NEW COOKBOOK from Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins

NEW COOKBOOK 

from

ROCKY MOUNTAIN LODGE & CABINS

Our first cookbook sold out last year. After spending 10 months, I am happy to say our new cookbook "Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins MORE Favorite Recipes" has now been published!

Our old cookbook had 350 recipes in it. This new cookbook has 500 recipes in it! About 175 recipes from the original cookbook, and over 300 new recipes!

Recipes include the following categories:

• Breakfasts
• Fruit Dishes
• Appetizers & Beverages
• Soups & Salads
• Main Dishes
• Vegetables & Sides
• Breads
• Desserts
• Cookies & Candy
• This & That

The cookbook also includes a FREE e-book version as well! So you can download it on your smartphone, tablet, iPad, Kindle, etc. I love having mine on my phone so I can look up a recipe when I'm at the store in case I decide I want to cook something in particular for dinner that night, and don't know what I need. I can quickly look it up and know what I need to get.

And, we are offering $5 off through December 15th, 2017! Shipping is $5.95 each.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOURS TODAY! And click on the $5 discount as well!

And here's some teaser pictures for you of some of the recipes in the cookbook:

Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Rosemary Glaze

Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

Italian Eggs Benedict

Chai Birch Logs (Cookies)

 You can find out more about our Bed and Breakfast Lodge and Cabins at our website at 

rockymountainlodge.com

719-684-2521

info@rockymountainlodge.com

Sourdough Starter, Sourdough Starter Recipe

My family love sourdough bread, pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, etc. And I also make them for our guests in our Rocky Mountain Bed and Breakfast Inn as well. You have to have a basic sourdough starter to use in all these recipes. 

Sourdough starter can be kept for years, and I've heard of restaurants and people that have had their starter going for decades. Some people think it can be a lot of work to keep it going, but it's actually really easy and quite forgiving. I cannot keep plants alive for the life of me, but I've had my sourdough starter going for a few years now. 

I have this recipe in the cookbook I wrote, Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins Favorite Recipes, and sell at our B&B. This cookbook, which has 350 recipes in it, including a number of sourdough recipes, can be purchased at our gift shop for just $16.95.

Here's the recipe and a few tips at the end. I will also be sharing some recipes in the future, but the starter is the base, and it needs about 5 days to get started, so get your starter going and I'll be back in a few days and share some sourdough recipes.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

• 1 pkg. dry yeast
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

In a large non-metal bowl soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) water.

Stir in 2 cups warm (110 degrees) milk, 2 cups flour and 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until smooth.

Cover with cheesecloth, or place in a jar with a loose fitting lid and let stand at room temperature 5 days, stirring once or twice a day. It will be ready to use in 5 days.

TO KEEP STARTER GOING:
After using some, add 3/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon sugar to the remaining starter. Leave at room temperature, stirring every day or two.

If not used after 10 days, add 1 teaspoon sugar to keep it going. Repeat adding sugar every 10 days if necessary.

This will last indefinitely and can be passed down for generations.

It also makes great gifts at holiday times to give some starter along with some recipes.

TIPS:

I keep my starter in a decorative cookie jar with the seal from the lid removed so it's not a tight seal. It can get kind of gunky at the top after awhile and by not having it in a clear jar you won't notice it, and it looks nice on the counter.

I'll put the starter in a large bowl for a little bit every once in awhile while I wash the jar.

The starter is VERY forgiving. If you forget to stir it for several days, don't worry about, just stir it, it will be fine. It will end up separating a bit, just stir it and all will be well. If it's been more than a week, just add a teaspoon of sugar and stir it.

St. Patrick's Day Recipes, Holiday Recipes

I'm still trying to play catch up on my blog recipes. I'm finally sharing my St. Patrick's Day meal from this year, just about 3 weeks behind, but better late than never, right? They will be here early for next year's Holiday recipes :)

I've never really made a full blown Irish dinner on St. Patrick's Day before and wanted to this year. I searched through a number of cookbooks and found a LOT of different Irish foods. I ended up going with Corned Beef and Cabbage, Irish Soda Bread, and some Glazed Mint Brownies for dessert. They were all a hit and everyone in the family loved them all. Here are links to each of the dishes, with the recipes included for the Irish Soda Bread and the Glazed Mint Brownies.

I will definitely continue the tradition of making Irish food next year. Maybe I'll find some other recipes to try next year. In the meantime, enjoy these, we loved them all!

IRISH SODA BREAD (includes recipe)
CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE
GLAZED MINT BROWNIES (includes recipe)
 

Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe, Taste of Home Recipes

I wanted to make something appropriately festive for dessert for St. Patrick's Day and decided to go with this Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe from a a little small publication I picked up from Taste of Home last year called Irish Food & Fun. I can't find the publication online anywhere to provide a link to purchase the publication, nor could I find it at Taste of Home's website either, so apparently it was a one time, limited publication. That being the case, I'll share the recipe since I can't find it anywhere to purchase.

Firstly, however, here's our critique of these chocolaty minty brownies.... We liked them, but they came out more fudge like than brownie like. Not that we're complaining, we liked them a lot and ate every single one of them over the course of the next few days, but they weren't as much cake like as they were fudge like. 

