February 3, 2012

This week started out with a major recipe fail! I was so disappointed. It was an America's Test Kitchen recipe, which I normally can count on 100% to be a great recipe. It was a pork roast; I even double butterflied it as directed, and follow the directions to the letter. But...it just wasn't meant to be. No need for details...just know that this roast couldn't make it onto the blog.

After such a failure even I was surprised that I attempted a second ATK recipe this week. I suppose it was like "getting back on the horse", and I am glad that I did. I had a few overripe bananas, and had seen a recipe for banana bread that caught my eye because it was beautiful. In the recipe the final step before baking is to shingle banana slices on the sides of the loaf, and I must say, they absolutely made the bread look great. And as a bonus, it tasted great too! It is definitely a bit more work than the usual quick bread banana bread we all make, but this was worth the extra bit of time. It does call for 5 ripe bananas - just to warn you. I had to call a friend to gather reinforcements because I only had 3 speckled ones in my fruit bowl! If you happen to freeze your bananas when they begin to turn, they will also work very well in this application. Give it a try - I bet you will be pleased with the outcome.

One dinner menu this week included both a new main dish as well as a new side dish - shredded buffalo chicken sandwiches and baked onion rings. The chicken was great, but fairly spicy, so I want to make it again with a modification that I think will really help with the heat. Once I do that, I will share the recipe. The baked onion rings were a hit with Ryan and I! Owen doesn't like onions, and Hannah was eating tons of spinach salad, but Ryan and I really enjoyed them. One of the ingredients...corn Chex! The recipe I was using called for corn flakes, and I didn't have any, so I improvised with corn Chex, and they turned out well! When I make them again I will just have t see what kind of cereal I have on hand in my pantry.

And the last recipe for the week...Cookies & Cream Cookies. Liam helped me make these in the afternoon before the kids got home, and our family loved them! We shared them with a few friends as well, and they really enjoyed them, too! Funny story...Liam cried as I put some on a plate to give away, and then grabbed one from the cooling rack to eat. (He really is the Cookie Monster around our house.)

So, while the week began poorly with the first recipe such a disaster, it ended up as a pretty good week. We'll have to see what next week brings.

New Recipes
Banana Bread
Baked Onion Rings
Cookies & Cream Cookies