This was the first recipe I tried from this book. Having never made Mapo Tofu before I found the directions very easy to follow. I may have cooked the pork just a tad too long because it got crunchy but it was still delicious. Both my husband and I enjoyed this but didn't find it spicy as the recipe indicated. After searching other Mapo Tofu recipes I found that most add chili oil. I added chili oil to the leftovers and that made the dish much better.

Asparagus coated in parmesan and panko roasted in the oven. Delightful! The recipe instructs one to poke holes in the asparagus, sprinkle with salt, and leave to drain on paper towels. At the end of the 30 minutes I didn't see any moisture on the paper towels so I'd skip this step in the future. These are so good they just might convince that person who thinks they don't like asparagus to give them a try.

A 2 hour delay due to snow meant I had time to bake muffins for my son before he headed off to school. I took a quick look through this new to me book and settled on this recipe because my son LOVES coffee and I had all the necessary ingredients. Flavored with instant espresso powder these muffins are a nice tan color and have great coffee flavor. They are wonderful muffins that I'll be sure to make again.

I cooked this on at night after a longish day at work when I didn't particularly care to cook dinner. It was very simple to pull together and was very quick. There was a lot of flavor and a good amount of heat that snuck up on you.

The recipe reminded me of the Dan Dan noodles fro the Chinese Takeout Cookbook but was easier.

These were the best chicken enchiladas I've ever made. They were a little too much work for a weeknight meal but were perfect for a Saturday night dinner.

My youngest didn't care for them but I think it was a combination of the texture of the corn tortillas (I'd make them with flour ones next time) and the green enchilada sauce (I'd use red next time).

My 18 year old son picked out this recipe to cook. It's basically ground chicken with spices rolled up in phyllo dough and baked.

We found using the phyllo dough very fiddly and, in the end, it didn't hold up very well to the filling. More layers of phyllo were definitely required. The taste was quite good but too much bother.

We made it again a couple of weeks later using a can of Pillsbury pizza dough. We divided the dough in half and divided the mixture between them. This made for a super simple meal which we all enjoyed even more.

It's certainly not fine dining but it was surprisingly tasty and we all enjoyed it.

My 18 yo son asked if he could cook dinner and asked for suggestions. As he's not much of a cook, I pulled some easy cookbooks off the shelf. He chose this recipe despite it containing ingredients he had never eaten before.

Although he needed a little help - basically convincing him to get ingredients together before he started cooking - he was able to pull of this super simple recipe in a short amount of time.

The result was a tasty noodle bowl we all enjoyed and a proud son.

What a waste of time and ingredients!

I have no idea what could have gone so wrong but these cookies are just plain nasty. They spread so much in the oven that they are completely flat. I thought they smelled funny, too but ignored that until I tasted them. They taste disgusting with some kind of weird after taste.

The Heath bits did not have an expiration date on them but they were not clumped together in the bag nor did they look "off". I threw the rest of the batter away and will toss all the cookies.

My pie crust making abilities are temperamental at best. I was happy with one recipe I was using but the last two times it's been more like cardboard.

This recipe is super easy. The addition of vodka for part of the moisture prevents gluten from forming. The dough is weird - like play dough - and very sticky. For best results, roll out between two sheets of well floured waxed paper.

This is the tenderest, flakiest crust I've ever made and it will be my go to recipe from now on.

My son went through this cookbook last night to choose a new pasta recipe for a pre-meet dinner. I turned down the first recipe that involved American cheese and pickles. And, while this recipe wouldn't have jumped out at me, I didn't want to turn him down twice.

This is a super simple weeknight meal that is all cooked in one pan. It's basically hamburger and tomato sauce with tex-mex spices and pasta. It's later put in the oven to melt the cheese on top.

Everyone ate big helpings and it was surprisingly good for such low effort.

Cake really doesn't get much easier than this. As soon as the batter goes in the oven, the icing is started. Once the cake is pulled from the oven the hot icing is poured on top where it very quickly firms up.

The frosting becomes melded with the cake and there's a nice mix of cake and frosting in every bite. It's moist and chocolatey with crunch provided by the walnuts.

This recipe is not authentic nor does it claim to be. In fact, it didn't taste like any Pad Thai I've ever been served.

That being said, it was a good noodle dish. We all enjoyed the mix of noodles, shrimp and sauce and we'd happily eat it again.

