lutzflcat

Rice was cooked in 15 minutes, and it turned out very well. Served with some grilled sriracha=soy chicken thighs and cucumbers with dill.

I couldn’t find canned sweet potato puree (I know it’s available) at my grocery store, so I made it from scratch. These brownies are all about the semi-sweet chocolate, you won’t taste any sweet potato. They’re VERY moist, and I suppose that’s from the sweet potato. The chocolate chips on the top really didn’t melt or soften, and I wasn’t crazy about that. My husband is the chocolate lover in this house, and he liked these brownies, but me, I’m sort of middle of the road on them. If I make them again, I know I will substitute canned pumpkin as suggested by the recipe submitter.

I mixed this up and let the burgers sit in the fridge overnight. The weather was nice, so I grilled the burgers instead of cooking stove top and dealing with the cleanup later. I sub’d dry sherry for the mirin and used Gourmet Garden roasted garlic paste (in the tube). I grilled for about 4-5 minutes for medium burgers, perfectly pink in the center. Served with chili mayo slathered on the toasted brioche buns, and Asian coleslaw and husband's french fried onions on the side. Next time I’ll top the burgers with the slaw. A nice change from an ordinary hamburger.

Certainly was a different appetizer. It tasted pretty good, but I wasn’t crazy about the texture. It was so loose it was falling off the zucchini slices and brioche toasts with every bite. And it doesn’t have much eye appeal, either. I didn’t have Marcona almonds, so I used toasted slivered almonds. I liked the tang from the olives, but I was looking for more of the fresh tarragon flavor. If I were to make again, I’d add more tarragon and maybe a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

I used 6-oz ramekins (standard size, I think), and they really could’ve had more pears in them. Each pear measured out to be 1 cup chopped, so I used 1-1/2 pears. In the future, I’ll go ahead and use two pears which should measure 2 cups chopped and, hopefully, that’ll fill up the ramekins. This turned out OK, but as an option, the recipe author suggested maple syrup for the honey, and I think I’ll try that the next time.

We found the flavor weak, but it has all the right seasonings, just not enough of them. Increase the seasonings, and I think you’ll have a winner. I used my immersion blender to puree, but I also think a food processor would be better than a hand mixer. Garnished with some chopped parsley to give it a pop of color. This was OK for lunch today, but I will try this again increasing the seasonings. It breaks down pretty well nutritionally, and that’s definitely a plus.