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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

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.

5 comments:

  1. I hope you counted me in those 2!! This might be a bit wordy but I know how you feel. When I started my blog, it was "for me." And then people started commenting and then I started relying on the comments and when I would only get one from my Mom (Teri) I would be sad and think - were the pictures not good enough? Was I not funny enough? Did it not resonate? But I don't think some readers even understand how comments help a blogger thrive (esp if they are not bloggers themselves).

    Anyway - I REALLY enjoy your recipe round ups. I am constantly looking for tried & true recipes and when I read your blog and you give one good reviews and it also looks yummy to me, I get excited!

    BTW - food photography is hard - I have a couple of pointers - let me know if you're interested!

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  2. Just like ahh bear, I REALLY enjoy your recipe round ups! I use them for meal planning and have quite a few of your recipes on my "to try " list.

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  3. I was sad to see the gyros didn't get a great rating from you - when I saw the picture I had high hopes ...

    I hear you about the readers and comments - Mike has NEVER left a comment on my blog and I only know my parents read when I forget they do so and write something embarassing or over their head - then I get a call or a confused e-mail : ) I have decided that someday, when I'm old and senile, I'll love looking back at my posts and maybe I'll try a few of the receipes again.

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  4. I always enjoy reading your blog! Gives me aspirations to cook more - it just never seems to happen! :)

    How do you turn the flash off???

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  5. Wanted to tell you that I made the butterscotch pie a couple of weekends ago and it was a big hit! I always look forward to this post to see what new things you have tried and what worked and what didn't. You give such great tips!!

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