I already have a recipe for Kung Pao Chicken that I like and make often but was willing to try a different recipe from a different cookbook for Kung Pao Shrimp.

The recipe is tagged as Light and Fast and, once you have all the ingredients gathered, this comes together very fast with just a few minutes of cooking time.

The shrimp was tasty but could have used more flavor and definitely more kick. The kung pao chicken I make is quite spicy while this one had almost no spice at all. I think it would have been much spicier if the chili peppers had been cooked in some oil for a bit before the shrimp was added.

We all enjoyed this recipe but missed the heat.

This dish takes only as long to prepare as whatever you choose to serve with it. I served orecchiette. While the pasta boiled I shelled the shrimp and made the sauce.

Shrimp take only 2-3 minutes to cook and then the sauce is added. The sauce is wonderfully sweet and spicy due to the hoisin and ginger.

Delicious and super fast dinner!

Classic chocolate fudge cookie covered in powdered sugar. These taste like a brownie in cookie form with the sugar on giving an extra hint of sweetness.

The dough can be a bit of a pain to come together but once it does it's a very simple cookie.

Meh. Not worth the effort.

Another excellent recipe from Ms. Kuan. This cookbook has yet to fail me.

That being said, this may not have been the best recipe for me to tackle at the last minute on a week night. The chicken is first marinated, then coated in a corn starch mixture, and then deep fried. I should have spread the chicken on a cookie sheet to coat in the corn starch because it kind of clumped together.

Once in the oil, it spattered everywhere! Ugh. What a mess. I followed the suggestion of frying the chicken twice to get it extra crispy and that worked really well. Finally, the chicken was put in another pan with a sauce that thickened and covered the chicken nicely. It was sweet and spicy and crispy and delicious.

As always, I doubled the recipe to have enough to feed my family of four. Served with rice and stir fried green beans this was a delicious recipe.

Thank God my husband does clean up duty.

I've never cooked Indian food and I believe I've only ever eaten it once. For reasons known only to him, my youngest son decided he wanted me to cook something Indian.

Chicken Tikka Masala seemed like a good place to start as it's fairly simple and made with ingredients my boys already eat with just a few new spices. This recipe was very well laid out and easy to follow.

The end result wasn't very spicy but had a lot of flavor. Everyone liked the meal enough - my youngest said he "appreciated the effort". I'd have preferred it a bit hotter. My husband was the biggest fan.

These are exactly the same recipe as the chicken fajitas from the same cookbook (though not listed together). Although my boys prefer beef, we didn't love these. I usually have great luck with flank steak but this was just too chewy.

I hope the squirrels like this cake more than my family.

I've had this simple cake bookmarked for years. I was looking for something simple to bake today and had everything necessary for this small cake.

This is basically a glorified coffee cake. Half the batter is added to the pan, a sprinkling of chopped chocolate and a cinnamon mixture is placed on top, then the remaining batter is added. Finally, a very simple chocolate frosting graces the top.

Sadly, nothing about this cake is good. I checked it at the minimum time and it was already cooked though the center looked wobbly. Shortly after coming out of the oven the center caved dramatically. Thankfully, the frosting covered this up.

Even my teenage boys, however, would not eat this cake. Perhaps it was overcooked - though I don't see how. The cinnamon taste is completely overwhelming. Besides the cinnamon mixture in the middle there is a full tablespoon in the batter for a 9x9 pan. No one finished their piece of cake. It will go out to the squirrels tomorrow.

My husband texted me from work and asked me to bake something for a party. Tonight. It's a good thing I love him.

I had just read a blog post about a bundt cake so I had that on the brain. Not that bundt cake but A bundt cake. As this was a party for some famous people who were in town recording a new cd I figured that the Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake by Melissa Clark would fit the bill. Sadly, I didn't have any unsweetened chocolate in the pantry.

An internet search led me to this cake instead and I had everything I needed. The cake was super simple to whip together with basic pantry ingredients. I had that one moment of panic where you wonder if the bundt will come out of the pan but it released with a satisfying whoosh.

The cake is chocolatey with a spicy note from the whiskey. It's quite moist. I drizzled on a chocolate ganache to which I added a good glug of Jack Daniel's. I'd heartily recommend it.

We eat a lot of pasta during track and cross country season and we really like Alfredo.

