Sandra Lee's Hot Rangoon Crab Dip

This is one of the easiest and most delicious crab dip recipes I've ever tried!  It's sensational!  I haven't always liked using ready made ingredients in a recipe, but this one is an exception!  This was hit for a Thanksgiving Day appetizer tray!  Print this one out from the Food Network web page and give it a whirl, you won't miss with this one!  The significance of this one is that this dip tastes just like the one that used to be featured on the menu at the Rainforest Cafe restaurant located at Downtown Disney that my mom had one time on her platter.  This dip was also featured on the best appetizer tray ever made featured on the same restaurant menu!  Otherwise this is a very difficult to find anywhere else!

Cheers!

Suzette

Nonna Luna Rice Recipe from Giada and her Aunt Raffaella

This is a great recipe!  Even if you don't have heavy cream on hand this works great by reconstituting lower fat milk with just a touch of real butter!  I wound up using dried cayenne pepper because I couldn't find the hot sauce (I found it later on the table!).  But, the flavor combination with the lemon juice was fantastic! Next time I'll try it again with the real hot sauce!

Love and light,

Suzette

Food Network Recipe Review-Bobby Flay's Spanish Spice Rubbed Chicken with Parsley Mint Sauce

This recipe turned into an astounding success!  I made some changes however that in the end I feel resulted in something much better than I might have gotten had I made this recipe exactly as it is!  Instead of grilling as it said to do originally I baked it with foil on top so that the paprika wouldn't burn or become blackened which I really don't like and I don't think is particularly good for people.  In addition I added granulated garlic to the recipe I also used a can of mild green chilies in place of the Serrano peppers for the Parsley-Mint Sauce as I  don't care for Serrano peppers in flavor and extreme heat!  I mixed the Parsley-Mint sauce with some green beans which tasted great.  The spices that I baked the chicken in also made wonderful sauce that went on the chicken really well! All in all its a winning recipe and flavor combination only now it's partly my recipe as well as Bobby Flay's!

Love and light,
Suzette

Guy Fieri is phenomenal!

I watched Chefography on Food Network the other night and how they profiled Guy Fieri and how got started!  He's a dynamo and a godsend!  He makes people feel so good when he shows up!  If only there were more people like him around what a different place this world would be!  We don't see enough of them around it seems or is it that we hear so little about this kind of thing in the world from the media?  Anyways along with many other personalities on the Food Network, Guy Fieri is wonderful and I'm hoping that the Space Coast of Florida will one day soon do what it takes to get that man here and get the Food Network interested in coming here!  It would be a huge boost to this area and for the economy!


Love and light,

Suzette

Eggs Florentine Recipe from Giada!

Excellent recipe!  I tried it is delicious and so easy to make!  The cheese wasn't that expensive and hard to find!  I love the flavor of the Romano cheese its different Parmesan cheese in that its tangier!  One would think there wouldn't be much difference, but there is!  This is the cheese I would recommend when making classic Alfredo Sauce!  I've done this from scratch myself and the difference in flavor is amazing especially when you use nutmeg with it!  Parmesan has good flavor, but it doesn't really taste that distinctive but Romano does!  Log onto Food Network.com and try this out for yourself!

Love and light,

Suzette

CHOCOLATE CRACKED EARTH (FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE) FROM TYLER FLORENCE!

This recipe is absolutely wonderful!  I tried it last night, it was a huge hit!  Not only is it really easy and inexpensive, its low in sugar and my sister absolutely loved it!  This recipe is available on Food Network.com!  Try it today, you won't be disappointed!

Love and light,

Algaia

The Celtic Wheel Recipe review #3 Tyler Florence

Other than Mario Batali and Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence gets my vote for the best male cook on the network!  I have printed many of his recipes and so far I've only tried a few, but they work like a charm!  I recently tried making my homemade potato chips from a recipe for "Kettle Chips with Parmesan and Herbs".  It was wonderful!  The directions are very precise and yield excellent results! Stay tuned for when I try out the "Flourless Chocolate Cake" which I'm sure is going to be big hit!

