Nov 11 2012

The “Real Best” Chili

Posted on November 11, 2012 by thepoli3

Fall is in full swing and you know what that means: time to enjoy some warm, filling, comfort food! We decided to kick off the Fall recipe season the right way with something you can enjoy at home, at a tailgate, or smothered on top of some cheese fries and hot dogs- thats right, we’re talking about chili!

The contenders:

The nitty-gritty:

Each chili was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best chili that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.

Jamie Deen’s Chili

Overall score: 9

The boyfriend/husband test: 9

The leftover test: 9

Comments: This was pretty good and we are not very big chili eaters around here. I will definitely plan on making this recipe again with a few minor adjustments such as adding a full pound of both beef & sausage each (hubby is a carnivore!), removing the black beans (love them but they just didn’t seem to “go”), and replacing the whole peeled tomatoes with more diced tomatoes (hubby avoided them like the plague and I didn’t care for the huge tomato hunks either). This was a great base and I definitely recommend it to others and playing around with the ingredients to fit your tastes!

Taste of Home Spicy Chili

Overall score: 8.5

The boyfriend/husband test: 9

The leftover test: 8.5

Comments: This was really good. We both liked it a lot better than my normal go-to recipe! I would definitely make this again!

Boilmaker Tailgate Chili Recipe

Overall score: 8.5

The boyfriend/husband test: 8

The leftover test: 8.5

Comments: This was very delicious! However, it does not beat our go-to chili recipe, so this will not replace it. The Fritos do not add much to this recipe, so I would recommend nixing them if you do not want the added expense. Also, this makes a LOT of chili– you’ve been warned.

The winner:

Jamie Deen’s Chili!

Special Diets:

While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning recipe to your dietary needs:

Gluten-free: Ensure that your ingredients are gluten-free
Vegetarian: Forgo the meat!
Vegan: Drop the meat and suggested dairy toppings
Lower fat: Use lean ground beef in place of fattier beef products. Consider using ground turkey.
Lower sugar/calories: You can cut the calories by using some of the suggestions above.

Sep 5 2012

From Our Kitchen: Weeknight Cobb Salad

Posted on September 5, 2012 by thepoli3

Weeknight Cobb Salad

Overall Score: 10 (on a scale of 1-10)

Husband Score: 10 (on a scale of 1-10)

Difficulty Level: Easy

Price: $$ (on a scale of $-$$$)

If you are anything like me, you are constantly trying to figure out how to make a delicious, filling meal that also satisfies your waistline. With a picky eater for a husband, I have wasted too much money and time making meals that were “healthified” versions of something normally delicious-but-too-fattening-to-make-the-actual-version, only to end up watching it sit untouched for the rest of the week in the fridge. Sometimes, even worse, it goes straight to the trash. Lets get real- there’s no fooling yourself or your family. You cannot substitute fat free Greek yogurt for cream cheese and expect nobody to notice (unless you prefer it). That does not fly around here. Therefore I was left with a challenge, how do I make healthy meals while still making them appealing enough for a meat and potatoes guy to eat? Then it hit me- salad! I know what you’re thinking- let me explain. There are so many delicious salads that you can make and just adjust the toppings and dressing for each person, which is great because everyone can personalize it to their liking. One of my favorites is a basic cobb salad. It has tons of fresh veggies and of course some delicious fattening toppings too. You can go all the way with blue cheese dressing or lighten it up with balsamic vinaigrette- they both taste great. I must say, we don’t do shortcuts around here- no canned or frozen veggies,etc. I do almost everything from scratch, which is especially important in dishes like salads, where you want the freshness of the veggies to be at their max, plus, you get more nutrients that way. This dish can be easily adapted for vegetarians or vegans too. Just don’t use what you can’t eat (i.e. cheese, bacon, etc.) and throw in some more veggies (shredded carrots, cucumbers, etc.) or vegan substitutes (Smart Bacon, etc.) to give it the added touch.

Enjoy!

Weeknight Cobb Salad

Serves 2- Adjusts easily for more or less

Ingredients:

1.5 hearts of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 tomato on the vine, washed and diced
1 avocado, peeled & de-pitted, diced
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Place your lettuce in serving dishes. Top it with all ingredients (only use half of the amount listed per salad-again, this recipe makes 2 salads), finishing with salt & pepper on top. You can add more or less of everything depending on your tastes.
Top with dressing and enjoy! (Blue cheese, ranch, or balsamic vinaigrette go great!)

I usually try to make my toppings line up in neat rows over the lettuce, for visual appeal. But, really, it all tastes the same no matter how you swing it!

Jun 24 2012

The “Real Best” Guacamole

Posted on June 24, 2012 by thepoli3

Summer is in full swing! And with 4th of July coming up, we hope we can help you be the life of the party with the BEST guacamole dip!

The contenders:

Avocado.com’s Best Guacamole Ever- Winner of 2010 California Avocado Best Guacamole Contest Best Tasting Category Winner, David Vaughan
Alton Brown’s Guacamole
Allrecipe’s Guacamole

The nitty-gritty:

Each guacamole was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best guacamole that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.

