Carnival of the Recipes #34

Well here it is, Carnival of the Recipes #34. And can I just say wow, take a look at all these recipes! It has been such an honour to host this, and to take a look at some fine recipes and blogs.

"If music be the food of love, play on" - Shakespeare

Appetizers

Apparently, what's Inside Allan's Mind is a nice recipe for Mushroom-Onion Focaccia. It goes well either as an appetizer or an accompaniment.

Salads/sides


A summertime (you lucky people!) saute of corn and zucchini) from Shawn of Everything and Nothing looks like a sure fired winner, and it's healthy to boot!

From bothenook of A Geezer's Corner) is a broccoli salad that is a real crowd pleaser, I will definitely be adding this one to my salad repertoire.

Oddybobo at Bobo Blogger presents Sesame Green Beans. I'm also a fan of sesame seeds, but don't have many recipes that use it. Thanks Oddybobo!

We get two sides from the chef at booklore. First a Spinach Salad and with the leftover ingredients you can make Tasty Rice. Both look delish and easy to make, always good.

Bread/Dough


Kevin of Technogypsy gives us his Basic Bread recipe. Apparently his oldest kid made about 30 loaves of this for a science project!


A dough with a difference is David's recipe for Dead Dough. Apparently it is best as a decorative material for baked craft items, although you could eat it if you wanted. Hmm... I need to get out more, I haven't heard of baked craft items :)

Main

VW of One Happy Dog Speaks brings us the always yummy lasagna, not only the favourite of Garfield, but also very popular in my household. There's even a piccy (of the lasagna that is, not my household!)

Recipe Carnival debutante Mr Bingley has a scrumptious looking chicken dish, which apparently is "Something to Eat with a Nice Zinfandel". However I'm a bit scared of the size of the chickens over there if parts of their body can be called Pamelas!

From Karen of the Let's Play Restaurant! blog we have Oven-Fried Whole Wheat Chicken. Looks good, and it comes from a book I think I'll have to get, called "365 Ways to Cook Chicken". Chicken ... mmmmmmm!

Chicken seems to be a popular meat this week. The first of two recipes Christina of Feisty Repartee submitted is a Chicken Riesling dish. Two of the ingredients it contains are amongst my very favourite, garlic and coriander. Thanks Christina!

Elisson at Blog d'Elisson presents "See No Weevil" Chili. You have to see the back story to get the title, my lord, these people must love their chili! I'm putting this recipe on my to do list. Mind you, I'm probably putting all these recipes there ... hehe

Brian B of Memento Moron writes a very entertaining piece on Oregon, it's origins and it's food. He presents us with Home (State) Cooking. This is the first I've read Brian B's blog, and I know I will be going back.

This next one you'll need to put a bib on before reading ... seriously. Ready? Punctilious of Like News but Tasty puts forward a mouth watering steak by the name of Uncle Jack's Fire Steak. Just take a look at the piccy of the steak ... drooool! He wouldn't normally put butter with steak, but it was a lean piece of meat, and only a little butter. Sounds good to me!

Also, from Punctilious comes a recreation of Trader Joe's Chicken Kabobs. Here's a little advice from the chef: "Don't leave the
chicken in contact with the fresh pineapple for too long. The
enzymes will soften the chicken too much. Also, you can skip the
baking step but you have to make sure you grill the chicken to a safe
degree of doneness."

Caltechgirl of Not exactly Rocket Science has put up a recipe on her brand spanking new site. Love the new look, Caltechgirl! Anyways, the recipe is for Rotini and Sweet Pepper Primavera. Looks good and quick to make, a perfect dinner for during the week.

Two offerings from BJ of Quite Early One Morning. First up is a fresh look at an old favourite, Straight Up Baccala.

The second recipe, Quick Spicy Asian Chicken Soup w/ Pot Stickers looks sure to cure any cold. I'm a firm believer in chicken soup as a comfort food, when you are feeling a bit under the weather.

Dave of "the glittering eye" fame shares similar foody tastes with the hubby and I. This week he submits a recipe for Basque baked beans from Louis's Basque. I'm not normally a bean fan, but this one looks great, and it comes with an interesting story too, which I'm always a fan of. He reckons it could be a substantial side or a great main course, but taking a look at it, I think it belongs in the main category.

If you like your food hot and spicy, then Triticale's recipe for "The Devil's Spaghetti" is for you. Sounds devilishly good.

Jeff from Trub (apparently pronounced troob)has an attempt at convincing us that quiche is not only for girly men with his recipe titled " Paul's Crab Quiche". Hmmm ... I don't know about the girly bit, but as a woman I can say that this quiche looks sensational!

Laughing Wolf (I love that name!)delivers a splendid rendition of Roast Lamb this week. Lamb, garlic and rosemary is a match made in heaven.

Desserts/Cakes

The second recipe Christina of Feisty Repartee submitted is a Fresh Strawberry Pie. It's not hard to see why this is one of her favourite desserts.

Michele from Meanderings has a bread pudding which is an old family recipe. Anything with cinnamon has gotta be good!

Tinker from The Secret Life of Shoes has a very topical submission with her Pope Cake recipe. Apparently he was fond of chocolate and almonds, and who wouldn't be!

Biscuits/Cookies (In Aus, as some of you know, the two words are interchangeable)

The Thomas from Food for The Thomas has given us his Grandma Hop's recipe for Raisin Cookies. The recipe dates back to 1951, so looks like it's a keeper.

Mary Beth has an incredibly easy looking recipe for Chess Bars. I have it on good authority no actual chess pieces were harmed in the making of this recipe.

And now for something completely different. Helen has sent in a slideshow all about sugar, and here is what she has to say on the subject:

"I hope you like. As we are almost exactly opposite on the Earth, we are coming into our Spring, but it is much, much colder here. This is a special time of year when the maple trees "run" with sap, and the Old Timers go to their groves to make sugar. My slideshow is not exactly a recipe, but it's foody enough and weird enough to be fun. It's an ancient custom, but so far as I know, nobody has ever bothered to photograph the entire process with a traditional evaporator. I took the pix on Easter Day, so they are fresh!"

Thanks Helen, cool piccys!