Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

I made two recipes that I was able to take photos of this week.  Both were definitely keepers and will be made often.

This first was Old Fashioned Meatloaf from Wives with Knives.  This was very, very good and may just be my new basic meatloaf recipe.  I followed the suggestion for reducing the milk to 1/2 cup.  When I serve mashed potatoes with meatloaf, we like a can of condensed tomato soup poured over the meatloaf halfway through the baking time.  This makes a nice tomato gravy and is something that my mother did when I was a kid.  I did not use the topping in the recipe.

I actually made this recipe twice.  The second time I added Italian seasonings, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and topped the meatloaf with some leftover pizza sauce I had on hand.  It was very good that way, too.

Both meatloaves sliced wonderfully so would be great for sandwiches.  I loved this as some meatloaves I have tried have fallen apart when they were sliced.

This Amish Cheeseburger Soup recipe from The Better Baker came through in my email last week, and it sounded so good that I made it for lunch the very same day.  I added some chopped red pepper which I used in almost everything I can get away with.  I couldn’t bring myself to use a full pound of Velveeta  so I only used half a pound.  I thought the soup had enough of a cheesy flavor, but certainly the full pound could be used.  I also did as Marsha did and served the sour cream at the table for each person to put in their soup or not.  I added the sour cream, but hubby did not.  This recipe makes a gob of soup so we were able to eat it over several days which is always a plus with me.  There was even enough to take some to a friend at work.

As I said, both are keeper recipes that I will make often.  Thanks, Cathy and Marsha for sharing two wonderful recipes that you found on the blogs.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

Recently I made a couple of blog recipes that I managed to take photos of.  Both of these were great and will go into my regular recipe rotation.

Since I make lunch for hubby and me every day, I am always looking for something new that will provide more variety than my old standbys.  I had seen this recipe for French Dip Crescents and Easy Au Jus over at Mommy Loves Food and included it in one of my Friday Finds.  When I ran across deli roast beef at a great sale price, I bought some to make this.  I used cheddar cheese instead of  Swiss.  These were very good and hubby said that he would eat them from time to time.  I had two left over that I took for lunch at work.  Although the meat was a little dry, they reheated nicely in the microwave.  I liked the homemade au jus very much, but I would double the recipe next time so that I could put some in the freezer as we used all of it.

In my last Cooking from the Blogs post, I had made Roasted Potato Stacks which were very good.  Those were made by stacking slices of potato in muffin pans.  This time I made Crisp Roast Potatoes from Amanda’s Cookin  which was her Secret Recipe Club recipe this month.  For this dish, you slice the potatoes thinly and place them on their edges in a baking pan.  She used shallots.  I didn’t have any so use red onion slices instead.  I halved the recipe since there were just the two of us and knew that there would still be leftovers.  I used a 7x11-inch baking dish and ended up using about nine medium potatoes to fill the dish.  I mixed some garlic powder with the butter and olive oil that is poured over the potatoes and used Spice Islands Rosemary Garlic Grinder as my seasonings.  Hubby said the these reheated well in the microwave when he fixed them for dinner the next night.  This was another fun way to serve potatoes, and I will make these often.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

It has been awhile since I did a “Cooking from the Blogs” post.  That is not because I haven't been using recipes that I have found on other’s blogs, but because I don’t always get pictures taken.

Here are three recipes that I did get pictures of:



Roasted Potato Stacks from Little Momma Big Appetite.  When I saw these I knew that I had to try them.  I am always looking for new ways to fix potatoes.  These were a lot of fun to make and serve.  I had to take this photo after the potatoes were refrigerated for a couple of days, and my stacks are trying to fall over.  I did vary the recipe by adding a thin slice of onion in the center of the stack.  There are many ways that the recipe could be varied by using different spices and blends.  The next time I make these, I am going to sub butter for half the olive oil and reduce the total fat to 1/4 cup.  I will be making these often.  Thanks Little Mamma.

Enchilada Verdes from Mom’s Crazy Cooking.  I have a enchilada recipe we like that is made with ground beef and red enchilada sauce.  When I saw this I knew that I wanted to make this variation.  Most enchilada recipes call for ingredients that my hubby doesn’t care for, but this one did not.  I did not have any pimientos on hand so I added red peppers to the filling ingredients and used my Homemade Cream Soup for the cream of chicken soup.  When I rolled the tortillas, I added a spoon full of cheese sauce to the filling.  We though these were great, and hubby had them for dinner the following two nights that I was at work.  These will be on our table often.  My apologies to Tina, I took the enchiladas out of the fridge to take this photo so they were cold.

