Lemony Lemon Bars

The frequently pinned image for this recipe, for Lemony Lemon Brownies, leads to the aggregator site ZipList, but it looks like it came originally from BeckyCharms.

It's a simple recipe: mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, bake 25 min. Make a glaze from powered sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

I made these when the neighbors came over for dinner. So that made 3 adults, 3 little boys, and one baby.

They turned out a little floppy:

But really, really delicious. They are actually VERY lemony. Everyone loved them, kids and grownups.

They're definitely a plate-and-fork dessert the way they came out - not very brownie-like in texture. The ones I made don't look at all like the ones in the picture, and I followed the recipe to T, including the kind of flour.

I'm not sure what you could do to make them a bit drier and more dense. But I probably won't tinker too much. Sprinkle some blueberries and a bit of whipped cream, and they're a great dessert just how they are.

Verdict: Lemony deliciousness, and super easy.

Double Recipe Test: Homemade Marinara and Pepperoni Pull-Apart Bread

Pull-apart or "monkey" bread is a very popular pin. Usually it's a sweet variety, with cinnamon sugar, butter, and/or fruit. I liked the looks of this savory version from Confections of a Foodie Bride, where the bread is stuffed with cheese and pepperoni, and dipped in marinara.

Basically, you assemble some garlic butter, some pizza dough, cubes of mozzarella, and turkey pepperoni. Assemble into little balls, each coated with garlic butter. Bake in a bundt pan.

I happen to have a springform bundt pan, which was perfect. I decided to make all the little balls first, then coat them with butter all at once, because the recipe said that it gets difficult to seal them once your hands get all buttery.

The recipe also said to use about 2/3 oz. of dough per ball. I got out my scale and measured. It turned out to be bigger than the "marble-size" described, but I thought I would go with the weight instead of size. It didn't make nearly as many as described. The recipe said 48 balls, and I ended up with around 30. That should have been my first clue.

It all fit into the bundt pan just fine, though, and baked up nicely.

I also made a marinara sauce for dipping. I'm not a huge fan of canned pasta sauce, so I used this recipe for Giada's Homemade Marinara. It's based on the Food Network lady's recipe, but I found it pinned from Marble and Mud.

It's a very easy recipe. Finely chop and saute aromatics, add crushed tomatoes and herbs, simmer. Mine came together just fine. I ended up tossing it in the blender because my "finely chopped" was...not so fine. I just reheated it a bit after blending and it all worked out.  This pic is before blending. It would be perfectly fine as a pasta sauce at this consistency, but it needed a little smoothing out for dipping.

Dinner came together pretty well, the boys were all totally excited by the idea of pull-apart bread.

There was a problem, though. The same problem that plagued cupcake pizzas: a too-large dough-to-filling ratio. They ended up being very bready. Pizza dough dipped in marinara sauce isn't exactly a stellar dinner.

(Yes, that is a plastic tablecloth cover and a tumbler of wine. What?)

I think that the dough balls were too big at 2/3 oz. But if they were much smaller, I don't see how you could get them to seal correctly. I don't think I'll try this again, it's a fun concept, but I couldn't get it to turn out. The marinara was good, though, a nice go-to recipe.

Split verdict: Marinara = yum. Pull-apart bread = too doughy.

Beehive Bread

There are quite a few beehive bread pins on Pinterest, I pinned this one from disneyfamily.com (warning: this site plays extremely annoying and difficult-to-silence audio ads).

It's a sweet, orange-flavored yeast-bread formed into twisted ropes and would around a greased bowl for baking.

Here's the key instruction:

Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 24 inches long. Twist two ropes together and wind around foil covered bowl from the bottom. Repeat with remaining pieces, pinching ends together until bowl is covered and resembles a beehive.

Twist any remaining ropes into smaller beehives and set on tray with larger bread. Let bread rise for 20 minutes. 

 I decided this would be a perfect Easter brunch bread, and picked out a variety of bowls to try.

I was thinking that the larger bowl would be the main bread, and the smaller ones for any extra dough. When I got it all done, though, the dough didn't even cover the larger bowl completely.

It looked great, though. From the front.

The back - not so much. I think in the future I'll try fewer, longer ropes to avoid the awkward joins. 

The problem joins became worse with baking. Again, from the front it looked fine, from the back it was sort of a mess.

  

It tasted fantastic, though. It was perfect for Easter, and my guests ate just about every bite. The kids were huge fans.  It's a sweet, not-particularly-healthful bread, so it's best for a special occasion.

The shaping could be fixed, I think, with thinner ropes. I'll also try smaller bowls to reduce sagging caused by the weight of the dough. Maybe 3 cereal-bowl sized molds instead of the large one.

Verdict: Delicious, and with a little tinkering it could be really pretty too.

Mug Desserts: Skinny Brownie in a Mug

This recipe for a skinny brownie in a mug promises the world: low-calorie! chocolatey deliciousness! super-quick!

I've had good luck in the past with My Happy Place's mug desserts, so my hopes were high for this one.

The brownie uses whole wheat flour and plain yogurt, along with the more traditional ingredients: cocoa, sugar, baking powder, vanilla. Note that there are no eggs or butter. Microwave for a minute.

