In the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, I chose a Southwestern-inspired menu that celebrated summer dishes. For the appetizer, I picked a Chile con Queso with tortilla chips. The drinks were Summertime Blue Mojitos. I wanted a hearty main dish so I opted for Sizzling Southwest Burgers. For the side dishes, I picked Grilled pineapple and avocado salad and Corn with chile lime butter. Last but not ever least in my book, for dessert, I chose Key Lime Pie from and Watermelon Sorbet. We don’t normally make two desserts but since I knew that Rissa wasn’t the biggest fan of lime, I thought the watermelon sorbet would be a good pairing.
Chile con Queso (Courtesy of FoodNetwork.com)
Heather - This was a simple recipe and we did take some shortcuts (used mozzarella cheese as well as pepper-jack and didn’t use a double boiler). The taste of the dip was good, creamy but with a bite, as any chile con queso should be! The problem was with the consistency. By the time we actually sat down to dinner, the dip was one big coagulated cheese blob! Granted we didn’t put it in a fondue pot or a chafing dish, as the recipe called for, but still!
Thumbs down - Because of the consistency, I would not make this recipe again.
Rissa - Thumbs down
Nicole - Thumbs sideways - I would try it again using a double boiler.
Kristin - Thumbs down.
Summertime Blue Mojitos –
Kristin - This was a very labor-intensive recipe, taking about an hour to make the drinks. However, this was mostly due to the fact that we ran out of regular limes and had to juice key limes. But, they were really tasty and I think had we used regular limes, they wouldn’t have taken so long to make.
Thumbs up
Heather - Thumbs up - I would try this one again, possibly with bottled lime juice.
Rissa: Thumbs up.
Nicole: Thumbs up.
Key Lime Pie – (Courtesy of Allrecipes.com)
Heather - We used a pre-made graham cracker crust and a tub of Cool Whip Light. Normally, we don’t take so many short-cuts but because we were having two desserts, I thought why not! From my perspective, the pie was easy to make. The only complaint was that it didn’t solidify enough (probably because it was only in the freezer for an hour, instead of the recipe’s four). I still thought it was delicious!
Thumbs up
Rissa: Thumbs up - I was shocked that I actually enjoyed the tangyness of the lime.
Nicole: Thumbs up.
Kristin: Thumbs sideways.
Watermelon Sorbet (Courtesy of Rachael Ray)
Heather - Unfortunately, we never got to try this because I didn’t know I was supposed to freeze the container for the ice cream maker and it was still in liquid form, 3 hours later.
Thumbs sideways - I would try this one again.
Pineapple and Avocado Salad (Courtesy of Cooking Light)
Nicole - This dish had great tropical flavors and was a hit. The only complaint I had with it was that the lettuce wilted due to the dressing on the other ingredients. Next time, I would hold off on throwing it all together until the last minute.
Thumbs up.
Rissa: Thumbs up -The salad was really, really good! And because of the grilled pineapple (which is not hard to do), it made the salad feel a bit on the fancier side.
Heather: Thumbs up.
Kristin: Thumbs up.
Sizzling Southwest Burgers – (Courtesy of Allrecipes.com)
Heather - These were very easy to make. I normally don’t cook with ground beef and unknowingly, bought the highest fat-content beef. Oops! That was my one complaint that they were pretty greasy but they had a great spicy flavor. The addition of the sour cream and salsa made them almost taste like a taco burger! These were also my fiancée’s fav! He even attempted to eat a 2nd but only got half-way through it.
Thumbs up
Rissa: Thumbs up - I loved this burger! Whoever thought fajita seasoning packets could be the zing of this
Nicole: Thumbs up.
Kristin: Thumbs up.
Corn with the Chile-Lime Butter (Courtesy of Foodnetwork.com)
Kristin - I thought this dish was really tasty, the butter really spiced up the corn. The only problem was that corn isn’t exactly in season yet so the quality of the corn was sub-par. I would definitely try this recipe again in the summer.
Thumbs up.
Heather: Thumbs up.
Rissa: Thumbs up.
Nicole: Thumbs up.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Who are the Foxy Foodies?
