Friday 26 March 2010

Other Blogger's Dishes - pasta, cookies and oatmeal

One of the downsides to blogging, I have noticed, is that other bloggers cook nicer stuff than I do. I spend much more time drooling over my keyboard and saying "I want what she's having" than I actually do cooking or planning delicious dishes of my own.

So here is a brief summary of some of the dishes I have been pinching from my friends in the blogosphere recently.

Laurie, from That's Not What The Recipe Says, is responsible for this delicious-looking baked oatmeal. She turns it out in enormous quantities for a church fundraiser, but I made a single batch just for us. Instead of raisins, I used what was on hand, which happened to be dates and dried apricots. It was lovely warm with milk, but almost better cool, when it set firm enough to cut into slices. Wonderful for taking to work to eat at my desk!

The reason why I had dates and apricots in the pantry, was that I made these raw food cookies from Laura at Hungry and Frozen. Unfortunately the drive shaft on my food processor snapped while doing the hard work on these, so I had to melt 30g of dark chocolate and knead that in to hold it all together. Very successful! So delicious you'd never dream that they were good for you.

From George at A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse and Kat & Matt at A Good Appetite, I got this pasta dish. George's was pear, goat's cheese and walnuts, with some spinach and rocket. Kat & Matt's was pear, proscuitto, blue cheese and walnuts with baby spinach. Mine was pancetta, pear, blue cheese and rocket. Paul didn't like the pear, and I wasn't totally convinced either! I thought the sweet juiciness was going to work well with the other flavours, but I actually found it a bit jarring.

Lastly, we have Deb's meatballs. Spaghetti and meatballs isn't something I grew up with but for some reason I was really craving it at about the time I saw Deb's post. I've made them twice now, and they are absolute perfection. The first time I used half of my last beetroot roll, the second time I used some stale rye bread, and both times they had an excellent flavour and the perfect texture. My marinara sauce needs some work though, so I will definitely be making these again!

11 comments:

kat said...

How can you say other bloggers make nicer food than you?! You do such great dishes. I'm surprised you didn't care for the pear in the pasta. The roasting made ours so mellow. I wonder if its just different pears work differently.

Mary Bergfeld said...

All these dishes sound wonderful. I stopped by to say hello but stayed much longer than I planned. I really like your blog and will be back often.

NKP said...

I think the grass is always greener on the other blog!
Delicious dishes, the pastas are calling to me..

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

I have given up on magazines and books for inspiration... Bloggers do it better

Alicia Foodycat said...

Kat - they do! Your random lunch soups sound better than most of the stuff I make!

Mary - thanks so much for stopping by!

Natashya - Deb's meatballs are cracking.

Dave - I agree, but I just have to get some use out of my cookbooks!

Deb in Hawaii said...

And here I always drool over what you make! ;-)
So glad you liked the meatballs. Now I am craving them again after seeing yours and reading about your changes! lol

mscrankypants said...

You use the most well-selected and evocative words for the beautiful food you prepare, and you have the most awesome kitteh in teh internetz :-).

Thanks for linking to Laurie's baked oatmeal -- with the colder weather perhaps coming here one day (hurry the hell up) I'm definitely giving it a try.

hungryandfrozen said...

So sorry about your food processor - I feel somehow responsible :/ although I do like the sound of adding chocolate to these cookies. I love browsing food blogs for inspiration - so many of the things I cook come from there!

Bettina Douglas said...

I have just made Laurie's cranberry crunch coffee cake (with blueberries) - thank you for the link & inspiraton.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Deb - I've ordered some minced rose veal so I can make them as the original recipe says too!

Cranky - she is the most awesome kitteh!

Laura - it's fine! Turns out the spare parts are available very cheaply, so my processor is back up and running now.

Mother - I thought that recipe of Laurie's looked lovely too!

Choclette said...

Now why is that? Why does everyone else's food always look so much more tempting than one's own? Actually, whenever I have dinner with friends, it always tastes better than anything I've ever cooked. I guess it's just to keep us on our toes - either that or frustrated.

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