My brownie came out like this:

It looked decent, but the texture was quite dry and the taste was rather bland. It obviously lacks the richness that full fat provides. You may be able to improve this a bit by either using full-fat yogurt, or by throwing a tbs of butter in there. As it is, it tastes like one of those old-school SnackWells fat-free cookies.

Verdict: Vaguely sweet but cardboard-y. If you want a good mug dessert, you're going to have to make your peace with fat.

Chicken Meatloaf in a Muffin Tin

I was reminded of this recipe for chicken meatloaf in individual servings (from Living a Changed Life) because it recently had a bit of a pin resurgence.

It's basically buffalo chicken meatloaf, complete with bleu cheese and Frank's Red Hot sauce. It uses standard meatloaf binders, oatmeal and milk.

I prefer to use a panade of egg and breadcrumbs in meatloaf, and this recipe didn't change my mind. It came together quickly and easily, but the end result was rather bland and dense. It wasn't popular with the family.

Verdict: Single-serving meatloaf is a good idea, but this just isn't the recipe.

Slow Cooker Ham and Beans

Those simple slow-cooker recipes are irresistible, and get pinned a lot. This ham and beans recipe from Plain Chicken looks so easy: just throw some dried beans in the slow cooker with ham, water, and seasonings.

I made it with the chopped ham option instead of ham bone, hocks, or shanks. I also added some fully-cooked pork sausage I had on hand. We had it with cornbread muffins and salad on the side.

I tasted it before serving, and found it both a bit bland, and strangely bitter. So I added about a cup of pureed sweet potato. That improved things, but it was still met with frowns at the table. Everybody ate it, but nobody really loved it.

Maybe if you used the ham hocks or shanks it would be better. But with the chopped ham, it's just a bland bowl of beans. I don't think I'll go through the effort to find hocks/shanks. Slow cooker recipes are really hit-or-miss, and I think this one's a miss.

Verdict: Pass on this one.

Bacon and Egg Risotto

Bacon: ever popular on Pinterest. This bacon and egg risotto from pepper.ph looked not-exactly-healthy-but-delicious. I had to try it. We could have a salad on the side, right?

It's not a traditional risotto, where you stand at the stove forever and gradually stir liquid into pan-toasted rice. It's sort of like a cross between risotto and fried rice. You saute bacon and aromatics, add stock and cream, then add in cooked rice, peas, and parmesan. Top with a fried egg.

I subbed half-and-half for heavy cream. Because cream, bacon, eggs, cheese.... it's a heavy recipe, for sure. And it worked fine with the half-and-half. In fact, it was delicious.

Oh, and I made the eggs basted instead of sunny-side-up, because my guys prefer less-runny yolks.

Verdict: Very, very tasty, but something to only have every once in a while. This is Paula Deen level of fatty deliciousness.

Ranch Dressing Mix

Dry ranch dressing mix from 5 Dollar Dinners is a very popular pin - it's a homemade replacement for those ranch dressing packets.

You just mix up some spices and toss them in a jar. When you're ready to make dressing, whisk together mayo or yogurt with milk, and add the mix. You can shift from indulgent to healthy by changing the ratio of mayo to plain yogurt.

Parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, ground black pepper. That's it. I used fresh parsley because I didn't have any dried on hand. This is how it came out:

And I mixed it up with 1/2 plain yogurt, 1/2 mayo.

I don't use the packets, so I can't compare the flavor, but this made a delicious dressing. It had a much fresher taste than the ranch dressing you get at restaurants or from the bottle. And it was incredibly cheap. It was a huge hit with the family, a nice break from the standard vinaigrette.

Verdict: If you ever use ranch dressing, you need to make this and have it on-hand.

Mug Desserts: Red Velvet Mug Cake

Mug desserts seem too good to be true. Five minutes + ingredients I have at home + microwave = delicious warm dessert? It couldn't possibly be that easy.

These quickie one- or two-serving desserts have taken over Pinterest lately. I've pinned a bunch, including this list of recipes from My Happy Place.

I pinned this image, and tested a few of the recipes. This is the first post in a series.

I chose the Red Velvet Mug Cake for my first attempt, mainly because I had all the ingredients. You just mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder) with wet ingredients (oil, buttermilk, egg, red food coloring) and nuke for a minute and a half. The buttermilk is easily made by adding some white vinegar to milk and letting it sit a few minutes. Then you make some frosting by whisking butter, cream cheese, and sugar.

I did make one change: I halved the frosting amounts. I wasn't willing to eat 2 tbs each of butter and cream cheese with a half cup of sugar as a mid-day snack.

And it came out.....

...perfect! It was moist, tasty and delicious.

It was also a LOT of cake. I made it again a few nights later, and split it into two servings in little bowls (still 1/2 a frosting recipe). My husband and I had these for dessert after the kids went to bed.

Perfect.

You really need to eat it right away, though, it wouldn't be a good idea to try to make a bunch of these in a row for company or something.

Verdict: I'm now a believer in the potential of single-serving microwave desserts.

