Recipe #18 / Strawberry Shortcakes / Pgs 214 - 213

I prepared this for a friend's birthday and surprised her by leaving it on her desk at work.
They were delicious!

Made with real whipped cream, hand whipped. It took forever!

Strawberry Shortcakes

Recipe #17 / Fudgie Brownie Cake with Raspberry Sauce / Pgs 208 - 209

I didn't have the raspberries to make the sauce, so I used plain chocolate syrup. Delicious!

Fudgie Brownie with Raspberry Sauce

Recipe #16 / Ranch Chicken / Pgs. 64 - 65

Now this one seems simple. Breaded chicken breast. Done that before with pre-packaged mixes.

It called for dry bread crumbs but I figured it would be faster and easier to cruch some soda crackers instead. I also started with frozen chicken breasts I had in the freezer. I put them in the microwave and thawed them properly. Or so I thought. They seemed unfrozen all the way through.

Now, I didn't crush the crackeers fine, but I figured it would give it a nice texture. But the chicken's center being colder then the outside, it required me cooking the chicken longer and checking iften for doneness. So, the outside nicely burned and fell off and the breasts were a cut up mess.

It tasted okay, but looked awful. *sigh* A fail, I believe.

Ranch Chicken (Mush)

Recipe #15 / Orange-Glazed Pork Chops/ Pgs 44 - 45

That was delicious. One of the best turnouts I had.

I didn't have any white wine called for in the recipe, but it gave chicken broth as an alternative, which I used. Very good indeed. The sauce is easy to make. I should use corn starch more often noew that I know how. I'd been using it wrong and it would always come out lumpy.

You have to dilute it separately in a little bit of water BEFORE adding it to hot liquids. No lumps!

Those were moist and tasty.

Orange-Glazed Pork Chops

Recipe #14 / Orange Smoothie / Pg 204

That was pretty dang good.
I always hesitate to mix dairy and orange, but that was a good match.

Orange Smoothie

Recipe #13 / Beef Stroganoff / Pgs 30 - 31

This was good.
I used some pre-cut beef that was sliced for stir-fry. It was a little bit too think and the pieced were a little bit too long. I should have cut them in more mouth-manageable pieces.
Also, I saw some long macaroni at the store and decided to substitute them for the noodles. I had never had them before. It's like super fat spaghetti!

My sauce came out runnier then the picture. It was good, but I think I didn't put enough beed for the proportions.

Still good! Even though I managed to make the picture lood disgusting.

Beef Stroganoff