Heather – I started cooking when I was 6 years old, making pancakes every Sunday morning with my mom. Soon thereafter, I became obsessed with food, making gourmet 10-course meals every chance I got. As I got older, I started collecting recipes and in my senior year of high school, made a binder of all the recipes I wanted to try. Fast forward to 2008, I now have two binders, one with recipes I have already made and would make again, and the other with recipes I still have yet to try. This dinner night has only intensified my love for cooking and I look forward to it every month.
Kristin – My love for food is only natural growing up with a family in the food industry. My dad owns a food distributor, and I work for Nestle. Cooking on the other hand, did not go beyond making Easy Mac until my junior year in college at Michigan State. I began with a few of my mom’s recipes and then tried out some of Rachael Ray’s. I became addicted once I realized how easy it was to make a healthy (ok- some not so healthy!) fabulous dish at half the cost of a restaurant. When Rissa had asked me if I wanted to join their dinner night I knew it was a perfect fit. One of my favorite parts of dinner night is stirring up a fun cocktail recipe to start the night off with. I still have a few things to learn in the baking department!
Nicole – I hail from a line of “baketresses”, and have been baking with my grandmother and mother since I was little. My sweet tooth is also evident in my cookbook and recipe collection, where books and recipes on desserts outnumber all other categories about 2:1. I have enjoyed learning many new recipes with the ladies the past few years, although since I was so busy the past few years the most cooking I did each month was at our dinner night. Now that I am done with grad school I want to reacquaint myself with my kitchen, and go back to remake some of the recipes that we have made together.
Rissa - I am proud to say that the very first dinner night was at my house! ever since, I have been what can be called the "date nazi" in making sure that the next night is quickly booked on the calendar the day after the last one completes. Good fun, good food, good company. We've talked through our job, relationships, engagements, somehow while still whipping up some crazy 7 course meals! As for my start in cooking...it begins with my obsession of eating! When I was younger, I cooked savory recipes with my mom and learned about baking with my stepmom. As I started to live on my own in school, I realized that I needed to find a way to make the things I wanted to have at a restaurant..couldn't afford to eat out financially or physically as much as I craved! I soon became obsessed with finding more recipes, reading reviews, collecting printouts, etc. I think I have upwards of 5,346,192 recipes in my house. But I will get through them! I mean, we all have to eat, right? So why not make it fun? :)
Kristin – My love for food is only natural growing up with a family in the food industry. My dad owns a food distributor, and I work for Nestle. Cooking on the other hand, did not go beyond making Easy Mac until my junior year in college at Michigan State. I began with a few of my mom’s recipes and then tried out some of Rachael Ray’s. I became addicted once I realized how easy it was to make a healthy (ok- some not so healthy!) fabulous dish at half the cost of a restaurant. When Rissa had asked me if I wanted to join their dinner night I knew it was a perfect fit. One of my favorite parts of dinner night is stirring up a fun cocktail recipe to start the night off with. I still have a few things to learn in the baking department!
Nicole – I hail from a line of “baketresses”, and have been baking with my grandmother and mother since I was little. My sweet tooth is also evident in my cookbook and recipe collection, where books and recipes on desserts outnumber all other categories about 2:1. I have enjoyed learning many new recipes with the ladies the past few years, although since I was so busy the past few years the most cooking I did each month was at our dinner night. Now that I am done with grad school I want to reacquaint myself with my kitchen, and go back to remake some of the recipes that we have made together.
Rissa - I am proud to say that the very first dinner night was at my house! ever since, I have been what can be called the "date nazi" in making sure that the next night is quickly booked on the calendar the day after the last one completes. Good fun, good food, good company. We've talked through our job, relationships, engagements, somehow while still whipping up some crazy 7 course meals! As for my start in cooking...it begins with my obsession of eating! When I was younger, I cooked savory recipes with my mom and learned about baking with my stepmom. As I started to live on my own in school, I realized that I needed to find a way to make the things I wanted to have at a restaurant..couldn't afford to eat out financially or physically as much as I craved! I soon became obsessed with finding more recipes, reading reviews, collecting printouts, etc. I think I have upwards of 5,346,192 recipes in my house. But I will get through them! I mean, we all have to eat, right? So why not make it fun? :)
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