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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!