Awards

At long last, I am prepared to dole out the superlatives from the Recipe Book. In retrospect, the wait was actually necessary because I needed a certain amount of time to see which of these stayed with me, which I made again, etc.

And now, without further ado, My Favorite Recipes from The Recipe Book:

Appetizer - Karen Davis's Hot Cheese Puffs (aka Aunt Ellen's Cheese Dreams aka Cheesy Poofs)
No contest. I have made these a ton of times since I first discovered this recipe, and get repeated requests for them.

Brunch - Ellie Baker's Cheese Knishes
Knishes are more of an appetizer thing than a brunch thing IMO, but as they were in the Brunch chapter and I'm not a breakfast person, they were easily the best find in there. These are a little labor-intensive, but oh so worth it. Especially good for any Bostonians with a yen for a good small knish like they grew up with.

Soup - Sarah Pascarella's Black Bean & Lime Chili
There were about 45 recipes for chili in this book and they were all pretty good. This one was both the least typical and, surprisingly, my favorite. Two points for Sarah P.

Bread - Todd Tilzer's Challah
There were lots of good bread recipes--surprising banana bread ones, muffins, etc. But DIY challah? Yes please.

Side Dish - Savitri Sanithran's Oven-Roasted Broccoli
Hands down one of the best finds of the Recipe Book. Savitri succeeded in not only introducing a recipe into what is now heavy rotation here @ Casa Huntington, but more importantly, making me eat a vegetable I actively shunned before. It's like broccoli candy. So simple. So fast. So delicious. And for that, we are thankful.

Main Course - Cousin Thuy Le's Stir-Friend Ginger Chicken
This recipe single-handedly changed my feelings about stir fry, which previously always disappointed. It's almost like why order Chinese food when I can make this? The sauce is great, and I have made this more than once.

Other main courses that cannot go without mention include: Josh's Dad's Meatloaf and my mom's Baked Stuffed Shrimp (score two for mom).

BBQ - Cathy Tarnowski's Soy Kabobs (aka Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs)
These sound terrible - in my mind they are like tofu squares in soy sauce, but in reality they are chicken kabobs in an awesome marinade. Between the marinading and the kabob-making, they can be a little time consuming, but well worth it. I'm even making them tonight. Thank you Cathy for a recipe that makes (what is to me) the oft-boring chicken a sought-after meal!

Serious Honorable Mention goes to my Mom's Hawaiian Chicken with the apricot preserves & Russian dressing goodness and Shauna Jordan's 'Super Tasty BBQ Sauce' aka Pulled Pork. The former is baked, so I have no idea why it's under BBQ--I guess it can be BBQed as well, but I've loved it for years. And the latter, well, I now know how to make Southern-style crockpot BBQ, and boy of boy does that make Josh happy.

Cookies - Ginny Huntington's Christmas Cookies and Jette Mistry's Toffee Bark (tie)
Ginny's Holiday Cut-Out Cookies have been a favorite of mine since I came into her family, and at this point when it's December, you kind of just have to make a batch to get into the holiday spirit. And as for Jette's Toffee, good God that stuff is like crack. And so easy to make. Oh boy.

Honorable mention goes to Aunt Ina's Ginger Cookies (given by cousin Deborah Gordon) and Todd Tilzer's Lemon Bars. The ginger snaps were quite a surprise; they are easy and fast and you can't beat cookies that actually make you feel better. As for the lemon bars, I haven't re-made them yet (without the entire rind, oh me oh my), but as a lemon bar person, I am sure that I will. And when I fix that mistake, oh they will be heavenly for sure. And yes, this is the second win for Tilzer, if you are counting, which I'm sure he is.

Desserts - My mom's Apple Pie and Cassie Bowman's Chocolate Cake (tie)
I'm an apple pie person, and this apple pie doesn't disappoint (go mom!). I'm NOT a chocolate cake person, but this one was so stinking moist that there is no way this won't be my go-to chocolate cake recipe when chocolate cake is called for.

And a couple final categories...

Most Surprising
A few recipes were simply not what I expected--mostly for the good, as I'm such a skeptic. The least expect recipes to win me over were:

• Ginny Huntington's Ponzi Bread (For making me eat olives and not mind them.)

• Michele Silverthorn's Green Jell-O Salad (Sounds terrible and the ingredient list is actively terrifying. Turns out it's really tasty.)

• Savitri's Oven-Roasted Broccoli (For making me actively crave broccoli - never did I think that could happen.)

• Matt Armstrong's Spicy Tuna Pasta (Canned tuna in red sauce pasta? Sounds awful. Is actively good.)

Most Evil

• Jane Vallier's Madelines (For repeatedly befuddling me in the kitchen. May you never darken my doors again.)

• Cathy Tarnowski's Hot Chicken (For trying to asphyxiate me with hot pepper fumes of death.)

• Cousin Bobbie Davis's Almond Chicken (For nearly burning down my kitchen.)

• Connie Swenson's Flan (For being misread by me and thus becoming my biggest baking flop.)

• Anything with eggplant in it (Enough said.)

What were your favorites?