Apple Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Taste of Home Cookbook

Since my family wanted me to stop cooking from the Best of Cooking Light I have just decided to pick different recipes from the hundreds of cookbooks I have on my shelves in my pantry and just find a recipe that sounds good and I have most of the ingredients for on hand.

Tonight, my first night in switching it up, I Apple Stuffed Chicken Breasts from the TASTE OF HOME COOKBOOK. Here is our evaluation of this dish...

APPLE STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS, just ok...

As I mentioned the last time I made stuffed chicken breasts (Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breasts) I struggle getting my stuffed chicken to look pretty like they do in pictures and at restaurants. I need to do a You Tube search to see if I can find a video to learn how to do it properly.

The chicken in this dish turned out very tender and was cooked properly, but the stuffing was a bit mushy and I could not taste any of the apple flavor. The sauce also got a little over browned as well. Adding the butter at the end helped, but I don't think it was supposed to be as brown as it was. The flavor of the sauce was good, however.

If I were to make this again I would probably make a couple changes to this dish. Instead of shredding the apple I would probably dice it so you had bigger pieces of apple and could recognize the apple flavor more prominently. And the bread crumbs were supposed to be soft bread crumbs. Maybe if the bread crumbs were dried bread crumbs it would not have been as mushy. And probably adding a little more apple juice and sherry to the sauce would have been a little better.

Overall it was a decent dish, but nothing memorable or one to rave about.

So the fact that I switched from cooking from the Best of Cooking Light to other recipes in other cookbooks isn't really going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I think there will be some good dishes, some ok dishes, some dishes we really don't like, and some dishes we absolutely love no matter what cookbook I'm cooking from.

So I'll just cook whatever and share our experiences about them.

Day 30 of cooking from The Best of Cooking Light

Today was day 30 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT, and I made 3 dishes from this cookbook, which you can find out about by clicking on the links below...

Maple Walnut Muffins

Yellow Pepper Soup with Cilantro Puree

Enchiladas de Pollo (Chicken Enchiladas)

For the past couple of weeks I have been overrun by my family to stop cooking from this cookbook and pick a different cookbook. Since I have literally, hundreds of cookbooks, my daughter suggested that since I'm "The Cookbook Blogger" I should switch up cooking from a variety of cookbooks and change things up. I think after today's meal I am finally convinced.

In the sleeve of this cookbook it says:

Guaranteed Success

"You're guaranteed success with every recipe! Each recipe has been tested at least twice, often three or four times, in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens to ensure that not only are they supremely healthy, tasty, and easy to prepare, but that they also have the all-important "yum factor".

I told my husband this and after eating tonight's dinner he sarcastically said "the yum factor", NOT in a flattering way. And again asked me to find another cookbook to cook from.

Not that all the dishes in the cookbook are bad, far from it. Of the 58 recipes I've prepared out of this cookbook, there are only 2 dishes that I truly disliked. However, only a few recipes were delicious and had that "yum factor", and the rest have been just ok and mediocre.

And, many of the recipes are not easy to prepare. Some are, some are not. It often takes me 2 hours or more to get a dinner prepared.

I have hung in there for over a month, and have tried 58 recipes out of this cookbook, and I, too, am ready to retire this cookbook (for the time being) and delve into some of my other cookbooks and bring some variety, and better dishes, hopefully, to the table .

I am not sure which cookbook I'll move on to next, but I'll peruse through my cookbooks this week and come back with some fresh new dishes next week, from some other cookbooks.

From the Best of Cooking Light...

58 recipes down, 489 more to go, we'll see how many I get through over the next several years

Chicken Enchiladas, Enchiladas de Pollo

Day 30 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made Chicken Enchiladas (Enchiladas de Pollo) for dinner tonight. Here's our thoughts about this lighter version of the classic favorite recipe...

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS (ENCHILADAS de POLLO), just ok...

This recipe looked decent in the cookbook, and sounded good as well, but preparing these and then tasting them, was a disappointment.

Let's start with preparing them. You're supposed to prepare your corn tortillas by dipping them in boiling water instead of hot oil (lighter version, remember), but the first one I did fell apart because after just a few seconds it became so very mushy. Then I made all 8 of them and stacked them on a place to roll them up with the filling, but that was a bad idea as they all stuck together. Good thing I bought a package of 18 tortillas as I'd just lost my first 9 tortillas to the trash. I just barely dipped in the boiling water for a second or two, just barely enough to soften them, but they still would fall apart while I tried to roll the filling in them. Not a good start.