30-Minute Meals: Skillet Chicken Pasta with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This is the second in my series reviewing 30-minute meals from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (previously: coconut shrimp curry). This time I tried skillet chicken pasta with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes.

It's one of those recipes where you add dry pasta to a sauce, and (in theory) the pasta absorbs just the right amount of liquid to cook and leave a nice sauce. In this case, you saute some chicken (remove it from the pan), saute aromatics, add liquids and pasta, and cook. Add the veggies towards the end so they don't overcook, and finish with cream, Parmesan, and the chicken.

I was a bit skeptical, thinking it might be bland or watery. It was great, though.

Very flavorful, and super easy. The husband and kids all loved it. I think you could bulk up the veggies a bit if you wanted to - maybe add some peas and artichoke hearts? It's really good as-is, though.

Verdict: Success! Quick, easy, and yum.

Sweet Potato Fries, Take #1

I've had a hard time finding a baked sweet potato fries recipe that doesn't just result in limp pieces of baked sweet potato. This recipe from The Art of Doing Stuff promised to make them crispy and fry-like, and included sriracha mayo.

You cut up the sweet potatoes, soak them, coat in cornstarch and oil, and bake.

Here's what mine looked like right before going in the oven:

And when done:

As part of a meal with crockpot jerk chicken and citrus slaw:

They were NOT a hit (except for the sriracha mayo, that was tasty). The cornstarch made the fries gluey and gave an off taste. They were definitely not very crispy. The recipe says you have to play with the cornstarch and oil proportions - and I also thought I might have cut them too thick - so I tried again on another night, with thinner fries, less cornstarch, and more oil. I also baked them longer. The results were similar - mushy and gluey.

Verdict: Didn't really work. Maybe you could do batch after batch and find just the right methods, but I'm not going to keep trying. On to the next sweet potato fries recipe....

Double Recipe Test: Crescent Rolls and Kentucky Hot Brown Bake

This crescent rolls recipe is a very frequent pin. I was totally excited to find that it's from the Nomemade blog, from my way-back-when hometown of Nome, Alaska.

Less frequent, but still intriguing, is a pin for "Kentucky Hot Brown Bake" a casserole-style take on the Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich from Eat at Home. The recipe calls for canned crescent roll dough, so I thought I would try the homemade version and do a two-fer recipe test. These are the images I pinned:

The crescent roll recipe is a simple yeast bread recipe. It calls for powdered milk, and I've heard that you can't sub fresh milk. Something about the powdered variety makes the rolls really tender.

The Kentucky Hot Brown Bake is dough layered with turkey, bacon, tomatoes, and Swiss, with beaten eggs poured over.

The crescent dough came together really easily. One issue: the dough was waaaaay too sticky. I ended up adding almost an entire additional cup of flour.

Once that was resolved, everything went smoothly. I made crescent rolls out of half the dough, and saved the other half for the bake. 

Size discrepancies due to lots of "helping" by a certain 3-year-old. 

They came out GREAT! They were absolutely delicious, tender and fluffy. They just disappeared off the table at dinner. The batch that you see above was eaten in one sitting by three adults, two preschoolers, and two babies.

Next application: Kentucky Hot Brown Bake.

The recipe is simple: layer uncooked dough with sandwich ingredients, pour over beaten egg, repeat layering, pour on more beaten egg, then bake. This is it before I baked it:

I was leery that it might be overly rich and greasy or soggy, but it actually turned out quite well. I think it might be best suited as a brunch dish.  At the very least, you want a nice green salad on the side to make a more balanced meal.

Verdict: Crescent rolls = delicious, a real keeper. Kentucky Hot Brown Bake = A tasty and different brunch dish.

Double Recipe Test: Nutella French Toast and Nutella Hot Chocolate

Nutella's a big Pinterest favorite, for obvious reasons. I'm a huge fan of Nutella, and have tried a couple of pinned recipes recently.

First, this Nutella French Toast recipe from The Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife.

Second, Nutella Hot Chocolate from The Hungry Housewife.

I didn't make these to serve together - that would be way too much.

For the french toast, I used frozen defrosted raspberries - winter in Alaska means no good fresh strawberries. It was a very easy variation on regular old french toast. Just make a Nutella sandwich before you dip the bread into the egg mixture.  I used the whole grain "white" style bread.

And of course, it was delicious. It was extremely sweet, though - the kind of breakfast where you're hungry again in an hour. I think it would be far better as a dessert, perhaps as part of a brunch buffet. Here's what mine looked like.

The Nutella cocoa recipe is also very easy. Just whisk together Nutella, a tablespoon of cocoa powder, skim milk, and a pinch of salt. Heat on the stove top. The original recipe includes homemade whipped cream, but I skipped that part.

In case you were wondering what a cup of cocoa looks like:

It was good. Of course. But I don't think it was a whole lot better than stovetop cocoa made with cocoa powder/sugar/milk, especially if you spice it up your standard stovetop recipe with some cinnamon, pinch of cayenne, etc.

Verdict: I'd call these successful, but I still think the best use for Nutella is spread on a warm crepe or piece of good French bread.