Avocado.com’s Best Guacamole Ever

Overall score: 8.5

The boyfriend/husband test: 8.5

The leftover test: 8.5

Comments: This wasn’t too hard to make, and it was really good! However, next time I make it I’d modify the recipe a little bit. Specifically, I’d use less lime juice and more onion, jalapeno, cumin, and cayenne pepper. What is shown in the picture is only half the recipe, so make sure you are hungry for a lot of guacamole, or have at least a few guests! However, it did refrigerate well (I covered it with plastic wrap), so you may be able to reuse this for the next couple of days.

Alton Brown’s Guacamole

Overall score: 9

The boyfriend/husband test: 9

The leftover test: 9

Comments: I thought this was really good! I liked it a lot and it was very easy to make! My husband doesn’t like guacamole in general but he liked this one. I wouldn’t make any changes next time either! It’s perfect!

Allrecipes Guacamole

Overall score: 10

The boyfriend/husband test: 10

The leftover test: 9

Comments: OMG… THIS… WAS… SO… GOOD!!! This was literally the best guacamole we have ever had! It was sooo delicious- the flavors went together perfectly, I think because I used fresh cilantro, as opposed to the one I usually use from my spice rack. Also, the particular tomatoes in this recipe are perfect for guacamole, who knew a tomato could change so much? The only thing I would change next time is to cut down on the cilantro, since it was fresh, it was very overpowering, and for people like me who don’t love cilantro, I could taste it in every bite. But otherwise this was amazing and will definitely become a regular around here!

The winner:

For your next party the dip to bring is…

Allrecipe’s Guacamole

Special Diets:

While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning guacamole to your dietary needs:

Gluten-free: This should be inherently gf, but double-check everything just in case!
Vegan: This should be inherently vegan, but double-check everything just in case!
Vegetarian: It already is!
Lower fat: It’s commonly said that the fat in avocados is good for you! But, if you must lower the fat, consider this adaptation.
Lower sugar/calories: There already is no added sugar!

Leftovers:

If you happen to have extra guac after making this, consider keeping it fresh by including it in this:

Seven layer dip

Jun 16 2012

The “Real Best” Salad

Posted on June 16, 2012 by thepoli3

With all the unhealthy things we have been testing lately, we figured it was time for something a little more attuned to bathing suit season. So, give it up for the “real best” salad!

The contenders:

Allrecipes Strawberry Spinach Salad

Allrecipes Jamie’s Cranberry Spinach Salad

Allrecipes Roquefort Pear Salad

The nitty-gritty:

Each salad was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best salad that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Overall score: 6

The boyfriend/husband test: 6

The leftover test: 4

Comments: This salad wasn’t bad, but there just wasn’t enough in it. There was a ton of spinach, and only strawberries and a tiny amount of silvered almonds as substance? Maybe the dressing was supposed to make up for it or something, but it wasn’t even that good. Jennifer picked the recipes this time, and I think she purposely gave me (Megan) the most boring, expensive, and fattening (see: the dressing) salad. To convince myself to bring this to work for lunch the next day, I added pecans and used a honey mustard dressing (side note: I highly recommend Bolthouse Farms dressings that are made with Greek yogurt!), and it was a little better. The salad holds up great for a few days (and I would know, because most of the leftovers sat in my fridge, uneaten, for quite a few days after), but the dressing does NOT do well in the fridge.

Jamie’s Cranberry Spinach Salad

Overall score: 7.5

The boyfriend/husband test: 8

The leftover test: 7

Comments: This salad was okay… I think it could have been much better with a raspberry-walnut dressing rather than the one in the recipe. It did taste much better chilled the next day but you have to make sure to keep the dressing separated from the spinach leaves otherwise they will wilt. Overall this is a very healthy salad with a little bit of extra punch to please a picky eater (i.e. husband thought it was actually really good!) but for a frequent salad eater, this is something I may make again, modified.

Roquefort Pear Salad

Overall score: 9

The boyfriend/husband test: 9

The leftover test: 8

Comments: To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to like this, but it was soo good! Even my husband loved it! Side note: I added red onions for color.

The winner:

Roquefort Pear Salad !

Special Diets:

While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning salad to your dietary needs:

Gluten-free: While this looks to be inherently gluten-free, double-check that all the ingredients are, in fact, gluten-free because you never know!
Vegan: Leave out the cheese.
Vegetarian: It already is!
Lower fat: Use less or omit cheese, avocado, and pecans. (Although, the kind of fat that’s in avocado and in nuts is said to be good for you.. but I can’t say the same for the cheese!)
Lower sugar/calories: Save 1/4 cup of sugar by not caramelizing the pecans.

Jun 9 2012

The “Real Best” Yellow Cake

Posted on June 9, 2012 by thepoli3

Two peanuts were walking down the street. One was asalted.

