Journal

Week 7 Cooking Results

Over all, I wasn't generally impressed with the recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. They were all generally fairly bland. It seemed very disjointed, some placed calling for dried spices (like garlic) and others calling for fresh. They often didn't specify at what level things should cook at on the stove top, which can change the recipe a lot. Other then that, it was fairly simple to cook out of, though I guess I did go out of my way for the easy cooking route.

Huevos Rancheros (p 227)

This was actually pretty easy, though I could have made it a lot fresher. I don't mind canned tomatoes, but if I can use fresh spicy peppers, I would prefer to. You basically soft boil the eggs in tomato mixture. I think it could have done better w/ a fresh jalapeno pepper, and some more spices. Though I did basically learn how to make a fairly simple chip...

Garlic Chicken (p 395)

This would've been a lot better if I had pounded out the chicken and then rolled it. The two piece that I had were of differing sizes, so while the thickest part of the breast was still needing cooking the smallest part was done...or getting over done. It did taste good though. That was a lot of garlic...and I mean a lot. Though it didn't taste bad.

Scalloped Mac and Ham (p 355)

This was pretty good, I added some cheese too it at the end.

Spicy Black Beans and Rice (p 61)

Spicy, my left foot. Even after adding more spices then it called for it was still on a fairly mild part of the spicy scale

Chili Mac Skillet (p 331)

This was easy to make...and if I would've thought about it, I could have made it in one pan. It was no where near as good as the chili that I made last year. It was basically a very simple chili with noodles added and cheese on top.

In conclusion for a end all be all cookbook, I prefer How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food over the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book,