Pretty Good Food (original) (raw)
19 November 2015 @ 10:21 am
Recipe: Breakfast Casserole with Green Chilies
Source: Cathy A.
Serves: 8 to 16'
Cook's Notes: From Cathy, a co-worker, who has treated us to this several times. It is so tasty and rich, one doesn't need too much, so it can be cut in rather small squares if you're serving a bunch of people. Serve it with your favorite hot sauce, and possibly a dab of sour cream.
Recipe: [Not really] Italian Wedding Soup
Source: my own take on a classic
Serves: 4-5, I guess?
Cook's Notes: (Semi) vegetarian version of a fast and easy soup.
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Current Mood: 
productive
Recipe: TVP ‘meatballs’
Source: my own
Serves: varies
Cook's Notes: This is my favorite way a preparing TVP granules (textured soy protein – a meat substitute). I use them in soups, cut up on pizza, in tomato sauce, or as burgers. In short pretty much any way you’d use ground beef. More notes at the end of the recipe.
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Current Mood: 
cheerful
Recipe: Chicken Curry
Source: my own, inspired by various Punjabi recipes
Serves: 6
Cook's Notes: Tasty, easy. Not nearly as fussy as it looks. Not even remotely authentic; just me riffing on a theme – taking ideas from here and there and mashing them together. Can be made vegetarian by substituting TVP for the chicken.
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Current Mood: 
hungry
26 December 2013 @ 08:42 am
Recipe: Kabocha Squash Soup
Source: Adapted from 
gingersnapps's recipe
Serves: 10
Cook's Notes: For a while we were getting a CSA box from Underwood Farms, an excellent local establishment, and one week they gave us a Kabocha Squash (sometimes called Kabocha Pumpkin). gingersnapps looked for recipes on the internet and found one that she adapted, and which I have further adapted. The flavor and texture of this soup is really amazing, the essence of comfort food, seemingly. We have been serving it as a starter on big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it was the first thing daughter ladymora ate after giving birth to my now-three-year-old grandson Zane.
Kabocha is a sort of mottled green/gray/black on the outside and a beautiful bright orange within. The skin is very hard, too hard to cut up readily, and even microwaving it (which the original recipe suggested) is a time consuming and somewhat difficult process. But for Christmas this year I just cut it in half and baked it for an hour and then scraped/cut the flesh away from the skin. Worked like a charm.
Recipe: Bacon-wrapped Smokies
Source: Adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com
Serves: 12 or so
Cook's Notes: We made these for Easter Brunch this year.
( The brown sugar cuts the richness. ;-)Collapse )
21 October 2012 @ 02:40 pm
Recipe: Tres Leches Cake
Source: Adapted from a recipe on Food.com.
Serves: 24-30
Cook's Notes: We've been enjoying the Tres Leches Cake at Disneyland's Cafe Zocalo lately, and I wanted to see if I could make one for the luncheon we were putting on for Boss's Day this year. This recipe sounded easy, and it was. Comments on Food.com suggested increasing the original filling ingredients by half, and I did and it was perfect. I didn't use the Meyer Rum in the filling, which was another suggestion, but I think I'll try that next time. For the Boss's Day Luncheon I ended up turning the cake out onto a cutting board and trimming the rounded, crispier edges off. Then I transferred the perfect rectangle to a decorative platter, frosted the top and sides, and decorated it with fresh raspberries.
21 October 2012 @ 01:51 pm
Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
Source: gingersnapps
Serves: 12 or more
Cook's Notes: Niece gingersnapps says this was an accident, but what a happy one it turned out to be. ladymora even requested it for her annual Birthday Swim Party this year.
( Mmmmm... Chocolate!Collapse )
Recipe: Quick Avgolemono, Orzo, and Chicken Soup
Source: Cooking Light, online
Serves: 4-6
Cook's Notes: I adore Avgolemono soup, and this is as good as many versions I've tried at various Greek restaurants. I've been making it with leftover drippings and meat from Butter Broiled Chicken, which gives the soup an even more intense chicken flavor. This is currently my favorite soup, the ultimate in comfort food, as far as I'm concerned, and, as advertised, Quick!
( Mmmmmmm... Chicken!Collapse )
Recipe: Butter Broiled Chicken
Source: Mom & Dad
Serves: 4-6
Cook's Notes: I don't know where my mother and father learned to cook chicken breasts this way, but it's just the best, very simple, very delicious, and lately I've been using the leftovers to make Quick Avgolemono Soup, which is adapted from a Cooking Light recipe that I got online -- currently my favorite soup!