As with a number of the recipes in this cookbook, I had a hard time finding some ingredients. I could not find canned tomatillos in the grocery store, so I bought fresh tomatillos and used those instead. I don't think that made much of a difference in the recipe, so not a big deal, I just wanted to mention that some of the ingredients called for in this cookbook are difficult to find in regular grocery stores (I shop at Safeway, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Costco).

The sauce was fine, the flavor was good, but nothing stood out about it. When we went to eat them, however, they were pretty mushy, which I'm sure had to do with the fact that the tortillas were cooked in water instead of oil.

Overall, this was not a recipe I'll be repeating again.

58 recipes down, 489 more to go.

Yellow Pepper Soup with Cilantro Puree

Day 30 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made a Yellow pepper Soup with Cilantro Puree for one of the courses for our dinner tonight. Here's our thoughts on this recipe...

YELLOW PEPPER SOUP WITH CILANTRO PUREE, not good...

While I was preparing this recipe, which took a lot of prep to do, I kept saying "interesting" with the flavor combinations. But I'm open minded and willing to try new things. However, when I did try the final product, I was not pleased. I could only eat a few bites of this soup and the rest ended up down the garbage disposal.

My son in law felt the same way I did, my hubby thought it was just ok, but didn't even manage to eat half of his. Our daughter, on the other hand, liked it. I'm not sure if that was because she's been sick and has a stuffed up nose and her taste buds are off, or if she really liked it; she'd have to try it again when her pallate is up to snuff.

This is the recipe my hubby also mocked the cookbook cover saying it had that "yum factor", in a sarcastic tone. Not much else to say about this soup, it just was not good and not one I'd recommend or make again.

57 recipes down, 490 more to go.

Maple Walnut Muffins

Day 30 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made these Maple Walnut Muffins for our Bed and Breakfast guests this morning. Here's what we thought of these muffins...

MAPLE WALNUT MUFFINS, great flavor, spongy texture...

These muffins were really pretty good, for a light muffin. We've notice that when you try to lighten some things up, especially breads, the change in ingredients, or lack of oil really, can make them be either dense or spongy. These muffins ended being more on the spongy side.

However, the flavor of these muffins was very good. You could really taste the maple in these muffins and it was quite nice. There was just a small amount of walnuts sprinkled on the top, it would have been nice to have had some walnuts in the batter as well.

Overall, a good muffin, and if you're wanting a lighter version of a muffin, these are definitely worth making, very good flavor. And, our bed and breakfast guests gobbled them all up, and my daughter and son in law liked them as well.

56 recipes down, 491 more to go.

Cilantro Rice with Chicken

Today was day 29 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT. I made Cilantro Rice with Chicken. Here's our review of this dish...

CILANTRO RICE WITH CHICKEN, mixed reviews...

My hubby and I have different opinions on this dish. I liked it, and he didn't like it very much. For him, it was ok, but not something he'd want to eat again. For me, I liked it quite a bit, thought it wasn't necessarily a "favorite".

I liked the flavor of the cilantro in the rice, hubby thought it was a little too much, which is something that can easily be altered and cut back on. Hubby also didn't like the starchiness of the rice, he thought it was too mushy. The rice was not mushy, per se, if anything, it was slightly on the crunchy side. Because we live at high altitude (7,500 feet) I always have to add extra liquid to my rice and let it cook longer, which I did in this recipe, but it probably needed just a little bit more liquid and maybe an additional 5 more minutes of cooking time.

I can see how my hubby would think it was mushy. After the rice and chicken are done baking you add the cilantro sauce to the rice and it probably did make it a little more starchy, or "mochi" as I put it. He thought it was pretty much one big glob of starch and didn't care for it a whole lot. He did like the flavors, however, but the cilantro was slightly more than what he would have liked.

So, as you can see, we are of different opinions. But hey, everyone does have different taste buds, right? It's ok if we don't agree on everything.

So, bottom line, would I make this again? Yes if if were just for me, no if my hubby's eating as well.

55 recipes down, 492 more to go.

Chocolate Lava Cakes, Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream

So, today was Day 29 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I ended up making this for dessert tonight. This was supposed to be our Valentine's Day dessert, and you absolutely must go with a rich chocolate for Valentine's Day, so I went with the Chocolate Lava Cakes in the cookbook. However, we were so full after eating all the other food I made for Valentine's Day we did not have room for dessert, so I kept these in the fridge ready to put in the oven and eat at a later date, which, fortunately for us, happened to be tonight. Here's what we thought of them....

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES WITH PISTACHIO CREAM, DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!