….I had to open with a really corny joke, in order to make the following one-liner funnier by comparison: Get ready to find out which yellow cake “took the cake”!

HA! I’ve been waiting to say that all week.

The contenders:

Joy of Baking’s “Yellow Butter Cake”

Smitten Kitchen’s “Best Birthday Cake”

Allrecipes: “David’s Yellow Cake”

The nitty-gritty:

Each cake was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best yellow cake that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.

Joy of Baking’s “Yellow Butter Cake“

Overall score (cake): 1

Overall score (frosting): 4

The boyfriend/husband test (cake): 1

The boyfriend/husband test (frosting): 1

The leftover test (cake): 1

The leftover test (frosting): 3

Comments on the cake: I kid you not… cake is my FAVORITE food. In fact, yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting is literally my favorite. You could not imagine how excited I was to have an excuse to make an entire cake of my favorite flavor… even while on a diet. I figured if I had 1 piece a day I could still semi diet the rest of the day. I had it all planned out. Then all my brilliant plans went to you-know-what. Why? THE CAKE SUCKED. Not even “eh.. it’s okay…” sucked. More like, “did I really just waste 3 hours on a Friday night making this disaster?” sucked. I am not even a little bit exaggerating when I say this was the absolute worst cake I have ever had. Even worse than those cakes you have at weddings when people pick horrible flavors because they think it’s fancy. I have no clue how anyone could have said this was the best cake ever… my only conclusion is because maybe its an old recipe… and people didn’t have good cake back then. Who knows? This cake was WAY too sweet- not buttery at all. It reminded me more of white cake than yellow cake… but I could have probably had a better white cake any day then this concoction. Note to self: if you are ever on a diet again and crave cake… make this exact recipe for guaranteed weight loss results.

Comments on the frosting: The frosting was much better than the cake itself… but that is only in comparison to the cake. I have had way better frostings from the jar in the baking aisle. Sad face.

Smitten Kitchen’s “Best Birthday Cake”

Overall score (cake): 8.5

Overall score (frosting): 7

The boyfriend/husband test (cake): 6

The boyfriend/husband test (frosting): 3

The leftover test (cake): 7

The leftover test (frosting): 7

Comments on the cake: Smitten Kitchen was on a mission to create a delicious homemade yellow cake, and I think she did it. This was the best yellow cake I’ve ever made from scratch (granted, I haven’t made that many). Mike, however, thought the cake was just an average yellow cake– not bad, but not the most amazing yellow cake ever. Sighhh. Boys just don’t understand how hard it is to make a good yellow cake that doesn’t involve a box mix! On that note, while this cake was really good, it wasn’t over-the-moon-amazing.

I was nervous about using buttermilk because I’ve used it in another famous yellow cake recipe I’ve made before, and the cake ended up tasting like a mix between cornbread and buttermilk biscuits… Both delicious food items, but not what you want to taste when you bite into a chocolate-frosted slice of cake! Luckily, that did not happen with this cake!

The cake didn’t hold up amazing in the fridge, hence the lower leftover score. Even after just one day it was slightly hard. Have you ever had a homemade cupcake that was like, 5 days old? It was similar to that texture, but after only one day. But somehow, still yummy!

Comments on the frosting: I used the chocolate sour cream frosting that Smitten Kitten suggests. I thought it was fine; a pretty average chocolate frosting. However, Mike was NOT a fan. He did not like the sour-creaminess at. all. He did say it wasn’t as bad the next day, but he still wasn’t a fan. Next time I will look for a really fudgy chocolate frosting recipe instead.(Side note: Has anyone ever tried Publix Bakery’s chocolate fudge frosting?! Seriously so so delicious, and if I ever find a copycat recipe of it my life may be complete!)

Allrecipes: “David’s Yellow Cake“

Overall score: 10

The boyfriend/husband test: 8.5

The leftover test: 9

Comments: Some of the reviews on Allrecipes said that this cake was dry, but it wasn’t! I thought it was really moist (side note: I hate that word!). This really was the best yellow cake I’ve ever had! I would definitely make this again! Since the recipe didn’t provide a frosting recipe, I just used a whipped chocolate frosting.

The winner:

Allrecipe’s David’s Yellow Cake!

Special Diets:

While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning yellow cake to your dietary needs:

Gluten-free: Use a gluten-free flour (and don’t forget to check that all your other ingredients are, in fact, gluten free!)
Vegan: Use a vegan butter substitute, and a vegan egg substitute. Double check that the rest of your ingredients are, in fact, vegan! I’m not sure how this would turn out, since eggs seem to be integral to yellow cake, but if you try it, or have another suggestion, leave a comment and let us know!
Lower fat: Try substituting some of the butter (about half) with sugar free applesauce. Use skim milk.
Lower sugar/calories: Substitute some or all of the sugar for Splenda® (see conversion info here), Stevia (see conversion info here), or xylitol (measures 1:1 for sugar). Some people do not like how these taste, though, so proceed with caution!