Pizza Soup from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures.  I made this for lunch yesterday.  So simple and easy.  I had only 1/2 pound of Italian sausage, so I upped the macaroni to 1 1/2 c. to have a bit more "stuff" in the soup.  I cooked onion and red peppers with the sausage.  Lynn puts the cheese right into the soup, but I opted to sprinkle it on each bowl.  I served this with crescent rolls that I had wrapped around a quarter inch piece of cheese cut from a block of mozzarella. You can see a bit of cheese seeping out of the roll in the photo.   Next time I will use two cans or jars of spaghetti sauce and not so much water.  This soup will be going in the soup recipe rotation.

Last weekend I hit a bifecta (I know, that is not a word.)  I made two meals hubby absolutely loved.  I made the pork roast I posted on Monday and Bourbon Chicken on Sunday.  I took the Bourbon Chicken leftovers to work on Monday and never did get a picture.  This recipe is here and there around the net, but I first found it at Blog Chef.  I used chicken thighs and boned them myself.  That is what you get if you order this at most mall Food Courts.  I did dust the chicken with cornstarch before browning it.  Also, I used sherry in place of the apple juice as I did not want to open a big bottle which is all I had.  (note toe self:  pick up a six-pack of small cans of apple juice.)  The chicken was all everyone has said it was and was a nice change from sweet and sour.  I served this with fried rice.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

Even though it was a busy week with Thanksgiving and all, I did manage to cook a few new recipes from the blogs.

Monday I ran across this Chicken Noodle Soup over at Delightfully Dowling.  When I read her post, I remembered that I had some chicken breast bones thawed in the refrigerator that I had almost forgotten about.  I decided to use them to make this soup for lunch.  I made a few changes, adding some chopped red pepper because I put them in almost everything.  I did not have any fresh dill on hand so I used dried, maybe about a teaspoon.  I use Sriracha hot sauce.  Since my hubby likes his soup a little thicker like chowder, I mixed an additional 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 c. water towards the end and cooked the soup until it thickened slightly.   I couldn't really taste the dill, but the combination of the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and dill gave the soup a lovely flavor that was different from the typical chicken soup.  I will definitely be making this again.

Spiced Sirloin Tip Roast from At the Well.  The original posted recipe used brisket and was cooked in a slow cooker.  I can rarely buy brisket here and am not really a fan of beef roasts from a slow cooker so I used a sirloin tip roast and cooked it in the oven.  I used the exact ingredients called for in the brisket recipe and put it in a Dutch oven.  I did brown the roast in some olive oil before I put it in the oven.  I usually stud beef roasts with slivers of garlic but did not do that to this one.  Next time I make this recipe I will.  The first night I served the meat without the gravy as we had loaded mashed potatoes so I felt we didn't need the gravy.  When I served the roast a second time I made gravy from the cooking liquid.  There was about 3 cups of cooking liquid.  I removed the fat and thickened the liquid with 1/4 cup flour mixed with 1/2 c. water.  I also added 1 T. Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 t. garlic powder to the gravy to give it a little more oomph.  The photo above is from the second time the roast was served.  What is there about meat that makes it so unphotogenic?  This recipe is going into my regular rotation for beef roasts.

I tried two new recipes for our Thanksgiving dinner.  The first dish was for a new dressing.  I saw a post over at Fake Ginger for a Cornbread, Bacon, Leek and Pecan Dressing.  I decided that I wanted to make this one.  In all my years of cooking, I have never cooked with leeks.  Probably because of the expense.  I was able to find two leeks that had really long white parts so used them instead of the four she suggested.  I got busy and forgot to cover the dressing when I put it in the oven.  Because of that, my dressing came out dryer than hers did, I think.  Nevertheless, it was very good.  I did miss the celery that I usually put in dressing so I will add that the next time I make this.  I think that dried cranberries would be a nice addition to this.  I did not add them as I had two other dishes with cranberries in them already.

The second recipe that I added to our Thanksgiving dinner was Autumn Chopped Salad.  I found this at Espresso and Cream a new to me blog that I will be checking out further soon.  I did change the recipe quite a bit to work with what I had on hand.  I used mixed salad from a big instead of the romaine, used an apple as well as a pear, used toasted walnuts, left out the cheese and used honey mustard dressing that I let each person just add to their helping.  I was going to use candied pecans, but I burned them.  I liked the fruit/lettuce mix a lot and will be making some version of this combination again.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

With a hectic week, one less night to cook, and travel for the weekend, I did not think that I would be making any recipes from blogs this week.  It turns out I had time to make just one recipe, and, is no one surprised that the recipe was for cookies.

