misc. reviews

[greysangel]

Lots of good eating going on and I can't wait to get August CL!

Chicken Fricassee
CLComplete
Really quite tasty. I loved that it was sort of stew like. The flavors were simple and yet light and flavorful. A repeat!


SPICY SICHUAN NOODLES
Cook's Illustrated
Wallycat
I need to look no more. This was fantastic with a capital FANTASTIC. Four stars. I decreased the noodles and added baby spinach and a sliced red pepper. YUM. DH also agreed that it was the best of the sesame genre :D

Polynesian Chicken and Rice
CLComplete
Easy and tasty. Not a huge wow, but great for a weeknight. I used brown rice.

North Carolina BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Mop Sauce
Best of WW Mag
This was very good. The mop sauce was sweet and tangy the way I like it. I would repeat this one and I'm so happy to be finding pork tenderloin in my store now!

Chicken Parmigiana
CLComplete
I mentioned this in another thread, but it deserved another mention. Very easy and very tasty. I added fox point seasoning to the breasts and used Alysha's Marinara. YUM.

Beef and Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
CLComplete
Very good. It was quite different from other stir fries which could have been because of the oyster sauce. There was some nice flavor going on. I subbed bok choy for the broccoli because it was what I had and I would do it again.

Herbed Chicken Piccata
CLComplete
Excellent. This beats the pork piccata recipe I tried. It's bursting with flavor...all it needed was a few capers :D

Cran Banana Muffins
Mine!
I need to play around with this some more, but these were very good. I modified an epicurious recipe for upside down cranberry muffins. With the exception of the sugar, these were actually pretty good virtuous :D


Picnic Oven-Fried Chicken
EW Summer Terrytx
I think I've mentioned this twice, but I'll say it again. AWESOME. FANTASTIC. Four stars! I love the rack idea which gave a fantastic crispness despite baking vs frying. The whole wheat and sesame was a great nutty combination. Delicious.

Guacamole
Joy Of Cooking
I couldn't find my CL recipe. This one was good but I liked the CL one with the chipotle chips better. It also didn't help that my avocado wasn't quite ripe enough.

Three-Bean Baked Beans
CLBB LindainMO
More fabulous eating. I cut back the brown sugar to a packed 1/3 cup and that was plenty for me. I used a few slices of thick cut bacon and roman and canelli beans. This was yummy. DH devoured these and had them twice more over the weekend!


Almond Chicken
Southern Living Website
Very different and good. I was expecting asian and it's not. It's nice a citrusy with a tang from the dijon mustard. I cut out all the oil and just used cooking spray...reduced the chicken broth and eliminated the corn starch step (I never understood why to add 2 cups of broth to then add corn starch?) Delicious and I would make this again.


JeAnne

[gertdog]

Wow, everything sounds great! I am off to find the recipe for Sichuan noodles- I love those and have not tried the Cook's Illustrated version. Thanks for reviewing it!

Stephanie

[tuff2000]

Thanks so much for posting reviews from CL Complete. I have been wondering about the polynesian chicken and we absolutely love the piccata recipe. Thanks!:)

[swquilts]

Yummm...sounds like you've been cooking up a storm!

Is the No Carolina BBQ Pork Tenderloin time consuming? Can I make it after work during the week? Could you share the recipe? :D ;)

Thanks!

[slknight]

Originally posted by gertdog
Wow, everything sounds great! I am off to find the recipe for Sichuan noodles- I love those and have not tried the Cook's Illustrated version. Thanks for reviewing it!

Stephanie


Stephanie, in case you missed the thread about these:

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43807

[gertdog]

Susan, I did miss that thread- thank you for posting it! I will have to see if I can adapt the recipe to use tofu instead of pork. It sounds delicious! :)

[Terrytx]

Wow-I'm impressed with all that cooking. :D

[greysangel]

You could definitely do the pork on a weeknight...I did. I will post the recipe tomorrow as I don't have the book with me!

JeAnne

[klwmsrd]

I also tried the Polynesian Chicken from CL complete this weekend and thought it was yummy. It's good for a quick weeknight meal. :)

[wallycat]

Um, JeAnne,
do you have your cran-banana muffin recipe handy :D

WOW, you did a whole lot of cooking!
The almond chicken sounds intriguing too...is it on their website?
I have the ultimate southern living cookbook, maybe it's in there.

THanks so much for sharing :)

[greysangel]

I'll bring in the muffin recipe tomorrow as well as the book...I don't have them here and my memory is not good enough to remember what I did ;)

The almond chicken is on their site, but I printed it before it was off access to non subscribers :rolleyes: Let me know if you need it, I'm going to type it up anyway for me.

JeAnne

[wallycat]

JeAnne, is this the recipe?

Almond Chicken

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
4 skinned and boned chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups reduced-sodium fat-free chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 tablespoon light margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

INSTRUCTIONS:
Whisk together first 5 ingredients. Place in a shallow dish, reserving 1/4 cup mixture. Add chicken to dish; cover and chill 1 hour. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade.

