Last Minute Thanksgiving Dishes

If you're still scrambling for meal ideas on this Thanksgiving Eve Eve, allow me to make a few suggestions! These are all recipes I've made and enjoyed more than once.


Side Dishes

My mom often makes Emeril's Cornbread and Andouille Dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I look forward to it! (Memory time: one sad year, she pulled the finished dressing out of the oven and set it on the hot stove, and the Pyrex exploded. We've all been very careful with Pyrex ever since.)

Here's my favorite sweet potato recipe, which I got from my friend Rachael years ago. It has a brown sugar and pecan glaze, and no marshmallows.

For a different take on sweet potatoes, these Savory Sweet Potatoes from Crepes of Wrath are amazing.

Parmesan Polenta

On the lighter side:
Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Green Beans with Brown Butter and Garlic

Sauteed Collard Greens and Garlic


Desserts

Maple-Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Sandwich Cake

Pear and Cranberry Pie

Applesauce Spice Cake


Bon appetit! :)

Cheesy Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Carrots

When I saw this recipe in the October Real Simple, it sounded soooo good to me. I had to make it ASAP! With no ravioli in the house, I used tortellini instead, which was actually a better vehicle for the kale pesto. This isn't a low-cal meal, but the seasonal veggies make it pretty healthy. Also, where have roasted carrots been all my life? I savored every bite of this and will make it again soon.

Aside: I have a small food processor that came with my immersion blender. Every time I try to use it, nothing happens and I have to put everything in the Magic Bullet instead. So, if you own a Bullet, start there and save yourself the extra dishwashing.


Cheesy Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Carrots
Slightly adapted from Real Simple. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
16 to 18 oz. fresh or frozen cheese ravioli (or other cheese-stuffed pasta)
1 pound carrots (about 6), sliced
½ small bunch kale, stems discarded and leaves torn (about 3 ½ cups)
2 Tbsp roasted almonds, plus more, chopped, for serving
1 clove garlic
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ oz. grated Parmesan (1/3 cup), plus more for serving
½ tsp grated lemon zest
kosher salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 450° F. Toss the carrots with 2 Tbsp of the oil and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tender, 10 to 12 minutes, tossing once.

2. Meanwhile, pulse the almonds and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the kale, Parmesan, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; pulse until finely chopped. With the machine running, add the remaining 4 Tbsp of oil. Process until smooth.

3. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

4. Add carrots, pesto, and ¼ cup of the reserved cooking water and toss gently to coat (adding more cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce). Serve warm, sprinkled with the chopped almonds and Parmesan.

Roasted Eggplant Soup

When I started living alone, I promised myself that I wouldn't subsist solely on omelets and veggie pasta dishes. For the most part, I've kept that promise. But lately I've been too busy and rushed to cook for myself, and that cannot go on. Last weekend, I harvested two surprise eggplants and decided to make a soup from them right then and there. I've had this recipe for a while, but had never tried it because of the long cooking time. But since it was Sunday, I could let the ingredients roast and simmer while I did other things. I've been enjoying the delicious results all week.

Roasted Eggplant Soup
From Smitten Kitchen. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes, halved
1 large eggplant, halved lengthwise
1 small onion, halved
6 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
¾ cup crumbled goat cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on a large baking sheet. Brush or drizzle vegetables with oil, then roast them for 20 minutes, pausing only to remove the garlic cloves. Return the pans to the oven for another 25 minutes, until the remaining vegetables are tender and brown in spots. (Because I only had minced garlic, I did this in reverse, adding the garlic to the baking sheet during the last 20 minutes of roasting.)

2. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Scoop the eggplant out of its skin into a heavy, large saucepan or soup pot. Add the rest of the vegetables, plus the thyme and the chicken or vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until onion is very tender, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.

3. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until it is as smooth as you’d like it to be. Or, if you have an immersion blender, you can do this in the pot. Back in the pot, add the cream (if using - I didn't have any) and bring the soup back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in four bowls, sprinkled with goat cheese.

I followed two PS suggestions from the original recipe: adding cumin, and using feta instead of goat cheese (since feta was what I had on hand). Both ingredients added a nice, subtle kick!

Easter 2013

This Easter weekend was great! My brother Kevin was here, so I spent almost the entire weekend with my family. We ate good food, saw a movie, and watched a lot of basketball. I had been looking forward to my church's annual Easter Eve concert at the Levitt Shell - everyone picnics and it's a lot of fun. But the weather was crummy this year (seriously, WHEN will spring get here??). I dithered about it all morning before deciding not to go sit in the cold rain by myself. By the time I heard that the concert was moved to the church, we had already made dinner plans, and I didn't want to break up family time. I was bummed to miss, but apparently the turnout was good, so that's the important thing.

Early last week, my domestic urges kicked in big time. I thought of a whole menu plan for Easter. My parents agreed to break tradition and let me cook our Easter dinner this year, as long as we ate it at their house on my mom's china. We had Mustard-Crusted Pork Roast with Shallots and Wine Sauce, with sides of Parmesan polenta, green beans that my dad prepared, and cranberry sauce from a can (I love it). For dessert I made a Meyer lemon pound cake. The cake was very pretty, but I used Splenda instead of sugar so my pre-diabetic mom could enjoy it, and it turned out dry. Lesson learned. My mom and Kevin liked it, but I was a little disappointed.

Anyway, I recommend this pork roast recipe for any occasion. It's easy and adaptable - I used a boneless pork loin roast and was short on shallots, and no harm was done. You can even cut the cooking time in half by cutting the roast in half lengthwise (which we did so Kevin could get back to Indiana by a decent hour).

This is going to sound cheesy and cliche, but my family talked a lot about the Bible and Jesus this weekend, and it made me really happy. These past few days have reminded me how endlessly interesting Jesus is. He's always more than you expect, and there's always another layer to uncover. I'm thankful that He's my Savior, Friend, and go-between.

Bread & Wine: The Dinner Party

Part 2 of 2

As I mentioned yesterday, I just read Shauna Niequist's new book, Bread & Wine. In the letter that came with the book, Shauna encouraged reviewers to have a dinner party using some of her recipes. Like her, I love an excuse to get together with friends, especially around a table. So I set a date and invited a small group of friends whom I thought would enjoy each other (several of whom I'd long wanted to introduce to each other). I e-mailed them explaining about Bread & Wine, the recipes, and the dinner party. To my excitement, most of them could come and were enthusiastic about choosing recipes! Dividing up the cooking made for a very low-stress party for me.

Our dinner menu (from the book) was as follows:
Bacon Wrapped Dates
Goat Cheese Biscuits
Brannon's Caesar Salad
Maple Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Dessert:
Blueberry Crisp
Nigella Lawson's Flourless Chocolate Brownies (both with and without nuts)

Non-book menu items:
Hillary's couscous (legendary!)
Ina Garten's Parmesan Roasted Broccoli (I wanted an extra side, and this broccoli is one of my favorite things in the world.)

Since I was hosting, I prepared the pork tenderloin for the main dish. Unfortunately I had some trouble with the recipe, which simply called for "2 tenderloins." I don't cook meat very often, so I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. First I erroneously bought a five-pound pork loin roast. After intense discussion and texting of photos with my friend Stacy, I went back to the store and bought two correctly sized tenderloins. Then, paranoid that I still didn't have the right cut of meat, I searched Shauna's blog for a link to the original recipe to double-check the weight. With that settled, I was still skeptical about the tenderloins only needing to be sautéed for two minutes on a side. Sure enough, they remained pink inside (and got pretty charred outside), but 10-15 additional minutes in the oven finished them off. In the end, the pork still tasted great, and my friends weren't upset about the delay. Some of them were confused by their recipes too. Maybe I'm just clueless, but I think more clarification would have been helpful.

All of the food was delicious, but if I had to choose a favorite item, it would probably be the goat cheese biscuits (prepared by Caroline). They were AMAZING. I also took a lot of blueberry crisp off Elizabeth's hands (she made a double batch), and it's been fantastic for breakfast the past couple of days. I think it needs ice cream if you're having it as a dessert.

Eight ladies were in attendance including me. As it happens, that's the maximum number I can fit comfortably around my dining table with the leaf out. We all feasted and had some great conversation and fellowship. Everyone seemed to connect easily. We had a good mix of Memphis natives, new-to-towners, single women, married women, and moms. That's hard to achieve nowadays! I was prepared for most people to take off after dinner, but happily, they stayed and talked well into the evening. I wish I'd documented the evening better, but I didn't want to annoy everyone with incessant picture-taking.

So, the dinner party was everything I hoped it would be, and I was very happy. (The company and good food were also timely comforts for me and Kathy after the Tigers' bummer loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament that afternoon.) Several people said we should do this again. It would be great, and appropriate, if this party was the start of something new!

Bread & Wine: The Review

I discovered Shauna Niequist in the summer of 2010, when I impulse-bought her second book, Bittersweet. In that rough period of my life, her raw, honest, yet hopeful words were a huge comfort to me. I went on to devour her earlier book, Cold Tangerines, and loved it too. So when she recently put out a call on her blog for reviewers of her long-anticipated third book, Bread & Wine, I was thrilled to participate!