You're supposed to make the chocolate cake batter and put it in muffin tins and refrigerate for 2 hours. Since I was making these for Valentine's Day I made them in heart shaped ramekins, and since we were too full to eat them on Valentine's Day I ended up refrigerating them for 2 days instead of 2 hours. In lieu of that, and because of our altitude, and that the ramekins were slightly larger than a muffin cup, I let these bake for an extra 2 minutes, which was slightly too long; 1 extra minute would have been perfect. They weren't quite a ooey gooey as they could have been. They were slightly gooey, but could have had a little more ooze to the chocolate "lava".

I did have a hard time getting them out of the ramekins. I think brushing the ramekins (or muffin tins) with melted butter would have helped them to come out easier than just spraying the pans with non stick cooking spray. However, a little run of the knife around the edges and I was able to get them out.

The flavors of these cakes were absolutely delicious. You ground up pistachios to make a pistachio butter, which was remarkable. You used some of it in the cake, and the remainder in the pistachio cream that went with it. The sauce really looked disgusting, to be quite frank, it looked much like split pea soup (or baby poop as my daughter said), but the flavor was absolutely divine. My husband wanted me to load his up with lots of sauce, he wanted it drenched in the sauce.

I am not really sure how these are "light", but apparently they are, at just 232 calories each, and with 7.7 grams of fat each, they're not too terribly bad for you. For a rich, decadent, chocolate dessert, these are heaven!

So, would I make these again? ABSOLUTELY! and probably will. I have the other 8 in my freezer to make for our Bed and Breakfast guests. We serve a 3-course breakfast and always serve a dessert for breakfast as well. I think these will go over quite well.

54 recipes down, 493 more to go.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Today was day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT. Since it was Valentine's Day I decided t make a romantic Valentine's Day Dinner for my hubby and me. I made a Heartthrob Salad, Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (not from the cookbook), and Steamed Lobster Tails (also not from the cookbook, which hubby cooked). I had also made some Chocolate lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream, but we were too full after the other dishes that I didn't cook the lava cakes and they're still in the fridge waiting to pop in the oven. I'll review those as soon as have those.

Since there are several recipes here, you can click on each of the links below to review our thoughts about each of them...

HEARTTHROB SALAD
PEPPER-CRUSTED FILET MIGNON WITH HORSERADISH CREAM
ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT BUTTER
CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES WITH PISTACHIO CREAM

54 recipes down, 493 more to go.

Roasted Asparagus, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT so I decided to make a romantic dinner for my hubby and myself. I personally love asparagus, and know it goes well with red meat and had some baby asparagus on hand so decided to do a roasted asparagus recipe from the cookbook. Here's our thoughts on this side dish...

ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT BUTTER, pretty good...

My hubby is not a big fan of asparagus, or any cooked vegetables, for that matter. I grew up eating mostly canned veggies, so mushy vegetables are right up my ally, however, since I've been married and my hubby hates mushy veggies, I've learned to cook them so they're mostly tender-crisp.

I was watching the Worst Cooks in America recently and Anne Burrell was teaching them to cook some vegetable, green beans I think, and she said "when it's warm, it's done", so I've been trying to put that technique into practice.

This recipe calls for the asparagus to be roasted on a cookie sheet coated, sprayed with cooking spray, with the asparagus lined in a single layer, then covered with foil and baked for 450 degrees for 5 minutes, then uncovered and cooked for another 10 minutes. I didn't use regular sized asparagus, but tiny, very thin, baby asparagus, so thought the cooking time should be less. And, since my hubby's so adamant about his veggies being CRISPY, I just cooked them covered for 6 minutes and they were quite warm, and as Anne Burrell would say, when they're warm they're done. So I decided to serve them after the initial bake time.

After they're done you toss them with the butter mixture I prepared in advance. The flavors of the butter mixture were good, and not overpowering. We both liked this asparagus. I would have preferred them cooked a little longer, but my hubby liked them just the way they were, which says a lot, knowing he really doesn't like cooked veggies, or asparagus very much. He actually liked this dish, so that's a huge compliment for this dish.

I would make this recipe again. I would like to try it cooked a little longer like the recipe calls for. I'm sure we can come to a happy medium between dear hubby and myself. But, overall, this was a good way to cook asparagus and the flavors were good and went well with the meat.

53 recipes down, 494 more to go.

Filet Mignon, Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT so I decided to make a romantic dinner for my hubby and myself. I have always thought a good steak was a nice hearty, high end meat to enjoy for a special dinner so I decided to make Filet Mignon, which I often make for a romantic dinner for us.

There are 3 filet mignon recipes in this cookbook so I showed them to my hubby and let him choose which one he wanted, and he chose the Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream. All 3 sounded delicious to me, but I love horseradish cream with prime rib, so thought it must be good with filet mignon also, though I've never had it with this particular cut of meat. Here's what we thought of it...

PEPPER-CRUSTED FILET MIGNON WITH HORSERADISH CREAM, very good...

I have made Filet Mignon numerous times in the past and have always struggled with them coming out very rare. I knew I would need to cook these a bit longer as the cut of meat I got was larger than the recipe called for. The recipe calls for the mean being about 4-ounces each, and these were about 8-ounces each (one a little bigger than the other), and are supposed to be about 3/4-inch thick, and these were at least 1-inch thick. I kept a close eye on them and cooked them a couple minutes longer on each side than directed. The larger one came out perfectly for my hubby, and the smaller one I probably should have removed about a minute or so sooner. It was still pretty pink all the way through, but not "red" at all, like Filet Mignon should be.

The simple flavors of the salt and pepper crust, and the last minute addition of garlic were delightful. I really liked using coarse salt and pepper for these. And we both really liked the horseradish cream sauce that went along with it.

Delicious, quick and easy to make. I would definitely make this recipe again.

52 recipes down, 495 more to go.

Salad with Hearts of Palm, Heartthrob Salad

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Day 28 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT so I decided to make a romantic dinner for my hubby and myself. I chose this salad recipe mainly because of the name "Heartthrob Salad" was the perfect name for a romantic dinner in my opinion. Here's what we thought of this particular salad...

HEARTTHROB SALAD, just ok...

This salad included hearts of palm, plum tomatoes, a very small amount of kalamata olives (which I skipped on my hubby's salad since he hates olives of any kind), parsley, some bib lettuce, a dressing made of white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt & pepper and cloves, and sprinkled with a little bit of Parmesan cheese (which I forgot to put on before I took the picture. I did add it onto our salads later, however).

The "dressing" seemed a bit too wet, and splitting each heart of palm down the middle and having it 2 open slices under the lettuce wasn't very practical since you needed to cut it up anyway. I don't think it made a big difference on the presentation (you can barely see them near the top of the picture), and actually think if you had cut the heart of palm into large slices and mixed it in with the tomato mixture and topped the lettuce with the tomato and hearts of palm sliced would have been a better presentation and made it easier to eat.

The flavor was more of a Mediterranean or Greek flavor, which was ok, but wasn't one of our favorites. I probably would not make this salad again. The portion size, however, was very large, as we've noticed with many of the recipes in this book. It said it serves 2, but realistically it would have served 3-4.

Overall, just an ok salad.

51 recipes down, 496 more to go.

Pasta with Sauteed Tomatoes, Olives, and Artichokes

Tonight was day 27 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I wanted to use some of the ingredients I have leftover on hand from some other dishes and found a pasta dish that would work. I made us Pasta with Sauteed Tomatoes, Olives and Artichokes.

PASTA WITH SAUTEED TOMATOES, OLIVES, AND ARTICHOKES, pretty good...

For a dish that doesn't have much to it, and is quick and simple to make, this was a decent dish that we both enjoyed.

It was really quick and easy to make, it only took about 20 minutes from start to finish. I got all my ingredients prepped while the pasta was cooking, and actually made the dish in 2 separate pans because my hubby hates olives, so I made his without olives, and mine with olives (kalamata olives, even better).

There are really very little ingredients to this dish... pasta (ziti), tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, basil, cheese (Asiago, but Parmesan would have been a fine substitute), salt and pepper. It went together so fast and easy, it was great to do after a busy day at the inn.

The flavors were simple, but enough. There's no sauce to this dish, just the flavors of the ingredients themselves. I think a little drizzle of olive oil would have been nice, but we skipped it, as this is cooking "light".

Overall, I'm not sure I'd make this dish again or not. If I happen to have these ingredients on hand and I need a quick meal to fill my tummy, I might make it again. For me, it was a good meal, but not really memorable or one of my favorites.

50 recipes down, 497 more to go.

Dutch Baby Pancakes, Pear Dutch Baby

Yesterday was Day 26 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made us a Pear Dutch Baby (Dutch Baby Pancakes, which can be vary in a number of ways.

PEAR DUTCH BABY, very good...

I make a recipe somewhat like this at our Bed and Breakfast Lodge, Apple Sausage Puff Pancakes (you can click on the link for that recipe); I don't have a picture of it, but will try to take one the next time I make them. They're always a hit with our guests, and it's one of my daughter and son in law's favorite breakfasts that she makes for him frequently.

