Recipe 16- Strawberry Shortcake

As I mentioned in the previous post, Claudia decided that she wanted to try strawberry shortcake. What is interesting to me is that it was a request specifically for shortcake, and not for cupcakes or something else familiar to her. As far as I can recall, she hasn't ever tried strawberry shortcake before, and I'm not sure where she might have heard about it. But she was pretty adamant about it, so strawberry shortcake it was.

The recipe I ended up using was from the back of a Bisquick box, which I happened to pull out of the refrigerator when I was rearranging things for the remaining 3 pounds of strawberries. Score!

Recipe- Strawberry Shortcake, from the back of a Bisquick box
Modifications- Used soymilk instead of milk; no whipped topping
Reactions- Again, kids and I liked it, Dad didn't try it.
Notes- Once again, a pretty simple, but successful, dessert.

Recipe 15- Neely's Strawberry Pie

At the end of April, the kids and I took a field trip to SweetBerry Farm in Marble Falls to pick strawberries. We met my friend Amy and her kids Adam and Lottie (as well as some of her other friends) and spent a few hours in the strawberry fields. The weather was really nice, and there were plenty of really sweet, beautiful strawberries. So many, in fact, that we went a little overboard. Bryan and Claudia each had their own basket, as did I. And while neither of the kids completely filled their baskets, they both did a pretty good job. And we came home with almost 7 pounds of strawberries.

On the way home, Bryan decided that he wanted to make a strawberry pie. Claudia requested a strawberry shortcake. So while the kids napped, I flipped through cookbooks and searched online for something that was either already Bryan-safe or easily adaptable. (And made freezer jam in the meantime!) I came up with a strawberry pie recipe from the Food Network website (where else?), which was simple enough that Bryan was able to help me when he woke up from his nap. Fresh strawberry pie- mmmmmmmm...

Recipe- Neely's Strawberry Pie (available on Food Network website)
Modifications- Used Bryan-safe margarine instead of butter
Reactions- Kids and I loved it. Dad, as usual, didn't feel like trying anything that involved fruit.
Notes- Very easy recipe, and very good results. Definitely a winner!

Slight change of plans

So clearly, I'm not very good at this resolution thing. Not consistently, anyway- some weeks, I'll get inspired and try 2-3 new recipes, but others, I allow myself to get derailed and resort to standbys. I have decided, then, to amend my resolution slightly. I'm going to aim for 52 recipes over the course of the year- so if I miss a week here or there, I can make up for it in later weeks. As of this moment, I think I'm 2 recipes behind on the cooking (and WAY behind on the blogging...) But I promise I'll catch up on both sometime in the near future!

Week 14- Cheeseless Chicken Cordon Bleu

What do you do with leftover ham? Because we had quite a bit left over from Easter, and ham sandwiches only go so far. I had been talking to someone recently who was raving over the Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich from Schlotzsky's, which is a sandwich chain available in Texas, among other places. The idea of Chicken Cordon Bleu intrigued me, mainly because I haven't ever tried it before. I didn't actually have a recipe, but based on what I have heard, it's pretty much ham and swiss cheese stuffed into a breaded chicken breast.

I had previously made a Rachael Ray recipe that involved thinly sliced steak, rolled around a filling of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. I took that technique and applied it to this dinner, using thinly pounded chicken breasts and wrapping it around a filling of diced ham mixed with breadcrumbs and thyme (no cheese, for Bryan-safe reasons).

Most of the time, recipes recommend dipping foods into an egg wash before breading- the egg gives the breading something to stick to. I don't use egg washes (again, for Bryan-safe reasons), so I usually just make do with a very thin breading. This time, though, I decided to try something tricky. I remembered a Sandra Lee recipe for Baklava which called for butter-flavored cooking spray as a shortcut for melted butter (brushed between phyllo layers). So I sprayed my Chicken Cordon Bleus with butter-flavored cooking spray before dipping into the breadcrumbs- and it worked great! A new recipe and a new technique- I'm pretty pleased with myself this week. =)

Recipe- No recipe, but inspired by a number of sources, including Rachael Ray, Schlotzsky's, and Sandra Lee.
Modifications- Made a cream sauce for the non-allergic family to use.
Reactions- Generally a success. The lone dissenter was Claudia, who simply didn't want to try.
Notes- I think this recipe is a keeper, although the quality of the ham definitely improved the dish.

Week 13- Imaginary Chicken

This week's recipe was something of an adventure. We were in the Dallas area with Dad's family for the weekend, and Grandmama was planning to make chicken for Easter dinner. The problem was, she wasn't entirely sure how to make the chicken. She and Bryan's Aunt K had discussed the menu, and Aunt K mentioned a recipe that she had seen on the Kraft website for a chicken that she thought sounded good- it had a sauce with mustard, honey, Italian dressing, and a few other things, and was baked with new potatoes. However, the next time she checked the website, it was no longer there. Grandmama couldn't find it either, and when I tried an ingredient search, I couldn't find an exact match- a few other recipes were close, but nothing had all 3 ingredients that Aunt K remembered. Grandmama wasn't sure what to do, so I told her that I could try to put something together- and if it didn't match exactly, no one would ever really know, right? And so, Imaginary Chicken came to be...

Recipe- No recipe, but based on something that may have appeared on the Kraft Recipe website.
Modifications- No recipe, so no modifications.
Reactions- Depends on who you ask. My picky family weren't really fans (Dad said it was okay, but not his favorite, and Bryan ate a few bites without comment). The less picky relatives and I really liked it, though.
Notes- I think the mustard taste was a little too strong for my family, so I might play with the honey:mustard ratio a little. However, this may end up falling into the category of "Make for Company".

Cookies and brownies and cupcakes- oh my...

I have been on a little bit of a baking kick lately, mainly because I have not really been happy with the recipes I have used in the past for Bryan-safe baked goods. While Bryan certainly seems to like everything just fine, I want to be able to bake things that everyone in the house will be happy with (rather than having to make both "Bryan-safe" cookies and "Everyone else" cookies.) That means that the resulting products need to have good texture and good flavor- and as little soy flavor as possible. That seems pretty difficult, given the no-milk-no-egg parameters, but I have a ton of cookbooks and websites to help me out, so here goes...

Week 12.2- No Cow Brownies

With a good chocolate chip cookie recipe in hand, I am now able to turn my attention to another popular baked good in my house- brownies. I do have a brownie recipe that I have used in the past, but it is a little more labor-intensive than I can usually afford. I am hoping to find a recipe that, as for my cookie search, is simple and relatively quick. This time, I tried another recipe from the Bakin' Without Eggs cookbook. This one was already milk-free as well, so I was hoping it would work out well.

Recipe- No Cow Brownies from Bakin' Without Eggs by Rosemarie Emro
Modifications- Used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar, Bryan-safe chocolate chips, and no nuts.
Reactions- Bryan and Claudia liked them. I thought they were okay, but that I can probably find something better.
Notes- Texture-wise, these are more cake-like than I usually prefer my brownies. I was also able to taste the vinegar, although that might be because I used the apple cider variety- and neither of the kids seemed to mind. I had to bake them for quite a bit longer than indicated- I think it was a total of 40 minutes, and I was again worried about the top layer and edges baking too quickly. If I try these again, I will probably use a larger pan, and try to have white vinegar on hand.