Peckish Sister's Reviews
9 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 9Sort by: Title 
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The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010
Barley Soup with Mushrooms and Kale : page 86
I could not resist making this recipe with fresh kale from my CSA. I used a mix of very aromatic dried mushrooms and fresh baby bella mushrooms. I love barley and this soup sounded, smelled and looked great. It was not spectacular and seems to be missing something. We did try the thicker leftovers as a pilaf with fish.
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Broccoli and Potato Frittata : page 241
This may well have been my first frittata. It seemed a good way to use up the last of that big bag of broccoli. I had all of the ingredients on hand, and with the potatoes, it seemed like it would be enough for dinner. The directions worked well and when I was afraid to cook it any longer on the top of the stove (fearing overcooking), I transferred it to the broiler and it finished cooking the top nicely. As you can see from the photos, I couldn’t resist dumping the last of the leftover shredded cheddar cheese from a Boy Scout trip and then adding some of her (also leftover) cooked salsa. We all enjoyed it and the leftovers were great for lunch the next day.
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Corn and Vegetable Gratin with Cumin : page 272
There was a fair amount of chopping involved. I loved the interesting mix of zuchinni, corn, bell bepper, onion and toasted cumin seeds. I could have used more of the cumin, but the flavor was good. I baked it in my 2 quart pyrex dish and it baked perfectly. I was suprised and impressed that the other two members of the family finished off this 6 serving size dish and there were no leftovers for lunch the next day.
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Green Pipian : page 27
I was very drawn to this unusual recipe with tomatillos and green pumpkins seeds. When I dry roasted the pumpkin seeds only one popped and then they continued to brown. However once I removed them from the heat they continued to pop and crackle for a long time. This looked like kiwi in the food processor (which I used instead of the recommended blender) with the dark bits of pumpkin seed contrasting against the lighter green of the tomatillo. I ended with tiny particles in the slightly chunky sauce; it was not smooth, but we loved it. I also left out 2 important ingredients, cilantro and Serrano chili. But it was a visual appealing and nice topping for grilled salmon. It was almost seamless, the flavor of the salmon and green pipian seemed really close and I had to keep checking to see if I had the sauce on my salmon. I would like to try it again when I do have cilantro.
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Huevos Motulenos : page 252
This is Huevos Rancheros with a layer of black beans between the corn tortilla and the egg. It brings back great memories of being in Cancun 25 years ago with my family and having a version of this quite frequently while we tried to figure out what was in it. I think there it had a flour tortilla and often the addition of canned peas. This is almost as good. My sister nicknamed it Mutilated Eggs as we had a hard time pronouncing its real name.
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Huevos Rancheros : page 252
A carefully fried sunny-side up egg on a corn tortilla with cooked salsa and I used Feta cheese. I had no cilantro, so used chives as a garnish. This was quite different from what I call Huevos Rancheros - scrambled eggs and salsa in a flour tortilla. This was fun to make from ingredients that I had on hand in the refrigerator, and was appreciated.
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Morning Couscous with Oranges and Dates : page 10
We enjoyed this for breakfast though it did feel strange to taste sweet couscous. I made this rather quickly in the morning, micorwaving the couscous twice. I used brown sugar in the boiling water. I added the orange blossom water even though I am not usually a fan and did not mind it here. I used raisins in the couscous and topped it with the oranges, dates and pomegranite arils. Rather than cutting the oranges over the couscous, I quickly peeled and sectioned them by hand, cut the sections into bite-sized pieces and made up for the lack of dripping juice while cutting by splashing some orange juice on top. The pomegranite arils are what made this spectacular for me. However, I don't see myself making this on a regular basis. But it would be nice as a special treat when pomegranites and oranges are in season.
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Sauteed Summer Squash with Red Bell Pepper : page 162
This did not seem so different from our usual sauteed summer squash recipe. I used half summer squash and half zucchini. But I like that the squash was in 1/4" dice, not our usual diagonal rounds. The onion was also a nice addition. Instead of the red pepper, I added a Cubanelle pepper that I don't always know what to do with from the CSA. For herbs I looked at the herbed cheese variation and decided to add dried marjorum. This was fragrant, delicious and perfectly cooked. There are two variations and the summer succotach with black beans also sounds intriguing.
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Soft Black Bean Tacos : page 281
A great quick meal from ingredients you are likely to have on hand. I used white corn tortillas, canned black beans, her cooked salsa and grated cheddar cheese. It is easy to either expand or reduce the number of servings you make. I would have prefered to make it in the skillet, but I needed speed, so made it in less thna 5 minutes in the microwave. A nice emergency dinner.
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