Yeasty Waffles
Joseph actually put the batter together while I ran off to the grocery store (the time to rise would've put it a little late in the evening). It did the full rise and worked out well, like it did before. I love that smell of yeastiness as it does it's thing. Though the strawberries look nice, I'm aching for the strawberries of spring and early summer. Instead of the mostly bland ones here.
Mac & Cheese (Dry Mustard, Sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack) (p38 Fine Cooking February / March 2012)
Either it was the noodles, or the combination, but I don't think that the recipe accounted for how much liquid would be sucked up by the noodles, because it ended up being a bit dryer then i like. On the other hand, in other recipes, I tend to use a deeper smaller dish, and while that provides less crust it generally has a saucier sauce. On the recommendation of CJ at the Cheese Shop, I used the Cabot Cloth Bound Cheddar and the Frisian Farms Young Gouda. And then used some parmigiano reggiano (the good stuff). Taste was good but the texture was a bit dry, but decent over all. I think maybe the garlic in the bread crumbs, was a bit much too. Maybe in the sauce, so it's cooked a bit more. The other issue here is that I didn't have whole milk, just skim, so there was clearly less fat then was intended to be in there.
Chicken Tostadas with Black Beans and Cilantro Lime Cream (p48 Fine Cooking February / March 2012)
I meant to pick up a roast chicken when they were on sale, however, I didn't get a chance to get out of the office until it was a bit to close to the time that we were going to go out to eat. This came together pretty quickly and tasted pretty good. Things didn't ended up looking that pretty, but tasted pretty good.
Italian Wedding Soup (p68 Food & Wine February 2012)
This came together pretty quickly. I did have a few questions about it though, because as a process, it didn't make a ton of sense. It seems very specific to say cook the orzo until it is al dente and then proceed to cook it more. It seems like it wasn't very well thought out. Also at the beginning, instead of taking an extra minute or three to form some flavor with the carrot and onion, it tells you to basically just to boil them. So I didn't exactly follow this recipe as written, but more as I would expect would make it turn out better. So with a couple of minor additions, it did end up being a pretty good soup.
Speedy Baked Ziti (p66 Food & Wine February 2012)
Reading this recipe through, I became offended at the idea of buying some pasta sauce in a jar. So I took a little extra time and then to make my own version of the sauce. And then why would I use ground sirloin, when I have the Grazino's sausage as an option? So, again some adjustments, and it still turned out pretty well.
Pizza, hopefully the final try.
Yep, that worked. Ok had the right flavor, thickness and a little bit of heat. Recipe to come. I had Shannon take this out of the fridge a bit early so it would be pliable by the time I got home, turns out I didn't get home til a little after 8. Luckily everything came together pretty well and quickly and we ate before 9. I did take a bit of extra time to slice the pepperoni (rather then buying that pre-sliced stuff).
