11 January 2008

Feedback on Recipes

I'd like to hear how some of you think I should go about re-organizing the recipe page. One change I'm committed to that I'll be making gradually is that I'll change the format of the pages from MS Word over to HTML, so they can be read and printed right in the browser without having to download them and open Word. This has the added benefit of them taking up a lot less space on the server.

This week we added 5 new recipes to the collection, a couple that were absolute home runs and a few others that were good change-ups. For my birthday Mandi made me the Crunchy Shrimp with Toasted Couscous and Ginger-Orange Sauce , which was phenomenal. It was a little prep-intensive, but the flavors exploded and it was a very nice birthday treat. The Sausage and Bean Casserole and Chicken-Ham Lasagna were both better than expected, and the kids even housed the lasagna. Thai-Style Ground Beef came with the promise of being kid-friendly, but we didn't bet the house on that one and it was a smart decision. It was spicier than expected and would have been wholly pushed away by both of our girls. It was, however, a nice change from the norm and an easy one to throw together. Last night's dinner was in the "Superfast" section of Cooking Light (December 2005), and when you do fast often you expect less. Not so in this case, the Chicken with Sherry-Soy Reduction Sauce was really easy and super tasty. We served it with baked sweet potatoes and steamed sugar-snap peas. The combination of flavors was phenomenal, with just the right balance of sweet and tart. One word of caution is that if you choose to cut these recipes down to reduce leftovers, be careful not to cut the sauce ingredients down too small. Had I cut the sherry-soy reduction ingredients there would not have been enough to work with, and dinner may have been disappointing. Instead I just cooked two chicken breasts and the entire amount of sauce, which was perfect drizzled over the sweet potato instead of butter.

Please leave me comments as to how you think I should re-organize the recipe page to make it easier to read . . should I separate the dishes by type of cuisine, by meat type, or some other way? Also, for those of you counting calories (or perhaps Points ), check the "Properties" of these recipes for calorie, fat, protein, and fiber information. Thanks, and enjoy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think if you simply categorized them by meats, poultry, fish, side dishes, desserts, etc. that would help. Also maybe listing them in order of "intensity" if you will, like prep time. I know that all of them, if on the list, will be good so I would like to surf fast between the base dish and how easy or hard it was to make.
List is great though, it's my weekly read to get ideas!!!

Anonymous said...

I like finding recipes by the ingredient as I often buy something without knowing exactly what I'll do with it....call it a craving! To help those like C why don't you give them stars...one for easy & on upo 5 for labor intensive? How did the penne & sausage turn out?

Anonymous said...

I am now totally hooked on your recipe page! I have been trying something from it each week and have enjoyed everything so far. I agree with the idea of rating them from easy to more difficult/labor intensive. I think it would help people w/ busy schedules!