Food Reviews

So like Kim, I thought I would tell you all what I've been liking in the OBB Cookbook as well! I've actually made more recipes from it, than I had realized, so here is my rundown:

Hummus-Was really good with some crunchy flatbread! I couldn't find the tahini at the store, so I made it without and it was still really good, and it's super cheap to make!

Strawberry Sauce-I made this to go over pancakes and it was pretty good, a good alternative to syrup!

Cranberry Orange Chicken Salad-I loved this!! It's a great alternative to the regular chicken salad you put on croissants. Definitely kicked it up a notch! Very flavorful-even Micah liked it!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos-Like, totally yum!! We've made these so many times since I got the recipe. So many times, that the kids think that if it's Scout night then we should be having taquitos. They are so yummy and a really good mixture of flavors-Micah LOVES these! Anytime we have leftover chicken this is what we make, (also great with chicken from a rotisserie).

Spicy Honey Chicken Salad-I just used chicken I had already cooked and let it sit in the glaze before warming up. The salad was a great summer one, quick and easy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu-Micah made this for a Sunday dinner and it was terribly delightful!! Loved it!

Pizza-p.154 Ok, I've made a lot of homemade pizza, but the first time I made this, it was SOOO good. The kids said it smelled like a restaurant in the house! I made the recipe and cooked it on a pizza stone and there was a lot of dough so I put string cheese along the outer circle and then folded the dough up over the edge, really really good. I'm pretty sure this is my new go-to pizza recipe!

Fried Rice-I wanted to make something quick and easy with some leftover chicken so I made this. I used a coleslaw mix that looked more "Asian" food friendly. I also didn't have soy sauce so I used a basic Asian Salad Dressing I found at the store and it turned out really good!

Strawberry Lime Shortcakes with Coconut Cream-I did the pound cake from scratch on p.42 and it was so, so good. Way cheaper too, than buying it at the store. The batter was delightful as well-yum! I omited the coconut extract in the cream because I didn't have any but I still made the toasted coconut and this dessert was a big hit. We've made it several times, especially when strawberries were in season. Very, very good!

I love Our Best Bites, pretty much everything I've tried has been pretty tasty!

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I also wanted to share a few other recipes that I've come across recently that have been pretty fantastic as well.

I just came across Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I've tried several recipes and I know I will be trying more, but here are the two I liked so far.

Honey Lime Fruit Salad-This was really good, very summery fresh and kinda reminded me of Grandma :) I used fresh pineapple instead, and next time I will omit the mandarin oranges (the mix of fresh fruit was just too good for canned fruit), but other than that it was a fresh salad that just says summer!

Chicken Gyros-We found these really fresh pitas at the Farmer's Market (driven in that day fresh, from San Luis Obispo), so we wanted to make this. Micah made the chicken without the yogurt and it tasted really good. Now what I really want to talk about is the tzatziki sauce! It is so good, it tasted like Greek restaurant quality. So flavorful and really, really good! I used plain yogurt and drained it through thick paper towels for maybe an hour, because I was hungry! I strained it then made according to the recipe and I am totally in love with this! You gotta try it!

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Ok, lastly I just came across this yesterday. I know we grew up having instant oatmeal packs. And, I'm afraid I probaly won't be able to find them on sale for $1 a box here in California, so I was really glad when I saw this post yesterday on No Big Dill! Ok, DIY Oatmeal Packets! I am definately looking forward to trying this one out for the winter!

What are some recipes you've been loving?

julie and julia

So i first saw the movie julie and julia because of caroline's recommendation, and i totally loved it! well last week while folding laundry i watched it again and loved it all over again! then i don't know what happened, i must have gotten "inspired" or something, and the next thing i knew i had 5 new recipes lined up to try for the following week. now i'm not trying to "master the art of french cooking" or anything, but i am trying to use a cookbook for more sections than just desserts. i decided to dive into our best bites cookbook, which obviously we all have, so here's what we've tried and what we thought (oh and btw, all these pics came from our best bites):

chocolate zucchini bread

Loved it!! seriously, it's chocolatey, and sweet, with cinnamon and sugar, so good! and it makes two loaves so there's tons to eat, or one to share!

creamy cilantro-lime ranch dressing

we made this to accompany two meals and it's really, really good. like just like cafe rio! i didn't use real butter, and i used milk instead of the buttermilk, but i still thought it was just as good!

mississippi mud brownies (on website- not book)

on the website these are also called "tim riggins brownies" since they're a bit of a guilty pleasure. and while yes they are good, they're certainly a mouthful and after eating one large brownie i immediately had regrets eating something soo unhealthy. so i guess know your crowd, if they love to indulge then they'll love them, if not, proceed with caution!

this week i also made the lime-cilantro rice with pineapple (pg. 204) and LOVED it! they had a lot of steps in the recipe, so i just cooked the rice as i normally do in my rice cooker and then added the "extras" afterward. i will most definitely be making this again, honestly it'll probably become a staple around here! we used ours on tacos, but even on the side with some chilled pineapple on top was delish!!

lastly, we tried the vegetarian black bean taquitos (pg. 109). i really liked these and i definitely didn't think they tasted "vegetarian." we dipped these in the cilantro-ranch dressing, which boosted the flavor. since they are vegetarian there's not much "juice" to the mixture which maybe could have been remedied by some fresh tomatoes while you eat? idk, it just needed a little moisture.

so that's it, now i'm not trying to cook my way through this book via julie and julia, but i am trying to see what we can add into our dinner mix. hopefully these "reviews" help, i know i love reading reviews before i make something new. up next? the spinach mandarian poppy seed salad on pg. 76, looks tasty!