Thursday, Marsha over at the Better Baker, posted a recipe for "Melt-in-Your Mouth" Pecan Toffee Cookies.  They looked so good and were an easy-to-make recipe using a cake mix.  We like to take some cookies with us for snacking when we travel, and these seemed just the thing to take this time.  I got up a little early and made these before we left on Friday morning.  The cookies truly lived up to their name.  My hubby said that they were like eating popcorn; meaning, that if you were not careful, you would scarf them all down and they would be gone before you know it.  It think this basic idea would work well with a chocolate cake mix.  I am also anxious to try these with a Butter Pecan cake mix although that flavor is a little difficult to find where I live.  I will be giving these a try with the homemade cake mix, too.  Thanks, Marsha, for sharing a great, versatile recipe.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

Last week, I didn't have a chance to make any recipes from blogs so there was no post on Sunday.  This week I made it a point to make a couple of new recipes.

This week there is a sale on chicken thighs and split breasts for $ .99 lb.  I decided this was a good time to use up some of the cooked chicken and broth I have in my freezer.  I freeze cooked chicken in 1 cup amounts with 1 cup broth to use in casseroles and soup.  You might want to take a look at my tutorial on cutting up a chicken breast here.

 I made Chicken and Dumpling Bake Casserole from Deep South Dish via Aunt Nubby's Kitchen.  To please my potato-loving husband,  I diced up a couple of potatoes along with onion and red pepper.  I cooked them in the chicken broth for about 10 minutes, then added a cup of frozen peas and carrots and cooked another 5 minutes.  I added a bay leaf and some poultry seasoning to this.  I drained the vegetables and layered them on top of the chicken, and then used the broth as directed in the recipe.  This was very good and does taste just like chicken and dumplings.  I think my husband had three servings.  The leftovers were even good warmed up.  I will be making this again.

I also made Cheesy Garlic Bread Pull Apart from The Real Housewives of Riverton.  These are made with refrigerated biscuits and are very quick and easy.  Since there are just two of us I halved the recipe and baked them in a pie tin with a custard cup in the center so they would form a ring.  We really love garlic, so next time I will increase the butter to 3 tablespoons and the garlic powder and parsley to 1 1/2 teaspoons and brush the flattened biscuits with the mixture before I form them around the cheese.  I also will use more cheese, but I think that I didn't use as much cheese as called for.  There were perfect with the goulash that I served for lunch.  I plan to keep refrigerated biscuits on hand to make this often.

Check all of these blogs out for other great recipes.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

This week I only had time to cook two things from the blogs.  I also made this recipe from Allrecipes, which was very good.  However, I don't consider Allrecipes a blog.

I mentioned in the Skipping through Blogland post on Wednesday that I was going to make Better Baker’s Cheesy Chicken Chowder.   I had purchased a turkey breast from Safeway on their $5 Friday and decided that I needed to use that rather than the chicken I had planned on.  We love garlic, so I minced a clove and sautéed it in the butter for a minute or two.   I also added some chopped red pepper as I said I might.  Marsha’s method of cooking the vegetables in broth and then combining them with the cream sauce really appealed to me.  This was delicious.  I will make it again and again.  We ate the chowder all up, and I took some to a friend at work; so I am using Marsha's photo.

I also made the Cumin Carrots Fries from the Pretend Chef.  As I mentioned my hubby does not like cooked carrots so I ate them all myself; and I did Eat Them All.  I loved them.  Since I didn’t get a photo taken, I am borrowing hers.  I will make these again and again also; and will try other herbs and spices using this method.

Both of these dishes are great keeper recipes.

I'm having a little give away.  Go here for details.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

Well, now that the Spoilers have had their fun at the expense of us bloggers, I will get on with the business at hand.

For a number of reasons, sweets were the focus of my blogland cooking this week.  I did also make a new barbecue sauce.  On Wednesday, my oldest daughter called and asked if I was planning on making cookies.  She was looking for some to take in her lunches to work.  Now mind you, she is way over 40 years old and could make cookies herself.  She lives alone now that her daughter is in California, doesn't like to bake, and I still spoil her, so I do make cookies for her from time to time.

I knew that these Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars from Six Sisters Stuff would just fill the bill for my daughter.  When I found them, I realized that they were very similar to a peanut butter bar cookie I used to make that was in a Better Homes & Gardens cookie book.  The book has been misplaced so I have not made those bars in many years.  They were, however, one of my children's favorite cookies when I made them.  I have made these a couple of times now, and they are very good.  The Sisters' recipe calls for additional peanut butter to be spread on the bars.  I leave this out due to personal preference.