I make mine slightly different. I found a recipe similar to this one that called for fresh fruit with an orange glaze sauce, cooked in a pie tin. I altered it created my own apple sausage filling and serve them in individual ramekins for the guests. They love them because not only do they taste wonderful, but the presentation is usually impressive. The ramekins are hot, the pancake rises above the ramekin by an inch or so, and I drizzle some of the sauce around the edge to make it sizzle when it's served.

Anyway, back to THIS recipe. I followed the instructions as the recipe called for and made it in a cast iron skillet as directed. For some reason the pancake only rose on half of the skillet and was flat on the other side, not sure why it didn't work all the way around, but when I make these in ramekins it can be a fickle recipe and if a little drip of batter gets on the edge of the ramekin it can stop the rise. Temperature of the skillet, or ramekins, is also important, and how hot the butter is. It can be tricky getting it to be "just right" every time, and I guess it's no different with making it in a skillet.

We really liked the flavor and texture of the pears as the filling. You had to use a lot of lemon juice, which I'm guessing is what's substituted for butter and/or syrup, and we thought it would be WAY too much, but it turned out fine. Knowing that there was so much lemon in it made us more aware of it, but I don't think you would have noticed it so much had you not known there was so much in it.

Also, the pears were a bit on the mushy side, however, I don't think that's a fault of the recipe, I just think my pears were a bit more ripe than they should have been. And the recipe does not tell you to peel the pears, which I would have done. The picture in the cookbook looks like they were peeled, but since the recipe didn't tell you to, I did not peel them. It only tells you to core and thinly slice the pears. Peeling them would have been better.

Final synopsis... this was a really good recipe that I would definitely make again. And I think I'll use pears in my puff pancake at the B&B instead of apples sometime to change it up a bit. This is a keeper recipe.

49 recipes down, 498 more to go.

Baked Flounder, Smoked Gouda Macaroni and Cheese

Today was day 25 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made 2 dishes for dinner tonight: Baked Flounder with Fresh Lemon Pepper, and Smoked Gouda Macaroni and Cheese. Here's our thoughts on these two dishes:

BAKED FLOUNDER WITH FRESH LEMON PEPPER, pretty good...

The flavors of the rub on the fish were really strong... garlic, cracked pepper, lemon zest, olive oil, and salt. Not much to it, but it sure packed a punch of flavors, and pretty spicy as well. But it was good. The fish was so thin I was concerned that the cooking time of 8 minutes at 425 degrees was going to be too much, so I checked it after 6 minutes and it did need to go a little longer. I ended up cooking it for 8 minutes and it was cooked perfectly. This was a good dish, and quick and easy to make. My hubby liked it as well, it's one I may consider making again.

SMOKED GOUDA MACARONI AND CHEESE, better than I thought it would be...

I've mentioned before that I'm not really a fan of baked macaroni and cheese, but this one was actually pretty good, we both liked it. There was a LOT of spinach, and I mean a LOT... 5 cups of chopped, fresh spinach, to be exact, for 4 servings (which is really more like 6-8 servings when you're serving it as a side dish). The photo in the cookbook doesn't look like it has as much spinach in it, so when I was mixing it all together and saw how much spinach there was compared to the macaroni, I was afraid it was not going to be good and the spinach would be too overpowering. My hubby thought it was ruined when he saw it.

However, it was very good, and you really couldn't taste the spinach flavor in it much at all. We were very pleasantly surprised and both of us liked it much better than we thought we would.

There are some issues with this cookbook that I think could be more clear or precise, or described better. The spinach in this recipe is a perfect example. It says "5 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach", which I take to mean chop the spinach first and measure out 5 cups of CHOPPED spinach. However, it probably would be been better (and look more like the picture in the cookbook) if it had been "5 cups of spinach, coarsely chopped", which would have meant measure out 5 cups of spinach, and then chop it. At any rate, it worked the way I made it, though I think it should have been the other way around.

The recipe says it will serve 4, and since I was just cooking for the 2 of us I considered cutting the recipe in half. But dear hubby loves pasta so much he said no way, he'd eat more than his allotted portion and would be happy with leftovers. We have 2/3 of the macaroni and cheese leftover so he'll have a lot to eat over the next couple of days, which he's happy about.

A good recipe that I would make again. Hubby really liked it a lot.

48 recipes down, 499 more to go (FINALLY below the 500 mark!).

