Cooking Club: September Recipe Reviews

Well better late than never right? This month is almost halfway over and I am finally reviewing last month's recipes. For those of you who are new to my blog, welcome! You can read about the cooking club here and here. As always I start with the first recipe I posted for the month, which more often than not is the one that Rachel submitted as she is the best at actually getting her recipe in on time.

1) Loaded Chicken and Mushroom Calzone-
submitted by Rachel

Raelynn- "I thought the filling smelled delicious and was very excited to eat them. But they weren't quite as flavorful as I had hoped. I did like them, though. I probably won't make them again, but did enjoy eating them at the time."

Rachel- "Not quite as flavorful as I had hoped, but still good. I wish I had had dipping sauce with mine. I wonder what you could add to make them more exciting? Maybe if I make them again, I'll experiment there. I just really like spinach and mushrooms."

Melidee- "I thought they were absolutely perfectly wonderful and deliciously yummy! I liked how the fennel/mushroom/spinach combo tasted, which is really saying something because I care very little about whether or not I ever eat mushrooms. I've never used that kind of mushroom before and found the flavor not too overwhelming and actually quite pleasing...for a mushroom. I have decided that I would love to make this for company, or for a football game half time treat."

Me- "I made homemade pizza dough and split it in half. The kids used half to just make their own pizzas and I used the other half for us. And then I roughly followed the recipe. I used extra chicken (used Tysons precooked strips), a little more than 1/2 the spinach, threw in a couple of cooked crumbled up pieces of bacon and just guesstimated at some of the spices.

In the end Eric liked them and I did too but I did not love them..mine seemed like it needed more cheese or sauce...or something. I might try those toppings on a regular pizza sometime with either a white or bbque sauce."

Recap: 3/5 Stars Melidee loved these, but the rest of us felt like they fell a little flat. Not too hard to make, but definitely not a throw it together sort of meal either.

2) Emmy's Crispy Fish Tacos-
submitted AND created by ME!

Melidee- "They were a hit and personally, I really REALLY like them. I enjoyed the cucumber dill sauce a lot. I used to use dill in dips quite often "back in the day" and I realized I had been missing it. HMMM...YUMMY! I didn't use quite all of the cucumber but since dad eats salads everyday now I could use up the rest in his lunch. It was a quick, easy dinner, and who doesn't like that? I used the frozen fish fillets, but I am sure that one time I will just cook some fish and use that."

Raelynn- "I thought this was a fun way to get more veggies into a taco! Wow, spinach, tomatoes AND cucumbers. Very nice. And very pretty tacos, too. I do think that if I made them again, I would add something to the mayo to thin it down and create more of a dressing. Apparently, I'm not an extreme mayo lover. We all enjoyed them, though. And I appreciated the easiness of the recipe."

Rachel- "I was glad to have a reason to cook those frozen fish fillets because I haven't for a LONG time and it turns out Madeline LOVED them. She just dipped her fish into plain mayo and had a plain quesidilla to go with it, as did Ethan. Todd really liked them, as he had seconds. I, well, I just decided that I really really don't like cucumbers. Todd wonders why since he thinks they don't taste like much, but I just can hardly stand them. I should have made some of the sauce without for me, because I LOVED the whole rest of it. They were pretty. They were fun to make, and fish tacos are yummy. So overall, we really liked them."

Me- Let's just say we make these almost weekly now.

RECAP: 5/5 Stars- Yes I might be bias since I made the recipe, but overall everyone loved them and they are fast and easy and really aren't too bad for you.

3) Southwestern Corn Chowder-
submitted by Melidee

Raelynn-"Great, comfort soup. We all liked it (Kate less than the rest of us). It was easy, pretty, lots of good veggies, but again, not quite as flavorful as I had anticipated. My corn did not cook down, and it seemed just like milky broth with veggies floating in it. I actually think that I might have liked it even more if some of the corn had cooked down."

Rachel-"Mom's chowder was good too. Mine turned out like Raelynn's. The corn didn't cook down really at all. I almost wanted to put half the corn in the blender with the broth or something. But I really love soup and so it was one of my favorites. My kids won't eat soup though, so I had to make them other stuff for dinner."

Me- "I really am not a big soup fan but didn't want to lose any more points so had to cook this. My corn definitely did not break down either but it didn't really bug me. I liked it but it seemed to lack in taste a bit. It was easy enough to make though."

And once again Mrs. Bird from the Birds Nest made one of the recipes. She said "Made it last night :) I added a few things, cuz I'm a rebel like that....chicken, black beans, and green chile. It was very yummy, we'll definitely make it again!"

RECAP: 3.5/5 Stars- A good comfort food but lacks in flavor a bit and the corn did not break down as most thought it should. But with alterations it could be great.

4) Southwest Turkey Burgers With Corn Salsa-
submitted by Raelynn

Rachel- "Raelynn's burgers were great! Madeline even ate them because we told her it was a meatball and she really likes those. It was fun to have the patty covered in salsa, and I didn't think they were hard, so that was nice!"

Me- "I just used 1 lb turkey as that is what it comes in. We put ours on soft whole wheat buns and a dollop of sour cream. Eric's had pepper jack cheese, the kids and mine had cheddar. And let me tell you I loved these! We didn't put the salsa on the kids and they both ate them too and really liked them. I didn't make fresh salsa but used Herdez brand salsa. It is Eric's favorite and says it is like what he had in Mexico and is very close to fresh."

Melidee- "They went together quickly. I used a reduced amount of chili powder, although I suspect that the 3/4 TBSP would be just the right amount. One half wasn't quite enough. I just crushed the chips with my bare hands. It surprised me that they weren't detectable at all. I actually combined the black beans, salsa and corn and heated it up, mostly because Dad would like it heated better than spooning on something on top that wasn't hot. I melted cheese on top of the patties with a foil tent then served the burgers on a plate with the hot salsa/bean/corn mix poured over, then topped with a dollop of sour cream. That made them a bit different from what Dad had for lunch. He thought they were yummy and ate 3. I thought it was very pretty to look at, and they were tasty, and I will make them again."

RECAP: 5/5 Stars- Very pleasantly surprised at how good these were and they are quick and easy to put together too.

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So another great month! I am excited for the recipes from this month. Should be so good ones and definitely some different ingredients coming up, like goat cheese.