Recipes Discovered

Watermelon Tomato Salad Recipe

I know this sounds like a bizarre combination, but I saw the recipe in a magazine and the picture made it look so good. With all of the extra tomatoes we have, it’s nice to have another recipe to use them as well. The salad is very simple – watermelon, tomatoes, red onion, parsley, basil, and lime juice. I diced the watermelon pretty small, so it was about the same size as the grape tomatoes I used. I also used dried basil instead of fresh. The salad has great flavor though. The combination of the herbs with the watermelon is outstanding, and the tomatoes add a nice pop. It’s easy, simple, and tastes great – perfect for summer!

Warm Chocolate Souffle Recipe

I recently bought the New Mayo Clinic Cookbook,which I really enjoy, especially this recipe for warm chocolate souffles. The cake goes by many names, chocolate lava cake, molten chocolate cake, flourless chocolate cake, even little hot chocolate cakes, but this recipe is different because it’s actually good for you. The Mayo Clinic replaced a lot of the “bad” ingredients (butter, egg yolks) with healthy alternatives (honey, egg whites) to create a chocolate delight that you can enjoy without the guilt.

The recipe has a lot of ingredients and steps, but it’s not as difficult as it appears. First I combined the cocoa powder with hot water. I had to add probably twice as much water to create a paste. After I finally got the cocoa mixed together, I set it aside and melted some butter and oil in a saucepan. When the butter melted, I added flour, ground pecans, and cinnamon. I mixed everything together for a minute and then added the brown sugar, honey and salt. At that point, the mixture sort of turned into a thick paste, almost like caramel. I stirred in the milk, which took a minute to work into a sauce, but it thickened up pretty quickly after I got it mixed together, and then I added the cocoa pasta and turned of the heat. >> Read more

Peachy Chicken Recipe

I had seen this recipe for peachy chicken in a magazine a few weeks ago and thought it sounded really good. The recipe called for canned peaches, but since we have a lot of fresh peaches, I decided to try it with those.

First, I peeled and sliced 2 fresh peaches and put them in a bowl with about a teaspoon of sugar. I let them sit for about an hour to sweeten them up a bit. In a large skillet, I browned the chicken breast in a little oil and then removed them while I made the sauce. I added orange juice, peaches and onion soup mix to the pan. To replace the peach juice, I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but I think I needed to add something with a sweeter taste. I also omitted the brown sugar, which probably wasn’t a good idea either. Anyway, I boiled the mixture for a couple minutes before returning the chicken to the pan and reducing the heat to low. I cooked it another 20 minutes and then served it over brown rice.

After tasting the chicken, I think the peach juice and brown sugar are probably a big part of the dish. The chicken was good, but a little over powered by the onion flavor. The peaches also tasted very salty. It wasn’t a bad dish, but it wasn’t as good as I expected either. I would like to try to dish again, and maybe follow the recipe next time.

Watermelon Gazpacho Soup Recipe

Since gazpacho is becoming fairly popular (I see it in a lot of restaurants now), and I like the traditional version, I thought I would try an alternative. I found a recipe for watermelon gazpacho that called for watermelon, tomatoes, and cucumbers as the base. Along with those ingredients, I added vinegar, scallions, parsley (instead of cilantro), jalapeno, lime juice, and a bit of salt and pepper. I omitted the oil from the recipe, which may have been my mistake, I don’t know. I blended everything in the blender until pureed and refrigerated it for about 2 hours to chill and let the flavors meld. Upon tasting it, I discovered it was possibly the worst thing I have ever tasted. I don’t know if I missed something, if the oil was a big contributor to the taste, or if it’s just a bad recipe, but the soup was horrible. I think I’ll stick to traditional gazpacho or leave it to the professionals from now on.

Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes Recipe

A few years ago, my mom made macaroni and cheese with tomatoes in it and to me, it tasted just like pizza. Not too long ago, I asked her for the recipe, but she had no idea what recipe I was talking about. After a lot of searching, I found two recipes that I combined together to replicate that macaroni and cheese that tasted like pizza.

First, I cooked a pound of macaroni (4 cups uncooked) until the noodles were just soft. Since it bakes in the oven, the noodles shouldn’t be cooked completely or they would fall apart. After I drained the noodles, I returned them to the pot and let them cool while I made the cheese sauce. >> Read more