like real cheese in the raw sauce form.

Sorry the pic isn't better quality. I was so hungry when I finally sat down to eat that I scarfed it all up without getting a picture of it on my plate. As for my review, I was pleasantly surprised. The BBQ was really yummy. There was something about the mouthfeel of the soy curls that seemed similar to pork. It actually tasted decadent. I really enjoyed it.

I'm probably a little more picky about the macaroni and cheese. It was pretty good, but I wasn't fooled into thinking it was real cheese. I can definitely understand why people believe that nutritional yeast makes it taste cheesy. It has a tangy quality that sort of mimics cheese.

I would definitely have this meal again, and I can't wait to see what else I can do with those soy curls. I'm imagining a "beef" stew.

Recipe Review: Chicken Tarter Burgers

When I was at the grocery store the other day, I picked up two packs of ground chicken breast. The store doesn't always offer ground chicken breast, so I usually get an extra pack when they are available. It's much healthier than the normal ground chicken, and I really like the way it tastes. Unfortunately, sometimes the meat can get dried out, so I usually try to include some type of moisture while cooking it.

I used one pack of the ground chicken breast to make my taco lasagna. So, I decided to use the second pack on an existing recipe that I could review. I found a recipe for chicken tarter burgers. The recipe got some good reviews, so I figured it was worth a shot. I did make a couple of substitutions. First, I halved the recipe since I only had one pound of ground chicken breast. In the tarter sauce, I substituted chopped hot banana rings for the dill pickle relish. I opted not to use red bell pepper. I also didn't use bread crumbs, instead opting for 1/4 cup of wheat germ. Having sugar gliders means that there is always a stash of wheat germ in the house so that I can make their food. I rarely have bread crumbs in the house, but I've used wheat germ in the past as a substitute. It works like a charm. Finally, I opted to use sandwich thins for the buns as they are low calorie and fairly tasty.

My review of the chicken tarter burger is that I really enjoyed it. I opted to pan fry the burgers rather than grill, and it didn't dry out. I attribute the moistness of the burger to the addition of the peppers and onions into the burger mixture. I will warn that the ground chicken mixture is quite sticky, so it might be hard to manage the patties, but perseverance will bring success.

As for the tarter sauce mixture, I really liked it. I love spicy food, so I'm happy I substituted the hot banana pepper rings for the pickle relish. I also used Frank's Red Hot Sauce for the generic hot sauce mentioned in the recipe. Finally, I made the entire batch of tarter sauce, which I calculated to be about 6 servings (it made 1/3 cup of sauce, and I calculated a serving at 1 tablespoon). I actually only needed 1/2 tablespoon for my burger which only netted me 6 calories. Not too shabby.

I would definitely make these burgers again. Next time, I may experiment with other veggies to go in the burger. Perhaps celery and carrots would make a good burger and give it a buffalo chicken flavor. If I make a homemade blue cheese dressing, I'm sure it would settle any wing craving.

As you can see from the picture, I served this with a side of potato salad. I just bought some premade potato salad from the deli section at the grocery store. It saved me time, and it was a great complement to the burger.

Recipe Review: Sweet & Spicy Green Beans

While I love to cook and create delicious recipes, sometimes, I'm just not in a creative mood. So, I've decided to devote some of my blog to cooking some delicious dishes that already have a home on the internet and letting you all know what I think of them. My first post is devoted to green beans.

Tonight, I'm making turkey tenderloin with baked beans. I needed a nice green vegetable to go on the side, so after a quick internet search, I found a recipe for sweet and spicy green beans. Now, I know what you are thinking. Why would I choose to have green beans if I'm already having baked beans? Well, in my opinion, green beans and baked beans only share similarity in the word "beans". Baked beans are more of a starch while green beans are more of a vegetable. So, I really wanted to have some fresh green beans as my vegetable side.

I made a couple of substitutions in this recipe. I didn't have garlic chili sauce, so I used sriracha sauce instead. Also, in an effort to cut down on sodium, I'm using liquid aminos instead of soy sauce.

My meal turned out well.