This particular recipe uses much less butter than the previous recipe I've used (2 Tbl vs. 8). Although the sauce didn't seem like it had reduced enough, once I added the pasta it clung right to it and thickened up.

This is our new Alfredo recipe.

Filled with amazing flavors! This is a super simple weeknight dinner that tastes like you've spent a ton of time cooking.

Turkey tenderloins are browned and then simmered in a wonderful sauce of orange juice, lime juice, chipotle in adobo, brown sugar and molasses. After the turkey is cooked, the sauce is reduced to a syrupy consistency.

This was spicy and citrusy and delicious. It was great served over white rice - plenty of sauce.

There are numerous links to this recipe online but none to the official website so I won't link them. If you want to cook this recipe, however, it's easy to fine.

I have no idea why I had a hankering for Sloppy Joes. I can't remember the last time I had them but decided it was time to make them from scratch.

This recipe is delicious. It's not overly sweet or tangy. It's delicious with a nice tomato flavor. It's got just a bit of a kick to it due to the Mexican chili powder I used and the teeny bit of hot sauce.

My husband liked it so much he ate the extra with chips as though it was dip.

This cookbook often gives numerous variations on a single cookie recipe. In this case, there are soft molasses cookies, crisp molasses cookies, and on-the-fence molasses cookies. The texture of these cookies is described as "bendy" - neither crisp nor soft.

While the taste of these cookies is everything you'd expect from a molasses cookie, I can't say they are "bendy". They are crunchy. They don't shatter when you bite them but they do crunch and make crumbs.

They are spicy and delicious and the perfect cookie for a chilly fall evening.

We have a friend who, despite all odds, is celebrating his birthday today. Jim LOVES whoopie pies more than anything so it seemed fitting I shoudl bake some for his birthday.

These Pumpkin whoopie pies seemed like the perfect thing for a mid October baking session. They are flavored with molasses, cloves, ginger and cinnamon and are a beautiful orange color once baked. They are a bit more moist than chocolate whoopie pies and I would recommend baking on parchment paper.

I chose to make the more typical shortening and fluff filling as opposed the the cream cheese filling as I didn't want to have to refrigerate them. I substituted maple extract for vanilla to complete the fall flavors.

With 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of butter and 1 1/2 cups of parmesan cheese, this dish should have been much better. For some reason, this sauce turned gritty on me and clung to the pasta in a not so attractive manner.

We love Alfredo but won't make this particular recipe again. The recipe I usually use has no additional butter in it (making in lower in fat) and we like it much better.

This is an exceedingly simple recipe for refried beans.

Canned beans are pureed in the food processor. They are then added to a pan in which diced slab bacon has been rendered. In addition to the bacon there are onions, garlic and spices. The beans thickened in the pan while the rest of dinner was cooked.

The beans had a very pronounced bacon flavor and, while they were quite good, I was the only person in the family who liked them. It would have been good to know ahead of time that no one cares for refried beans.

2013 is the summer of the cocktail at our house! We've been enjoying new cocktails on at least a weekly basis.

This is a very refreshing summer drink made with ginger ale, vodka, cranberry juice and lemon. We've substituted lime because that's what we always have on hand. It's light and a bit fruity and very delicious.

A very nice marinade make from common pantry items.

This was a nice change of pace from the usual marinade we use. This was a hefty amount for three pounds of steak tips. We'd definitely use this again during the summer grilling season.

Best pancakes that I've made so far.

Pretty ironic that I found this particular recipe on the 4th of July - All American Pancakes. They were made with soured milk, all purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder. The batter seemed thin at first but thickened up nicely after just a few minutes.

We all enjoyed these very much and they were easy to put together with common pantry ingredients.

A very nice Mexican rice dish which bakes in the oven while you cook dinner.

I made a few modifications - substituting canned plum tomatoes for fresh (because that's what I had on hand) and pickled jalapenos for fresh. I also used three different kinds of rice - medium grain, basamiti and jasimine - because I needed all three to come up with two cups of rice.

The rice is started on the stove in a Dutch oven and moved to the oven. I should have kept a closer eye on the rice once it was in the oven as it was probably done about 8 minutes earlier than I had anticipated. The rice was still very good but a little dry.