Waffles and Berries, Linguine with Two Sauces

Today was day 24 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made two dishes. I made some Waffles and Berries (Waffles with Two-Berry Syrup) this morning, and some Linguine with Two Sauces for dinner tonight. Here's our critique of these two dishes...

WAFFLES WITH TWO-BERRY SYRUP, tough waffles, good sauce...

The waffles themselves had really good flavor (made with white flour, whole wheat flour, flax seed, and wheat germ), but they were a bit tough. We like our waffles a little lighter and fluffier. But, the flavors were very good and we liked the taste, just not the texture.

Also, the batter was really wet. I ended up letting the batter sit for a few minutes to allow the liquid to absorb into the flours and it helped quite a bit.

The syrup, however, was really good, and really easy to make. I thought it was really watery so I let it cook down a little bit and ended up cooking it down a bit too much. I may use this syrup at our Bed and Breakfast to top my own pancakes, waffles, blintzes and crepes. it was good, and really easy.

I probably will not make this particular waffle recipe again, however, and definitely would not serve it at our B&B since the texture was tough. But I did like the flavors. If it could be variated somehow so it wasn't so tough, I'd love to make this dish again, but it needs to be lightened up a bit.

LINGUINE WITH TWO SAUCES, one of my favorites so far!

I REALLY liked this dish a lot! My hubby liked it ok, but he's not a big time creamy sauce guy, so wasn't as in love with it as I was, but he still liked it well enough to make again in the future sometime.

It was a little on the sweet side, however. I'm not sure what caused it to be sweet since there was no sugar in it. Maybe the tomatoes, maybe the 1/4 of white wine (which was supposed to be a dry white wine) was not as dry as it should have been, which may have been the case as I'm not a wine connoisseur. But, I loved it.

The combination of the creamy white sauce that the pasta was mixed in with, and the red sauce that the pasta was topped with, blended really well together. I knew it was going to be good when I smelled the sauces cooking before it was put together and baked in the oven. And then when I pulled the foil off the top after baking it the aromas were delightful. I could not wait to try it. And once I did, I was so very pleasantly surprised.

I will be making this dish again and again I think.

46 recipes down, 501 more to go (close to breaking the 500 mark!)

Bell Pepper Feta Pasta Toss

Today was day 23 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made a Bell Pepper Feta Pasta Toss. Here's our thoughts on this dish...

BELL PEPPER FETA PASTA TOSS, very good, quick, and easy!

This recipe was extremely easy to make, and very quick. From the time I walked into the kitchen and time we were eating was less than 25 minutes, a great meal when you don't have much time. And it was super easy.

As for the dish itself, it was a simple dish but the flavors were really good. This pasta dish would also make a good summer dish as well. It was a light dish.

My hubby, who loves pasta just about any way, loved this dish. He thought it was a tad dry, however, since there's no sauce for this dish, so he drizzled his with a little olive oil just to moisten it up a bit; not much, just a little drizzle, and it was enough. I ate mine without the additional oil and it was fine.

He also hates olives so I just put the olives on my dish and not his.

This is a definite keeper dish, and great when you don't have much time but want to whip up something quick. And it's a good dish to serve year round. This was a winner.

44 recipes down, 503 more to go.

Crostini, Green Chile Salsa, Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie, Ricotta Won Tons

Today was day 22 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT. It was Super Bowl Sunday tonight (Go Packers!) and I decided to make a few of the appetizer recipes from the cookbook, and one of the dessert recipes. I cooked 4 recipes, and decided to feature them each in their own blog post, so I'll just post their titles, pictures, and a short synopsis here, and you can click on he links to find out more about each of them...

ROASTED TOMATO and GREEN CHILE SALSA; SALSA de MOLCAJETE
Very good fresh salsa recipe, check it out by clicking on the title above.

HERBED RICOTTA WON TONS with SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
Won Tons weren't very good, but the spicy tomato sauce was, probably won't make it again, click on the title above to find out more about this dish.

CROSTINI with GORGONZOLA, CARAMELIZED ONIONS, and FIG JAM

Very good, loved the flavor combinations; click on the title above for more about this dish.

BLACK BOTTOM BANANA CREAM PIE

Pretty good, most liked it a lot; click on the link for more about this dish.

So, we whittled down a few more recipes tonight while enjoying the big game (commercials and half time show for me). It's been a busy day for me, I've been cooking all day, starting with breakfast for our Bed and Breakfast guests, then making these 4 dishes, and 2 others that my hubby specifically wanted for game day (sweet potato fries and buffalo wings). I'm pooped and ready for bed, but will back tomorrow with more reviews of tomorrow's dinner.

