CHICKEN IN SUN-DRIED TOMATO CREAM SAUCE from Creme De La Crumb

This comes from Creme De La Crumb. I used the sauce mainly as pasta sauce. I did bake one boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced it after it cooled some and spooned sauce over it and used the rest in pasta, tri-color rotini to be exact. The sauce is very good but I only used exactly half the sun-dried tomatoes and half of her homemade Italian seasonings, and just a pinch of salt, and it's perfect. I cooked a little onion in salted margarine so that combined with the salty Parmesan, I didn't need much more salt. The sauce didn't really thicken so I added one tablespoon of flour to the mixture to help it thicken. I'll add a little more next time. I got just over 1.5 c. sauce and used half and half and chicken broth.

I give this 4 stars and not 5 because it didn't need double the sun-dried tomatoes, that's just wasteful, and it needed flour to thicken it.

CHERRY-ALMOND VANILLA CUPCAKES from Better Homes and Gardens

These come from Better Homes and Gardens. I made half the recipe and it made six mini loaves, each cavity using about 1/3 c. batter, so about 2 c. of batter total. I left out the two tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice and used in its place 1/4 c. of chopped maraschino cherries, which was about half of a 10 oz. jar. This is a white cake that has cherry juice/cherries added. Not sure why the word vanilla's in the recipe's name because this has the typical amount of it in the cake.

I give these 5 stars. These are just as moist the next day as they were the day I made them. 

I made neon apple green frosting for them using my own recipe, not the one provided for the recipe. I used 1/4 t. liquid neon green (25 drops) and 2 drop of neon blue food coloring mixed together in a bowl, but I only used about half of it in the frosting, and the color's not showing up right.

 

PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from Pretty.Simple.Sweet.

These come from Pretty.Simple.Sweet. I just want to state right away I noticed she goes with a MUCH higher gram weight per cup of flour than most recipes use. She uses 144 grams and I typically use 125 grams per cup (I used to use 120 g), which is just over 2 tablespoons more per cup than I'd use. That will definitely make a difference in cookies. I made a pudding cake of hers but I went with the lower gram weight instead of the one she said to use and it turned out great. I decided to go against my better judgement and follow her gram weight for both the flour and oats in this recipe. The cookies did spread some but not like in the photo and are slightly thick. I softened the dough for the next batch and those cookies did spread a little more but still not like her photo. I suspect she flattened her cookies, or some of them, after they came out of the oven because that's exactly how they look. 

I made half the recipe, omitting chocolate chips, and got 30 1 T./1.5" dough balls. They baked in 10 minutes whether the dough was warmed up a bit or cold straight out of the refrigerator. These taste good, are chewy in the middle but need more salt.

I give these 4 stars. 

CHEESY AU GRATIN POTATOES from Betty Crocker

These come from Betty Crocker. The recipe is simple. The sauce was a little too thick and too cheesy and should have been thinner. I did bake this covered, as I always do for potatoes, and that took about 70 minutes, then another 15 uncovered. I didn't put cheese and breadcrumbs on top. I always have a problem with my cheese curdling so it did in this recipe, which is not a big deal.

I give this 4 stars because of the sauce being too thick.

JORDAN MARSH-INSPIRED (BLUEBERRY) MUFFINS from Epicurious

These come from Epicurious. I made half and didn't use blueberries or sprinkle sugar on top. I used 1/2 c. of sweetened dried tart cherries and 1/4 t. almond extract and got seven using 1/4 c. batter for each. I added an additional 1/8 t. salt but they need more. They baked in 19 minutes at 350 degrees F, not 375.

They taste good and are moist when still warm but like almost every muffin I've ever made, these are pretty dry at room temperature. I even added a little vinegar to the milk to make buttermilk to ensure that these were moist but it probably didn't do any good. 

These get 4.5 stars when fresh and warm from the oven and 3 stars after they've cooled down because of how dry they are.

RICH, TART LEMON SORBET from Serious Eats

This great recipe comes from Serious Eats. It's very very creamy but it's entirely too tart. I think this could have used half the lemon juice, which would have been 1/2 c. I used 1/4 t. fine salt instead of 1/2 t. kosher salt. I omitted the one tablespoon of vodka/gin. This thickened up in about 15 minutes in my Hamilton Beach ice cream maker but I let it go another 5 but since it didn't look any different after another 5, I stopped there.

