Peckish Sister's Profile

From: Central, FL USA

Joined: December 11th, 2010

About me: I have always liked to cook, particularly breads, fruits, vegetables, vegetarian, poultry and lamb dishes. After marriage we cooked together progressively more difficult dishes with him doing the meat, grilling and frying, and I did the "dough" and the same type of things I had before. After children we started cooking more simply. After discovering the cause of my frequent migraines was an evolving long list of chemicals and odd ingredients, I began getting back to cooking from basic ingredients, and found I could be well again. I also try to cooking from what I can get in season at the ever present fruit and vegetable stands.

Favorite cookbook: America's Test Kitchen / Cooks Illustrated Books


Latest review:

May 20th, 2020

Manchester Stew from Skinny Instant Pot & Slow Cooker Cookbook

I switched up the vegetables and canned beans to reflect what I had on hand. It was my very first use of the Insta pot and I was skeptical of the 3 minute cooking time since I had increased the amounts... read more >


recipe reviews (465)
book reviews (18)
useful review votes (420)

Peckish Sister's Reviews


Search Reviews:

11 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 11Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Moosewood Cookbook

By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992

15th February 2011

Asparagus Mushroom Sauce : page 67

The mushroom (I used baby bellas) and asparagus flavors come through beautifully. The different cooking steps for the asparagus, mushrooms and onions are worth it for a beautifully colored, flavorful sauce with firm vegetables. I choose this recipe over the one in the New Moosewood as it uses a small amount of milk instead of a large amount of wine. I served it over potato gnocchi with the suggested parmesan garnish and it made an amazing tasting as well as filling meal. I would not change a thing about this recipe, except perhaps only make half of it as it makes a large amount of sauce.

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20th February 2011

Banana Bread : page 189

This is the first banana bread I have ever made without walnuts. The sesame seeds coating the outside of the loaf are amazing. If you love sesame seeds, use a lot of butter on your pan so a thick layer of sesame seeds will stick and be sure to get an end piece. The sesame seeds taste best when the loaf is fresh out of the oven. The banana bread itself tastes great the next day. The coffee that soaks the mashed banana takes the extreme banana edge off and adds a mellow flavor that is hard to place. This makes a great variation from the usual banana bread and I did not miss the walnuts (too much).

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20th February 2011

Carrot Cake : page 188

This carrot cake was very easy to make. I cannot find currents anywhere lately so added raisins and walnuts for the option and was pleasantly surprised to find that all the raisins stayed nicely distributed throughout the loaf and did not sink. I should have eliminated a tablespoon of water in this humid climate, so I had to bake the loaf for an extra 30 minutes until the middle was done. I was looking forward to the contrast of the outer coating of poppy seeds, but between using a glass loaf pan and the extra baking time, the outer surface just looked charred, but tasted good. Finger sandwiches with cream cheese would make great finger food. If you are hungry for carrot cake, I highly recommend this recipe.

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14th February 2011

Cream of Celery : page 6

I love cooked celery and cream of celery soup, but have only had a canned version in my youth. This has a base of smooth pureed potato and celery (I used the leaves here). Then sautéed celery and onion add a great crunch and flavor. By adding the milk and sour cream to the piping hot soup, it did not need to be reheated, but we ate it right away. The special touch is the addition of celery seeds. Next time I will go for a gentler flavor and not use the celery leaves.

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18th March 2011

Date Nut Torte : page 183

This rich torte recipe reminded me of one my mother like to make and serve for company with butter brickle ice cream. I chose this version of the recipe as it had more brown sugar and was called a torte, not a cake as in the New Moosewood Cookbook. Mine turned out like a cake; it did not fall in the middle as predicted. It was a very flavorful interesting cake filled with walnuts and dates.

useful (2)  


17th February 2011

Greek Lemon Sauce (with egg) : page 80

This made a thick looking, but thin tasting, pleasantly yellow-colored sauce. It cooked up beautifully without any deviations from the recipe. The yellow color of the sauce made a nice contrast on fish and rice. The sour cream-horseradish sauce was a clear favorite over this one. However if you wanted a dairy-free sauce that is not as rich, this would be perfect.

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14th February 2011 (edited: 14th February 2011)

Mexican Corn & Cheese Bread : page 179

This looked like a lot of work, but by adding the frozen corn to the pan of sautéed onions as soon as they had finished cooking sped things along by thawing the corn while cooling the onions. This turned out a moist dense cornbread which hardly crumbled if you let it cool somewhat. Served with one of the soups it made a very satisfying filling meal.

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13th March 2011

Moosewood Fudge Brownies : page 213

This was an intensely chocolate flavored, very tender, not chewy, but not really cakey brownie. I substituted dark brown for the light brown sugar, and do not like plain brownies, so added 1 cup each of chopped walnuts and dried cherries. They were a very important part of why these brownies were so luscious as the dried cherries became very plump and were quite wonderful warm as well. My standard brownie is chewy and my favorite recipe is Baker’s one bowl brownies. This would be an acceptable, but different alternative recipe.

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23rd February 2011

Refritos (Refried Beans) : page 168

I soaked the pinto beans over night, and then followed jherb’s suggestion to cook them in the slow cooker. I do not like a lot of spice, and ignored the other reviewer’s directions to add more cumin. I will try that next time; they were a little bland. I have never cooked my own refried beans before, we are so used to the canned version, but I like cooking from dried beans and will try this recipe again.

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16th February 2011 (edited: 17th February 2011)

Sour cream-horseradish sauce : page 79

This was an easy sauce to prepare while the fish baked and the rice and asparagus steamed. I used low-fat sour cream and substituted lime for lemon juice. It was great on the otherwise plain rice, fish and vegetables as suggested. The horseradish gave the rich sauce a robust flavor and added a nice touch of texture.

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17th February 2011 (edited: 17th February 2011)

Waldorf Deluxe (Salad) : page 57

This is a most satisfying Waldorf salad. It should be served fresh or only add the nuts as you serve it. The citrus dressing seems very thin when you mix it up, but is just right for a bright fruity touch. The toasted pecans dominate with an amazing and really distinctive flavor. The finely chopped dates add tiny bursts of sweetness that do not overwhelm or become hard like raisens in a traditional Waldorf salad. I was a little dubious about the cheese, but it smoothes out the acid from the apple nicely. This recipe is perfect as it is.

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