Spaghetti & Meatballs

I'm trying to make at least 2 recipes each week from the cookbook, that's the only way I'll get thru all the recipes in time. So, the dinner for this week was Spaghetti & Meatballs. It was ok. The meatballs were good, but had way too many onions (they barely held together until I took some onions out). The spaghetti part was a little disappointing because it had practically NO sauce. It was too dry and I missed the tomatoey, saucy goodness that I was hoping it would be. But, the overall taste was ok. We gobbled it up with garlic bread and Bill even had the leftovers tonight. It wasn't as bad as the last recipe I made - which I will admit we didn't even finish!

I was a little rushed making dinner last night so I wasn't able to take as many pictures. Sorry!

the recipe

dinner

Chocolate Banana Loaf

Last night I had the house to myself for the evening so I decided to make the most of it and bake something delicious. I picked another recipe from the cookbook that I'm working thru. It sounded interesting and had potential. I love banana bread and chocolate so I thought the Chocolate Banana Loaf could be good. I whipped it up in no time and it looked good. After a long time in the oven, even longer than the recipe called for, I pulled it out and let it cool. I tasted it when it was cool enough to eat and it was...not good. The texture and taste were off. It was too mushy, even though I baked it a LONG time. Also, it had a weird taste. I let it cool some more hoping it would help and then tasted it again...it wasn't any better. Bill even tasted it this morning and he didn't like it (that means a lot because he likes almost everything). So, my final verdict for this one is NOT GOOD. It's really too bad because I had such high hopes!

the recipe

the ingredients and my mixer!
ooey, gooey smashed bananas

long bake time

the finished product looked better than it tasted

Flavor of the Month - Chocolate

It's that time again...Flavor of the Month time. Bill finally got my computer back up and running so I'm trying to catch up on my blog posts. I thought this was a good one to start with since it was "due" yesterday. Again, I wanted to find something that would fit with the theme of FOTM and also be a recipe from my cookbook, so I decided on this one: Deep Chocolate Cheesecake. It was a little different than normal cheesecake because it used marscapone cheese instead of cream cheese. I have never used marscapone cheese so it was an adventure! Bill didn't like the taste of it plain, but once I added the sugar and chocolate and orange, he liked it quite a bit. I also used my microplane zester for the first time to zest an orange and it worked great! It was so much fun and smelled orangey! Because of all that zest, the cheesecake had a fairly strong orange flavor. My only complaint with this cheesecake is that it didn't look very pretty. It didn't come out of the springform pan very well and it was really loose. I think next time I would serve it in individual ramekins to help with presentation. Overall, the taste was ok, if you like cheesecake (which I don't, so I didn't eat much). Bill and our guests seemed to enjoy it, though, so I guess that means it was a success.

the recipe

the ingredients
zesting!
graham cracker crust...with cocoa

chocolate - my favorite part!

not very pretty, but pretty tasty

This is the last month for Flavor of the Month. It's no longer going to be a regular part of Bake at 350. Instead, there will be periodic themes and reasons to post. I will try to keep up...

I guess this completes #22 on my list of Goals. Yay me!

Onion Soup

Tonight I made another recipe...again. I made Onion Soup with Croutons. It started with caramelized onions, which I'm not a fan of, and included wine, which I'm also not a fan of...so I didn't have high hopes for this soup. But, the final product looked good - just like the picture. I also made the croutons that the recipe called for. The final verdict for the soup was just OK. Bill really liked it...he said it was "extremely tasty"! I was surprised that I didn't hate it. The best part was by far the croutons. They were delicious and so easy to make. We will definitely have the croutons again and maybe even the soup.

the recipe

the ingredients
the onions

the final product

Cookies

One of my colleagues celebrated his birthday last weekend. I asked him what he would like for his birthday and he said Chocolate Chip Cookies. I glanced thru the cookbook and noticed there was a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies, so it worked out perfectly. He received a plate of delicious cookies and I crossed off another recipe - everyone wins!

the recipe

perfect sized cookies
don't they look good?!?

