Cooking Club: August Recipe Reviews

August had some real winners and one.. well one big loser of a recipe, but it was once again a great cooking month. Once again the recipes will be reviewed from older to newest.

1) Zuchinni Tart
submitted by Rachel

Raelynn: "It is super easy and super yummy, partly because the ingredients are all so delicious by themselves. It is definitely light fare, but I didn't mind. I think I would make it again, and I was even thinking of trying it with asparagus. It would be a lovely dish to serve at a shower or something like that. Very enjoyable."

Me: "When I was making it I was wondering if I was doing something wrong as there was twice as much zucchini as needed. I did leave a couple of zucchini free rows for the kids but still way too much. This is definitely not a dinner- more like a side dish to dinner."

Rachel: "I LOVED it. I love zucchini and I love cheese and who doesn't love puff pastry? And I liked how easy it was. And it's one of those things I probably wont make a great deal, but would if I was the only person in my house who had to eat!"

Melidee: " I LOVE zucchini and so enjoyed eating it. It was just so nice to use something new and have a new experience making something I've never made. I couldn't even find the puff pastry sheets at first. However, I have to admit feeling guilty about eating so much cheese. Whew...that was loaded. Dad's comment was, WOW, we sure have fun eating unusual dinners because of the cooking club!"

RECAP: 4/5 Stars Easy and yummy but definitely falls flat in the dinner category.


2) Reuben Foldovers
submitted by me

Raelynn: "The thing I love about Rubens was not captured by this recipe. I love layers of juicy corned beef. And I, like Emily, had trouble fitting much inside the pockets. They were pretty skimpy of the filling. I think mine also needed more dressing inside. I couldn't taste it at all. The concept is fun, but I think I would just as well buy some rye bread and pile up more toppings and make the sandwiches."

Me: "I had a hard time folding them over and getting everything to fit and I used probably 1/4 of the meat that it called for as I had no idea how to fit anything else inside. In the end they tasted okay but there was too much dough taste."

Melidee: "This recipe turned out okay. After assembling it, I have to admit I only ate a small bit, just enough to concede I might actually consider tasting a Reuben again. I remember sitting across from a friend once in a restaurant and watching her eat a "decadent" Reuben, as she called it. I shuddered a great deal as I recall."

Rachel: "It was a new experience making a Reuben, and I actually really enjoyed it. I have never had corned beef or sauerkraut. I was a little worried, but the sauerkraut I bought was on the tame side and so I think that helped. I liked how easy the Bisquick made it. I was happy with the taste, it was better than I thought it would be. The kids wouldn't come near it though."

Recap: 2/5 Stars--some classics shouldn't be messed with. It was fairly easy, but low on filling so low of flavor and overall no one liked it.

3) Curried Fried Rice
submitted by Raelynn

Raelynn: "It was super easy, quite healthy and quite delicious. It was awesome how fast it went together and how great the final product was."

Me: "It was easy and fast to make and not too spicy at all. I cooked up a ham stake to go with it and it made for the perfect meal. The kids even ate it too! I did just use regular rice, mostly because I didn't buy brown rice."

Rachel: "I really loved the fried rice. And without a doubt will make it again. I love curry. I used a red Thai curry paste and I actually think I'll put MORE curry in it next time. I chopped up my spinach because I know Todd likes it better that way. And it was so easy and fast that I was actually caught off guard, not having the table set and everything else ready when it was done. Next time I make it, I'll set the table and make juice and everything else before I even start."

Melidee: "I thought the colors looked so beautiful...the brown, red, green and yellow. So pretty. I cut back a bit on the curry (personal preference), but we both loved it a bunch. The leaves didn't exactly wilt, but they sure looked pretty and were heated through. I just loved the fresh lime and tomato flavor and kept picking out the tomatoes and egg strips even after I was full...YUMMY! Thanks for this recipe. Very delicious."

And one of my wonderful readers, Mrs. Bird of The Birds Nest made this recipe. She is an amazing photographer and she and her husband are foster parents with their first placement, how wonderful is that. She said: "Tried it tonight and it was awesome!"

Recap: 5/5 Super easy, fast and everyone loved it

4) French Crepes
submitted by Melidee's

Raelynn:"I was also nervous about making the crepes. But they worked out really well for me. They went together in my blender in just a couple minutes and they didn't give me too much trouble to cook up. (I also only refrigerated them for 1/2 hour.) A couple of mine were a little thick, but I think with more practice I could get the hang of it. For my filling I used sausage, red peppers, onions, tomatoes and parmesan cheese. The eggs were a little tricky to cook on the crepe, to be honest. Again, with practice they would be easy. We just put jam and powdered sugar on the last couple and I love it. I will definitely make them again and try new things."

Me: " I must admit for some reason I wasn't looking forward to this recipe. Well that was the stupidest mistake as they were awesome!! They really are easy, just tricky to get the cooking and flipping right. But by about my third one they were beautiful and so nicely brown. I scrambled the egg on it and then added just cheese for the kids. For mine and Eric's I did egg, ham, green onions, orange pepper and tomatoes and they were so so good. The kids were hesitant but ended up really liking them too."

Rachel: "The crepes were delicious, but to be honest, quite a disaster. The only two that actually turned out good were the ones in my photograph. I had trouble flipping them and getting them to evenly brown, and in the end I just made pancakes for the kids. The filling I made was really good though. Green onions, tomatoes, ham and pepperoni, with a bit of cream cheese and milk. We sprinkled them with Parmesan too. I'd be happy to eat them again and again, but not if I have to actually cook them!"

Recap: 4/5 So incredibly good but they lose a star as they are pretty tricky to actually cook

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So another great month. I am excited for next month, the recipe I am submitting, well it is a recipe I created, so I definitely will want you to try it out and let me know what you think.