This was a bit spicier than I had anticipated but quite good. It made a huge amount of rice, however, and I would probably try to half it next time. This is a dish that is well worth trying again to see if I could perfect it.

Very simple week night meal.

My youngest son requested pasta for dinner after summer running. My oldest doesn't really care for tomato sauce and I didn't want to make Alfredo.

This sauce was terribly simple to make. Just a few ingredients simmered together on the stove while the pasta cooks. Although there are tomatoes in the sauce, the sauce does not taste like tomatoes and my oldest liked it a lot.

There was the right amount of sauce to coat one pound of penne and, although there was both cream and parmesan in it, the sauce did not feel heavy.

A low calorie bread this is not but who would expect cheesy garlic bread to be anything but decadent.

Italian bread is slice horizontally and spread with a garlic butter mixture. This is baked first in aluminum foil with the loaf put back together and then separated on a sheet to crisp things up. Finally, each side of the bread is topped with shredded cheese (monterey jack because that's what I had) and broiled.

My boys devoured an entire loaf of this in one sitting after returning from a 10 mile hike in the mountains. They all proclaimed it delicious.

A very yummy fried rice which is hearty enough to serve as a main course. In addition to the rice there is both ham (or Chinese barbecued pork) and shrimp.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe. I used one medium onion instead of scallions and I used honey ham from the deli. I doubled everything except the peas. It was odd that there was no flavoring added to this rice so I added the flavoring for the rice recipe on the next page - soy sauce and sesame oil.

If you have cold rice on hand this whole dinner comes together in no time.

Following the baking instructions goes a long way in making these come out well. I misread the temperature for the oven - these bake at a low temperature of 325 - so I burned the first batch.

These are a lovely oatmeal cookie on the thick side - they don't thin out much during baking. They are crunchy but not brittle.

Delicious with chocolate chips added!

Another Rice Krispie variation.

This one uses browned butter and peanut butter. It calls for a bag of mini marshmallows but I used 7 oz. of marshmallow creme as it's what I had on hand.

At first the butter, peanut butter and marshmallow didn't really want to come together smoothly and it looked curdled. After quite a bit of stirring, I was able to get it smooth. There was plenty of this mixture to add to the 6 cups of rice krispies which made them a bit more moist than the classic recipe.

I sprinkled the top with a small amount of mini chocolate chips because everything peanut butter tastes better with some chocolate.

Looking for a light weight treat to mail to my son in college, I stumbled across this recipe.

They're made chocolatey with the addition of both cocoa and mini chocolate chips as well as a topping of the mini chips. This recipe called for marshmallow cream instead of marshmallows.

They came together easily, cooled quickly and are on their way to New York.

This is the basic chocolate frosting recipe that comes on every tin of Hershey's cocoa. It's simple and requires no fancy ingredients. You can even make it in the few minutes you have in the morning when you realize that although you did remember to bake a cake you forgot to make frosting.

It's smooth and chocolatey and everything you need in a frosting for a simple birthday cake.

It takes longer to preheat the oven than it does to make these biscuits.

The secret ingredient is .... mayonnaise. Really. While this does not make for a flaky biscuit, it does make moist and tender ones that are very good to serve with a meal.

The dough for these biscuits is very sticky and is dropped onto parchment paper. I used my muffin scoop and greased it well and it worked perfectly to scoop out 12 lovely biscuits.

If you're already got your hands full with other dishes in a meal, these biscuits are easy and delicious.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've never made pie crust before. Generally, I use those very convenient Pillsbury pie crusts.

I followed the stand mixer directions for this crust and the dough came together easily. As I was rolling it out, it seemed a bit thick to me but it was difficult to get much thinner and it was the right size for the pie pan.

I prebaked this crust for use in a custard pie and it baked nicely with no bubbles on the sides. Served straight from the fridge with the coconut cream, it was rather tough. It had good flavor but it was rather difficult to cut with a fork.

I've never been entirely satisfied with the shepherd's pie I usually make. It seems to lack flavor and no matter how much salt and pepper I add it needs more.

This recipe had some small adjustments from my regular recipe. It used canned corn in place of frozen - one can was creamed corn. It also used a gravy packet in the meat.

I didn't mention that I had done anything different until my husband asked. He wasn't sure if he liked the changes while my middle son and I were very impressed by the much more flavorful pie. I loved the gravy and the canned corn was so much better than frozen.

