Weekly Recipe Roundup 6

Another great week in the kitchen means quite a few great recipes to share with my 2 readers! Seriously, sometimes it seems I'm writing for my health but I do really enjoy it and I honestly wouldn't care if I did only have 2 readers. I'm enjoying learning how to take better photos and become a better writer - complete with the occasional grammar lesson from my loving husband. But I digress. Here are the winning recipes for the week:

July is the unofficial birthday month at the office. I baked 3 straight Sundays to produce 3 different desserts for 3 completely different palates. Because that wasn't enough, I even threw in a bonus dessert one week. Thank goodness my coworkers are willing subjects for my baking experiments and adventures! Last week's post of Butterscotch Pie was round 1. Round 2 was this Lemon Lime Layer Cake. The reviewers on Cooking Light raved about it but it scored about a 3 in my book. It did have a very summery, citrus-y flavor, but it was dry (probably could have cooked 5-10 minutes less) and the icing was runnier than I prefer. Sorry no picture from me but I borrowed this one from CL.

If you love garlic and Greek flavors, you'll love these Chicken Gyros from Annie's Eats. There is such a strong garlic presence that it tricks the taste buds into thinking it's hot from spice. This was the first time I strained yogurt and was amazed at the amount of liquid that drained overnight. The marinade for the chicken is a definite keeper but the gyros themselves were just ok. The tzatziki sauce was just a little too strong for my preference and the rest of the gyro was just sort of blah. I did skip the red onions but I somehow doubt they would have jazzed them up that much.

I paired the gyros with Annie's Greek Salad. Pardon my picture, I just learned how to turn the flash off but I'm still working on my shaky arm! These flavors pair so well together and the dressing would be a great go-to dressing for any salad combination. I substituted banana pepper rings for the olives and went light on the red onions.

Finally, we loved the marinade on these Sweet and Spicy Honey Grilled Shrimp. The recipe calls for marinating the shrimp 24-48 hours but I think that's a bit much. Seafood cooks fairly quickly in acid and with all the lime juice in this recipe, the shrimp had practically cooked itself before it even made it to the grill, giving it an odd texture after grilling. The marinade was great though as a sauce for the brown rice. I will definitely use the marinade recipe again but I won't let the shrimp sit so long next time. I think it would be great with chicken or a white fish as well.