Another week and no great recipes to post! Argh!!!! We tried a new dinner, but it wasn't voted a keeper. I turned my attention and kitchen time to graham crackers. My youngest loves graham crackers. We used to get them a lot, but now not as often. I saw a recipe to make graham crackers a few weeks ago, and finally tried to make them this week. The first batch came out decent, and the kids loved them, but my oh my, they were very time intensive. Cube and freeze the butter. Make the dough, shape it into a disk, chill it 2+ hours. Roll it out, cut the cookies, refreeze. Finally bake - then add the cinnamon sugar and bake a little more. Clearly not a quick recipe, and although it wasn't hard, it wasn't really worth it. Plus, the recipe called for quite a lot of honey, so it wasn't going to be a thrifty recipe. All in all, these graham crackers will be enjoyed, but not made again.
When I determined that graham cracker recipe wasn't quite a keeper, did I throw in the towel? Heavens no! I found a second recipe, similar ingredients (so I assumed it would taste pretty close), but no chilling, freezing, etc. So I gave it a whirl. It was definitely easier, but didn't taste nearly as good. I would have been bummed, but instead a peaceful feeling washed over me. I had thoughtfully and intentionally tried my hand at homemade graham crackers, and am now saving you the trouble. Don't try to make graham crackers. It isn't worth your time. Instead of a keeper, I am helping you keep your time so you can put it to better use!
I did learn something fantastic this week - use cold bread flour when you make pizza dough!!! Why do I know this, you ask? I buy AP flour and bread flour in bulk, split it into gallon size bags and put it in my freezer. This helps keep my freezer full so it runs more efficiently, and also guarantees I rarely run out of flour. As I was making the dough for our pizza this morning, I was running low so I grabbed more bread flour out of the freezer and used it in my recipe. The dough came together so much easier, and was incredibly easy to work with, but I feared that I had killed the yeast because the flour was so cold! I continued on and put my dough blobs in the fridge, and later in the day saw they had risen just as they always do! Now I think I will pre-measure my flour and toss it in the freezer the night before I will make dough and hope for the same result. I'll let you know if it works again!
And on Sunday - happy Mother's Day!!!
Friday, May 10, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
May 3, 2013
Welcome to May! We tried two new dinner recipes this week, but neither was voted a keeper. Hmmm...what to do. Since I don't have any recipes to share, I will tell you all about one of our favorite snacks, popcorn. Popcorn, you say, what is so exciting and new about that? I love popcorn. When I graduated from high school Mrs. C gave me an air popper to bring to college; I had that popper until about 6 months ago. It didn't break, but it finally was retired because I replaced the way to make popcorn. On Pinterest I had seen a way to make popcorn using kernels, a brown paper bag and the microwave. It looked too good to be true, but why not try it? It worked!!!! No oils, no additives, just the popcorn in a folded lunch bag in the microwave. How fantastic!
Also, remember that grapefruit spoon sitting in your silverware drawer? Have you been using it to hollow out your zucchini boats? Scrape out the seeds from a jalapeno pepper? Fish out small pieces of shell that accidentally got in the bowl with the egg? Here comes another idea for that super serrated spoon - use it to hull your strawberries! We probably should stop calling it a grapefruit spoon since that is only a small part of its duties in the kitchen. :)
Happy cooking!
New "Recipe"
Popcorn
Also, remember that grapefruit spoon sitting in your silverware drawer? Have you been using it to hollow out your zucchini boats? Scrape out the seeds from a jalapeno pepper? Fish out small pieces of shell that accidentally got in the bowl with the egg? Here comes another idea for that super serrated spoon - use it to hull your strawberries! We probably should stop calling it a grapefruit spoon since that is only a small part of its duties in the kitchen. :)
Happy cooking!
New "Recipe"
Popcorn
Popcorn
* 1/4 cup popcorn
* 1 brown paper lunch bag
Directions
1. Pour the popcorn into the lunch bag. Fold over the top two times.
2. Place in the microwave and set the timer for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
3. Listen to the popcorn pop and stop cooking when you hear the popping slow down. You don't want to burn your popcorn!
4. Pour the popped popcorn into a bowl and season as you like (melted butter, salt, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, the sky's the limit!). Enjoy!
