SHCMEOW
 Supporting Member (Click to learn more about Supporting Membership)
Home Town: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Living In: Sacramento, California, USA
Member Since: May 2001
Cooking Level: Expert
Cooking Interests: Baking, Grilling & BBQ, Slow Cooking, Asian, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Dessert, Quick & Easy, Gourmet
Hobbies: Scrapbooking, Knitting, Camping, Reading Books, Music, Wine Tasting, Charity Work
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About this Cook
I cook because I love to create things and I (unfortunately) love to eat. My greatest joy is to prepare a dish or meal and watch people enjoy eating it. I'm really a self-taught cook but my greatest cooking influence was my father. He used to sit and peruse cookbooks for hours and had the knack of opening the pantry, pulling out the strangest ingredients and making a gourmet meal. He didn't cook often but when he did, it was a masterpiece. I started off baking at an early age and can remember making dozens upon dozens of Christmas cookies with my dad every year. We would painstakingly roll out, cut and ornately frost hundreds of sugar cookies. It's a tradition that I still follow.
My favorite things to cook
My husband and I both love highly seasoned food; not necessarily spicy but just well seasoned. I cook a lot of ethnic foods such as mexican, cajun, asian and italian. I am also a southern cooking girl having grown up in Texas and Louisiana.
My favorite family cooking traditions
My Christmas cookies are still a big deal for me but I don't make as many as I used to. I am recently married so I really only cook for two, even on holidays. Our holiday dinners are small but still very traditional.
My cooking triumphs
The more complex a recipe, the more likely it is to turn out well for me. I am fortunate in that I can rise to the challenge of a multi-layer torte or complex dish.
My cooking tragedies
Unfortunately for me, the easier a recipe or item, the less likely I am to be able to make it. You can actually use my rice krispie treats for bricks in a pinch and I still haven't mastered mac and cheese in a box. Oh well, so much for convenience foods!
Recipe Reviews 71 reviews
Wine Jelly
I made this recipe exactly as written and it turned out beautifully. I used some fairly inexpensive Zinfandel wine and the flavor was just lovely. I gave these as gifts with labels that told users to serve it over pork or cream cheese. Many of the recipients told me how much they enjoyed the jelly and I agree that it was tasty served over a pork tenderloin. Great, easy, inexpensive gift!

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Sep. 13, 2009
Mini Ham And Cheese Rolls
These little sammies are fantastic! I think they are by far the best when made with the King's Hawaiian slightly sweet rolls. I do as others have mentioned and just slice the tops off the whole pack of rolls, build my sammies, put the top back on, wrap in foil and bake. After they come out of the oven, I pull them apart. I've always had this recipe with the poppy seed mixture INSIDE the sammies and I think it's much tastier than putting it on top. I do brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter after they come out of the oven as I thinks that adds just that extra bit of flavor. I gave this recipe 4 stars since they want you to put the mixture on top and you miss all the flavor that way. No matter how you decide to make them, try these out because you will LOVE them and everyone will rave!

0 users found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Sep. 13, 2009
Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
This cake was pretty decent and went over like gangbusters at my Book Club meeting. I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and added 1 tbsp. of orange extract resulting in a lovely, nice citrusy flavor to offset the blueberries. It was dense, moist and very sweet. I considered it to be more cake than coffee cake but that's not a bad thing by any means. Try it as you'll really like it!

1 user found this review helpful
Reviewed On: Sep. 13, 2009
 
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