Spinach and Sausage Casserole.

From Elise. I apparently just didn't take pictures for a while.

Scalloped Potatoes and Chestnut Stuffing.

Cottage Pie.

Decided to try a different spin on cottage pie, using sliced potatoes on top instead of mashed potatoes, mainly because I could never get a good crust on my mashed potatoes. Turned out pretty well. The sliced potatoes roast up better and lets more of the gravy through to glaze over the top.

King Ranch Casserole.

This might be the first source from Bree. A simple chicken tortilla casserole with tomatoes and cheese. Broth and flour sub the creme of chicken soup something like this would normally require.

Best Baked Spinach.

From Deb. It was ok. I should have used more salt.

Guinness Bread with Molasses.

From Elise. I like how quickly this comes together as there is no yeast, no rising, no kneading. Self-rising flour (flour and baking powder and salt) and beer bring the rise, sweetness from sugar and molasses. Easy sweet bread.

Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake.

From Kevin. Made this about as healthy as I could. Since I was using a shallow 9-inch pan and not a springform, I cut the creme cheese to two packages. I used one "fat free" and one "1/3 less fat". I also used one less egg and half the amount of dark chocolate chips but bumped up the amount of cocoa powder. Turned out reasonably well. Should have used more cocoa powder and sugar as it had a bit more tang than I would have preferred. Not sure where the Guinness went; a stronger stout may be in order.

Caraway Soda Bread Biscuits.

From Elise, who has multiple soda bread recipes that are all slightly different for some reason. This recipe is fast from start to finish. My dough was a little wet but I was using a spoon so it was no problem. With the butter spread throughout and the vinegar+baking soda combo, the result is pretty light and fluffy and pretty tasty. Good recipe to have in your back pocket.

Apple and Sausage Pie.

I had been debating whether I wanted to add a cheese sauce to the apple and cheese pie I was planning on making. I figured cheese and apples go well together so I could merge some pairs transitively. I found that Elise actually has a recipe for this and hers uses ricotta (with a lot of other cheese) mixed in with egg. I skipped the feta and only topped with shredded white cheddar. With a single pie crust, it comes out fat and protein heavy which is good since I can pick a carb of my choice at breakfast.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.

From Deb. I subbed 2 eggs and a cup of water for the cup of oil, an alternative to applesauce or melted butter. I didn't have 8" pans which I have no discovered is pretty critical as 6-7" Pyrex dishes are not as well suited. The cake turned out a bit sponge-y, firm skins, and not as moist as I would have liked. I was a little short on the peanut butter but the frosting turned out well enough.

Ham and Cheese and Macaroni.

It's the fucking cheesiest. I will say my health-conscious diet has ruined sat. fats for me. This could have been cheesier and consequently tastier, but it was ok as it was. Got the source from Deb but eyeballed everything instead since I was in a hurry. The recipe is reverse because it starts with about a quart of milk, add butter (I did this reverse, referencing this), stir in cheese (white cheddar and Swiss, half cup each) coated with corn starch (Elise says an acid like lemon juice or vinegar works) to reduce stringiness. Season with nutmeg, pepper, paprika (forgot that I like to add ground mustard to this). With chopped ham and whole wheat mac, breadcrumbs, and some more cheddar and some parm, bake.

Not bad, could have been better, had I more time. I guess I forgot a picture.

Jamaican Meat Patties.

Mixed recipes from
here and here. Lots of spices and some rum. I think I used too much cinnamon as it tasted rather bitter. I used some brown sugar to mask it. The crust uses some cornmeal. Pretty tasty.

Stuffed Meatloaf with Spinach.

From Elise. I picked up some ground veal on the cheap the other day so I was looking for some veal recipes. I was surprised that this one called for only veal and not a mixture of veal, beef and pork, which is typical for a meatball recipe and a meatloaf is basically a giant meatball, in my opinion. I didn't have the red bell pepper, roasted or otherwise, so I just have defrosted spinach in the trough.

Sugar Cookies with Madagascar Vanilla.

Nothing else to say. Making some extract.

Chicken Sloppy Joe Pizza.

I was looking for ground chicken recipes since I picked up some ground chicken on the cheap the other day. Basically , my only real ground chicken recipe is from Deb who makes baked meatballs with tomato paste on top and in the mix. Found this here. It is basically just a sloppy joe recipe with ground chicken instead of beef and then pour onto a par-baked pan of cornbread, topped with cheese, and then baked some more. It is pretty good.

Indian Pudding.

From Elise. I had some small amount of cornmeal I wanted to use up, and this looked interesting. It's basically sugar and molasses spiced milk porridge heated at low in the over for a couple hours until it sets. Almost pumpkin pie-ish and pretty good with ice cream.

Pasta alla Formiana.

From Cinnamon & Spice. It's convenient since there's no cooking the pasta beforehand. Simmered in a can of crushed tomatoes, a lot more oregano than would seem right (1/4 cup). I didn't have the fresh tomatoes to line the pan.

The result is pretty good. All the oregano gives it a nice earthy, rich flavor. The strong, reduced tomato taste really covers for the lack of any other heavy seasoning. I didn't even use salt, nor did I think it needed it.

Banana Cookies.

From Elise. I had some bananas that needed to be used and I didn't want to go the typical banana bread/muffin route. A cookie seemed like the next logical option.

It's a standard size cookie batch with about an extra half cup of flour to presumably deal with the extra moisture of the 2 large bananas I used.

I'm curious if ripe bananas could be used in anything other than baked desserts.

Mexican Pizza.

I used a cornmeal crust which was pretty good:

• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal or polenta
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

I think 20 minutes at 400F should do it. Pretty simple and no wait time.

Pillow Cookies.

This is a huge cookie. The paperclip for scale. It is also a huge paperclip.

Saw the picture and a name and googled it. The recipe I found used box brownies and a from-scratch cookie recipe. I don't own box mixes of sweets (except pudding) so I made both from scratch. I used my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, which, compared to the one given, uses more sugar to flour (2:3) versus their .6:1. The difference, I think, is that their ratio will yield a lighter, fluffier cookie which would be better suited here. Also, chilling the dough is a must. A slightly larger pan (I used an 8x8) would have given slightly thinner brownies.

Mine looks like a flying saucer.