Notes
I saw this idea on Pinterest, and was extremely skeptical. It looked way too easy, and had to be too good to be true. I tried it, and a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!! It worked!!! No oils, so additives, and you can even "recycle" the un-popped kernals in the next batch!!! We used to have an air popper, but once I discovered this, it is so much easier so we freecycled our popper!!!
Friday, April 26, 2013
April 26, 2013
The last post for April...this year seems to be flying by! My grad school semester wraps up next week, but the summer semester begins the following week. No rest for the weary, I guess.
We tried 5 new dinner recipes this week, but only two earned the keeper seal of approval! Tasty turkey burgers were, well, tasty! And we love salmon, so I am always on the look out for new marinades or ways to prepare it. This week I picked out a new marinade to try, and when paired with my new favorite side dish/vegetable (zoodles), it was fantastic!
I didn't get a chance to make graham crackers, and we didn't try any new desserts. It was my husband's 10 year anniversary at work and one evening he brought home a huge amount of leftover celebratory cake, so clearly there was no need to try out the dessert I had picked for the week. We'll see if it makes the recipe list next week!
Gotta get back to my final paper....happy cooking!
New Recipes
Tasty Turkey Burgers
Salmon Marinade
We tried 5 new dinner recipes this week, but only two earned the keeper seal of approval! Tasty turkey burgers were, well, tasty! And we love salmon, so I am always on the look out for new marinades or ways to prepare it. This week I picked out a new marinade to try, and when paired with my new favorite side dish/vegetable (zoodles), it was fantastic!
I didn't get a chance to make graham crackers, and we didn't try any new desserts. It was my husband's 10 year anniversary at work and one evening he brought home a huge amount of leftover celebratory cake, so clearly there was no need to try out the dessert I had picked for the week. We'll see if it makes the recipe list next week!
Gotta get back to my final paper....happy cooking!
New Recipes
Tasty Turkey Burgers
Salmon Marinade
Salmon Marinade
Ingredients
* 2 tbsp cider vinegar
* 2 tbsp soy sauce
* 1 tbsp honey
* 1 tsp light olive oil
* 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
* salmon (either whole or individual pieces)
Directions
1. Mix the marinade ingredients. Pour over the salmon and refrigerate for an hour, flipping the salmon after 30 minutes.
2. Bake the salmon at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes in a prepared pyrex or parchment lined cookie sheet.
3. Serve with vegetables or side dish of your choice.
Notes
I serve this with julienned carrots and zucchini (zoodles) and it was fantastic! Great presentation, and really delicious!
Tasty Turkey Burgers
Ingredients
* 2 tbs Frank's hot sauce
* 2 tsp ground cumin
* 2 tsp chili powder
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp pepper
* 1 1/4 lbs ground turkey
Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine the hot sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper. Crumble the turkey over the seasoning mixture, and mix well. Shape into 4-6 burger.
2. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Cook the turkey burgers 5 minutes a side.
3. Serve the burgers on buns with lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese, and whatever else you like!
Notes
I made our favorite homemade burger buns for these, and they were fantastic! It is nice to have an inside alternative to cook burgers when the grill is unavailable because of weather. The kids put pickles and ketchup on their burgers, Ryan added more hot sauce. Enjoy them however you like!
Friday, April 19, 2013
April 19, 2013
My first question...how is your weather? Perhaps I can live vicariously through you if your weather is better than mine; I bet it is! We've had so much rain, it has been unbelievable, but the worst part of the precipitation has been when it has turned to snow! Come on...it is April 19th!!! Now I suppose I shouldn't complain about the weather. They say out here if you just wait about 15 minutes, it will change, but lately it has been rainy day after rainy day, with snow mixed in. I guess it will be true this year - April showers will bring May flowers!
This week I have two keeper recipes for you. Apricot chicken, and zoodles!!! First, the zoodles. Zoodles have been all over Pinterest and gluten-free blogs, and I stumbled across them 3 times last week so I decided it was fate; I had to try them. This isn't really a recipe, but more of a cooking idea. You need to julienne the zucchini to get this to work. One of the sites that I saw zoodles on talked about the special peeler they used to make the zoodles. I love to cook, and have been testing the "paleo" waters, so I did buy a handy little gadget, and it has been great. Zoodles are so fun and easy that I made them two days in a row! Once for dinner as an option for under stir fry instead of rice, and the next day for lunch to go with some leftover tomato sauce I had on hand. I think what really makes these awesome is that they are actually "twirl-able!" How fun to twirl up some veggies like pasta? My kids and husband enjoyed them, and we actually ran out of the zoodles the night we had stir fry and had rice leftover at the end of dinner. Clearly not everyone will want to try these, but I heartily endorse them! And bonus...who doesn't love to say zoodles?
As for the apricot chicken, I got this recipe from one of my sisters. I think she got if from a friend who brought her dinner upon the birth of her first son! I've had the recipe for ages, and finally made it for dinner one night while Ryan was out of town. The kids loved it! "Blog-worthy" they told me. (I love to hear that when I cook!) It is so easy with just 4 ingredients and then it cooks in the oven for less than an hour. Make some rice (or perhaps zoodles) and you've got a great main course. I think this tastes a little like orange chicken, or sweet and sour chicken. I don't like fresh or dried apricots, so I was skeptical the first time I tried it, but it really is delicious! If you try it, let me know!
Not sure what we have on tap for next week - I am going to try to cook mainly with what is in the freezer and pantry so we'll see if any new dishes make it to the dinner table. I do have my eye on home-made graham crackers, and if you know our little Boo-Boo, he loves graham crackers! It would be awesome if I could make them for him from scratch! I'll let you know if that works out!
Happy cooking!
New Recipes
Apricot Chicken
Zoodles
This week I have two keeper recipes for you. Apricot chicken, and zoodles!!! First, the zoodles. Zoodles have been all over Pinterest and gluten-free blogs, and I stumbled across them 3 times last week so I decided it was fate; I had to try them. This isn't really a recipe, but more of a cooking idea. You need to julienne the zucchini to get this to work. One of the sites that I saw zoodles on talked about the special peeler they used to make the zoodles. I love to cook, and have been testing the "paleo" waters, so I did buy a handy little gadget, and it has been great. Zoodles are so fun and easy that I made them two days in a row! Once for dinner as an option for under stir fry instead of rice, and the next day for lunch to go with some leftover tomato sauce I had on hand. I think what really makes these awesome is that they are actually "twirl-able!" How fun to twirl up some veggies like pasta? My kids and husband enjoyed them, and we actually ran out of the zoodles the night we had stir fry and had rice leftover at the end of dinner. Clearly not everyone will want to try these, but I heartily endorse them! And bonus...who doesn't love to say zoodles?
As for the apricot chicken, I got this recipe from one of my sisters. I think she got if from a friend who brought her dinner upon the birth of her first son! I've had the recipe for ages, and finally made it for dinner one night while Ryan was out of town. The kids loved it! "Blog-worthy" they told me. (I love to hear that when I cook!) It is so easy with just 4 ingredients and then it cooks in the oven for less than an hour. Make some rice (or perhaps zoodles) and you've got a great main course. I think this tastes a little like orange chicken, or sweet and sour chicken. I don't like fresh or dried apricots, so I was skeptical the first time I tried it, but it really is delicious! If you try it, let me know!
Not sure what we have on tap for next week - I am going to try to cook mainly with what is in the freezer and pantry so we'll see if any new dishes make it to the dinner table. I do have my eye on home-made graham crackers, and if you know our little Boo-Boo, he loves graham crackers! It would be awesome if I could make them for him from scratch! I'll let you know if that works out!
Happy cooking!
New Recipes
Apricot Chicken
Zoodles
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