Flavor of the Month - Boozy

This month, the Flavor of the Month is Boozy. My problem is that I don't have a lot of recipes that include alcohol...in fact, I couldn't think of a single one. (Mainly because I don't like the taste of most alcohol/liquor.) But, I glanced thru the cookbook that I'm currently cooking thru and found a few desserts that included booze. We bought our first bottle of brandy and I made a recipe that used 1 Tbsp. Not a lot, but it still counts. This afternoon, I whipped up a batch of "Rich Chocolate Mousse". And even though it's not a favorite old recipe, it was pretty good. However, I must warn that it is definitely not a late night dessert. It is very rich, as the title states. The hint of brandy is just enough for me in this tasty, decadent dessert.

the recipe

we used the good chocolate - and it was intense
yummy chocolate
yummy melted chocolate

it may not look very pretty but it was rich and delicious

Rich Chocolate Mousses

10 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp brandy

4 eggs, separated

Unsweetened cocoa, for dusting

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Add the butter and melt with the chocolate, stirring, until smooth. Remove from the heat, stir in the brandy, and let cool slightly. Add the egg yolks and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks have formed, then fold into the chocolate mixture. Divide 4 stainless steal cooking rings between 4 small serving plates, then spoon the mixture into each ring and level the surfaces. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours until set.

Remove the mouses from the refrigerator and discard the cooking rings. Dust with unsweetened cocoa and serve.

Burger & Fries

Yesterday we made yet another cookbook recipe - 2 actually! (I feel like I'm making a lot of recipes, but really I'm not...I have a long ways to go.) There's not much to say about this - it was Hamburgers and French Fries. The fries were more like oven-roasted potatoes...they were really good, they just didn't taste like fries. And we didn't follow the burger recipe exactly because we cooked them on our spiffy new BBQ instead of a grill pan on the stove. They were really tasty!

the first recipe

the ingredients
raw potatoes

another recipe

yummy ingredients

the fries look dark, but they were good...
the burgers are smothered in melted cheese!

dinner!

Mac & Cheese

A few weeks ago, I made another recipe from the cookbook...I made Macaroni & Cheese. I've never been a big fan of homemade mac & cheese. I like the fake, yellow stuff in a box - it just tastes more fun! But, I've had good homemade stuff too so I thought this recipe had potential and it could have been a new "family favorite". Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I hoped. On the other hand, it wasn't that bad. When I was making it...it didn't look good. The stinky cheese was not appealing to me. So, after tasting it - I was kind of surprised that it was OK. It wasn't great but it wasn't horrible either. It was OK. We actually ended up eating most of it. So, another recipe down...and many, many more to go.

the recipe the ingredients
making a yummy cream sauce

delicious, crusty top

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Its been pretty busy lately. We've been celebrating the New Year and enjoying lots of tasty food and fun adventures. Its also been great to have Peter here with us for the last few weeks (he left today and we are sad). Even though the holiday season demands its own special food, we were able to try a few recipes from the cookbook while Peter was here. The most recent one was Tuna Noodle Casserole. I have to admit that I make a pretty good Tuna Noodle Casserole, but the point of cooking through an entire cookbook is to cook all the recipes as they are written. So, I made the meal according to the recipe. The final verdict was: mine is better!

the recipe

I don't normally use green peppers, but I had to follow the recipe
a creamy, tasty tuna sauce

you have to have noodles

the topping was the best part: butter, bread crumbs, and cheese!

looks pretty good...(mine is better!)

Thanksgiving and Apple Pie

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We had a good day with lots of cooking and eating and football watching. We celebrated the day at a friend's house and there was lots of food...more than we needed. So much food that we literally had the same number of desserts as people! The good part is that we still have lots of yummy leftovers. It was a delicious day full of thanksgiving! It was also the first thanksgiving in my life (that I can remember) when I didn't have pumpkin pie. I was sad about that, but I made a pumpkin trifle instead and it was tasty, so I guess I can wait until Christmas for my pumpkin pie!

I also used Thanksgiving as an opportunity to make another recipe from the cookbook. I made an apple pie, from scratch. I've made apple pies before but I usually cheat by using a can of pie filling. This time, I made it with real (fresh) apples. The crust recipe that came with the apple pie recipe was very frustrating (I prefer to make my grandma's crust recipe) and I almost gave up on it...but I kept trying and finally made it work. The pie tasted pretty good, but I think I'll use the canned pie filling in the future (its just easier).

part of our feast

pumpking trifle
recipe

apples (didn't know which type was better so I used both)

bowl full of apples

apple pie!