1. Tomato Fresh Salsa || I have yet to find a garden fresh salsa recipe that I truly love. I prefer my salsa chunky, more like a pico de gallo, and don't love how the blender makes the tomaotes runny and even a little foamy. That's the issue I had with this salsa, which may be a product of the cook, not the recipe itself. It was still good over some Tuesday night tacos, though!
2. Grilled burgers with Bacon Tomato Sweet Drip Jam || I made the jalapeno drip jam earlier this summer and it was both easy and excellent! Definitely a make-again recipe in my book. This one, though, was just a little weird. The recipe called for pork belly, to which I found at Hy-Vee, however, they didn't slice it in chunks for me and this part alone took forever. The skin (or fat) on a pork belly is both thick and a little unappealing, and I wasn't even sure how to go about dicing it into the small pieces the recipe calls for. It took a long time to fry, made quite the greasy mess of my stove top, but eventually came together with the other ingredients to form into a sauce. It was quite delicious on burgers, but also super messy! And it made a huge batch, but sadly, we weren't sure how to use it up.
3. I made this lemon poppyseed sweet bread as an after school snack for the kids on the first day of school. It was good, but in my book, it doesn't compare to Jo's "After School Banana Bread" in the breakfast section of her cookbook. This one wasn't as moist as I was expecting, and the glaze hardened on the bread and made a bit of a mess when slicing.
4. Curried Chicken Salad || I loved this recipe, but think I still prefer a more standard, chicken/grape/celery chicken salad to this more savory one. I do love the curry kick and my favorite part was the crunch of the water chesnuts. The toasted almonds got a little soggy over time, so I'd maybe suggest adding them as a topping when serving. Other than that, this kept well in the fridge for about a week.
5. I made this for our marriage small group on a Sunday night and it was rich and yummy. Sure, it wasn't the best dessert I've ever had, nor super inventive, but it was quick and tasty, especially with a scoop of ice cream.
6. Joanna's Grilled Havarti, Tomato, and Basil sandwiches are really good! If it wasn't for the herbed mayo recipe on the BLTs, this probably would have made the top ten list! It's a simple summer meal that combined garden tomatoes, garden basil, and cheese - a perfect trifecta if you ask me. You could also substitute fresh mozzarella instead of the havarti for a softer bite.
7. Joanna's simple table salad was good. I like anything that combines sweet and savory, and the mix of dried cherries, feta cheese, and mandarin oranges worked well. I also made the candied pecans and they were great, too.
8. We made the Grilled Salmon with Lemons and Creamy Cucumber Salad earlier this summer, too. Neither Beau nor I are salmon eaters, but we decided if we were salmon eaters, we would like this dish! The fresh dill, lemon juice, and cucumber salad made for an excellent combination to pair with the fishy dish, and I scarfed down the rest of the cucumber salad for lunch the next few days. But the smell of salmon is just one my senses will never get used to.
9. I finally made one of Jo's many quiche recipes in the cookbook, starting with the Three-Cheese Quiche on a rainy Saturday morning. Beau and I decided we like cheese, and we like eggs, but we're just not sure we like them in a pie crust. I think it's the pudding texture or something. Now that baked apple pie recipe, though? That's a crust dish I can get down with. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment