50 New Recipes for 2008
1. Chicken Broccoli Crepes - YUM 5 stars. 01/04/08
2. Banana Nutella Crepes - Meh 1 star 01/04/08
3. Chicken, Corn and Potato Chowder - Good 3 stars. I used homemade turkey stock from Christmas. 1/7/08
4. One-pot Chicken, Broccoli and Noodles - Great! 4 1/2 stars. I made mine without chicken. This was the easiest thing ever. 01/13/08.
5. Lentil and Brown Rice Soup. Meh. 1 star. I loved the ease of the crockpot and the huge health benefits but it turned out like mush. I don't think rice should stay in the slowcooker that long and there definitely needed to be more water. I need to perfect this on my own and make it happen. 01/14/08
6. Chicken Enchilada Bake - Good! 4 stars. Sam prefers regular enchiladas but of course it's so much easier to layer in a casserole than to individually fill enchiladas. Even if it's not *the* enchiladas they all liked it. 01/15/08
7. Swedish Meatballs a la Alton Brown - Good 4 1/2 stars. On par with Salisbury Steak. 01/23/08.
8. Easy Crockpot Taco Bake - Meh to Bad. 1 star. Max didn't even finish it. I had high hopes too because it looked so good and smelled so good. Must have been a texture thing. 01/30/08
9. Lavender Honey Ice Cream - Excellent! 5 stars! If you like lavender and honey flavored ice cream. And if you're the only one who does then it's all yours! 2/2/08
10. Souffle De Tomate - (can't rate cooked incorrectly). 02/02/08
11. Classic Entrecote Bordelaise - Good 3 1/2 stars. The kids liked the sauce but I think everyone prefers good ole BBQ. 02/02/08
12. Classic Bistro Style Gratin Dauphinoise - (can't rate cooked incorrectly) I do however have a tried and true recipe for this besides this one that I think I'll stick to. 02/02/08
13. Easy Bananas Foster - Awesome! 4 1/2 stars. I ate this up super fast. Every plate was licked clean. 02/02/08.
14. crisp haricots verts with pine nuts - Excellent! 5 stars! Brown butter, pine nuts and fresh oregano. You can't go wrong. 02/03/08.
15. bratwurst and potato casserole. Meh. Needs work. 2 1/2 stars. Turns out Sam doesn't like the taste of bratwurst. 02/03/08.
16. Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup - 5 stars! Excellent! Everyone at work absolutely loved this soup! 02/05/08.
17. London Broil - Great! 4 stars. My "go to" receipe for London Broil now with or without the sauce. 02/06/08.
18. Mom's 10lb Lasagna - Great! 4 1/2 stars. New "go to" for lasagna. 02/09/08.
19. Broccoli Lasagna - AWESOME - 5 stars! Everything was perfect about this recipe especially when I made it with Barilla flat no boil noodles. 02/09/08.
20. Garlic Bread - Meh. 2 1/2 stars. Too garlicy and not what most are looking for in a garlic bread. At least in my family. 02/09/08.
21. Cook's Illustrated Classic Vanilla Buttercream - Excellent! 5 stars. A bit weird to make but very easy. LOTS of butter makes this taste excellent (and buttery). Consistency was good after 20 minutes out of the refrigerator. 02/09/08.
22. Roasted Beet, Pear and Feta salad - Good. 4 stars. It's good. I added pomegranates for fun. 02/10/08.
23. Artichoke Dip - 4 stars. Great for a healthy version. 02/10/08.
24. Baked Ziti - 3 1/2 stars. I liked it a lot. Everyone else liked it equal to spaghetti with ground beef (with sausage reigns supreme). 02/20/08.
25. Banana Bread - 5 stars! The texture of this bread is the best. So moist and delicious!. 02/23/08.
26. Spicy Oil and Vinegar Bread Dip - Good. 4 stars. It's bread dip. What more is there to say? I made it for the Oscar party representing the movie "There Will Be Blood" (Oil...get it?). 02/24/08.
27. Raspberry Summer Pudding (English Style) - Surprisingly very good. 4 stars. I thought I'd be put off by the slices of white bread but I forgot all about it when I tasted the delicious raspberries. Made representing the movie "Attonement" for the Oscar Party. 02/24/08.
28. Leek Potato Soup - Excellent soup. 4 stars. I made this soup to represent the movie "Ratatouille". I searched for it too instead of using the recipe that Allrecipes provided because I was not impressed. Alton Brown came through again!. 02/24/08.
29. White Cake - 3 1/2 stars. "sturdy" 03/02/08.
30. Lemon Curd - 4 1/2 stars. Got rave reviews. Good stuff! 03/02/08.
31. White Chocolate Cake - 3 stars. Meh. It was alright. 03/02/08.
32. Raspberry filling - 1 1/2 stars. Seeds need to come out. Too much lemon. Somebody needs to write a better recipe! 03/02/08.
33. Ham and Alfredo Pasta - 3 1/2 stars. I personally loved it but the kids and Kevin prefer alfredo in a jar. Also, I didn't have ham with mine so that may have effected their taste. Mine just had broccoli and it was delicious. 03/07/08
34. Chicken and Rice Bake - 4 1/2 stars. Everyone loved this so much. People here usually aren't that enthusiastic. Plus it was super easy. 03/10/08.
35. Skillet Baked Ziti (from the book The Best 30-Minute Recipe from Cook's Illustrated) - 3 1/2 stars. Good. Everyone liked it. Good enough. No one likes it as much as salisbury steak or chicken enchiladas but they all liked it. Plus it's vegetarian and super easy. 03/11/08.
36. Rose and Pistachio Cupcakes - 3 stars. The cake was meh but the icing was to die for. Too bad I'm the only one liking rosewater. 03/17/08.
37. Beef stroganoff - 3 stars. I've got to give this one another shot. I had frozen left over london broil on hand so I used that and the meat was incredibly tough. London broil should not be well done. Everyone said they loved the sauce. 03/22/08.
38. Lavender White Chocolate Cookies - 4 1/2 stars. Cookie texture was perfect. Lavender flavor is strong but not overpowering. Me and Al are the only ones that liked these. 03/23/08.
39. Tarragon Deviled Eggs - 3 1/2 stars. Too much Dijon mustard. Otherwise very delicious. 03/23/08.
40. Cheesecake - 3 stars. Need to find more precise instructions that allow the cake to bake correctly. Taste and texture was perfect. 03/23/08.
41. Orange and Rosemary Sorbet - 5 stars! This was the most perfect sorbet I've eaten. Wonderful recipe. 03/23/08.
42. Angel Food Cake - 5 stars! The best angel food cake ever. 04/08/08.
43. White Lasagne with Parmigiano Besciamella - 4 stars. Nobody else liked it. It was too weird for them probably but I loved the combination of a veloute sauce with shallots and marsala wine with a thin lasagna. However I cannot eat too much. It's rich and delicious. 04/10/08.
44. Pot Roast in Beer - 3 stars. Kevin and Sam said they'd look forward to eating this for dinner. Max said it was ok but a little dry. I think they all prefer the slow cooker version of pot roast. 04/24/08.
45. Mexican Fiesta Salad - 4 stars. I thought it was pretty tasty. Everyone else thought it was ok too. It was super easy to make. Edited to add: This does not keep well for some reason. The pasta absorbed every bit of liquid and left it a dense mass. 04/30/08.
46. BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters - 4 stars. I did some internet research on how to do this well on the grill. I remember my mom used to boil the chicken first which I read was a good way to have tasteless chicken. The trick is to cook it slowly for like 30-40 minutes so all that dark meat can be completely cooked without being burned. With 10 minutes left on the grill I covered them in BBQ sauce. Rave reviews! 05/07/08 (approx.)
47. Crudites with olive oil and flavored salts - 1 star. I did not like this. Ranch dressing is oh so much better. 05/11/08.
48. BBQ Rosemary Shrimp (from Gourmet Magazine) - 5 stars! This was perfect. I even skewered some of the shrimp on rosemary twigs. Perfection! A great mother's day appetizer. 05/11/08
49. White Strawberry Sangria (BHG) - 3 stars. This was good but not amazing. 05/11/08
50. Potato and Celeriac Gratin - 5 stars! This gratin was so easy to make and turned out so perfect. I love the herbs and even liked to try the celeriac for the first time. Nice way to get to #50! 05/11/08
51. Chocolate Pots De Creme - 5 stars! YUM! These were the richest and creamiest and chocolaty deliciousness ever. Very easy to make as well. 05/11/08
52. White Chocolate and Strawberry Terrine with Dark Chocolate sauce - 3 stars. This was ok. A lot of work for not a huge payoff. The texture was nice but it was a bit like eating ice cream and buying a bunch of ice cream is so much easier. 05/11/08
53. Ground Beef, Green Been and Tater Tot casserole - 4 stars. Max and Kevin loved it. Sam thought it was ok and recently decided that he no longer likes tater tots. I thought for sure it would be a win. I'm allowed to make it again and encouraged to by Max and Kevin. 05/15/08
54. Fondant
55. Pastry Creme
56. Buttercream
57. Peach Sorbet
58. Nectarine Sorbet
59. Cantelope Sorbet
Fourth of july I made lemon cookies I think. and greek pasta salad and kfc cole slaw.
Once back from honeymoon I made:
sausage and tomato cream sauce pasta
yorkshire puddings
minced beef
sticky toffee pudding
banofee pie
cranberry sauce
boss's day: carrot cake cupcakes
halloween: chocolate pound cake with ganache topping and truffle filling
baked ziti
from deceptively delicious I made chicken nuggets
chicken piccata from giada 11/21/08
grilled orange chicken paillards; garlicky shredded brussel sprouts and crockpot funeral potatoes.
For Solstice I made Gingerbread cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese icing.
For Christmas I made copycat Panera Bread Artichoke and Spinach egg souffles and some crappy crockpot egg and potato thing.
After Christmas I made a couple fritatas with leftovers that were yummy.
2. Banana Nutella Crepes - Meh 1 star 01/04/08
3. Chicken, Corn and Potato Chowder - Good 3 stars. I used homemade turkey stock from Christmas. 1/7/08
4. One-pot Chicken, Broccoli and Noodles - Great! 4 1/2 stars. I made mine without chicken. This was the easiest thing ever. 01/13/08.
5. Lentil and Brown Rice Soup. Meh. 1 star. I loved the ease of the crockpot and the huge health benefits but it turned out like mush. I don't think rice should stay in the slowcooker that long and there definitely needed to be more water. I need to perfect this on my own and make it happen. 01/14/08
6. Chicken Enchilada Bake - Good! 4 stars. Sam prefers regular enchiladas but of course it's so much easier to layer in a casserole than to individually fill enchiladas. Even if it's not *the* enchiladas they all liked it. 01/15/08
7. Swedish Meatballs a la Alton Brown - Good 4 1/2 stars. On par with Salisbury Steak. 01/23/08.
8. Easy Crockpot Taco Bake - Meh to Bad. 1 star. Max didn't even finish it. I had high hopes too because it looked so good and smelled so good. Must have been a texture thing. 01/30/08
9. Lavender Honey Ice Cream - Excellent! 5 stars! If you like lavender and honey flavored ice cream. And if you're the only one who does then it's all yours! 2/2/08
10. Souffle De Tomate - (can't rate cooked incorrectly). 02/02/08
11. Classic Entrecote Bordelaise - Good 3 1/2 stars. The kids liked the sauce but I think everyone prefers good ole BBQ. 02/02/08
12. Classic Bistro Style Gratin Dauphinoise - (can't rate cooked incorrectly) I do however have a tried and true recipe for this besides this one that I think I'll stick to. 02/02/08
13. Easy Bananas Foster - Awesome! 4 1/2 stars. I ate this up super fast. Every plate was licked clean. 02/02/08.
14. crisp haricots verts with pine nuts - Excellent! 5 stars! Brown butter, pine nuts and fresh oregano. You can't go wrong. 02/03/08.
15. bratwurst and potato casserole. Meh. Needs work. 2 1/2 stars. Turns out Sam doesn't like the taste of bratwurst. 02/03/08.
16. Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup - 5 stars! Excellent! Everyone at work absolutely loved this soup! 02/05/08.
17. London Broil - Great! 4 stars. My "go to" receipe for London Broil now with or without the sauce. 02/06/08.
18. Mom's 10lb Lasagna - Great! 4 1/2 stars. New "go to" for lasagna. 02/09/08.
19. Broccoli Lasagna - AWESOME - 5 stars! Everything was perfect about this recipe especially when I made it with Barilla flat no boil noodles. 02/09/08.
20. Garlic Bread - Meh. 2 1/2 stars. Too garlicy and not what most are looking for in a garlic bread. At least in my family. 02/09/08.
21. Cook's Illustrated Classic Vanilla Buttercream - Excellent! 5 stars. A bit weird to make but very easy. LOTS of butter makes this taste excellent (and buttery). Consistency was good after 20 minutes out of the refrigerator. 02/09/08.
22. Roasted Beet, Pear and Feta salad - Good. 4 stars. It's good. I added pomegranates for fun. 02/10/08.
23. Artichoke Dip - 4 stars. Great for a healthy version. 02/10/08.
24. Baked Ziti - 3 1/2 stars. I liked it a lot. Everyone else liked it equal to spaghetti with ground beef (with sausage reigns supreme). 02/20/08.
25. Banana Bread - 5 stars! The texture of this bread is the best. So moist and delicious!. 02/23/08.
26. Spicy Oil and Vinegar Bread Dip - Good. 4 stars. It's bread dip. What more is there to say? I made it for the Oscar party representing the movie "There Will Be Blood" (Oil...get it?). 02/24/08.
27. Raspberry Summer Pudding (English Style) - Surprisingly very good. 4 stars. I thought I'd be put off by the slices of white bread but I forgot all about it when I tasted the delicious raspberries. Made representing the movie "Attonement" for the Oscar Party. 02/24/08.
28. Leek Potato Soup - Excellent soup. 4 stars. I made this soup to represent the movie "Ratatouille". I searched for it too instead of using the recipe that Allrecipes provided because I was not impressed. Alton Brown came through again!. 02/24/08.
29. White Cake - 3 1/2 stars. "sturdy" 03/02/08.
30. Lemon Curd - 4 1/2 stars. Got rave reviews. Good stuff! 03/02/08.
31. White Chocolate Cake - 3 stars. Meh. It was alright. 03/02/08.
32. Raspberry filling - 1 1/2 stars. Seeds need to come out. Too much lemon. Somebody needs to write a better recipe! 03/02/08.
33. Ham and Alfredo Pasta - 3 1/2 stars. I personally loved it but the kids and Kevin prefer alfredo in a jar. Also, I didn't have ham with mine so that may have effected their taste. Mine just had broccoli and it was delicious. 03/07/08
34. Chicken and Rice Bake - 4 1/2 stars. Everyone loved this so much. People here usually aren't that enthusiastic. Plus it was super easy. 03/10/08.
35. Skillet Baked Ziti (from the book The Best 30-Minute Recipe from Cook's Illustrated) - 3 1/2 stars. Good. Everyone liked it. Good enough. No one likes it as much as salisbury steak or chicken enchiladas but they all liked it. Plus it's vegetarian and super easy. 03/11/08.
36. Rose and Pistachio Cupcakes - 3 stars. The cake was meh but the icing was to die for. Too bad I'm the only one liking rosewater. 03/17/08.
37. Beef stroganoff - 3 stars. I've got to give this one another shot. I had frozen left over london broil on hand so I used that and the meat was incredibly tough. London broil should not be well done. Everyone said they loved the sauce. 03/22/08.
38. Lavender White Chocolate Cookies - 4 1/2 stars. Cookie texture was perfect. Lavender flavor is strong but not overpowering. Me and Al are the only ones that liked these. 03/23/08.
39. Tarragon Deviled Eggs - 3 1/2 stars. Too much Dijon mustard. Otherwise very delicious. 03/23/08.
40. Cheesecake - 3 stars. Need to find more precise instructions that allow the cake to bake correctly. Taste and texture was perfect. 03/23/08.
41. Orange and Rosemary Sorbet - 5 stars! This was the most perfect sorbet I've eaten. Wonderful recipe. 03/23/08.
42. Angel Food Cake - 5 stars! The best angel food cake ever. 04/08/08.
43. White Lasagne with Parmigiano Besciamella - 4 stars. Nobody else liked it. It was too weird for them probably but I loved the combination of a veloute sauce with shallots and marsala wine with a thin lasagna. However I cannot eat too much. It's rich and delicious. 04/10/08.
44. Pot Roast in Beer - 3 stars. Kevin and Sam said they'd look forward to eating this for dinner. Max said it was ok but a little dry. I think they all prefer the slow cooker version of pot roast. 04/24/08.
45. Mexican Fiesta Salad - 4 stars. I thought it was pretty tasty. Everyone else thought it was ok too. It was super easy to make. Edited to add: This does not keep well for some reason. The pasta absorbed every bit of liquid and left it a dense mass. 04/30/08.
46. BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters - 4 stars. I did some internet research on how to do this well on the grill. I remember my mom used to boil the chicken first which I read was a good way to have tasteless chicken. The trick is to cook it slowly for like 30-40 minutes so all that dark meat can be completely cooked without being burned. With 10 minutes left on the grill I covered them in BBQ sauce. Rave reviews! 05/07/08 (approx.)
47. Crudites with olive oil and flavored salts - 1 star. I did not like this. Ranch dressing is oh so much better. 05/11/08.
48. BBQ Rosemary Shrimp (from Gourmet Magazine) - 5 stars! This was perfect. I even skewered some of the shrimp on rosemary twigs. Perfection! A great mother's day appetizer. 05/11/08
49. White Strawberry Sangria (BHG) - 3 stars. This was good but not amazing. 05/11/08
50. Potato and Celeriac Gratin - 5 stars! This gratin was so easy to make and turned out so perfect. I love the herbs and even liked to try the celeriac for the first time. Nice way to get to #50! 05/11/08
51. Chocolate Pots De Creme - 5 stars! YUM! These were the richest and creamiest and chocolaty deliciousness ever. Very easy to make as well. 05/11/08
52. White Chocolate and Strawberry Terrine with Dark Chocolate sauce - 3 stars. This was ok. A lot of work for not a huge payoff. The texture was nice but it was a bit like eating ice cream and buying a bunch of ice cream is so much easier. 05/11/08
53. Ground Beef, Green Been and Tater Tot casserole - 4 stars. Max and Kevin loved it. Sam thought it was ok and recently decided that he no longer likes tater tots. I thought for sure it would be a win. I'm allowed to make it again and encouraged to by Max and Kevin. 05/15/08
54. Fondant
55. Pastry Creme
56. Buttercream
57. Peach Sorbet
58. Nectarine Sorbet
59. Cantelope Sorbet
Fourth of july I made lemon cookies I think. and greek pasta salad and kfc cole slaw.
Once back from honeymoon I made:
sausage and tomato cream sauce pasta
yorkshire puddings
minced beef
sticky toffee pudding
banofee pie
cranberry sauce
boss's day: carrot cake cupcakes
halloween: chocolate pound cake with ganache topping and truffle filling
baked ziti
from deceptively delicious I made chicken nuggets
chicken piccata from giada 11/21/08
grilled orange chicken paillards; garlicky shredded brussel sprouts and crockpot funeral potatoes.
For Solstice I made Gingerbread cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese icing.
For Christmas I made copycat Panera Bread Artichoke and Spinach egg souffles and some crappy crockpot egg and potato thing.
After Christmas I made a couple fritatas with leftovers that were yummy.