So, here is my review of the green beans. With the exception of the substitutions, I followed the recipe exactly as it is written. I feel that the beans actually would have benefited from steaming a little longer. I steamed for 4 minutes. Then I sauteed them for almost 5 minutes before cooking them in the sauce for about 2 minutes. The beans were still quite crisp. Normally, I don't mind a little bite to my green beans, but it was just a little too much for my taste. Next time I will steam for longer.

I must say that the sauce that goes on the green beans is outstanding. I can't wait to use it as a marinade for pork chops or chicken breasts. It definitely has an Asian flair...maybe it would be good in a fried rice.

All in all, I would definitely repeat this recipe for a side dish in the future. Also, when I plugged in the information for my calorie count site, it got an A. I love getting A's.

What Lies Ahead

Hello, beautiful people. First, a big thank you for anyone out there who has been reading my blog. I feel it has been a little lackluster as it is mainly a recipe blog with a little pet care and refashioning thrown in for a good measure. When I created this blog, I wanted it to chronicle lots of different domestic things. Seeing as how I'm an amateur, I wanted to start teaching myself how to be a better domestic. After all, I'm getting married this year, and I aim to be a good wifey. But my blog has suffered from a lack of direction. So, I'm ready to give it some direction.

But unlike in the image above, I don't want to take us down random paths. I want my readers (if there actually are any out there) to know what to expect from day to day. So, here is a breakdown of how I plan to publish my blog in the future (starting today).

Sunday
Sundays will be my day to blog about housekeeping duties. I'm going to call this "Tidying", and in these posts, I hope to not only show awesome pictures as I transform my house from dump to dope, but also to make comments about cleaning products or methods that I'm using.

Get ready for lots of before and after images.

Monday

I'm devoting my Mondays to my special little furry friends. And since I have so many different types of animals, there will be lots of interesting "Pet Care" posts to peruse. I'm planning on using these posts for recipes, cool toys and supplies that I might make for my animals, but as long as what I'm doing is in the best interest of my furballs, you never know what you might see on here.

I wish my pups would stand still long enough for me to get a shot like this.

Tuesday

My recipes will make their appearance on Tuesdays. I'm still labeling my recipes as "Clean Eating" because I'm striving to cook that way. If, for some reason, a recipe I create isn't as clean as it could be, I'll offer a suggestion on how to clean up whatever offending ingredient sullies the dish. 

Wholesome ingredients makes cooking fun (and challenging).

Wednesday 

Unfortunately, creativity doesn't always strike me in the kitchen. If I could, I would make an original "Stephanie" dish every night. But, then I would probably be making mostly pasta dinners with variations on sauces, and I so want to be more creative than that. So, Wednesdays will be my "Recipe Review" days. I'll pick a random recipe (be it appetizer, side dish, entree or dessert) and give my opinion of it (i.e., ease of cooking, taste, expectations, etc.). I'll also link to it in case anyone else wants to give it a whirl.

Welcome to my virtual recipe box.

Thursday

While I'm in a reviewing mode, I've decided that on Thursdays, I will offer a review about a product or service. I probably won't be reviewing restaurants, but otherwise, the door is wide open for any kind of review. I'll try to stick to things that will help me become a better domestic, but really, if I feel the product or service warrants my comments, then I'll certainly post them with my Thursday thoughts.

I'll try not to be a whiner in my reviews.

Friday

Everyone loves a great deal, right? My problem is that I rarely take advantage of good deals. So, I'm devoting my Fridays to posting about great deals I've found. These can be coupons, restaurant deals...basically, anything that's going to help me save a buck (or my sanity).

Feel free to send me deals. I'm not so good at always finding them.

Saturday

And last but not least are my Saturday refashions. I'm waiting until Saturday to do my refashioning because I feel like it will probably take me some time to do those projects. But I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. The two things I made were so exciting, that I can't wait to get those creative sewing juices flowing again.

  That's Jillian, the refashionista. Her blog is what inspired me to start refashioning.

So, that's my week. And I'm always open to suggestions for things to do or try on any of these days.