Bread & Wine is about the intersections of food and fellowship, food and culture, food and travel, food and memories, all within the context of a normal life. It's a celebration of food without snobbery – you won't find any reviews of five-star restaurants here. Through personal stories, Shauna demonstrates the power of sharing simple but good food with people you love, especially when life is tumbling down around your ears. Many of the chapters involve her Cooking Club, a group of friends who started cooking and eating together once a month and formed strong bonds around the table. Other chapters focus on especially memorable or meaningful meals in her past – the wedding leftovers she and her husband shared on a window seat, special dinner parties for friends' birthdays, a potluck cookout with her family after her son's baptism. She also reflects on times when others ministered to her through food.

Most of the essays end with a recipe related to the story, and they all sound amazing. In the letter that came with the ARC, Shauna encouraged reviewers to have a dinner party including some of the recipes from the book. Well, I did, and it was fantastic. Read about it here tomorrow! I'll share more specifically about the recipes then. She also includes a helpful appendix about her pantry staples and weeknight dinner routine, and basic entertaining tips.

As much as I enjoyed the food talk, my favorite aspect of Bread & Wine was Shauna's usual vulnerability and transparency about her personal struggles. As someone who dealt with infertility for many years, then endured a rough pregnancy and a health scare with her son after he was born, she's well acquainted with life not going according to plan. She also talks openly about her overachieving nature, her experiences as a writer, and her innate need for constant community with the people she loves. I relate to her deeply. For me, reading her books is like reading letters from a wiser older sister. I feel less alone in my messiness, and inspired to handle it in a more positive, productive way. Somehow, Shauna fully validates the pain and junk of life, while simultaneously pointing to its joys, victories, and the God who rules over it all. She is an ambassador of Wholeheartedness.

Bread & Wine will be released on April 9. I soaked up every word of this book, and highly recommend it.

** I received a copy of this book for review, but this review is my honest and personal opinion. **

Moroccan Chicken

I hope everyone had a good Presidents' Day weekend - or regular weekend for my international readers, or the many Americans who don't get Presidents' Day off (I didn't until a few years ago, so it always feels like a bonus)! I went to a small cookout over the weekend, and the gracious hosts sent me home with what I can only describe as a slab of delicious smoked chicken. The next night, I made Moroccan Chicken with it. I'm surprised I've never posted this recipe because it's been one of my go-tos for years. If you have a rotisserie chicken or other cooked chicken, and want to do something a little different with it, this is a great option. It's easy and makes a ton of food.


Quick Moroccan Chicken
From Real Simple, January 2007. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 cooked rotisserie chicken (or equivalent), cut in pieces
1 10-oz box couscous
1 15-oz can sliced peaches, drained
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced or minced
½ cup orange juice
1 ½ Tbsp light brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp red wine vinegar
½ Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup fresh parsley (or just sprinkle some dried)
Pinch ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Cook the couscous according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 ½ minutes.

3. Add sugar, nutmeg, vinegar, and orange juice and bring to a simmer.

4. Add peaches and continue to simmer until the sauce has reduced slightly, about 5 minutes.

5. Divide couscous and chicken among individual bowls, top with peach sauce, and sprinkle with parsley.

Balsamic Roasted Carrots

If you still have a holiday potluck to attend, or need a lighter side dish for Christmas dinner, I suggest these Balsamic Roasted Carrots. I used to shy away from signing up for sides because I never knew what to make. Since I discovered these carrots, they've become my go-to! They're delicious, healthy, cheap, and require almost no effort. WIN.

The "recipe" originally comes from here, but I think I got it from Ashley. There's not much to it!


- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread out two pounds (i.e. two packages) of baby carrots on a large cookie sheet, jelly roll pan, or roasting pan. If you're feeding a big crowd, of course you can add more carrots.

- Season the carrots (with whatever you're in the mood for: salt and pepper, rosemary, etc.) and drizzle evenly with olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes.

- Remove the carrots from the oven and top with about 2 Tbsp of olive oil, 3 Tbsp of honey, and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. The amounts don't have to be exact - I usually add more balsamic vinegar because I love it. Toss to make sure the carrots are coated pretty evenly. Return to the oven for about 5 more minutes.

- Transfer carrots to a Pyrex or serving dish. They can be made in advance and still taste great reheated!

***

Just an FYI, I probably won't be blogging quite as regularly over the next couple of weeks. I'll still pop in, but want to take time to enjoy the holidays and some R&R. I imagine most bloggers are doing the same!

