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.