Rebecca’s Cooking Journal

I have really been enjoying watching Rachel Ray’s shows, simply because she inspires me to think of dinner as a “meal” not just a “main dish.” Last night we made her chicken sausage balls. Becasue I couldn’t get chicken sausage, I made them with pork Italian sausage, which my husband really appreciated. With two pounds of meat, I only could make eight balls — the boccocini were rather large.

I would have liked more cheese per meatball, but I struggled to get it to stay together. Any secrets for improving that?

On the other hand, it was really very tasty with the tomato-pesto sauce. And it was very easy.

I essentially made Rachel Rays’ entire menu, except I roasted asparagus instead of broccolini. Get the recipe from Rachel Ray >>>

NB 8/16/2009: I had to close comments on this post due to an abundance of spam: please email me (rebecca at rebeccareid dot com) any comments you may have.

I was going to improve on the zucchini bread recipe I found at Simply Recipes: it is so very full of fat and sugar, I thought maybe it could be made more healthy. No, it is simply too good to change.

It’s cake-like zucchini bread, and in the past I’ve made the recipe twice. I highly recommend it. I didn’t add dried fruit or nuts (my husband doesn’t like them in bread) but you might like that option too. At any rate, enjoy it.

Get Simply Recipes’ Zucchini Bread recipe >>

…I just haven’t been telling you about it! In fact, lately I’ve been making incredibly yummy quick breads: Zucchini Bread, Banana Bread, and Zucchini-Banana Bread. I’ve decided that I like Zucchini Bread much more than the plain banana variety.

Which of the two is your favorite?

If my tweak on the recipe tomorrow is good, I may share it with you.

When my husband is out of town (and that is often), I don’t cook very often. That’s why I’ve been rather quiet around here. But last week, I had some friends over for lunch and I felt I should make some springy soup. I based my recipe on this one from Simply Recipes (I find myself using that site as a guide very often).

I never take pictures of my food, although I know many food bloggers do. I tried to on this one and it just did not look right. In fact, it looked disgusting. Some day I’ll figure it out. In the mean time, trust me: this was delicious.

I didn’t add the alcohol, because I never cook with alcohol. I also put in less stock compared to the asparagus. In the end, it was good, but seemed to be missing a “kick.” Did it need more lemon juice? More salt and pepper? More asparagus? I’m not sure. Next time I make it, I’ll have to experiment. I’ll probably start by using fresh lemon juice (instead of concentrate) and more thyme. (more…)