We had to make a quick trip over the mountains to Tacoma and back yesterday.  When we have to spend several hours in the car, I like to make a sweet treat to take along.  Being a Butterscotch lover, I had been meaning to make Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars from Mel's Kitchen Cafe ever since she posted the recipe in May.  If you like butterscotch at all, make these!  They are decadent and delicious.  They are very rich and should probably be cut small.

There was a church potluck after church today.  I needed to make something on Friday that would keep OK till today.  Last year I made Praline Pecan Zucchini Bundt Cake from Real Mom's Kitchen. The recipe calls for Butter Pecan Cake Mix.  After I used the two I had last year, I could not find that flavor anymore in the stores in my town.  Last week I discovered some in a local store, on sale for .50 no less.  I bought up the five they had, so decided to make this cake.  This is so easy and makes a wonderfully moist cake.  It is the only recipe that I am actually willing to buy zucchini to make.  I did make the cake in a 9x13-in. pan instead of a bundt pan.  The original recipe has a wonderful praline sauce to pour over the cake.  Since I was taking this to a potluck, I just frosted the cake with (gasp!) commercial cream cheese frosting.  

Today is my mother's 92nd birthday, so the family took her to dinner tonight.  That coupled with being out-of-town on Saturday, meant that I did not cook this weekend.  On Friday I barbecued some country ribs in the oven to provide Hubby with dinner for the next two nights.  I m\made Caramelized Onion Barbecue Sauce from Prairie Story.  I had been going to make this for a while but kept forgetting to buy beer.  This was very good, and I will make it again.  I cooked the ribs and poured the barbecue sauce over them to marinate until Hubby warms them up.

All of these blogs have wonderful recipes.  Be sure to spend some time and look around if you go to check out any of these recipes.

Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made

Ever since I started this blog, I have had a bit of a dilemma.  My goal here is to post recipes that I have not seen elsewhere on the internet.  I do not want to make and repost recipes from other blogs, BUT I do really, really want to make them.  I also want to share recommendation to recipes that I do make that come from other blogs.

I do post "Friday Finds", but that is recipes that I have found that I want to try, but usually have not made yet.  After giving this much thought, my answer is that each Sunday I will share what I have made with recipes from the blogs, my thoughts and comments, and link to the original poster's recipe.  My hope is that this will encourage others to go and try the same recipe.  Here then is my first installment of "Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made".

Bacon and Parmesan Pasta  from Tasty Kitchen via Dine and Dish.  As I said on Friday, I did make this dish for dinner last night.  It was  quick, easy, and very good.  I had only 13 ounces or so of  pasta.  We like a lot of sauce so if I had used the full pound of pasta, I think that I would double the sauce.   I would have liked a little more pronounced Parmesan flavor, but the cheese I had was already shredded and not grated, so I probably should have used more than called for.   Since I am a garlic lover, I think that I would add a little garlic to this dish.  Since there are just two of us, I cooked only a half a pound of bacon; and because I knew that we would have leftovers, I served it separately so when the bacon is reheated it will still be crisp.  Each of us just stirred some bacon into our individual servings.  I served this with additional Parmesan.  I will make this again.

Caramelized Vegetable Trio from The Better Baker.  I love the idea of having a one-dish side dish if you will.  My hubby does not care for fresh or frozen green beans, so I used well-drained canned green beans when I made this.  I also peeled the potatoes which is his preference.  I did overcook my potatoes slightly so they mushed up a little in the final presentation.  I really like the sweet/sour flavor of this and will make this again.  I am also thinking that this might be good with other veggies used instead of the green beans.  I think that I will try it with carrots or Brussels sprouts.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies from This Chick Cooks.  This is my new favorite go-to breakfast or snack.  To make this even quicker to make, I ground a quart (yes, I did say a quart!) of oats in my mini food processor so that when I want a smoothie I don't have to do this step.  I also have bananas in my freezer at all times.  A few days ago when I was feeling particularly indulgent, I add 2 tablespoons of  Easy Cocoa Syrup to make a chocolate version.  It made a nice variation.  Chocolate, peanut butter, banana-what more could you ask.  Thanks Katie for a great recipe.

Note:  photos are from the blogs represented and are the property of the owners of those blogs.

I will be back next Sunday with more "Cooking from the Blogs-What I Made".  Stay tuned.