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

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)

• Bookshelf Home
• Reviews
• Recipe Box
• Favorite Members
• Photos
• Covers

Peckish Sister's Reviews

36 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 36Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)

By Mollie Katzen
TEN SPEED PRESS - 2000

This was a nice and eggy plain custard. The recipe did not specify the temperature of the water to add to the baking pan and I used room temperature water. I think if I had used hot water, they may not have taken an extra half an hour to cook until they were set. The tops were pretty with the bits of grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon rising to the top. The maple flavor of the custard was not pronounced. I suggest just a little drizzle of maple syrup on top to really make this special.

useful (2)  

I love cucumber salad, and this is more deluxe than I am used to with parsley and mint joining the dill and garlic. I liked the step to soak the red onions to take out some of the bite. I used one and a half “English” cucumber and so neither peeled nor seeded it. I was running low on yogurt, so made up the difference with low fat sour cream. I will have trouble making it any other way in the future. I loved it better without the toasted walnuts, unless you are making a meal of it and then the walnuts added richness and sweetness.

useful (1)  

This was a delicious black bean soup, very different from the mostly bean soup I usually make. I made it similar to Kateq, except that I did add orange bell pepper and fresh tomatoes. It made for a very fresh, light tasting soup. I followed the suggestion with the pineapple salsa recipe to spoon some on top and it made it even lighter and fresher tasting, quite delightful!

useful (3)  

I used everything in this recipe except for the white wine. It makes a very large volume; even with very generous portions, we had eight servings, not six. I was glad that I only used 12 oz of egg noodles as the pan was incredibly full. I choose the recipe in the New Moosewood because it has garlic, otherwise they are quite similar. I used Italian breadcrumbs in the filling which added great flavor. The flavors all worked well together and the cheese, eggs and bread crumb bound the broccoli and mushrooms nicely.

useful (3)  

I have made this just once before, 31 one years ago using dill rye bread crumbs from the recipe from the original Moosewood cookbook. That filling used 2 eggs which this one does not. I wonder if the filo leaves are smaller than they used to be. I had a hard time fitting all the filling in, and ended up making one loaf they way she recommend, but the other loaf I made longitudinally and fit in more filling. I used Panko instead of fresh bread crumbs with the result of a filling that was not leaking moisture. I probably could have reduced the amount used by ¼. This was quicker than and just as delicious as I remembered.

useful (0)  

The noteworthy feature of this hearty Waldorf salad is a smooth bright green binding that brings “green goddess” to mind. I used Greek yogurt and with the avocado, lemon and honey and it was the first thing everyone commented on. I made a Florida version and it turned out perfectly according to the recipe. The mango really makes it sensational.

useful (1)  

From previous experience with this recipe, I agree with Monkey Rose that it is problematic with too little crust/too much filling. So I increased the amount of dough by 50 % and threw it into my bread machine. And I didn’t worry about being a little short on spinach. This time I had enough dough to roll it ¼ inch thick and accommodate the filling. With less spinach, the filling was not watery. I found the easiest way to fill the calzones was to put the rolled dough on one hand and dump the pre-measured 1/6 of the filling into the dough. Then by slightly closing your hand, you can easily moisten and pinching the dough together with your other hand, and finish as per directions. In 20 minutes we had 6 perfectly filled and baked calzones. The crust was chewy and delicious as was the filling. This is the first time I have made calzones at all similar to those you can buy at fine Italian establishments.

useful (2)  

I have never worked with such a tiny dough ball before, but the recipe worked great. Unfortunately I followed her admonition to not get the circles of dough too thick and was closer to 1/16 of an inch than 1/8. So the last two I purposely made the right thickness of 1/8” and these were the favorites. These were very easy to whip up and cook during the last phases of cooking the mushroom curry and were a welcome accompaniment.

useful (2)  

I seriously considered using duct tape to keep the oven door from being opened during the baking of the meringues. You are not to open the oven door and it was difficult to tolerate the overwhelming chocolate aroma coming from the oven after one hour and continuing for the remaining 2 hours of cooking time. It would have been difficult to decide whether to cook them for 2 ½ or 3 hours (without opening the oven door) if I didn’t live in Florida. Cooks Illustrated says that when you smell the chocolate, you are loosing the flavor. These were not the sweet meringues of my youth, but still tasted very chocolately. The chocolate chips were a nice addition, but are dangerously hot if you do not let them cool enough. I did not add the ground nuts, but I think it would be an improvement. They did seem a little over cooked, so next time I would try 2 ½ hours of cooking. Allow enough time to separate the eggs, wait for them to warm to room temperature, beat, cook for hours and sit in the oven before they can be removed. Mine fell off the spoon in very uneven sized lumps, a pastry bag would have probably made nice even meringues.

useful (2)  

