Monday, January 31, 2011

Go Vote! For Our New Cookbook

I hope I compiled an okay list of 5 cookbooks for you to choose from- you all had SO many great options! We won't have to do another list of ideas next time around :)

Please go vote for the cookbook you'd like to do.  I'll take the poll down on Friday, February 4th and announce a winner this weekend!

Here are the links to the cookbooks in the poll:

1. Bobby Flay's Throwdown
2. Cook's Illustrated 30 minute meals
3. A Junior League Cookbook- This one is the Baton Rouge River Road Recipes
4. Martha Foose, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea
5. Sarah Moultons Everyday Family Meals

Go Vote!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ready for a new cookbook?

Hello Ladies!

I think there are a few of us out there that are ready to choose a new cookbook.  I have enjoyed Ellie's book- especially learning some heart healthier versions of some of our favorites. 

So...start leaving comments with what you'd like to do next!  We are open for ANYTHING! 

Also, if you are finished with Cook a Book and would like to be removed from this blog list- please let me know.  We'll go back over the "rules" we established for this blog in a few days.

Keep Cooking!
Shannon Boyer

Saged-Rubbed Pork Chops MINUS the warm apple slaw

We eat pork chops about once a week and I usually overcook them.  I thought I'd try cooking hers with bone-in chops.  They were yummy, but I still over cooked them :( 

I didn't cook the warm-apple slaw- didn't some appealing to me, but I served this with sage and thyme roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.

Yummy!

Chicken Pot Pie with Phyllo Crust


This was delicious!  The first homemade chicken pot pie I had made was Pioneer Woman's and we loved it!  But it is full of fat! 

I loved using fresh vegetables- I added carrots- and just a bit of heavy cream.  The taste and spices were delicious!  My little guy loved it too!

I'll be making this one again!

Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream

My husband loves salmon...and dislikes other white fish.
I love white fish...and dislike salmon.

So, whenever I can find a recipe that we both like- we eat it quite a bit.  Our staple fish taco recipe is from a friend from college- not sure where she got it from- but we LOVE it!

http://wearinggackeysapron.blogspot.com/2009/03/outside-of-chicken-box.html

Thought we'd give Ellie's a try since it is very similar, just with a different sauce.  I only used one chipotle pepper and it was a bit too spicy for us- but I liked the marinade she used on the fish.

In the future, I will be doing my original fish taco sauce with her fish marinade!  Think it will go nicely together.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce ~ page 55

I made Ina's Lemon Chicken....which is a great recipe, but I remembered that I wasn't real crazy about Ina's Peanut sauce, so I made Ellie's. I thought it was much better, it was healthy, and not so thick and gloppy as Ina's. I would make this again! Maybe I'll try Ellie's chicken recipe that she has it paired up with next time I do it. --Carissa

Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears ~ page 293

These were YUMMY! I will definitely be making these again. Here they are cooking on the stove, I made them a day ahead of when I needed them and they heated back up very nicely! I I meant to take a pic of the finished product but just didn't have the time cuz we gobbled them up too fast. In the end they were such a pretty red color. Ellie says to put in 2 whole cloves and one strip of orange peel...that seemed a bit weak to me, so I doubled both of those. Yum! You should try this for a yummy fat free dessert! --Carissa

Green Pea Soup page ~ 84

This soup was very pretty...I'm not sure if I would make it again though. I thought it was a little too thin, I would have liked it better if it was thicker. The taste was not bad, mainly tasted like peas, which is expected since that is all it is really made up of. It was definitely very healthy. I might freeze the leftovers and use it as babyfood for my 5 month old. :) --Carissa