Dessert Overload!-8/5/09

I made the large mistake of stepping onto our bathroom scale after dinner tonight and boy, was that a bad idea! I haven't weighed myself in a long time, maybe before we left on Richard's business trip in May, and I was not very happy. I'll admit, it's only about 5 pounds above my normal but if you've been reading this blog regularly, you know I've been trying to catch up so I made July's Gourmet's recipes in about 2 weeks time. There were 16 dessert recipes in July and since I didn't start making them until we returned on the 13th. That meant I ate a whole lot of dessert in the last few weeks. As I looked at this month's menu, there are 11 desserts. As of tonight, I've already made two. In an effort to stem the tide and make sure I don't have to quit the my Gourmet project early to control my waistline, I'm making only 3 desserts a week. I'm also going to try to limit my dessert portions and share the leftovers whenever possible. Sadly, I decided all this after making and eating tonight's dessert.

Tonight I made the "Freewheeling" menu in this month's Gourmet issue. Much like the menus in the July issue, this menu was very manageable. The recipes were Mediterranean inspired and ostensibly could travel well. Got to be honest, I would never take ice cream sandwiches on a picnic for very obvious reasons. Despite that, this menu worked great for a night at home. The menu began with Cumin-Scented Beef Kebabs. I love steak kebabs because you don't have to overcook the outside to take the pink out of the inside. These kebabs were very easy and the marinade was very good.

The Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread and Garlic-Oregano Grilled Pita Bread are two great starter recipes. The spread mixed up in the food processor and the pita bread was simply store-bought and grilled. This would be a great combo starter to take to a party in place of chips and salsa.

The Corn on the Cob with Mint-Feta Butter was good but a little much. I love corn on the cob. I might add some butter and salt but corn on the cob doesn't need all that salty feta and mint, it tastes best when it's summer, pure and simple.

The Greek Style Salad was a very simple Greek salad. I would have taken the feta and mint from the corn and added it to the salad to give the greens some zing. I liked the salad but there was no special addition over the Greek salad I've made for years.

The Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches with Blueberry Swirl was a good concept but I thought there were some real issues with the recipe. The sandwich layers tasted almost caramel like, the result of the brown sugar but the cook time given was way too short. They were so underbaked that they fell apart immediately went I tried to peel them off the foil. I remade them and let them bake twice as long and they were sturdy enough to peel off the foil. They still tasted great and held up when pressed onto the ice cream center. I also hate melting store bought ice cream. I don't have a microwave so the ice cream doesn't melt well and makes a real mess. These sandwiches were also really tough to cut, I had to use a bread knife. Hmmm, maybe all that effort burned off some of those dessert calories.

Cumin-Scented Beef Kebabs-A-

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread-B

Garlic-Oregano Grilled Pita Bread-B

Corn on the Cob With Mint-Feta Butter-C

Greek-Style Salad-B

Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches with Blueberry Swirl -B