Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chicken vegetable soup

  • anya_sf on December 20, 2017

    A nice, basic chicken soup recipe which easily can be adapted to use what you have in your pantry. Since it's broth-based, the flavor will be best with good chicken stock.

• Potato-corn salad

  • anya_sf on July 19, 2021

    Very nice. I didn't bother peeling the potatoes and added 8 oz blanched sugar snap peas, which were good with the other ingredients. There was plenty of dressing for everything.

• Watermelon and feta cheese salad

  • anya_sf on September 08, 2022

    Delicious, refreshing salad. I served it over arugula and think the greens really added to the overall dish, so definitely recommend doing so.

• Spicy chicken salad with lemon and sesame seeds

  • Lindalib on June 18, 2014

    Other than some chopping, this comes together quickly. It's an easy way to get lots of vegetables in one dish. Very nice on a hot, sticky day.

• Parmesan-panko crusted chicken with black bean-avocado salsa

  • anya_sf on February 11, 2022

    I just made the chicken, and didn't quite follow the recipe, so I won't rate this, but wanted to record my notes. I had 3 large chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/2-3/4" thick. Omitted the honey from the mayo mixtue. Half the mayo and panko mixtures was just enough. Baked on a wire rack over a sheet pan instead of grilling, but had to bake at 450 rather than 500 F. Baking time was 40 min, but the chicken was pretty cold to start with. The chicken was moist, juicy, and flavorful. Despite the rack, however, the panko on the bottom of the chicken did not brown and was kind of soggy (I didn't flip them).

• Grilled tenderloin of beef with fresh herb sauce

  • julesamomof2 on September 20, 2023

    The rub was nice and the fresh herb sauce was very good, in spite of the fact that I made it several hours ahead. I used a beef tenderloin from Costco and it was perfect on the grill.

• Halibut baked with olives, lemon, and fresh basil

  • sdutton on August 23, 2018

    My husband and I made this for dinner tonight. We followed the recipe exactly as written. This is definitely a 5-star plus recipe for us.

• Strawberry pie

  • anya_sf on August 28, 2021

    My 9" pie plate just barely worked (may not be quite 2" deep); next time I'll use a 9.5" pan so the crust will be thinner and the filling will fit more easily. This pie has a lot of flavors (cinnamon, orange) in addition to strawberry, which I quite enjoyed, but it's not the type of strawberry pie that highlights pure strawberry flavor, if that's what you're after. Whipped cream is a must. The pie definitely served 8 rather than 6.

• Individual chocolate-strawberry trifles with raspberry sauce

  • anya_sf on July 23, 2021

    I used the idea of this rather than the exact recipe, to use up 1/2 chocolate cake layer and leftover Barefoot Contessa raspberry sauce I had in the freezer. Rather than individual trifles, I made one larger one (although not that large), assembled a few hours ahead instead of last minute. Made 1/2 the whipped cream and 2/3 of the strawberries (with less sugar) and next time would use even more berries. As might be expected, the various flavors were quite delicious together.