Love and light,

Suzette

Recipe Review for The Celtic Wheel Project #2 Giada DeLaurentiis

This is a review of just a few of the recipes put on line by my favorite person, Giada DeLaurentiis.  One of the first of her recipes I ever tried was from her first show "Everyday Italian". "Tilapia Purple Potato Crust and Chive Rosemary Oil.  The recipe works like a charm, very simple with ingredients that really weren't that difficult to find considering where I live, but the one complaint I have is the amount of salt used!  It was way too much especially if you use Sea Salt or Kosher Salt.

I have the same complaint about another recipe for "Sweet Potato Fries with Basil Salt and Lemon Mayo.  Salt was way too strong and far too much it needs to be cut way back especially if you're dipping it into mayonnaise.  The only way you would get away with this is if you made your own mayonnaise with very little if any salt!  Other wise the combination of roasted sweet potatoes and basil was great! 

Another one I tried which really didn't go so well that is one of Giada's is "Gnocchi with Cinnamon Butter".  I've yet try this one again using fresh made or frozen gnocchi.  However, I must say that I don't particularly care for the gnocchi found on the pasta aisle of the grocery store.  I'll have to try this one again with fresh and perhaps make a few more adjustments in this recipe otherwise I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone at this point.

One of the most stunning successes in Giada's repertoire which I prepared for New Year's Eve dinner just last year was "Bollito Misto"!  It was incredibly simple, easy to follow, the ingredients were easy to find and for most part, inexpensive.  And yet, it was a very elegant incredibly delicious meal that my mother absolutely loved!  We didn't go out anywhere special, but to tell you the truth I don't think we could've honestly eaten all that well in any restaurant, plus the cost would've been more than it took to make this great dish at home!

Two more recipes from Giada that really work well are "Chicken or Steak with Balsamic BBQ Sauce" and "Balsamic Chicken Drumettes".  The only thing I did different was to substitute the brown sugar and honey with agave nectar due to the glycemic index and I added some granulated garlic to the recipe(s).  Actually the sauce from the "Balsamic Chicken Drumettes" wound up being used to create the BBQ Sauce in the Chicken or Steak recipe!  Other than that both recipes were wonderful and I think people should give them a try!

I'll be back soon with more recipes and more reviews

Love and light to all,

Suzette

THE CELTIC WHEEL/ GROVE OF EGLANTINE RECIPE PROJECT

 Ever since I've had a special vision for a restaurant and entertainment venue (possibly one of many) I'd like to establish here on the Space Coast where I grew up I have gathered an amazing array of recipes.  Many simple others very one of a kind and very rare.  Some are easy others are a challenge, but the most important thing about any recipe regardless is whether or not it helps one to be successful in creating a great dish!  Also there are concerns over health especially if one has an intolerance to onions and/or have diabetes or are simply trying to keep from having health concerns. 

So here I have started to review the recipes I have gathered from many different sources.  One of which, on many an occasion, is from the Food Network.  There are many people I really like on the Food Network, but my two absolute favorites are Mario Batali and Giada DeLaurentiis.  Others I really like are Bobby Flay, Adam Gertler, Claire Robinson, Anne Burrell, Paula Deen and Alton Brown.

So far I've only managed to try a few recipes and will review how they worked.  I realize that how the recipes appear when they're printed from the internet are not always the way that the television chef is preparing it.  One good example of this is the "ChocoFlan" dessert prepared by Marcella Vallod on "Mexican Made Simple".  It's an excellent recipe and everything works great however if it wasn't for the fact that had previous made another dessert very similar to this I might not have known to reverse some of the instructions which told people to put the cake batter in the bundt pan before you pour in the custard!  I of course put the custard in first then poured the cake batter in last otherwise it would've been quite a mess when I went to invert the pan!  So a word of warning to all who have printed this recipe out, remember to put the custard in the Bundt pan first then the cake batter last!

I am especially on the hunt for great recipes that are onionless from the Food Network and so-far I've had a great deal of success at finding them.


Love and light,

Algaia!