A night of sushi at Wasabi (the one by Turkey Creek).  The only thing is that it ended up making me sick!  Even my friend who ate their the next night got sick.  Why do you do this to me Wasabi?

After a very rough morning, I met up with Zara for some brunch at The Tomato Head.  Boy is it crowded at 1 pm on a Sunday!  I noticed that they put a few of my favorite things on a pizza (smoked salmon, capers, red onions), that I had to give Number Twenty-one a try.  Thankfully, they serve it by the slice.  I do not know if I could have put down four slices by myself.  A delicious pizza.  Tomato Head, you did it again!

Since I enjoy brunch and found many of the recipes in “Brunch!” to be interesting, I let the Husband select the recipe I was going to make and review.  The Husband chose the Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake Muffins.  I had most of the ingredients already in my pantry, except the mini chocolate chips for the crumb cake topping.  One quick trip to the store later, I am baking away.

The actual recipe was easy to follow.  The end result got mixed reviews.  The taste testers were the ladies at my firm and the Husband.  Everyone agreed that the crumb cake topping was good, but the rest of the muffin lacked in flavor.  These people are muffin top eaters.  I found that you have to be very careful cooking the muffins, as the edges of the cup part get a little too firm, while the top is just starting to get done.  If the recipe incorporated those mini chocolate chips into the batter, as a opposed to just the crumb cake topping, I think this recipe would have gotten 4 out of 5 stars.  The way they are made out of the cookbook only awards them a 2.5 out of 5 stars.  Out of the 2 dozen that the recipe made, I ended up throwing out over half the batch.  They were OK, but not good enough to have the whole batch gobbled up at work or at home.

Then I got to thinking to myself: “Maybe I did the recipe wrong?”  I know I have never been a strong baker.  I cook better than I bake, so perhaps I should try a different recipe and give the cook book a second chance.  So I decided to make the Corn and Parmesan Fritters.  This recipe was fairly easy as well.  I did not have any of the toppings that the recipe called for, so these were going to be plain fritters.

I soon realized why the recipe called for toppings.  The fritters did not seemed to be seasoned enough to stand alone.  They needed to be topped with bacon, salsa and sour cream to really pop.  After cooking up a few, I added some seasoned salt and some crushed red pepper.  That gave them enough of a kick for me to eat half the batch hot out of the pan.  The Husband still wanted some BBQ sauce to dip them in.  I don’t feel that I can properly rate this recipe, since I went off-recipe to begin with.  Compared to other fritters I have had and made, I might give these a 3.5 out of 5 with my adjustments.  A good, solid fritter recipe, but not the best I have had.

Overall, I really want to like this book.  There are many recipes that appeal to me and I plan on trying a few more.  I hope that the below-average results are based on my deviations rather than based on the recipes.  And my friend Nadia is a brunch fiend, so she may test out the book as a second opinion.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

DIRECTIONS

1. In a food processor, add the flour, flaxseed, salt and yeast and process for about 5 seconds for it to mix.
2. While running, add honey, butter, dry milk, brown sugar and then the water. You might not need all the water, you might need more. You should have a nice, well-defined, not too sticky ball. If it is too dry, add a bit more water and process for 5 or so seconds.
3. Grease a large bowl with butter or oil. Knead the bread and then shape into a ball and place into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a wet paper towel and allow dough to rise for at least 2 hours until it has almost doubled.
4. Deflate the ball, shape it again and then let it rest on a lightly floured surface for 15 minues, covered.
5. Shape the dough into a rectangle, then shaped it into the loaf by folding the two long sides towards each other, then pinching them together, flip it over and tuck the short end down. Pat the bread down into a buttered or oiled 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Cover and let it rise for about an hour, until it almost level with the top of the pan.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Brush the top of the bread with some water and place it in the oven for about 45 minutes. You know it is done when the bottom makes a hollow sound when you tap on it, or it reaches 200 F internally.
7. Remove from pan and place on wire rack. Wait until it cools before you slice it!

Ingedients:

• Your choice of tortillas, shredded cheese and salsa (but I recommend the pineapple-mango)
• 1.25 – 1.50 lbs of boneless, skinless, thinly sliced chicken breasts.
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (I only had from concentrate and it worked just fine)
• 1 tbs chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F
2. Slice the chicken into strips
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl with a lid to make the marinade(except the the first group of items).
4. Add the chicken strips to the bowl and marinate in the chicken in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more.
5. Pour out a bit of the marinade into a skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
6. Place torillas on a greased cookie sheet and place in oven for about 5 – 7 minutes until warm, but not crispy.
7. While the tortillas are heating up, add marinated chicken to the hot skillet and cook for 3 minutes on each side. This is if you have the thin-sliced breasts. If you have the normal chicken breasts, they take longer too cook through.
8. Finally, add them all together! Tortilla>Chicken>Shredded Cheese>Salsa!

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves (depending on how garlicy you like it), minced
• 1 7.25 oz jar of sun-dried red peppers
• 1 cup milk (I only use skim, but it’s your preference)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 – 2 tsp sea salt (once again, based on your personal tastes)
• 1 family size can of tomato soup (or make yours from scratch)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp honey

Directions

1. Place the olive oil in a sauce pot and once it it heated, add the garlic to saute.
2. While the oil is heating, place the peppers, milk, cayenne pepper and salt into a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Once the garlic has sauteed, add the can of tomato soup, then the red pepper mix and stir. Add bay leaves.
4. Heat on medium low heat for 7 – 9 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove bay leaves and stir in honey.
6. Serve hot, preferably with a nice sharp cheddar and muenster grilled cheese!

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups plain M&Ms (or chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Finally, mix in the M&Ms. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar & 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup crushed pineapple (drain out the juice)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sweetened coconut
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Beat in pineapple Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips and coconut. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks