Oct 14, 2009

Martha Stewart let me down

A friend, Lynne, stopped over for coffee and chit-chat yesterday (and a bit of quilting show and tell), and amongst the many subjects we discussed was the subject of whether or not our husbands were fussy eaters. Lynne's is semi-fussy, mine is not fussy at all. I told Lynne that in 31 years of marriage, Jeff has only disliked two meals -- a fish meal, and a very very burned meatloaf. Considering how rarely we go out to eat (especially in the earlier years of our marriage), that's a LOT of dinners he's eaten without complaining. In fact, even after all this time, every single night when I serve him dinner, he says, "Thanks, Honey" -- like I'm doing him a favor! You have to love it. However... I now have to say last night's dinner was the THIRD meal he didn't like in 31 years. Thank you Martha Stewart. I looked on the web for a honey-glazed chicken recipe. On this DASH diet, I am for as little sodium and fats as possible, so honey is quickly becoming a good way to add flavor without adding fats or salt. I had boneless chicken breasts and thought a honey glaze would be good with the chicken. Off I went to Google, and saw a recipe on the Martha Stewart web site for "Easy Honey-Glazed Chicken". And easy it was - 1/3 cup honey, 2 tsp tyme, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Brush it on the chicken, cook in the oven, brush a few times more while it's cooking... and poof! Honey Glazed Chicken. It was SO bad. The flavor of the tyme had no business in the honey glaze. It was overpowering and just plain not compatible. Even if it was compatible, there was too much of it. We both ended up scraping off the glaze as best we could. I'd also made couscous with peas and carrots, and brussel sprouts, and luckily those were good. For some reason, I hear the name "Martha Stewart" and I assume whatever is associated with the name - recipe, craft, helpful household hint - is going to be good. Does anyone have a honey glaze recipe they'd like to share? No, not you Martha. You had your chance.

3 comments:

Dena said...

What a disappointment. I've made several recipes from Martha's website and have been disappointed by their blandness. I almost have to do a test run of the recipe before I can make it to serve anyone. Good luck in your search for a honey glaze recipe.

Dixie said...

Hey Joan.. Sorry it's been so long since I left a comment for you... no excuses... just been blog-breakin.

I don't have a recipe, but I have found my best recipes on "America's Test Kitchen"... I've tried many of the recipes and have never been disappointed... try their for some wonderful and well tested, tasteful dinner ideas!

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

The Calico Quilter said...

I second the recommendation to try America's Test Kitchen. I even bought their cookbook. Any recipe they develop seems to be foolproof. However, you might have to cut down the sodium a little. They really like the salt.

Re: Martha: There are stories about how the recipes in her cookbooks are not tested well prior to publication. I happen to think Martha's more hype than quality.