Cook chicken in 1 teaspoon hot oil in a skillet over medium-high heat 8 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken, reserving drippings in skillet.

Add reserved 1/4 cup marinade mixture and chicken broth, stirring to remove bits from bottom of skillet. Stir together cornstarch and water; add to broth mixture. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.

Stir in marmalade and next 4 ingredients. Return chicken to skillet; spoon sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley and almonds.

Mildred Sherrer
Bay City, Texas

NUTRITIONAL INFO:
Per serving: Calories 264 (43% from fat); Fat 12.5g (sat 1.6g, mono 7.1g, poly 2.2g); Protein 28g; Carb 7g; Fiber 1.1g; Chol 66mg; Iron 1.4mg; Sodium 723mg; Calc 48mg

YIELD:
Makes 4 servings

PREP TIME:
15 min.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:
Chill: 1 hr., Cook: 25 min.

[greysangel]

yup that's it!

I only used cooking spray and I used two TBSP of marmalade ...I wanted it more lemony than orangy. It was very good.

JeAnne

[slknight]

Is this the Polynesian chicken and rice? It sounds good.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Polynesian Chicken and Rice

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 5 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cooking Light 1995 Poultry


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 cups no-salt-added chicken broth
1 cup pineapple juice
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons reduced-calorie ketchup
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
Vegetable cooking spray
1 tablespoon margarine
5 (6-ounce) skinned chicken breast halves
1 cup long-grain white rice -- uncooked
3 cloves garlic -- minced
1 cup sliced green onions -- (1-inch)
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 (8-ounce) can unsweetened pineapple tidbits -- drained
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cashews

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; stir well, and set aside.

Coat a Dutch oven with cooking spray, and add margarine. Place over medium-high heat until margarine melts. Add chicken, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.

Remove chicken from pan; set aside.

Add rice and garlic to pan, and sauté 3 minutes. Return chicken, meaty side down, to pan. Add chicken broth mixture, and bring to a boil.

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Stir in the green onions and remaining ingredients; cover and cook an additional 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

(serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1 cup rice mixture)

Source:
"Cooking Light, March 1995, page 110"
Copyright:
"© Cooking Light"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 429 Calories; 7g Fat (13.8% calories from fat); 39g Protein; 55g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 79mg Cholesterol; 321mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 5 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.


Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 26431 0 0 0 0 2572 0 0 0 0 4494 2505

[greysangel]

Susan - that's the one.

Here are the muffins..it would work as bread as well.

Cran banana muffins
2 cups cranberries, picked over and rinsed
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 TBSP frozen oj concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ground oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg or 1/4 cup egg beaters
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup lf butter milk
2 mashed bananas

In a saucepan combine the cranberries, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the oj and 1 tsp nutmeg, cook the mixture over moderately high heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, and boil it, covered, for 3 minutes. Simmer the mixture, uncovered, stirring, for 3 minutes and let it cool.

Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and the salt. In another bowl whisk together the egg, the butter, the mashed banana and the buttermilk, add the mixture to the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it is just combined. Fold in the cooled cranberry mixture, and bake the muffins in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 25 minutes, or until they are golden. Let the muffins cool in the tins for 2 minutes and invert them onto a rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Notes: These make a tangy muffin...not overly sweet. The original recipe called for 1 1/4 cups sugar. Also the muffins are on the dense side, for lighter muffins sub white for the wheat flour.

JeAnne

[greysangel]

North Carolinians marinate their barbecued meats with a dry spice rub, then serve them bathed in a vinegary, spicy sauce that gets "mopped up" with a piece of bread. Though pork is the meat of choice in this recipe, the tasty rub also works well on chicken, beef, or even catfish.

Ingredients
2 TBSP packed dark brown sugar
1 TBSP paprika
1 TBSP chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
1/3 cup ketchup (used chili sauce)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP molasses
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 pork tenderloins (1 1/2 lbs)

Spray grill rack with nonstick spray; prepare the grill for indirect heating.

To prepare rub, combine sugar through pepper in a bowl. Rub half of the mixture all over the pork and let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, to prepare the Mop Sauce, combine ketchup, vinegar, molasses and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.

Rub the pork with the remaining spice rub. Place over the indirect heat section of the grill and grill 15 minutes. Turn the pork and grill until thermometer into the center reads 160 (12-15 minutes longer). Remove from grill, cover loosely with foil, and let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with Mop Sauce.

serving 3 oz meat with 2 TBSP sauce
cal 210
fat 5g
carb 15g
fiber 1g
protein 26g

Note: It didn't say anything about heating the mop sauce but I did. Something about cold sauce on hot meat without bread around it kinda didn't sound right to me :D

JeAnne

[swquilts]

OOOoooo....sounds great!! Thanks JeAnne!!!