We enjoyed these healthful pancakes, and my teenagers would like to have them again. The recipe worked well as written, but I am sorry that I forgot to add the optional walnuts. Be sure you cook these enough before you turn them over so that these thick pancakes with raw apple in them get cooked. They were very filling without much guilt! Maple syrup trumped yogurt as a topping. It might be very nice with the strawberry sauce.

useful (1)  

This produced a smooth sweetish soup with nice slices of mushrooms floating in it. I used baby Portabella mushrooms and they stood up well to the nice balanced mixture of spices. I followed the dollop of yogurt option using Greek yogurt and it counterbalanced the sweetness nicely. I did not get as velvety smooth a squash soup base but I had one large, not 2 small squashes and I probably should have baked it a little longer. I also did not get all the seed threads out, and that might have contributed to the graininess, or maybe I should have used the immersion blender longer. Overall, it was a very unusual and delicious soup.

useful (2)  

This exquisite creation gets one of my very rare 5 ratings. My old muffin tins were too decrepit to use without liners and so I bought a new non-stick pan with slightly larger muffin holes than my old tin. I used a measuring cup to pour in the batter without slopping it everywhere and filled the cups slightly less than half (it calls for ½ to 2/3) and only ended up with 11. This popover recipe differs from the original Moosewood recipe in having more flour and milk, less butter and a choice of between 2 and 4 eggs depending on how custardy you want them. I used 3 and would be hard-pressed to try it any other way. They rose well beyond the top of the pan, all crisp and golden brown, with a great custardy layer on the bottom. We loved them with pineapple jam. I did not do a good job of pricking the popovers and removing them from the pan; I just pulled them up, pricked them and left them sideways in the pan, but off of the bottom. Those left behind rapidly deflated and became rather limp, but were no less delicious. Next time I will follow the directions and will remove them from the pan, prick them and place them on a cooling rack. These were incredibly easy to whip up, and really impress. My family calls them, “The Puffs”.

useful (4)  

This makes a plain focaccia. I am used to softer dough with more oil and with toppings on it. I used only 2 Tbs. of dried rosemary, because it looked like a lot, but the rosemary flavor did not overwhelm. I threw all of the ingredients in my bread machine, so I added 1 Tbs. of olive oil as I would not be adding oil (to a bowl). It came out beautifully light golden brown which translated into tough bread. The next time I would take it out when it looks underdone for softer bread as the recipe recommends.

useful (1)  

The seasoning was sublime, and I can honestly say this tasted the best ever for gazpacho. There were a lot of groans of satisfaction from the whole family. I learned from Ina Garten to never substitute V-8 for the tomato juice. The only changes I made were to omit the tarragon and add extra fresh basil, and omit the parsley. I added all the optional ingredients and instead of mincing, I did a fine chop by hand. It was phenominal especially with fresh ingredients in such hot weather.

useful (1)  

It made an aromatic dish that had a huge amount of flavor. I kept wondering what that illusive flavor was and it might have been the fresh herbs, or just the combination of all of the ingredients. I used Texmati brown rice. Having neither sunflower seeds nor pine nuts, I chopped up some almonds and that worked out well. Otherwise I followed the recipe. I made it to prepare the stuffed grape leaves, but even with generously stuffing more than the recipe called for; I had enough leftover for a great lunch.

useful (2)  

This took as much effort to assemble all the ingredients as it did to prepare. However, it was nice to be able to prepare the components ahead and put it all together at the last minute. Instead of putting it on a platter I made separate salads. I always see nice jicama, but never am too sure of what to do with it. The taste of jicama and the fennel bulb by themselves was not reassuring. It was fun to eat through all the layers and it really worked. I particularly liked the arugula and the taste and look of pickled red onions as a very colorful garnish. Others particularly liked the dressing. Putting some dressing on the lower jicama layer is important. I wouldn’t go to this effort, unless I wanted a very special salad for company.

useful (0)  

This was a nice variation on a classic potato salad. The additions of minced cucumber and fresh dill, give a light, pickle-type flavor. I used the lower amount of horseradish and dried mustard, but it still added quite a bit of heat, so I added more mayonnaise and sour cream and it balanced out. I used a red pepper, and it made a pretty dish with all the chopped fresh dill and the creamy light yellow dressing. The only change I made was to use celery salt for the salt. There are many ranges of the amount of ingredients and lots of optional extras. You would probably not make it the same way twice, but if you liked the way it turned out, you would want to write it down to be able to duplicate it.

useful (1)  

This recipe is not for the faint-hearted. The lemon-cornstarch mixture was very hard like paste. Mixing it into the beaten egg whites was quite difficult. As the instructions indicated, there would be lumps! I had such a hard time getting uniformly sized chocolate meringues; I tried using a pastry tube without a tip for the lemon ones. It did work better, but they were not really pretty, because the lumps of lemon mixture came out forcefully and changed the shape of the meringues. Otherwise, the recipe worked well.