Definitely my go to recipe from now on.

You can eat this by the handful!

I've been looking for a good chocolate granola for a while now. This may just be it.

A nice mix of oats, almonds, coconut, and cocoa are bound with butter, sugar and honey. The resulting granola is light and crisp with no hint of greasiness. It's chocolatey and just a bit salty.

I think it would be wonderful added to some Greek yogurt and if you used it as a cereal it would turn your milk all nice and chocolatey.

Now THIS is coffee cake!!

This cake is enormous - truly fit for a crowd. It's baked in a 9x13 pan and rises all the way to the top. Coffee cake for a crowd.

The cake has three parts - the cake batter, a cocoa filling, and a topping. The cake is made by first putting down half the batter. Then the filling is sprinkled on top of that. The second half of the batter is then added (I always find it tricky trying to spread batter over a topping but I managed). Finally, a crumb topping is spread over the very top.

In my oven, this took about 55 minutes to bake. I left it for 20 minutes to cool before trying a piece and was able to remove a piece with no problems.

Oh my! Moist but light cake with a delicious center and lots and lots of crumb topping. Perfect for serving with coffee or tea.

Simply wonderful.

In celebration of Chinese New Year, we tried another recipe from this cookbook.

Like the other recipes in the book that I've tried so far, this one starts with a marinade and a sauce that are made with basic Chinese pantry staples. Once those are made the flank steak is marinated while the broccoli is blanched. Finally, everything is stir fried together and the sauce is added to coat.

I would actually give this recipe a 3.5. It was delicious but somewhat salty. The flank steak was very tender and the broccoli was nicely cooked. My husband and middle son each gave the dish and 8 while my youngest gave it a 6. It was good, and I'd make it again, but it wasn't as good as the chicken recipes we've tried from this same book.

What's not to like?

Chocolate + Pizzelles = Delicious!!

This is a pretty basic pizzelle recipe to which cocoa powder has been added. They have a nice chocolate flavor and were no more difficult to make than regular pizzelles.

I sprayed my non stick pizzelle maker with Pam as I had read reviews that mentioned sticking but I had no problems. You do need to be careful with timing as it is more difficult to see if these are done because of the chocolate color.

King Arthur Flour never disappoints. I got a new pizzelle maker for Christmas and knew that this would be my go-to resource for recipes.

The dough itself is super simple to make using only a bowl and a spoon. I used vanilla extract because my children aren't fond of anise. To form the pizzelles I used my Tablespoon cookie scoop.

This pizzelle maker is super fast - 30 seconds per batch - so I had to work fast. In less than 15 minutes I had 30 beautiful pizzelles. They are thin, crispy and delicious.

I'll have to work on my technique to get the dough in just the right place on the plates but I don't really care if the cookies are perfectly shaped for my family.

This recipe had everything I was looking for. It uses all purpose flour and makes one large pizza. I was shocked at how many recipes I had to go through to find one that met these simple criteria.

Although there is no suggestion of using a stand mixer, I used my Kitchenaid to knead this dough for about 5 minutes before covering it and leaving it to rise.

Good basic pizza dough.

Delicious but not for the faint of heart!

The recipe is very well written. The different parts of the recipe - marinade, sauce, and main ingredients - are separated on the side bar which makes it really easy to prepare each part of the recipe.

Although there are many ingredients, they come together easily. While the chicken marinates, it's easy to pull together the sauce and additional ingredients.

I doubled this recipe to feed my family of five and hesitated to double the dried red chilies called for. The recipe calls for 8-10 and I went with 10ish. Everything else in the recipe was doubled.

Thank goodness I didn't double the red chilies because this dish was HOT! It was delicious but very spicy. It was hilarious to watch the sweat break out on the brows of my family. We all loved the dish but agreed that next time we'd cut the number of peppers in half.

The chicken was very flavorful and the sauce nicely covered everything. We'll definitely eat this again with one minor change.

A delicious and very pretty quick bread that's just perfect for the holidays.

This quick bread is made in the typical fashion of adding the liquid ingredients to the dry ones. The liquid includes buttermilk and melted butter - mmm! In addition, chopped cranberries and nuts (I used walnuts but the recipe calls for pecans) are added last.

The bread is slightly sweet and slightly tart. The cranberries makes it quite festive looking.