It is a recipe I'd make again, as we all liked them flavor of them, but they need a little tweaking on. Mine didn't rise very much in the middle and kind of sunk so they were very thin in the middle. I do, however, live at 7,500 feet in elevation, and tweak on my recipes a little bit to adjust for high altitude cooking, but these still didn't really work in adjusting for the altitude. If they were made at a normal elevation I'm sure they'd turn out perfectly.

Another thing I'll mention is that these were to be made in a 9-inch square pan, which I did, and I thought they were quite thin, especially when it came to the layers. I barely had enough of the layers to cover the previous layers, especially with the chocolate glaze on top. Just a little more would have been better. 

Bottom line, they were good, just need a little tweaking on, at least in high altitude.

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

GLAZED MINT BROWNIES

BROWNIE LAYER:

• 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

In a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and flour until blended. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

MINT FILLING:

• 3 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk (approximately)
• 3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
• 3 to 4 drops green food coloring, optional

In a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until creamy, you may need a little more milk if it seems too stiff. Spread over brownies.

GLAZE:

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp. butter

For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and butter on half power, stirring every 15 seconds, until smooth. Spread over filling.

Refrigerate until filling and glaze are set.

Makes 12-16 brownies.

Irish Soda Bread Recipe, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

For St. Patrick's Day this year I really wanted to make a few traditional Irish recipes. I'm not really even sure if this is a traditional Irish dish, but since it's called Irish soda bread I just assumed it is. But you know what happens when one assumes. 

I buy these mini magazines at the grocery store sometimes when I'm standing in line; yes, I am an impulse shopper sometimes and it's a weakness of mine to flip through cookbooks at the store. Last year I bought this little booklet from Taste of Home called Irish Food & Fun. I did a search for it online and at Taste of Home's website and can't find it. Since I can't find the cookbook to purchase anywhere, I'll share the recipe here.

I've never had Irish Soda Bread before and I really LOVED this bread, as did everyone else in my family. I'm kind of picky about raisins and fruit in my breads. I like them in some things, and not in others. My hubby loves them in anything. He likes them in the cinnamon rolls I make, but I don't like hot, plump raisins. But I do like regular raisin bread. So I wasn't sure how I was going to like this bread. Turns out, I loved it, as did everyone else. My daughter doesn't like raisins in her cinnamon rolls either, and didn't think she was going to like this either, but she did. 

And the leftover bread was great toasted the next morning with some butter or jam on it. 

I will probably make this recipe again next year as part of our traditional Irish dinner. 

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

IRISH SODA BREAD

• 1 pkg (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
• 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
• 1 cup warm buttermilk (110 to 115 degrees)*
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup golden raisins

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for about 5 minutes. Beat in the buttermilk, butter, salt, baking soda, 1 cup flour and remaining sugar until smooth. Stir in raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the bread hook for this and just walk away while it's kneading). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes (I put mine in the microwave and turn the light on under the microwave and the heat from the light helps warm it; or in the oven with the light on and the temperature off).

Punch dough down. turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead for 2 minutes. Shape into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/4-inch deep cross on top of the loaf. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

*Warmed buttermilk will appear curdled. The first time I heated my buttermilk in the microwave I did it for too long and it not only curdled, but separated as well. The second time I did it in short intervals of 15 seconds on half power and stirred it in between. This worked much better.

Corned Beef & Cabbage, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

I made this CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE recipe as one of my St. Patrick's Day recipes this year. It's from the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook, but it's not a slow cooker recipe, which was surprising to me. 

I've never actually made corned beef and cabbage before, and can't remember if I've ever even eaten it specifically, especially on St. Patrick's Day. I wanted to make a whole meal of Irish food for St. Patrick's Day this year and one of the most traditional, of course, is Corned Beef and Cabbage. I looked through a number of my cookbooks and found recipes in most of them. I decided to go with this one thinking I could just put it in the crock pot in the morning and forget about it, but that's not the case with this recipe.

The meat cooks in a dutch oven (large pot) on the stove for a couple of hours, then you add your veggies to it, and finally the cabbage. It took about 3 hours to cook from start to finish, but the actual time I spent in prep and actual cooking was very minimal, less than 20 minutes, total, with a little of it here and there with the veggie prep.

I must say we were all very happy with how this recipe turned out. The meat was so tender and flavorful, and the veggies were good. I also served sauerkraut with it as well. We didn't have very much meat left, but did have quite a lot of the veggies left, which I served as a side to another dish a couple days later.

Everyone in our family liked this dish and it's a definite keeper. My only regret is I didn't buy 2 corned beef briskets and make twice as much meat. I love Reuben sandwiches and was hoping to have leftovers for some Reubens, but there really wasn't enough meat leftover. The recipe says it will serve 6, and I bought my brisket just a little larger, hoping for leftovers. There were 4 of us that ate this dish and I would say the meat portion is really suited for 4, not 6 as the recipe suggests.

I think this recipe will become a yearly tradition for us :)

Butternut Squash Soup with Sauteed Radicchio

Still trying to play catch up with my blogging. This BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP with SAUTEED RADICCHIO I made a few weeks ago along with the Chicken Pot Pie that I made (which was a hit, by the way.

This is another recipe from the Best of Cooking Light cookbook. We really liked this soup, with the exception of the radicchio, which was very bitter. Even trying to eat it with the soup it was still way too bitter for us. We ended up tossing the radicchio and eating just the soup.

The soup itself, however, was delicious. It was a rich, creamy, and surprisingly hearty soup. The squash gave it a sweetness, which I'm guessing the radicchio was supposed to balance, but we loved the soup without the radicchio. The flavors in the soup blended very well. And it was pretty easy to make.

This is a soup I would definitely make again during the fall or winter months, skipping the radicchio, however. 

Chicken Pot Pie, Southern Living Cookbook

I have always loved pot pies, but my hubby has never been a fan of them, mostly because he hates peas, which are always a staple in pot pies, and he's never had a "good" pot pie, so he says they're just filled with "pea swill". Since I haven't had a pot pie in years I've been craving them, so decided to find a home made recipe and make them. 

I found this CHICKEN POT PIE recipe in the  Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. I used the pie crust recipe from this cookbook instead of my own cookbook, and it was a good pie crust recipe. I made these into 3 small pies instead of 1 regular pie. Each of the pies were large enough for two people. 

I thought the pie turned out really good. It really had a lot of chicken in it, which my husband liked. And here's the kicker, my hubby actually LIKED this pie. When I was making it, I told him I was making a pot pie from scratch and he was "going to like it", even though I pretty much knew he wouldn't. But, we were both surprised to find that he really liked it... a lot. He said he could see several peas in every bite and he kept thinking..... yuck, I'm going to taste peas.... yuck.... but he never could decipher or pick out the pea flavor, so he was pleasantly surprised. There were other vegetables in there as well.... corn, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms, along with the generous portion of chicken. And the sauce was made from scratch as well, and even had a little cheese in it. My hubby even told his Mom (who knows how much he hates peas), that I worked my magic on the peas and the pie and he loved it :) That really was the best compliment I could get, I was a happy camper, and still am :)

So this recipe is a definite keeper. My hubby says I can make pot pies again and he'll eat them, so I'll be happy to oblige :)

Kung Pao Chicken

I actually made this Kung Pao Chicken recipe a couple weeks ago, but have been a bit behind on posting my meals, so hope to get caught up here in the next week.

This recipe came from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. This recipe was pretty good, but not nearly as spicy as Kung Pao Chicken typically is, it was quite tame. As a matter of fact, my hubby said it was "Kung Chicken" without the "Pao". However, the flavors were ok, it just needed much more spice and kick. I think it also needed to be more saucy. I would have increased the amount of sauce in it, and probably would have doubled the spice in it to give it more kick. It also looks pretty bland in the way of presentation.

It was ok, but could have been better. I will probably try to find a different recipe if I want to make Kung Pao Chicken in the future.

Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream

A bit delayed, but here are our favorite recipes for February 2011, and a featured recipe.

There were several recipes that we really liked last month, and it was difficult to pick just one favorite recipe.

My favorite recipe for the month was the Linguine with Two Sauces. Brian had a hard time picking just one recipe. What he really liked was the whole Valentine's Dinner that I made. When I asked him to pick his one favorite "recipe" he couldn't come up with one, he liked the main dishes together as a whole that I cooked on Valentine's Day, which included Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon with Horseradish Cream, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic-Shallot Butter, Rosemary Garlic Fingerling Potatoes (no recipe, I just do my own thing with those), and Steamed Lobster Tails (recipe found online somewhere). We also had a Heartthrob Salad, which we didn't like very much, and Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream for dessert, which we both liked very much. He finally said if he had to pick one recipe, he ended up choosing the Pear Dutch Baby Pancake because it was one complete dish in itself.

So in trying to come up with an agreement on one recipe that we both liked as much as the other, and one I know will be a great recipe for anyone to make, I've chosen the Chocolate Lava Cakes with Pistachio Cream to feature as the Recipe of the Month for February. So here's the recipe. This recipe comes from the Best of Cooking Light Cookbook, which can be purchased here. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES WITH PISTACHIO CREAM

• 1 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 large eggs
• 5 large egg whites
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• Dash of salt
• Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Place pistachios in a food processor, and process until a crumbly paste forms (about 3 1/2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once.
2. Place 1/4 cup pistachio butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar, cocoa, eggs, and egg whites in top of a double boiler; stir well with a whisk. Add chocolate, cook over simmering water until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat; add baking powder and vanilla. Stir with a whisk until smooth. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Chill 2 hours.
3. Place remaining 1/4 cup pistachio butter and 1/2 cup sugar in food processor; pulse 4 times or until combined. Add milk and salt; process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a small saucepan; discard solids. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; pour into a bowl. Cover and chill.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. Bake the cakes at 450 degrees for 9 minutes or until almost set (centers will not be firm). Let cool in pan for 5 minutes.
6. Invert each cake onto a dessert plate; drizzle about 2 teaspoons sauce over each serving. Garnish with powdered sugar, if desired.

Serves 12

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.