useful (1)  

This delicious salsa really makes great use of a perfectly ripe mango. I love the flavor and contrasting color of the red onions soaked in the boiling water. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! The flavors are very yummy and the mango comes through loud and clear. It is just as delicious as it is pretty. If you serve it as the only salsa, it can really shine. When we also served the tomato salsa, we were shocked to find we preferred the tomato salsa.

useful (1)  

This pie always sounds so mouth-watering. I have made it in the past, but did not remember how we liked it probably because it is not memorable. If you love pecan pie, don’t bother with this recipe. It is not as sweet and the nuts not as crunchy. The slight bitterness of the walnuts is accentuated. The maple flavor is there, but not prominent. The custardy part formed by the eggs does not complement the nut topping. It was slightly better cold than warm. Small slices tend to crumble and completely fall apart.

useful (1)  

This aromatic, beautifully colored curry eaten over rice was just as delicious as it smelled. When preparing it, it seemed like a lot of chopping and measuring of spices, but it was all worthwhile. I followed the recipe and we enjoyed it even without the recommended toppings. Though if we made it again, I probably would provide one for variety.

useful (0)  

The reduction in cooking time from the older cookbook made me want to try this recipe. I made this with orange peppers as I am not a fan of cooked peppers and usually like their milder flavor. The orange peppers and tomatoes gave the sauce a pleasing color. I used Jack cheese and did not need any added sugar. It was OK, but for me, not worth all the trouble.

useful (1)  

I was a little skeptical about using this sauce on pasta, but it made for a very satisfying meal, with a nice surprise of sweet onions, small bright green bits of arugula, salty Feta cheese, and the crunch of walnuts. I used arugula instead of spinach, one of the options, and the green added great visual appeal. I used 4 very large onions and for this version of the cookbook, it used a large amount of oil, ½ cup. I wished there was a description of what the onions should have looked like at various stages of preparation – limp, golden, brown, etc. I took a longer time to prepare this dish than I should have as I turned the temperature down too low so I could keep wandering off. This pasta dish was a delightful change from the usual tomato, cream or pesto-based sauces.

useful (1)  

This recipe interested me because I love the onions best in pickled herring and this is an optional garnish in many of the recipes. I am not sure where I first went astray with this recipe. Were my 4 onions too big? I did cut them very thin for the most part, but they did not seem to be wilted by the boiling water, maybe I should have poured boiling water over them again, or let them sit in the boiling water a little like you do for the Mango Salsa recipe. So then the pickling solution was not enough to cover them by half, so I made another batch and still onions were sticking up, but I decided to turn them over ever so often. The pickled onions seemed too strong both because of the vinegar and the raw onion nature. However using them as a garnish in some of the recipes is great. Next time I would make sure the onions were wilted before proceeding. My onions were soon swimming in the liquid, so if it doesn’t seem like enough at first, be patient.

useful (0)  

This crust took few ingredients, and worked up nicely. I used butter and cold water. It rolled out and the edging was formed easily. I filled it with the Maple-Walnut pie filling. While it baked, a marvelous butter aroma filled the air, but it did not live up to its aroma. The exposed portion of the crust was very hard and the interior while baked was gummy. This will not replace my standard Betty Crocker crust recipe.

useful (0)  

This is just as good as your ripe pineapple. It was so good with the fresh pineapple; I think it would be a crime to use canned. I added the maximum amount of mint, but the mint flavor was lost. For my mint, I will try more next time to try and give the salsa more dimension than just pineapple flavor. It was very good, but do not serve it next to the mango or tomato salsa or it will be outshined. However, I think that for a party, having all three together would be fun as well as pretty and delicious.

useful (1)  

This very tender crusted pizza is a lovely alternative pizza for anyone with a sore jaw. I did not have a 10” pie pan and taking crogers13’s advice about the pitfall of getting thick crust in the dish edges; I used my big pizza pan and spread the polenta flat. It turned out great. If you use dried basil, I would cut it back. I added some rosemary from the garden along with fresh oregano and it was overwhelmed by the basil. The mix of vegetables is perfect. This is a time intensive recipe, you may want to cook and cool the polenta in advance.

useful (2)  

This was a great disappointment and the only dish I have cooked from this book that has been returned to me by my hungry teenage boys as being completely inedible (I had to agree). I have not made Rarebit since an unfortunate cooking class in high school. The ingredients that attracted me to this recipe were the mustard powder and fresh horseradish. I had good luck with the Nachos cheese sauce that also called for 12 ounces of beer. But this sauce (served over micro waved golden potatoes and steamed asparagus-recipe suggestions) was very bitter and this bitter beer flavor was greatly accentuated by the mustard and horseradish. As the Nacho cheese sauce suggested the addition of 1 to 2 tsp of sugar to alleviate any bitterness, I tried this and the result was a sweet and bitter cheese sauce. I will not try Rarebit again!