43 recipes down, 504 more to go.

Crostini with Gorgonzola, Caramelized Onions, and Fig Jam

CROSTINI with GORGONZOLA, CARAMELIZED ONIONS, and FIG JAM

great flavor combinations...

All of us, except for our son in law, liked these crostini. I really liked the flavor combinations a lot. Toasted baguette with Gorgonzola cheese spread on it, caramelized onions, and a home made fig jam, it was excellent.

There was a lot of work to these with preparing the onions and the fig jam, but they were worth the effort. And I'm not a fan of Gorgonzola cheese by itself, but mixed with other flavors it's delicious.

We all agreed, well, most of us, that these were really good and definitely a dish I'd prepare again in the future.

43 recipes down, 504 more to go.

Herbed Ricotta Won Tons with Spicy Tomato Sauce

HERBED RICOTTA WON TONS with SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
Not a hit...

These did not go over well with the family at all. My hubby and I both thought they were just ok, our daughter didn't like them, and her hubby wouldn't even try them after he heard our daughter didn't like them. I think it was the amount of mint mixed in with the ricotta cheese that didn't go well with it. There was quite a lot of mint in them, and it was really overpowering.

The sauce, however, was good. The won tons definitely needed the sauce to help bring some more flavors to the won tons. Without the sauce, the won tons aren't very good by themselves.

Our overall impression with these, not good, and I won't be making these again.

42 recipes down, 505 more to to.

Roasted Tomato and Green Chile Salsa; Salsa de Molcajete

ROASTED TOMATO AND GREEN CHILE SALSA; SALSA de MOLCAJETE

very good...

This was a very good fresh, home made salsa. We all liked it very much and it's definitely worthy of making again.

One of the problems that I've had with some of the recipes in this cookbook, is that the directions are not always very clear or precise. For example, in this recipe it tells you to broil the tomatoes, garlic and jalapeno peppers, and to cool and peel the tomatoes and garlic, but not the jalapenos. I know from experience that you need to peel the skins and remove the seeds. The picture in the cookbook clearly does not show the seeds from the jalapeno peppers, but the directions do not tell you to remove them. A little more clarity in some of the recipes would be helpful, especially for a novice cook.

Another thing to note is that this salsa does not seem very hot at first bit, a bit warm, but not hot; however, when you continue to eat the salsa the heat does intensify and lingers for quite some time, so be prepared for that. My hubby was drinking milk along with all the spice we had tonight.

Final synopsis, the flavors of this salsa are good and is a definite keeper.

41 recipes down, 506 more to go.

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

BLACK BOTTOM BANANA CREAM PIE

good...

This was a good pie, our daughter and son in law really liked, as did my hubby. I thought it was fine, but after eating all the appetizers throughout the Superbowl today, I was a bit full by the time dessert rolled around, so didn't have much of an appetite. However, I do think it was a good pie.

The fat free whipped topping was a bit loose and runny so I had a hard time getting it to look decent after it was cut. And trying to get a decent picture didn't go over too well. Overall, it was a decent dessert and worthy of making again.

40 recipes down, 507 more to go.

Salisbury Steak, Drop Biscuits

Day 21 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made Superfast Salisbury Steak, and Drop Biscuits. It was a quick, easy dinner to make, and went over well with everyone, read on...

SUPERFAST SALISBURY STEAK, really good, and easy...

This recipe was a hit with everyone. The meat was very moist, and the flavors of the sauce were extremely good as well. The sauce would have also been good over mashed potatoes as well. I used the leftover potatoes and carrots from the Pot Roast I made the other day, and they went with it well also. I wouldn't say the recipe was "superfast", but it was fast, under an hour from start to finish; compared to many of the other recipes in this cookbook, it was really fast to make. However, it was really easy. Everyone liked this dish, and it's definitely a keeper and one I'll probably make again.

DROP BISCUITS, good, quick, and easy...

My family are really biased by my own biscuit recipe, so it's difficult to make a new recipe without them already having in their heads that there's not a better biscuit. However, they all liked these biscuits. They said they're not as good as my biscuits, but they were good and all liked them. As for me personally, I thought they were going to be dry and tough, maybe that's just the way drop biscuits are, but I was surprised that these biscuits had a crunchy outside, but were still moist enough inside. Not my favorite biscuit, but they were super easy to make since you just mix all the ingredients and drop them into muffin tins. They really were ok, I'd eat them again, but probably won't since I have a better recipe.  There are a few other biscuit recipes in this cookbook that aren't drop biscuits, so we'll see how those turn out in the future.

