October 22, 2008
Chicken Pot Pie Soup – two ways
You could also call this Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup. We’ve already established how much I love Jason’s Deli. Well, this is another item they have that I love almost as much as their muffins. When I was searching around for a similar recipe, I wound up finding two. One was made from scratch and kinda high in fat, while the other was uber simple (10 minutes to make it – TOTAL) and low fat. I decided to make both and see how they compared. In end all taste-testers (which would be me and Brandon) agreed that the made from scratch version was better, but the other version was definitely still good and the fact that it was so simple and also low in fat made up for the taste discrepancies.
October 16, 2008
Gingerbread Mini-muffins
Jason’s Deli is one of my favorite places to eat. Brandon and I go there at least once a week just to eat their salad bar. But the real draw of this place are their mini-muffins. They are complimentary and they are DELICIOUS. In fact, they might possibly have crack in them because they are so addictive. I decided a few weeks ago that I just had to figure out how to make them at home. Four batches later, I think I’ve gotten as close as I can. It’s hard to tell since I can’t do a side-by-side taste test, but these are pretty darn close. Brandon said he thought they tasted exactly the same. I think the original muffins are a bit sweeter, but that’s probably because they have high fructose corn syrup or 8 pounds of sugar or something like that, so I’m willing to sacrifice some sweetness if it will reduce the calorie count (according to my google research the original muffins are 220 calories, which is a lot for something you can eat in one bite).
October 14, 2008
Chicken Paprikash
My boyfriend and I have this inside joke about paprikash and goulash. It makes no sense to anyone but us, but suffice it to say, when I saw a recipe for paprikash, I HAD to save it. I finally got around to making it last week and while I may have made it sort of as joke, it’s really good. And easy to make as well.
This recipe is supposed to be made in a dutch oven, but I don’t have one (it’s on my Christmas list!). I just made it in a skillet and then transferred everything to my 13×9 Pyrex to cook in the oven. Because I was making it in a larger dish, I didn’t think there were enough diced tomatoes so I added a second can. But even if I was making it in a smaller dish, I still think I would have doubled it. The picture in the magazine looked like it had WAY more than one can of tomatoes.
October 7, 2008
Applesauce Bread
Okay, so actually this recipe is called Applesauce Loaf, but that name just doesn’t do it justice. It makes it sound vaguely gross, like meatloaf (I’m not saying meatloaf is necessarily gross, but it sure sounds like it is). This recipe is really similar to Banana Bread, so to call it Applesauce Bread makes much more sense to me. In fact, both recipes go really well together. My mother almost always made both at the same time and while I like Banana Bread just fine, it’s the Applesauce Bread that I could never get enough of.
This recipe is perfect for this time of year. It’s sweet and lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, so it’s a great start to nice fall day. We don’t have fall down here in Florida, which is why I always make applesauce bread and similar recipes this time of year. If it can’t actually look/feel like the season, then I can at least make things that remind me of it.
September 23, 2008
Pam’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
I am all about comfort food. What I love even more is food that is dead simple to make and that stores easily. That’s probably why spaghetti is my all time favorite dish. Judging from how many brands of spaghetti sauce there are at the grocery store, I would venture to say that not many people make their own sauce anymore. This was one of my mom’s staple recipes and I don’t think I ever saw her use sauce from a jar her entire life. This was the first recipe I asked for when I moved into my own apartment during college and I’ve been making it ever since. I’ve tried jar sauces before, but I always wind up feeling like I’ve let my mom down. Plus none of them taste even one fifth as good as homemade.
September 15, 2008
The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies
I know, know, another chocolate chip cookie recipe. There are a million of them and they’re always THE BEST, right? Well, no, they aren’t because these are hands down the best chocolate chip cookies you will ever bake. Period. These are from the New York Times reporter who went in search of the best ways to make chocolate chip cookies and this recipe is the culmination of that. I made these for my coworkers and they were gone in seconds. Everyone loved them and said they were the best they ever had. One of my coworkers even begged me to make her a batch that she wouldn’t have to share with anyone else.
September 5, 2008
Chicken Parmigiana
This is probably one of those basic recipes that everyone in the world (but me) knows, but I’ve always been scared of making food that sounded, you know, foreign. Like just because it has a fancy-smancy name that means it’s also complicated to make, right? Well, there’s another cooking misconception down the the drain because I found out last night Chicken Parmigiana is just about the easiest thing in the world to make. And it turned out very very good with very little effort or time on my part. That’s definitely a recipe I can get behind for nights when I’m tired or just don’t feel like cooking, but I still want a nice meal instead of greasy take-out or pizza.