Butternut Squash Gratin

I LOVE fall squash! In fact, I feel compelled to apologize to my Pinterest followers for pinning so many pumpkin and butternut squash recipes. This recipe is one of my recent finds, and I cooked it for last night's dinner. I'd definitely make it again! It's a lot of food for one person, though. I'm not the type who likes to eat the same leftovers for days on end.

Butternut Squash Gratin
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens. Serves 8.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, 1 ¾-2 pounds
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
16 cups fresh spinach
1 cup half-and-half or light cream (I used milk with a splash of half-and-half, and it was fine)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
½ cup creme fraiche*

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish; set aside. Peel the squash, cut it in half vertically, and scoop out the seeds. Slice to ¼-inch thickness. (Aside: The squash left a residue on my hands that took at least ten washings to remove. Has anyone else experienced this??)

2. Arrange squash slices in a 15x10 baking pan and toss lightly with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Remove the pan and increase oven temperature to 475 degrees.

3. Meanwhile, in a 4-to-6-quart Dutch oven (I used a deep skillet), cook the spinach in lightly salted boiling water for 1 minute or until wilted. Drain and cool slightly; squeeze out excess liquid. Coarsely chop the spinach (or not) and set aside.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half and cornstarch; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. (If you manage this without any lumps, congratulate yourself.) Stir in spinach, then spread mixture in bottom of prepared dish. Arrange squash over spinach mixture. (To dirty one less dish, I skipped the step 1 baking dish, instead adding the spinach to the existing squash pan and mixing it all up. This ruins the layer effect, but not the taste!)

5. In a small bowl, stir together Parmesan cheese and creme fraiche. (I had neither the time nor the calorie allowance for creme fraiche, so I used lowfat sour cream.) Spread mixture over squash in dish. Bake, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until squash is tender and topping is lightly browned. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.


* To make creme fraiche: In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup whipping cream (not ultrapasteurized) and ¼ cup dairy sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature for 2 to 5 hours or until mixture thickens. When thickened, cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving time or up to 48 hours. Stir before serving.

Roasted Summer Vegetables

My favorite recipe of the last six months is undoubtedly Ina Garten's Parmesan Roasted Broccoli. I make it for dinner about once a week. I found it on Amateur Gourmet, where it was touted as The Best Broccoli Of Your Life. But don't take his and my word for it - ask Bethany how many times her preschool son has REQUESTED broccoli since I passed this on to her!

This recipe is very forgiving. I've never measured the ingredients, and I often forget the basil, but it's still delicious every time. (You don't have to eat it while reading about basketball, but it can't hurt!)

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli
From Ina Garten

Ingredients:
4 to 5 pounds broccoli
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp julienned fresh basil leaves (about 12 leaves)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Trim the broccoli florets from the stalks, leaving an inch or two of stalk attached. Discard the rest of the stalks. Pull the florets apart, with a knife or with your hands. You should have about 8 cups.

2. Place the broccoli florets on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Toss the garlic with the broccoli and drizzle with 5 Tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned. Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a small pan over low heat.

4. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, roasted pine nuts, Parmesan, and basil. Serve hot.

***

Last week my eggplant was ready for harvest, so I made eggplant parmesan! Working from a recipe in my old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, I sliced the eggplant, dipped it into beaten egg and then panko crumbs, and fried the slices in olive oil for about five minutes. (They got a little burned, but I sometimes like things a little burned.) Then I put the slices in a baking dish, topped them with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and tomato sauce, and baked for about ten minutes at 400 degrees. DELICIOUS and so quick and easy. I felt like Pioneer Woman eating a meal from my own garden topped with homemade tomato sauce from my own tomatoes! And yes - I ate the whole thing. :)

Midsummer Garden Update

As expected, this year's garden is outperforming all of my past gardens, but I haven't quite had the crazy yield I hoped for. My dad's three tomato plants (one of which was a volunteer), right in the ground, are a thicket of branches and as tall as I am. He can barely keep up with the harvest. My tomato plants, fussed over in a raised bed full of specially mixed soil, look like this:

I've tried different watering methods and schedules, but nothing has helped. At this point I'm using an oscillating sprinker set for about 30 minutes a day. The tomatoes I do have are delicious though, and ripening at a good pace. I have cherry and grape tomatoes for salads, and regular ones for sandwiches and sauces. It's not like I need a bushel a week anyway. I'm only one person.

The cucumbers are just starting to climb and bloom. I like how sneaky cucumbers are. You don't even know you have any, and then you notice the trellis is sagging, move a leaf aside, and there they are! My bell peppers and jalapenos are also hitting their stride now. The peppers aren't as big as the ones from a store, but they're very flavorful.

