June 2023 Hits & Misses (559 views)

Keepers
-Mushroom and Black Bean Burgers With Balsamic-Glazed Onions -- Washington Post -- these were simple to make because they used canned mushrooms. The texture was a little soft. The combination of the onions and burger was delicious. I served them bunless. I thought that I would want more onions that the recipe called for, so I did 3 onions. The recipe says it makes 4 patties, I made 6 and even without a bun, they were the right size for a meal.
-Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake -- TasteOfHome.com -- My mom loves rhubarb so I wanted to make her a rhubarb cake for her bday (91!). She balked at my plan because she was afraid that others might not enjoy it. I made it, plus a single layer Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Choc Cake for anyone who didn't like it. Of the 8 of us, only one person ate the choc cake.
-Celery & Olive Salad -- elizabethminchilli.com -- simple and delicious
20 Minute Korean Beef Sesame Noodles -- halfbakedharvest.com -- great weeknight meal
-Strawberry and Sesame Swirl Soft Serve -- NY Times Cooking -- Local strawberries, Seed + Mill tahini, and halva. Who knew that strawberries and sesame were a good match? Made it in the food processor after reading the comments. I wish I had cut the strawberries up even smaller and fed them through the top rather than dumping them in the FP bowl all at once. (We made a double batch.)
-Mashed Potato Puffs -- thecookingjar.com --I had a mess of leftover mashed potatoes. DH kept saying "those potato things were really good".
-20 Minute Thai Basil Beef and Lemongrass Rice Bowls -- halfbakedharvest.com -- These would be good with any ground meat.
-Szechuan Pepper Ground Beef-- closetcooking.com -- I used ground chicken. Szechuan peppercorns are so interesting. This would be good with any ground meat.
-Summer Noodle Salad With Ginger-Garlic Dressing -- washingtonpost.com -- I added a few other fresh vegetables to the salad. My soba was 100% buckwheat soba. The leftover noodles are a little gummy so I think only making the amount of noodles needed for 2 servings might be the way to go in the future.

Exceptional
-Strawberry Mousse (in the blender) -- dessertfortwo.com -- more taking advantage of local strawberries for me. I needed 4 servings so I doubled it. I got 5 servings. It was super easy. My dinner companions wanted to lick their bowls. DH was not unhappy that there was an extra serving waiting in our fridge. I topped with sliced strawberries and mint leaves. It doesn't need whipped cream on top.
-Char Siu Cauliflower -- washingtonpost.com -- Wow!

Tried and True
-Soft-boiled Eggs and Asparagus with Harissa and Preserved Lemon -- Everyone's Table by Gregory Gourdet -- my favorite way to use local asparagus
-Banh Mi Bowls with Lemongrass Meatballs --pinchofyum.com -- one of our fav main dish salad meals
-Easy One-Pot, No-Knife, Lighter Tuna Noodle Casserole -- I don't make this very often, DH was away, cat was sick, and I needed comfort food.
-Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Chocolate Cake -- hershey.com, but my family makes it with a ganache frosting, not the recipe frosting -- this cake shows up at every family gathering.

Not for Us/Needs Improvement
-Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza -- King Arthur -- This was KA's 2020 recipe of the year. It was OK, but required a lot more of my time and attention than my normal pizza makes. I also concluded that I am not a super thick crust pizza person. I won't make it again.
-Zucchini Corn Fritters with Garlic Chive Aioli -- tasteloveandnourish.com -- these would be better with less corn. The corn overpowered the zucchini. We wanted zucchini fritters with corn, but got corn fritters with zucchini. I used a lot more garlic chives in the aioli