The recipe, Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir-Fry, doesn't really look much different than many of the other stir-fry recipes we've tried.  In fact, it’s pretty easy and doesn't even require marinating the meat.  As with many Americanized stir-fry's its heavy on meat so we increased the vegetables by adding mushrooms and more red bell peppers.  The result was one of the best stir-fry's we have ever made at home.  The first time we made it we had it over rice and the second time we had it over rice noodles.  I liked it with the rice better because the rice soaked up more of the sauce.  But either way it was great and I highly recommend you give it a try.

The Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cakes were the perfect size, easy to make and not overly sweet.  I was attracted to them the minute I saw them in the magazine but Husband was a bit unsure of the cornmeal and apple combination.  Perhaps if they had been very sweet with a more typical applet spice topping the cornmeal would not have gone but that is not what these are.  Instead they have a delicate apple and walnut topping that simply lets the flavors of the Gala apples shine through and perfectly complements the cornmeal cakes. 

The Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie was advertised as an adult version of a Reese's Peanut Butter cup; I would agree.  We did, however, modify the recipe.  The original recipe called for a crust made from chocolate wafer cookies combined with semisweet chocolate.  Husband wanted a graham cracker crust. I like to stick to the recipe, especially the first time, and then modify it if we aren’t' satisfied but in this case we made the change and it was great.  You really can't go wrong with a graham cracker crust.  The pie itself was pretty simple to make and the combination of the peanuts, cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate was amazing.  It was sweet but not overbearing as some peanut butter and chocolate desserts can be.  Still, a little bit went a long way.

I'm definitely going to make the apple cornmeal cakes again, they were really good and quick to make.  And the peanut butter pie was great but that will be held for when we have a large group so everyone can help eat it because it is definitely heavy and fattening....

If you read this blog regularly you'll know I'm a huge pizza fan - if not a fanatic.   To me, the toppings make the pizza and I have particular toppings I enjoy.  Now I must admit, my favorites constantly evolve and as you'll see some toppings are very new additions but for what it is worth here are current my favorite pizza toppings:

1.     Caramelized Onions.  I love the flavor of caramelized onions mixed with a strong blue cheese such as Gorgonzola.  In fact one of my favorite pizza's uses the caramelized onions in place of the sauce topped with a bit of Gorgonzola, some Arugula and some walnuts.  At the beginning of summer when my home grown sweet onions are available this pizza is pure heaven.

2.    Mushroom, Red bell pepper and onion.  This is a very standard pizza but when homemade with fresh vegetables and a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar cheeses it's great and no comparison to that available in pizzerias.

3.     Portobello mushrooms.  This is small variation on a the standard pizza of mushrooms, red bell peppers, and sautéed onions.  The Portobello’s add a very strong flavor so only a few are needed.

4.     Fresh Mozzarella.  Here you have to be careful to let the excess moisture drain from the cheese or you can get a very watery pizza but whenever we use fresh mozzarella the pizza is much better than when we use regular mozzarella.

5.     Grapes, Gorgonzola, and Port.  Certainly not standard but absolutely delicious! This recipe is from a recent issue of Gourmet Magazine as I talk about here.

6.     Fresh tomato slices.  Add slices of fresh tomato on the very top of a pizza for a pretty and tasty presentation.  Since they are on the top the tomatoes roast very nicely while the pizza cooks.

7.     Cherry tomatoes.  Quarter fresh small tomatoes such as cherry tomatoes, mix with some Italian spices and put on your pizza crust without cooking in place of a pizza sauce.  At their peak, these tomatoes add much more flavor and variety to the pizza than a standard pizza sauce.

8.     Spinach and Ricotta.  This works really well as a calzone but also as a pizza.  Chopped fresh spinach mixed with Ricotta cheese and pizza sauce cook into a wonderful calzone filling.  Mushrooms and Red bell peppers work great here to.

9.     Almonds and Apricots.  Together or separate either of these items add a bit of surprise and great flavor to pizza.  These go particularly well with a Spinach and Ricotta pizza.

10.  Pepperoni. Yes I like pepperoni’s on my pizza but I don't actually put them on pizza when I make it - just so many other things that I can put on.  But when in a pizza restaurant they are a definite choice for me to consider.

 And as you can see gherkin pickles are not on the list!

After cuddling up on the couch, admit it you cuddle up with cooking magazines, and examining the free issue I found an entire meal to make: Parmesan Crusted Chicken with a Sage Cream sauce, Roasted Potatoes, and Roasted Green Beans.  Well almost complete, the green beans are my own recipe, and from my own garden, but the other two recipes are from Cuisine at Home.  I found the Cuisine at Home recipes, and corresponding articles describing what to do, easy to understand but a bit confusing when preparing.  The article describes some important aspects of preparing the recipe but these are not detailed in the recipe itself. This format is also present in some of the Cook's Illustrated recipes.  Perhaps others can read the article and recipe at the same time but to me it’s confusing. 

The meal itself was not too difficult to make, but since it had three dishes, four if you count preparation of the sauce, I would not call it an easy meal.  For whatever reason, it also came out a bit greasy.  Now I realize that the chicken was sautéed and that the potatoes and beans were mixed in oil before roasting, but I didn't expect the meal to be as greasy as it was.  One reason may have been that the bread crumbs used to crust the chicken were somewhat large in size.  Generally, when I bread chicken, I use very fine bread crumbs but this recipe specifically stated that the breadcrumbs should vary in size with some being as large as peas.  The variation in breadcrumb size seemed to allow more oil to remain in the gaps.  Well, at least that’s my guess as to why it was greasy.  Despite this, however, the chicken was excellent and both Husband and I enjoyed the meal. 

Now perhaps I could stop here but instead I know I hinted at agony and I don’t want to leave you hanging.  Besides I want to share with you what happened when I went to make this meal.  See I had a problem, perhaps you have had this happen to you at one time or another, when I went to start cooking I couldn't find the magazine and subsequently the recipe that I was supposed to cook! UGH!  I spent about 30 minutes searching all over the house, calling Husband to see where and when he last saw it etc.  But I just couldn't find it.  I really wanted to make the meal so I started doing the prep and thought I'll create my own dish if I have to.  As I prepped, it occurred to me the recipe might be on-line.  Unfortunately, at this point, I didn't even know the name of the magazine other than something with "Home" in it.  Google gave me lots of potentials but none sounded right.  Fortunately, I've been accumulating a list of cooking magazines to eventually list here on Project Foodie (someday soon but not just yet) and I recognized the name Cuisine at Home on that list.  But following the web link my heart sank as I discovered they don't have their recipes on-line.  They did, however, have a scan of a trial issue and my luck prevailed since it was the issue I was looking for.

It may have been interesting to take a set of ingredients, or at least those that I could remember, and create my own meal.  Many people are very skilled at that type of creative cooking - but I'm not sure I am. So I was glad I found the recipe.  This was about two weeks ago and yesterday I also found the original trial issue sitting on my desk under a pile of papers.  Perhaps I'll make another recipe from the issue, perhaps not, but in either case I will try very hard not to loose the issue, or any others, again...