Cookbook Club of January 12, 2016

On a cold, windy, wintry evening, Kathy Morrison was once again generous and gracious to offer the cookbook club a place to meet and share our efforts to make delicious food.

The book under review this night was Trisha Yearwood's "Trisha's Table."  Several things became apparent as we ate our way through the evening, as follows:

(1)  The recipes, as written, made for some very bland food.  The recipes, as written, made much more than notated in the book.  Overall, most of the recipes in the book we have in other cookbooks so they were not very original. Notwithstanding the foregoing, everyone had a wonderful time and the food was very delicious.

Michelle made Mel's Banana Muffins.  Presumably, Mel doesn''t mind that Trisha presented her recipe for all to see in this book.  Michelle said the recipe made a LOT more than Trisha said it would.  That is a good thing because these were really tasty muffins, filled with good things like blueberries, bananas, wheat germ and chocolate chips.  Yummy and healthy.

Anne contributed the peanut butter frosting cupcakes.  She said this is a good basic cupcake but the frosting was soooo good.  Anne said the recipe called for sifting cake flour.  She thinks that this made a big difference and the cupcakes were so delicious that following the recipe exactly turned out to be a good thing.  If you don't have a peanut allergy this was an excellent frosting. 

MaryAnn made the Zucchini Cakes with Herbed Sour Cream.  She made them smaller that the recipe called for but they were the perfect size for an appetizer or snacks for a party.  She did add some salt and pepper to the sour cream dip, which almost all of the recipes needed.  These make a beautiful presentation and with a little more seasoning are delicious.

Gretta made the Orzo Salad which was pretty delicious.  She did cook the orzo in chicken broth even though the recipe called for half chicken broth and half water.
She would also add something crunchy like celery to add some flavor and texture.  It was delicious even without that and she said it was easy to make.

                          

Donna made the White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies.  She said they were very simple to make but there was quite a bit more than the recipe described.  The recipe called for applesauce and Donna siad the snack size applesauce was perfect for the recipe.  Yummy stuff in here including macademia nuts.

Karen made the Cranberry Apple Crisp which was absolutely delicious.  Although the recipe called for peeling the apples, she just sliced them very thin and you couldn't even tell that they were not peeled.  A time saving hint.  She was afraid to use regular oats so she did use the quick cooking oats as called for in the recipe.

Kathy made the strangely named Billie's Houdini Chicken Salad.  She thought it was a little dry so she added extra yogurt.  There was a lot of fruit in it and the yogurt was low fat so it was a healthy salad.  Kathy thought it was Trisha's take on Waldorf Salad.  Tasted pretty good and not dry but make sure you add the extra yogurt.  Also we thought it was a little bland so add seasoning if you like.

 Arlene made the Black Bean Chili and Rice.  Instead of rice, she used farro. The black beans make it very high on protein and Arlene said it was very easy to make.  Nice alternative for a meat free dish.

Trisha made the Carmelized Onion Dip which was a big hit.  She was very pleased with the carmelization process, much better than Lipton Onion Dip.  Plus, it made the house smell great.  Everyone agreed this would be good for a party.  Trisha said it required constant stirring to carmelize the onion but you could use this process for other recipes.  Except for the constant stirring, it was pretty easy since everything just simmered together.

 Brenda made the surprisingly delicious Power Balls.  Lots of protein and flavor in these little balls that are intended to be a snack when you are on-the-go.  Everything goes into the food processor, then rolled into balls and put into the refrigerator.  If you like peanut butter, these are yummy.

Janet brought the Black Bean Quinoa.  Another healthy, protein laden dish.  Janet used red quinoa & although the recipe called for canned corn, she used fresh corn.  She said it was very easy and it tasted good too.

Stephanie made the brilliantly presented Yogurt Granola Parfaits.  So if you like plain, Greek yogurt these are the parfaits for you.  Stephanie used plain sunflower seeds instead of the salted ones called for in the recipe.  And she used more honey between the layers.  That's good to make the yogurt a little sweeter in case plain yogurt is too tart for you.  It shouldn't be a problem since they are packed with fruit and sweetened coconut.

Marlene made the Chicken Tortilla Casserole.  This made a very nice-looking dish but she said it was very messy to make since you had to make a roue and boil the chicken according to the recipe.  She used a total of 18 tortillas instead of the 24 called for in the recipe.  She said you could make it ahead but you would need to make sure the roue on top stays wet.

 Cindy brought Benita's Pasta Fazola.  We all agreed that it could have used a lot of seasoning. It was not difficult to make but Cindy said she would not make it again.  Like so many of the recipes in this book, it was a little bland.