This is the first year I've put herbs in the garden instead of in pots, and the space has been great for them. By this point in the summer, they've usually run their course and I have to get new plants, but these have room to expand and multiply. Definitely the way to go.

The zucchini and yellow squash have long since shriveled and died with no warning. I've never had any other result with squash. Maybe they just don't like me.

The eggplant is the surprise performer of the year. It's really thriving. Eggplant parmesan, here I come!

To use up some of my dad's surplus tomatoes, I made a batch of tomato sauce from this Smitten Kitchen recipe (SK has never steered me wrong). It was pretty easy to do, and I ended up with SIX half pint jars full. I didn't preserve it, just put it in jars. I also eyeballed everything and didn't weigh the tomatoes, but next time I'll add less onion, carrot, and garlic, because the sauce turned out pretty orange. It's still tasty though.

New York Part Three

On Saturday Emily and I got a late checkout, then set out with no real agenda to make the most of our last hours. We walked up Fifth and finally came upon Tiffany's (next door to Trump Tower, of course). I was doubly thrilled because I had just bought breakfast! Unexpected bucket list item fulfillment!

We headed toward the park and the Upper East Side to go to Laduree. I'd never had a macaron, and after years of reading about them on blogs such as Oh Happy Day, I really wanted to try one. AND it was Bastille Day - how appropriate.

The macarons didn't change my life or anything, but they were VERY tasty. I tried a couple of the less-traditional flavors, like the purple one, which I think was currant and violet. It was very jammy. The salted caramel was the best - I had two of those!

We wandered through Central Park in the general direction of the boathouse. Then we came upon the gorgeous Bethesda Fountain, and I immediately recognized it as the location of a key scene in my family's favorite movie, Mr. Deeds. (Yes - the one with Adam Sandler. I know it's a dumb movie, but we inexplicably love it. My siblings and I can have entire conversations in Deeds quotes and crack ourselves up every time.)

It so happened that the boathouse was right there!

Then we headed back downtown.

We went to FAO Schwarz, where I was very amused by these Faith Hill and Tim McGraw Barbies.

After a brief rest and checking out, we still had an hour or so before we had to leave for the airport. So we left our bags at the desk and went to see the Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station, which were fairly nearby.

With just a few minutes to spare, we decided to walk a few blocks over and see the U.N., but it was deserted and all the flags were gone. I guess they moved and I didn't hear about it. I'm so in touch with international news.

Then it was time to leave. :( I was sad to leave Emily AND New York.

But I WILL BE BACK. Oh yes, I will be back.

Iced Coffee Time

We've reached the point of summer when I sometimes can't stand the thought of a hot beverage in the morning. Last Sunday morning I awoke after feeling hot all night, and found a forgotten bottled Frappucino in the back of the fridge. It was almost frozen solid, because that's what happens to things that get pushed to the back of my fridge. I wasn't even 100% sure it was still good. But I ran it under hot water for long enough to de-solidify most of it, and drank the entire bottle in one go. In that moment it was the best thing I had ever tasted. (Happily, I didn't get sick.)

After that, in an attempt to class things up, I decided to brew a pitcher of Pioneer Woman's iced coffee. I'm having my first cup this morning, and it's delicious! (The 1% milk instead of Coffee-Mate is better for me, too.) But how do you keep all the sweetener from settling at the bottom?

In other news, I patchworked a Google map of Manhattan (with neighborhoods and pertinent areas marked) and taped it up in my cube where I'll see it every day. I want to have an excellent sense of location and direction when I'm in NYC. Do you think I'm excited??

Cooking Cheers and Jeers

Just a recap of what's going on in my kitchen lately...

This fantastic salad combo is courtesy of my friend Kelly in Knoxville. I enjoyed it many times last summer. When I had a sudden craving for it this week, I couldn't remember the ingredients and had to search high and low for the recipe. Here's what you need to know:

My Kroger had NO peaches, so I used oranges instead. I topped it all with a quick balsamic vinaigrette. So good!

On Monday I raided the herb garden to make the long-anticipated Green Couscous. It was as good as I'd hoped and may be a new favorite this summer!

I've also been looking for a good strawberry muffin recipe (as usual, something under 150 calories per muffin). Last night I excitedly tried this recipe. It said to use whole wheat pastry flour, but I used regular whole wheat (because who has a variety of pastry flours sitting around?), thinking it wouldn't matter. Um, IT DID. They turned out strawberry hockey pucks. Aside from that, they were kind of bland, even with all that strawberry puree and Splenda sprinkled on top. Back to the drawing board.