39 recipes down, 508 more to go.



Beef Pot Roast, Rustic Tart

Day 20 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made two dishes; a Beef Pot Roast (Traditional Yankee Pot Roast as it's called in the cookbook), and a Rustic Tart (Rustic Grape Tart, to be specific). It's been so cold here lately I thought a good comfort meal was in store.

So cold that one of the pipes froze and burst in our B&B and wasn't discovered until after dinner; hubby, son in law, and son in law's father spent all evening at the Lodge cleaning up the mess and fixing the pipe. Still not sure how much damage was done and if our gorgeous oak table and hardwood floors will come back ok or not, only time will tell.

I was also going to make one of their biscuit recipes as well and my hubby wanted me to make my own biscuits instead. I'll save the cookbook biscuit recipes for future meals. Here's our thoughts on these two dishes...

TRADITIONAL YANKEE POT ROAST, good flavors, but the meat was overdone...

I have never been able to make a good pot roast for the life of me. I've tried many recipes over the years and haven't been able to master a good one yet. I even cooked this meat 15 minutes less than the directions called for and it was still overdone. I have no idea why a pot roast decides to do battle with me, but it wins every time.

The flavors, however, were really good, and the vegetables were cooked perfectly, just barely done. I tend to like my veggies a little more done, but everyone else in my family likes them less done. I typically cook them for the rest of the family's taste, and these came out perfectly for them.

All in all with this recipe, everyone agreed it was good, and worthy of making again, but the meat needs to be cooked less.

RUSTIC GRAPE TART, not one I'd make again...

Ok, just from the picture in the cookbook, and the type of fruit in this tart, it did not sound appealing to me, nor anyone else in my family, but I had a ton of grapes on hand and it was a recipe I needed to make for the sake of getting through the recipes in the cookbook, so we gave it a shot.

The crust we all loved. I had a hard time getting the crust to come up the sides of the fruit without breaking, probably a little more liquid (orange juice, which was gave it a good flavor) would have helped. There was corn meal in the crust as well and everyone liked the texture and flavor of the crust.

The fruit, on the other hand, did not go over well at all. There was very little to mix in with fruit, a small amount of sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and cinnamon. And the fact that the grapes were left whole did not provide any juices to mix in. The recipe called for half red grapes and half black grapes. Since I had a ton of red grapes on hand and no black grapes I just used red grapes without the black grapes. I'm sure the flavor of the grapes would have been different, but I don't think it would have changed the outcome of this tart overall.

And when it came to cutting and serving this tart, it was not a pretty site. There were grapes flinging off the tray and even onto the floor when my son in law tried to get a bite.

And then the flavors... hmmm.... just not a good idea to make a tart out of strictly grapes. Would have been good with other fruits such as berries or peaches, but not grapes.

This was not a winner with us and we'll not make it again. The crust, though, is a keeper.

37 recipes down, 510 more to go.

Pan Seared Scallops on Linguine with Tomato Cream Sauce Recipe

As promised I would pick our favorite dish for each month and share that recipe. The Pan Seared Scallops on Linguine with Tomato Cream Sauce recipe was Brian's favorite dish. Rachel liked the Baked Chicken with Lemon, Sean liked the Oven Fried Chicken Thighs with Mustard Buttermilk Sauce, and my favorite was the Blueberry Crisp a la Mode.

If you're enjoying these recipes, you can purchase the cookbook here.

And if you want to come and taste some of our cooking personally, we'd love to have you as our guest in our Colorado Springs Bed and Breakfast Inn, Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins where we'll serve you a gourmet 3-course breakfast each morning.

Enjoy our favorite recipe of the month from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT for January...

PAN SEARED SCALLOPS ON LINGUINE WITH TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2 Tbsp. whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup chopped seeded plum tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups hot cooked linguine
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• Chopped fresh cilantro, optional

1. Combine wine, shallots, lime juice, and ginger in a medium skillet; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Drain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid, discard solids.
2. Return wine mixture to skillet. Add cream, and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Stir in chopped tomato, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Add linguine, and toss well. Cover and keep warm.
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Arrange scallops in pan, cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Add scallops to pasta mixture; toss gently to combine. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired.

Yield: 2 servings (about 3/4 cup pasta mixture and about 5 ounces scallops)

Calories 426 (29% from fat)
Fat 13.5 g (sat 7.3g, mono 3.5g, poly 1.2g)
Protein 34.8 g
Carb 40.6 g
Fiber 2.6 g
Chol 92 mg
Iron 2.8 mg
Sodium 794 mg

Calc 75 mg