Recipe Testing

I love to be inspired to create foods that I find from magazines, cookbooks, websites, and even the emails that I receive.  This weekend,  I was able to attempt several things that I found on Pinterest and one from The Modern Gamily Cookbook by Meta Given. 

To start my journey this weekend, I wanted to make myself feel better (due to health problems), I made Cheesecake Strawberries.  These were a huge hit and have been requested to make while we are at the beach this coming summer.  It was quite easy to make, as the toughest thing was coring the strawberries.  I used the knife method shown on the website.  I didn't do the swirl as I didn't have the chocolate available but we thought they were divine without the chocolate.

I saw this next recipe when I was perusing thru my I<3 Food. board on Pinterest.  I changed it up by making my own Italian Sausage (yes, I said make my own Italian Sausage-we'll get to that in a sec) and the pepperoni, I picked up 2 thick slices of sandwich pepperoni from the deli, then diced it.  Okay, now to the Italian Sausage.

The Italian Sausage was not on sale, so it was $4.99/lb and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that. So, I grabbed some ground pork and then headed to the spice isle to get a jar of fennel. Bringing it home, I measured out the spices until I thought it smelled like Italian Sausage. Basically, it was fennel, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, marjoram, salt and pepper. This recipe is still in the making, so right now, I am not going to post the amounts that I used.  However, I can't wait to make some of Nikki's Italian Mac n' Cheese with some of my homemade Italian Sausage.

So with this homemade Italian Sausage and diced pepperoni, I made Pizza Puffs. We now call these Pizza Bites because it's only a bite or two of a lovely taste of a pizza.  I think these would be great made in bulk then frozen so when a hungry teen comes in they can grab 5 or so then nuke them until warm for a quick snack.  If I am able to accomplish that I will let you know! 

In addition to the Pizza Bites, I made up some Mozzarella Bites.  This recipe is based off of the tv being on when I was in the kitchen and Giada at Home was on and she was making these.  The big differences is that I cut up string cheese and she used fresh mozzarella. Other than that, the recipe was pretty much the same, oh and I didn't make the chutney.

Also, I made some pizzas to round out the meal.  The dough was the mix from the store that you just add water and milk to and the pizza sauce that was also used for dipping I just kinda took a can of Hunt's SweetOnion Diced Tomatoes and mixed in lots of spices and let it simmer for 2 hours.

This brings us to this morning. When I came across this recipe, I knew I had to make it.  On page 97 of The Modern Gamily Cookbook by Meta Given is a recipe for Bacon Muffins. Yes, Bacon Muffins.  They were okay. It tasted like a bacon biscuit, honestly it was nothing super special.  It's almost like it was missing something. Maybe some gravy? Now that is an idea I need to try!

Finding the dessert for this evening was something that was not to bad - Jell-o Cookies.  I personally think that some of them need more flavor to them but the kids liked them just fine. Emma and I may need work on the flavor depths in some of these cookies.  They are extremely colorful and fun to makes.  Once again, they made their appearance on Pinterest. Our flavor choices were Lemon, Strawberry, Lime  and Orange.

I need to work on my food photography as I am not the greatest in showing off what I make, but please believe me that these recipes will leave your taste buds dancing.

I do know that if money wasn't an object in my home, that I would have tested out more recipes this weekend. I do hope that some of these give you inspiration!