Cookbook Challenge: Don't Drink and Blog

I … made a lot of sauces for various things for this post? Thanks, Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook!

(I've been wracking my brains for like a week for an intro to this post, and haven't come up with anything good. So I guess let's just jump in.)

Peanut Sauce
Well this is rather embarrassing. I have made Pad Thai several times in the past few months, and each time, I find myself Googling peanut sauce recipes. I never even realized there was one right in this here cookbook! Stupid stupid! It was also stupid easy. It … tasted like peanut sauce? I don't know. I'd make it again.

Salmon With Honey Mustard Glaze / Maple-Glazed Spiced Carrots
As you can see, these are not salmon fillets. The grocery store ran out (!) of salmon because of the Super Bowl (!!!), and the fish market was closing anyway, so I bought some frozen Pacific whiting and called it good enough. (Who eats fish on Super Bowl Sunday?!) Matt really liked the fish anyway, but I think the glaze would have worked better on salmon. This is why we follow instructions! Also, Ritz crackers crumbled onto fish is pretty awesome.

The carrots were tasty, but not anything really special. The glaze didn't reduce as much as I expected it to, so the carrots were kind of still swimming in liquid syrup, even after they were fully cooked (and possibly even over-cooked since I kept waiting for the sauce to reduce).

Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa and Blackberry Syrup
I bought the world's smallest, cutest pork tenderloin for Matt, and then I made myself another fillet of that Pacific whiting, and then applied the salsas and syrups accordingly. Other than the fact that the pork took like three times longer to cook than the recipe said (even with my baby tenderloin! but Matt prefers his pork with no pink), Matt and I both really liked this. You should totally make mango salsa (hint: mango, lime, red onion, jalapeño, mint leaves), but only if mangoes are in season where you are. It turns out I really like mangoes. I always thought they were gross in Texas, but they were probably out of season/transported from somewhere else every time I tried them.

Crudites with Green Onion-Mint Dip
Another book club, another tray of goodies. The dip was quite light and refreshing. It's a good summer-y dip. I had to explain to Matt what blanching the veggies accomplished, but the blanched asparagus was so, so good. I freaking love asparagus. Except for that one side effect of eating it. You know.

Mojitos
I'll be honest, I did not have high expectations for this drink. I do not particularly like mint leaves. So it was a pleasant surprise when it was actually pretty tasty. Even though all the blended mint leaves floated to the top of the glass and that was really weird. Like drinking grass. If I had a better blender, it might have minced it all up better. But thank goodness it didn't turn out as green as it was in the cookbook photo, because I'm pretty sure I would not have enjoyed Photo Mojito at ALL.

Also, Matt belatedly informed me that shot glasses hold 1.5 oz of alcohol, not just 1 oz, as I previously thought. I used a shot glass to measure the rum. I tried to type this description immediately after drinking my mojito, and that's why you get gems like this: "Tyed four minutes later… one of these willg et you kind of tospy…" You're welcome.

Smoked Salmon Platter
This wasn't so much "cooking" as it was "take pre-cooked salmon and put it on a plate and arrange accoutrements around it in a pretty manner." Elliott was very excited, but she got none. Matt and I both thought it was tasty — I don't even particularly like capers, but it turns out that salmon + honey mustard/sour cream sauce + red onion have enough flavor that the caper flavor seemed toned down a little — but really, you can't go wrong when you're doing literally none of the work for your dinner.

Completed: 69 of 147 recipes

What is your favorite veggie? Did you know that shot glasses were 1.5 ounces??