Lime sugar cookes with pumpkin seeds

This recipe came highly recommended by my pseudo roommate, Kendra, and it did not disappoint. The lime is light and refreshing and the pepitas add richness and nuttiness. They were eaten so fast, I could only get a picture of these last few. Three stars, one bar.

Tomato tofu and cashew stirfry with sui choy, Thai basil, and tamarind sauce

I made this recipe for my book club, and was feeling smug the night before when I had done all the shopping (including a google search for what sui choy really was; you can't trust the Nanaimo grocers to tell you!), and was about to prepare the tamarind sauce a day in advance. After a final skim of the recipe, I realized that I had skipped one critical item on the ingredient list when doing my shopping ("sesame baked tofu (p. 42)"). Not only was I missing the tofu, I had another whole recipe to prepare. Luckily both the stirfy and the baked tofu were prepared in less than an hour the day of the dinner (pheww). And the steps for "perfect jasmine rice" did actually produce perfect jasmine rice.

Many accolades were given for the meal at book club, and I too was very happy with how it turned out. Three stars and two bars.

Citrus poppyseed cake

This recipe, on the other hand, will impress. It is a divine triple layer, glazed, and iced, multi-citrus cake. Lemon, lime, and orange zest are used to flavour the cake, and cream cheese adds the rich-sour taste to the icing. One problem is, who has three round cake tins? Although it may be possible to put double the batter in one cake tin, and then split that layer in half, getting it to cook all the way through that double-thick batter is another issue. Instead I used a slightly smaller, flat-bottomed ceramic bowl to cook the third layer, which resulted in this topsy-tirvy looking creation. The icing was also a challenge to spread, but would have probably been much easier if the glaze had hardened on the top and sides of the cake first. Three stars, three bars.

Cracked wheat pilaf with vegetables and fresh herbs

Although healthy, this recipe lacked flavour (or so I have been informed by fellow samplers). I substituted sprouted wheat for cracked wheat, which I personally like though I realize sprouted wheat is not for everyone. Despite its high nutritional value, this recipe is not one that will impress your guests. One star, one bar.
PS Thanks for the help from Nic and Simone on this one.

Banana bread (with my own variations)

Rebar's version of banana bread is a good standard recipe, but is not as awe-inspiring as some other recipes. The wheat germ adds some depth of flavor to the batter, which is a nice touch. I substituted dried strawberries for walnuts, but they were lost among the bananas. I don't have a picture this time; the bread looked like most other banana breads I've made. Two stars, one bar.

lentil and split sea soup (p. 142)

I made the lentil and split pea soup this weekend - this included making, for the first time, the vegetable broth, instead of relying on my stock of turkey broth from the freezer. The broth turned out nice and coloured, and I have extra in the freezer. I had to go a bit off book on the spices, since I didn't have coriander or tumeric (so curry powder stood in). It turned out pretty well, but not as good as the Greek Red Lentil, which is one of my favourite soups! Also, I found that the lentils were well-cooked before the peas were - I think if I made it again I would soak the peas for longer than the lentils to get them more hydrated (the recipe says to soak and cook them together). All in all, a good hearty soup, but not what I usually expect from Rebar. Maybe with the Mint Mango Chutney (recipe in a side-bar on the page), it would be more exceptional? Perhaps I will add some apple chutney that is in the fridge to my next bowl ....