You already know to heat your lemons/limes/oranges before you juice them because warm fruit yields more juice. What you want to do is get them HOT, not warm. I used 5 small organic lemons and got about 2 teaspoons short of the full cup that was needed because I got the cut lemons red hot in the microwave then juiced them with a reamer.

This cost me $5.54 with tax and it made a quart- $2.09 for store-brand corn syrup, $2.99 for a bag of 5 Nature's Promise organic lemons, and 19 cents for bottled water from a gallon container.

Other than the tartness, I have no complaints and because of the extreme tartness I give this 4.5 stars and not 5.

ONE-POT CREAMY PESTO CHICKEN PASTA II from Creme de la Crumb

This comes from Creme de la Crumb. It tasted great before I even added the pesto and cheese at the end. As usual I baked a boneless skinless chicken breast and shredded and added it to the finished pasta. I did use just HALF the salt and it was perfect. I used 1/8 t. red pepper flakes but it needed a pinch more. I only had half the amount of cream so I used a little extra chicken broth to make up the difference. I added double the cheese because I couldn't taste 1/4 c. and to be honest with you it didn't taste much different after doubling it.

I give this 5 stars. 

WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI from She Wears Many Hats

This comes from She Wears Many Hats and it's real good. I made half using just one can of beans and made soup, not thicker chili, and I didn't mash any of the beans to thicken it. I was going to add a little ditalini pasta to this but forgot, so this is pretty brothy. I used mostly chicken broth and a lesser amount of water. I omitted cilantro and jalapenos and used a lot less chicken, just one boneless skinless breast.

I rate this 5 stars.

 

HOMEMADE COOKIES-AND-CREAM ICE CREAM from Southern Living

This is pretty good and comes from Southern Living. I did add 1/8 t. salt and used just 1/4 t. pure vanilla extract and 2% milk in place of whole. I used 10 Oreos but didn't add the 8 that were supposed to be left in bigger pieces. It took just 22 minutes in my Hamilton Beach ice cream maker and another 30 seconds or so to blend in the crushed Oreos at the end. It started to come out of the bowl some towards the end and filled my 5 c. glass container all the way.

To make, this cost $3.05 with tax plus whatever 1/4 t. vanilla and 1/8 t. salt cost.

I rate this 5 stars but with the full amount of vanilla I'd have to give it a lower rating.

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from Dear Crissy

These come from Dear Crissy and they're far from the 'best' chocolate chip cookie. They're very very basic in flavor and I wouldn't make them again. They do spread out nicely and that's about all I can say about them. I made half using 3/4 c. chocolate chips and got 22 1 T./1.5" dough balls. I let my cold dough balls sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and they baked in just under 8 minutes. 

I rate these 3 stars.

HAMBURGER POTATO CASSEROLE from South Your Mouth

This comes from South Your Mouth. I made an alternate version of this. I used a 10.25"/2.5 qt. pan. I omitted ground beef completely. I used two large russet potatoes that weighed less than two pounds total. I mixed up the sauce recipe but only needed 1/3 of it, which was one cup, and froze the rest. I omitted salt because the condensed cheddar soup was very salty. I layered 1/2 c. sauce between each of the two layers of potatoes, which was just enough sauce to cover the top. I sprinkled a light layer of pre-shredded cheddar cheese between each layer. This baked in 75 minutes. It's very easy to make but I don't like the flavor of the condensed soup so I wouldn't make this again. I do make a pretty similar version that uses condensed cream of mushroom soup, milk, shredded cheddar, paprika, salt, pepper.

ONE-POT PASTA WITH CHICKEN

This comes from Spend With Pennies and it couldn't be better. I made half and used half of a 10 oz. box of thawed frozen spinach though that wasn't in the recipe. It sure gave it nice color. I also used her recipe for Italian seasoning and used about 1/4 t. more than the recipe called for. Instead of using diced tomatoes I pureed a can of fire roasted ones and used half. I like my pasta well done so my penne took almost 30 minutes to cook. I used just one boneless skinless chicken breast, which I baked in the oven and shredded and added to the pan after the pasta was finished. I didn't top this with cheese and put under the broiler.

I give this 5 stars.