useful (2)  

These were very soft and a little watery gnocchi with great flavor from the cheese and garlic and visual appeal from the parsley. The dough was less tricky than my usual potato gnocchi. I followed the recipe exactly, but I did wonder if the gnocchi would be done when it rose to the top of the pan after a few minutes. I should have been brave enough to check. I had a large pot of boiling water, but boiled them in two batches. I had too few in the first batch, so there too many in the second batch as I did not want to take another 15 minutes to cook a third batch. For the first batch I could see where the gnocchi landed and make sure they did not pile up on top of each other. For the second batch, the water was so cloudy, I could not tell. As I removed them from the water I put them in one of two foil-lined and oiled 9” square pans. When I was ready to broil them I put one batch in our little convection oven and it worked very well. When pouring out the water after cooking, there were lots of wasted “crumbs” from all of the parts that had broken off. The serving with pasta option sounded a little confusing, but I arranged these around the edge of bowls of pasta with the Puttanesca sauce and it made a very nice meal. Unfortunately, the sauce was appreciated more than the gnocchi.

useful (0)  

This quick, flavorful sauce, easily put together in 15 minutes, may make me pause, the next time I prepare to open a jar of ready-made pasta sauce. I used the larger amount of garlic – 12 cloves, and the lesser amount of Kalmata olives – 15, as most of the family are garlic and not olive fans. I also added a whole small can of anchovies wrapped around capers that I chopped. I cooked the sauce longer than the 10 minutes because my thicker slices of garlic were still not cooked. It was appreciatively devoured by all.

useful (1)  

This cabbage casserole was good. The fresh dill and caraway seed gave a look of character to this cabbage casserole dish. When it came time to add the sunflower seeds on top, I only had pumpkin seeds. The green color of the pumpkins seeds nicely complemented and accentuated the bits of green color from the fresh dill. I did not peel the golden potatoes and that helped cook the dish faster without taking away anything from the dish.

useful (1)  

This simple recipe turns out a surprisingly good rice pudding warm or chilled. I think that it is important to use the type of rice specified; I had a nice Lundberg fat, short-grained brown rice. I used vanilla-flavored almond milk and added the options of raisins, cinnamon and the dash of nutmeg. It turned out very creamy and if you weren’t told that eggs weren’t in it, I don’t think you would realize it. The recipe worked perfectly as written. It simmers for a long time at a low temperature and I think it could be adapted for the Crockpot. It was just the dairy-free, egg-free, delicious rice pudding recipe I was looking for.

useful (2)  

I really made a mess of this recipe. I had fresh very local strawberries, but had to rely on frozen rhubarb, so only used one pound instead of two. I only had aluminum nine inch square pans, so substituted a large, deep glass casserole dish. The fruit really filled the dish. I was worried about the juiciness of the strawberries, so I sprinkled two tablespoons of flour on top with the maximum amount of sugar. Since the rhubarb had not completely thawed, I ended up cooking it an additional 30 minutes. Even so I had a soupy, very sour dish with hard chunks of rhubarb in the middle and the oatmeal crumble mixture did not get crisp. With half the rhubarb, it still seemed like an awful lot compared to the strawberries. Next time I would use also use only one pound of rhubarb, double the sugar, add ¼ cup of flour and mix that with the fruit mixture before adding the crisp mixture. Putting vanilla ice cream on top, made it scrumptious and hid any deficiencies.

useful (3)  

Flavorful, attractive stuufed grape leaves. Stuffing the grape leaves worked out well, even though the range of leaf size and the shape and position of the holes in the leaves gave it a bit of a challenge. I added less filling to smaller leaves with big holes and more for larger leaves. I was afraid that the leaves would dry out when heating, but they were fine. A 9 by 13” pan was a good size to use for the finished stuffed leaves. I ran out of energy to make the Greek lemon sauce, so I used a suggestion from the old Moosewood cookbook and just sprinkled some crumbled Feta on top and they were very delicious.

useful (1)  

I was told if I made my own salsa, I would never buy the stuff in jars again and did not believe it. They must have been talking about this recipe! Just enough bite from the lime and cider vinegar. Great flavor from the toasted cumin seeds, without overwhelming. The moment you taste it, you forget the work involved to make it. I made no changes and will have to prepare this again soon – it doesn’t last long!

useful (2)  

This makes a very soft crusted pizza, which shrinks by about half its height. It is just there, it doesn’t have any noticeable flavor. I think it could be improved in flavor and texture by the addition of some cornmeal. I followed the recipe exactly using a jelly roll pan (place the crust in the center, not at the edges; it makes it easier to loosen). It was nice to eat something so full of vegetables.

useful (1)