Notes about Recipes in this book

• Family-style turkey corn soup

  • averythingcooks on December 29, 2019

    It was turkey soup day & as much as I have freestyled this post-bird staple for years, I did a quick book search which lead me here. I couldn't quite see abandoning my usual but I set aside 1 cup of chopped turkey to try something different. I sweated the veg in butter before the simmer / purée steps. I also cut the veg / stock quantities in half for the 1 cup of turkey. After pureeing,I thinned it a bit & added the turkey, corn & lots of parsley. Thinking it needed something more, I added finely chopped hot peppadews. I only noticed later some idea of adding mozzarella to the bowl - not sure at all about why :) The verdict from both of us......different & very good BUT not a replacement for the classic turkey noodle soup that we love.

• Fiesta cornbread

  • averythingcooks on March 28, 2026

    Very moist with the addition of creamed corn (and no other sugar) but I used diced jajapanos & fresnos in place of pickled peppers this time and perhaps that is why we thought it maybe needed a little bit more salt (my bad). But after eating split wedges spread with salted butter & lightly broiled, we agree that we do like this. Next time I will try the pickled peppers to see if there is a difference.

• Mary Lou's blueberry streusel muffins

  • averythingcooks on July 17, 2024

    These are nice muffins. I had to top up my blueberries with raspberries and I got 11 muffins from a 1/2 recipe using an ice cream scoop. I sometimes find strudel very sweet on muffins but I like this version.

• Sausage skillet dinner

  • averythingcooks on August 26, 2023

    This made a tasty skillet of comfort food. For 1/2, I used 2 Oktoberfest sausages that I cut into chunks before browning, a honey brown ale for the beer and a granny smith apple. It called for a lot of "removing from the pan" but I chose to just leave the cooked onions & apples in the pan when making the sauce. We enjoyed this beside some colcannon and roasted broccoli.

• Harvest pork stew

  • averythingcooks on October 17, 2020

    I made a 1/2 recipe with cubed pork loin. The only real differences were that I browned the floured pork in the Dutch oven rather than the oven (one less pan used & no loss of the delicious fond in the bottom of the pot)....the 2nd issue was no rutabaga in the house so I minced up an onion, carrot and celery soffritto to soften early with the large amount of garlic. The apple just melted away into a super flavourful broth & white wine sauce; served on a mound of smashed red potatoes, this was a delicious fall dinner.

• Grilled party-style flank steak with mustard horseradish

  • averythingcooks on August 27, 2020

    This marinade gave us a really delicious flank steak from the BBQ. I did not make the mustard horseradish this time (although I’m positive it would be great) because the thinly sliced steak & some grilled peppers/onions were served with a lovely blue cheese vinaigrette dressed salad. This was a good choice!

• Mystery-marinated steak

  • averythingcooks on June 29, 2021

    The "mystery" ingredient here is brewed coffee. I've made a coffee dry rub which we did not really like BUT I've also made a BBQ sauce with brewed coffee that we did like, so I gave this a try for our flank steak. After an 8'ish hour marinating time, we were both happy with the result but I'm not sure what the coffee did or didn't do (based on all the other flavourful ingredients). If I had coffee left in the pot, I would probably repeat this. Also this is the 1st time I've scored a flank steak (as instructed) & it certainly didn't hurt the whole process.

• New potatoes roasted with olive oil and garlic

  • averythingcooks on January 20, 2026

    I used fresh thyme + a rosemary salt that I made last summer. I also added the minced garlic 1/2 way through the roast to avoid the risk of burning it. With the herbs, garlic & paprika, these were crispy & very tasty little guys.

• Anne Lindsay's couscous with lemon and fresh basil

  • averythingcooks on January 15, 2025

    I have made this 2'ce...the 1st time as written with the olive oil (very good) and the 2nd with replacing the oil with butter & stirring in slivered almonds with the lemon & basil. This version was great. In both cases the pepper at the end is important.

• Hot tricolour salad of grilled peppers

  • averythingcooks on September 18, 2024

    This made a nice little side with its punchy dressing made with white wine vinegar, fresh herbs, garlic + a little dash of hot sauce. I replaced the green pepper with orange & added slivered red onions. This time we topped it with thinly sliced steak + a little feta and I will make this again for sure.

• Three-ingredient creamy coleslaw

  • averythingcooks on December 11, 2023

    I came here for a simple, classic coleslaw to eat with a richer/spicier main & this did the job. The creamy dressing is good as written but as we also like a little heat in ours, I added hot sauce to taste. With no cucumber on hand, I added radish, thinly sliced red pepper & grated carrot...gotta use what's in that fridge!

• Claire's famous chocolate chip cookies (formerly Anne's famous chocolate chip cookies)

  • averythingcooks on December 09, 2019

    Just a great, classic chocolate chip cookie - yum!

• Grandma's chewy double ginger cookies

  • averythingcooks on January 03, 2022

    These are delicious cookies with a big warm hit from the generous amt of ground ginger (+ cloves & cinnamon) and the finely chopped crystallized ginger (given as optional so not listed here). This is my 1st time using the crystallized ginger in a ginger cookie & from now on it's pretty much a mandatory addition. I have lots of other cookie recipes that use this ingredient in my books so the comparisons will begin :)

• Muriel's blue cheese dressing

  • averythingcooks on December 16, 2022

    With a good hit of both lemon & Worcestershire, we enjoyed this over a wedge salad. Even 1/3 of the recipe makes a lot but she does say that using dried chives in place of fresh would extend the fridge life. The idea is to make it a day ahead...we ate it after a few hours but after a quick taste this am - I agree that it now has an even bigger punch of flavour. We will have the rest with raw celery (maybe up the cheese?) tonight.