Cooking Club: January Recipe Reviews

Since February is almost over, I figured it was well past time to review the January recipes. For those who may be new to my blog the Cooking Club is something I do with my SIL's and MIL. We each submit one recipe a month which gives us four new things to make that month. We then email each other with our successes, our reviews and it is just a lot of fun.

So here are our reviews from January's recipes. You can click on each name to take you to the original recipe.

1) Curried Noodles with Vegetables
Melidee-"I was glad Rachel and I could split the cabbage. We had a funny time finding it and finally had to ask the produce guy what it was. I've never bought anything like that before. I loved learning about rice sticks. I really didn't like the cabbage cooked. I have never been a cooked cabbage-of-any-kind fan. Dad said he thought it tasted like grass. I didn't mind the texture, but the flavor just makes me shudder.
I think I would enjoy this dish minus the cabbage. I also added chicken but decided afterward that pork would have been better. Dad liked it and both of us enjoyed trying something new."

Rachel- " I really really loved it! It has a lot of ingredients, but hopefully it won't be too hard. I thought most of the ingredients were really cheap and it actually didn't take too long to make. Just make sure you give yourself time to soak the noodles. You can chop everything up earlier in the day if you'd like. The actual cooking time is very quick. It's not really kid friendly; we halved the recipe and still had TONS of leftovers."

Me-"Tons of prep work but then comes together quickly. It tasted good but would have been awesome with some pork or some meat in it. I tried to get the kids as much of the noodles with as few of vegetables as possible and Alex liked the noodles. Lucas ate about three or four bites of noodles. So while it was good, I don't think I will ever make this recipe again-way too much work for something that was good but not amazing."

RECAP: 2.5/5 Stars- TONS of prep work, but then fast, not kid friendly, half of us like the taste

2) Colorful Tuna Casserole

Raelynn-"I ended up using 3/4 cup milk rather than just the 1/4 because it seemed too solid. And even with the extra milk it was still quite thick. I also increased the amount of noodles. Since it only had one can of tuna, I thought increasing the noodles from 1/4 pound would be good. I loved the bread crumbs on top. Kate asked for seconds, which is always a good sign. Velveeta is not our favorite, but we did enjoy this dinner. Good comfort food."

Melidee-"First...I was very delighted with the Velveeta, it melted away very nicely and made a smooth sauce. I don't think I put in quite as much as it called for but I did add extra milk. Anyway, it was delicious and I would have never guessed. When it was all gone, Dad said, "Well, we must have really liked it...there isn't any left."

Me- "When I picked this recipe I honestly think I overlooked that it uses velvetta cheese as well I hated the stuff growing up. But I obviously had to go ahead. I actually bought the Kroger brand of Velveta and it was a lot better color than I remember it being and I actually must admit I almost liked it. The dinner was fast and easy to throw together and the kids actually ate it too, which was nice. So this might be a quick dish I actually make again."

Rachel-"I had never tasted velveeta before and it was one of those things I had always wanted to try. I mean, since I was little. So it was fun to have an excuse to buy it. I thought it was too thick and I wish I had doubled the milk in it. I used yellow pepper instead of green (actually only because the store was out of every other color of pepper) but it turned out to be a good thing because the yellow peppers blended in and the kids couldn't tell. We all liked it pretty good, but would have liked it better if it had been a little thinned down."

RECAP: 4/5 Stars- while nothing amazing, everyone enjoyed it and it was quick and easy

3) Italian Pot Pies

Raelynn- "We all liked it a lot, though I had a really hard time getting the biscuits to cook properly. I let it go 20 minutes and finally took them out. The top was great, but underneath the layer of dough was pure gooey dough! Yuck. So back into the oven at 500 degrees for 15 more minutes. Kate gobbled it down (2 helpings) because I put the onions and carrots into the food processor so they were very small and unnoticeable."

Melidee- "Both Dad and I really liked it. I liked cooking it with the dough on top. Such a flavorful biscuit too. I did add some basil and oregano, extra pepper and parsley to my meat mixture. And I used peppers and zucchini too. I also grated the carrots instead of chopping them. It was very satisfying and I hope to try this idea with the flavored biscuit dough on some other meat/veggie combinations. I put it in a small casserole dish and dropped the dough mounds right next to each other until the top of all the meat mixture was covered. It turned out lovely and we gobbled it all up."

Me- "We loved it! Well-Eric and I loved it. Alex liked the meat and Lucas liked the biscuits.. well the first couple of bites. But I really think this is a dish that if I made it a few more times they would totally start eating it. I made mine in a 11X7 pan and it all just fit. I just glopped the biscuits on top and they turned out perfectly. I really took my time measuring the ingredients for the biscuits as others had problems, I even spooned in the flour. But hey, it must have worked as they were great. This will be a recipe I will make again."

Rachel- "I thought it was DELICIOUS. We ate it on a Monday night and then for lunch. I loved the biscuits. Mine cooked up great in 12 minutes and the flavor of the meat was really good to me. When Todd saw it though, he said it looked like someone just combined two or three old cooking club recipes and put them all together. That made me laugh! But he liked it too. Madeline also ate it"

RECAP: 4.5/5 Delicious, not too hard, most of the kids liked it, the biscuits just can cause trouble
4) Korean Beef in Lettuce Leaves

Raelynn- "Sam and I both liked the wraps. Very easy to make - I seriously made them in less than 1/2 hour. And I would make them again - loved using ground meat in wraps. But when/if I make them again I will actually add less marmalade. I thought they were too sweet. I felt like I was eating candy in my lettuce. Good dinner - easy, yummy and healthy."

Rachel- "This recipe was the biggest surprise. I thought Todd would hate it because of the orange marmelade, but I used Raelynn's comments and added only 2 instead of 3 TBLS of it. I was hoping that would help Todd like it and it must have worked because he ate SIX!!!! I couldn't believe it. He really liked them too! I doubt I'll make them again though, because the ingredients aren't things I usually have on hand."

Melidee- "I thought it really looked pretty in the pan as it was cooking. Once again, I grated my carrots to make sure they were completely cooked through. Smelled so good once I dropped the sauce in...hmmm...very yummy. Dad came up the stairs sniffing. He thought it made the house smell good too. He's still in there right now eating his fourth serving! I gave up holding the lettuce bundles and eventually resorted to a knife and fork. Good nonetheless. I thought it would be good with sirloin strips, with chicken or pork, or even fish. I served it with pot stickers, which turned out nice."

RECAP: 4/5 Quick and not too hard to make, with a few tweaks the recipe is great
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So some great recipes from this month, try them out, you won't regret it!