Salsa Turkey Meat Loaf

The Recipe: Salsa Turkey Meatloaf from Canadian Living.ca.

The Substitutions: Quite a few. I whizzed all the ingredients except the turkey and the cheese in a food processor along with a carrot and a celery stalk to up the nutrition value.

The Verdict: Pretty good. I combined the turkey salsa part with a "healthy" beef loaf recipe I use all the time (I think it was originally from Everyday Food). It's a pretty common trick to sneak veg into meat loaf to get kids to eat them, I think. I was a little afraid that this loaf would be dry -- replacing turkey with beef has been pretty trendy amongst food editors in the last decade or so, and I've never been one to go for the turkey burgers or turkey meatballs because they just aren't as juicy and delicious as beef. The addition of the salsa (and cheese) to this recipe helps a lot. It was yummy, satisfying and everyone ate it. Hooray!

New Orleans-Style Barbecued Shrimp

The Recipe: New Orleans-Style Barbecued Shrimp from the April 2010 issue of Everyday Food

The Substitutions: I used peeled shrimp instead of in-the-shell so it would be easier for the kids. I think I also used regular sized shrimp rather than jumbo because that's what I had in the freezer.

The Verdict: The Everyday Food people promised that this would turn "a weekday meal into a party!" and while this certainly wasn't a party, it was okay. It had some spice, but wasn't too hot for my shrimp-loving kids (these kids will eat shrimp in any form though -- it's by far their favourite food). It was incredibly easy to make, but for some reason I was expecting something unbelievably delicious, and this was kind of mediocre. Still, the combo of the Creole salt with lemon and a boat-load of Worcestershire (which is one of my favourite condiments -- lord, I love an anchovy) was interesting and shook up our usual curry/soy sauce/tomato triad of flavours that are served over rice. Probably won't be making this one again, but it was a nice diversion from our regular mid-week repertoire.

Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese

The Recipe: Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese from the April 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

The Substitutions: none

The Verdict: This was another party food (I served it as a side with grilled steak, some cauliflower, and a green salad) and it was gone before I had time to do a photo. It was good, but not necessarily make-again-often good. The store was out of the regular goat cheese I get, so I ended up with a very creamy, non-crumbly chevre, and while it worked fine, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. But the combo of warm, almost mushy potatoes (I cooked them longer than I should have) with a mustard-vinegar dressing was interesting and actually pretty nice. The creamy cheese just melted into the potatoes, and it tasted pretty darn good. So, not an out-of-the-park winner, but a nice side to go with a nice meat.

Artichoke Dip with Fontina

The Recipe: Artichoke Dip with Fontina from the March 2010 issue of Everyday Food

The Substitutions: none

The Verdict: Delish! You may notice that this is just a picture from the recipe in the magazine. The reason? The dip disappeared before I could photograph it. I served this at my two-year-old's birthday party (it was a family party, not a little kids' party) and the fam scooped it up on homemade pita chips in no-time flat. I like this because it serves my love of creamy artichoke dip while respecting my disgust with all things mayonnaise. The creaminess comes from pure cheese, baby! There are a lot of artichokes here, which may not be to everyone's taste, but you could always put in two cans instead of three. A great dip for when you're throwing a party and can convince yourself that calories don't count when you're having fun.

Parmesan Chicken Breasts with Crispy Posh Ham

The Recipe: Parmesan Chicken Breasts With Crispy Posh Ham from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Food Revolution

The Substitutions: not a one

The Verdict: This was okay. The combo of the chicken with the prosciutto is a good one and as with everything in this book, it is pretty easy to cook. Will I make it again? Doubtful -- and I'll tell you why. If I'm going to add the salt and fat that comes with prosciutto to my diet on a regular basis, it better be damn delicious. Like, over-the-moon delicious. This was not. As I said, it was okay. Salty and yummy, but not even as tasty as a slice of un-fried prosciutto on it's own. And for that, I will have to take a pass in the future. Sorry.

The Recipes: Irish Beef and Stout Stew and Irish Soda Bread, both from Martha Stewart.com (stumbled upon them from her weekly email update).

The Substitutions: nil

The Verdict: Obviously, these were made on Wednesday, for St. Patrick's Day. I really love the idea of theme cooking, and St. Paddy's Day is always a fun one, since Irish Recipes tend to be simple, yet unmistakably in their Irish-ness. I've gotta say, these two might become my festive standards. It was all easy peasy to make, and pretty yummy, as far as Irish recipes go (with my family's penchant for curry, anything without full-on zing is often frowned upon).

First up, the stew. It is a fairly average, but foolproof Irish stew. It's done in the oven, which is nice, because you can tuck it in there and basically forget about it. I think I would consider adding additional veg next time because it was a little low on nutritional value with just potatoes and peas. The stout (I used Guiness, natch) was a good flavour booster, making the gravy taste almost like it had been spiked with red wine. Rich and delicious. It's also pretty good served over rice the next day.


The bread was also a winner, but I think I liked it more than just about anyone else in the family. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've made bread that actually requires kneading, and I looooved making it! I think Aaron considered it kind of amateurish because it didn't come out of the oven in a perfect bakery-style loaf, but I loved its rustic quality. I usually am not very big on caraway and I considered skipping the caraway seeds, but the flavour is actually pretty muted. Hooray for soda bread! This meal was a real success. Luck of the Irish, I suppose.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting from Martha Stewart Cupcakes.

The Substitutions: I used about half the chocolate asked for in the frosting because 1.5 lbs just sounded ridiculous.

The Verdict: Okay. I made these for my son's birthday, thinking a simple chocolate chip cupcake would be fun. These are a little labour intensive for a cupcake -- I was looking for a typical box-style cake batter, but this is a little bit different. You essentially make a dense sticky dough (it felt like bread dough) and fold in whipped egg whites. The result is kind of a cross between a biscuit and an Angel Food cake. It's light, but crumbly, not spongey. Still fairly delicious though, but required a lot of bowl washing.

The frosting is not something I'd necessarily go with again. It calls for a lot of chocolate and even after halving the amount, it was really rich (though, my chocoholic kids quickly became obsessed with it). It's also fairly runny, acting more like a thick glaze than a frosting. Next time I'm going with a classic buttercream for sure. That's not to say that these cakes weren't happily eaten, they're just not cupcake perfection.

P.S. You can half the frosting recipe. It makes five cups, which is way more than these cupcakes need.