Alex brought Garth's Taco Pizza and to say she was disappointed with it is an understatement.  She pointed out that the recipe in the book was much different than the one on the Food Network.  The recipe called for Pillsbury dough which is slimy and the TV pizza called for Big Poppy's Dough.  Bland, bland, bland.  She would not make it again but if you want to try it, add seasonings.

I made the Smashed Sweet Pea Burgers.  I don't eat chickpeas so this was a challenge for me.  The recipes instructs you to smash the chickpeas with a fork or pastry cutter.  If I did that, I would still be smashing so after about 5 minutes, I just used a coarse setting on the food processor.  Other than that, they were simple to make but again there really was no seasoning in them except for a little bit of chili powder.

Cookie Exchange of December 8, 2015

Apologies to everyone for the tardiness of this blog but technology issues arose and I was no match for them.  However, the good news is that there is plenty of time before next Christmas so you can practice these delectable recipes and get ready for the holidays of 2016.

Our table was laden with treats and except for a sugar coma the night was a lovely get-together.

A lovely cherry topped cookie was contributed by Mary Anne who called them Hungarian Cookies.  This is mysterious since there is no paprika in them but they look festive and they taste great so that's all that counts.

I made these fairly tasteless Double Ginger Molasses cookies.  If I made them again, I would add some spices, double the ginger and use brown sugar instead of the white sugar called for in the recipes.  Although this was not a particularly tasty cookie, I get it from a cookbook called "The Flying Brownie."  Except for this cookie, it is a really good cookbook filled with excellent recipes.

 There is nothing better, I think, than a shortbread cookie and Kathy provided us with this wonderful shortbread.  She said it is amazingly easy to make with only 3 ingredients.  Of course one of them is gobs of butter so that explains why it it is so delicious.

The nut crescents were sweet and very nutty (duh).  They were made with ground almonds so they are healthy as well.  

What could be better than chocolate and candy canes?  Donna was kind enough to share these totally tasty cookies with us.  And she said they were easy too.  They are made with brownie mix and Andes mints.  That explains a lot.  Delicious.

Mistletoe cookies have nothing to do with mistletoe but everything to do with tastiness.  Ginny made them from a cookbook we reviewed in 2014.  It is filled with such good recipes.  It is "Christmas Made Easy".  It is made with cake mix and other goodies and just like the title, is very easy.

This cookie has everything, Oatmeal, cranberries and  white chocolate chips. They just sound scumptious and they are.  Find the recipe on the back of the craisin package.

 Black Bottom Minis turned out to be a very different but nevertheless delectable cookies.  Gretta graced us with these family favorite cookies.  The surprise ingredient is vinegar which Gretta says combines with the baking powder to do something in a very good way.

The Pecan Butterballs are pretty descriptive.  The name says it all.  Powdered sugar, butter and pecans combine to make a treat to remember.  It is said to be an Italian cookie.

If you like jelly, you will love these linzer torte type cookies.  Marianne made them and you can see the work that went into them.  All that rolling, cutting out, filling etc.  She says she got the recipe from Annie B but these are way better than Annie B's cookies.

Natalie made these perfectly beautiful ribbon cookies.  She explained how she made them but I was lost after the first 100 steps.  They tasted as good as they looked.

Marlene contributed her family's favorite and called them "S" cookies.  Look carefully and you will see why.  She got the recipe from her mother-in-law.  They are filled with good things like raisins which is probably why they taste so good.

These cookies look they came from a bakery but, no, Cindy brought them to share. They are Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Cookies.  They are piped onto the cookie sheet so they are very fancy.  These came from the Christmas Made Easy cookbook.

Mickee made Snowball cookies.  You can see why this is their name.  She got the recipe from the Land O'Lakes box so, of course, there is a lot of butter and oodles of good taste in them.

Inside these bags are the most delicious Raisin Gingersnaps ever that Donna brought.  They were so good that there were none left for a picture.  

Brenda made traditional Mexican Wedding Cookies.  No wonder they have such lively weddings.  Delicious Cookies.

FINALLY, last but absolutely spectacular is Anne's Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies.  Not only are there cookies but there is filling and then glaze too.  And yes, she did use her thumbs but I know for a fact that she washed her hands after each thumbprint.  Yummy, yummy.

Okay everyone.  I f I left out some cookies or didn't put your names down, it's because I didn't have them.  On Tuesday, put your recipe and your name on the card in front of your food.

Marian