Just a Little Crunchy

Growing up my mom always made granola and I hated it.

It might have had something to do with the sunflower seeds, the raisins, the overall chewiness, etc.

Then one day we got a sample for some kind of granola with our newspaper and I fell in love. I'm pretty sure they don't even sell that brand anymore but it was then that I knew that I had it in me to actually like granola.

Granola from the grocery store is expensive. I bought some granola at the health food store a while back that was cardboard. BLECK! So I decided to research some recipes and come up with my own that would satisfy me. It's adapted from several recipes I found online.

The criteria... CRUNCHY! Seriously. Granola must be super crunchy to make it in my book. Next? No disgusting nuts. I hate them. I start to wretch just thinking about some nuts. However, I do tolerate almonds. Cover them in some form of sugar and they are Super Duper. ;)

And, raisins.... um... no. I like raisins, but I do not like them IN anything. Cookies... no way. Granola... absolutely not.  However, Craisins are a reasonable substitute. They don't turn to mush like cooked raisins do and they are sweeter.  So, I made... I enjoyed, and I have made over and over again. Want the recipe?

It's super tasty. It's not granola for a health nut. But... It can't be any worse than Cocoa Puffs right? It's really yummy in yogurt too. so.... ;)

Crunchy Sweet Granola with Craisins and Candied Almonds:

1/2 C. Slivered Almonds.
1/4 C. Sugar


1 T Olive Oil
5 C Rolled Oats (old fashioned works best)
1 1/2 t. Ground Cinnamon
1/3 C. Butter
 1/4 C. Honey
1 T. Molasses (optional... it adds a more robust flavor but isn't necessary)
1/2 C. Packed Brown Sugar or... 1/3 C. Agave Nectar (if you use this, add the molasses)
1/2 C. Craisins

Directions: 
1. In a small saucepan, add slivered almonds and sugar and mix constantly over medium heat. Continue to mix until sugar melts and coats the almonds (it can take a little while). Keep on heat until golden, but not so long that it burns. (it happens quick so don't walk away). Set aside and break apart any large clumps once it is cool.

2. In large saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat. Mix the rolled oats and the cinnamon and add to the pot. Stir constantly until lightly toasted. (3-4 minutes)

3. Pour the oats out onto a large baking sheet (with sides) and add the butter to the pot. When the butter has melted, stir in the honey, molasses and brown sugar. When the mixture starts to simmer, return the oats to the pot and continue to stir and cook.  The longer you cook the oats at this point, the crunchier it gets. (you are essentially turning all those sugars into a hard candy coating). I typically cook my oats 6-10 minutes, just be careful not to let it burn.

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the almonds and craisins. Pour onto the cookie sheet and allow to cool completely. It will harden as it cools. Once it's cool, break apart and transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Notes: I used the agave nectar the last time I made it and it wasn't AS crunchy. Probably because it's a liquid instead of a solid. However, it was far from unacceptable. But, since there wasn't the flavor from the brown sugar, I made sure to add molasses. I think other times I have cut out or at least cut back on the molasses because I like a lighter flavor.  I've also heard you can use some form of vegetable oil instead of the butter for a light and healthier granola. I haven't tried it though.

Try it. Maybe you will like it as much as I do. Yum!

This one Takes the Cake

So, I said I would give Roman's birthday cake it's own post and here it is.

At first I thought I might do a tutorial type of post, but as the time got later and later and I had frosting literally everywhere, the camera came out less and less and I became focused on just finishing.

And besides, there really isn't much to it.

I did a search for "Mario Cake" on Google and found tons of pictures. I liked some more than others, but I had a few requirements. It had to be accomplished within a few hours, I didn't want to use fondant because while I LOVE the way it looks and decorating cakes with it is so fun.... no one really cares for the flavor of even the marshmallow kind so....

This is one that seemed to be something I could do.

The figurines are at Toys R Us, FYE, and Amazon.  I ended up getting them on Amazon because they were quite a bit cheaper there (still expensive though). But, there was no way I was going to try to draw or construct all the Mario characters.

Then I set out to find an edible frosting.

Uggg, frosting! The first problem is that I don't even like frosting much. I mean... I tolerate it. I think knowing that many decorator frostings are mostly Crisco makes me want to yack.

Well, while I was milling around the library the other day I spotted this lovely book:

I grabbed it and started browsing through it while the kids played on the playground.

They had some cute cakes but what I decided to try was their frosting recipes.  I tried two. One I loved, one I didn't love so much. More on that in a second.

First I had to bake the cakes.

A few bad words may have slipped out as that chocolate cake stuck like glue to the bottom of the pan. I used a circle of wax paper on the bottom of the pan for the white cake and it came out much better.  I froze the cake to make it less crumby. Still.... there were crumbs. Oh well. On to the frosting.

The one I loved:

Kids' Buttercream

However, like it claims, it's not ideal for piping and... the recipe doesn't make a ton of frosting. But... the next time I make cupcakes.... this is going on top.

The other one I tried was:

House Buttercream

Shane said it tasted like whip cream but no amount of sugar could hide the shortening for me. And, I didn't have the exact right kind of shortening so it wouldn't take color very well. The recipe made a TON though. Seriously, it would have decorated the entire cake and more. And it was ultra silky but still held a shape for the most part. I just think it really needed the right kind of shortening to be truly successful.

So anyway, I used the Kids' Buttercream for the blue base on the cake and I used the House Buttercream to do all the piping and decorating.

Seriously, I spent most of the night making frosting (I probably should have started it while the kids were awake).

Once I had that all figured out, I frosted away.

 

A skewer to keep everything upright.

Then I got out my disposable piping bags and got to work. At first I was going to do the green hills like the one in the picture I found on line (with all the little stars). But I didn't like the look so I just ran a knife over the frosting and I liked that better. I just tried to include all things "Mario".

By the end of the night my kitchen looked like this:

My sink looked like this:

And my dishwasher looked like this:

Yep, that's right. NO dishwasher and frosting EVERYWHERE! No fun my friends. No fun. (BTW, the new dishwasher gets here today. See that pipe in the back...it may cause more bad words to come from my mouth. Pray for us.... please.)

When it was birthday time, we placed all the figurines and we were ready to go. So...not so hard after all. 

And there you have it.

Tied in knots

My kids LOVE pretzels. Actually, I should say that Roman LOVES pretzels. The others just like them.

Big, soft, crunchy, small... Roman LOVES pretzels.

The other day while routing around the internet for some recipes, I came across a soft pretzel recipe and printed it out just in case I was feeling ambitious some day.

Sunday was that day I guess.

In case you want to try, this is the recipe we used:

Home Made Soft Pretzels:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

The kids had a lot of fun trying to roll out the dough. I couldn't seem to get it thin enough. I guess I needed to be a little more patient.

Oh, sad little boy.

After you make the pretzel shape, you boil them soda water for 1/2 a minute. It's strange, but I think that's how they get their texture.

Then bake, do a little pretzel dance (a very important step)...
 

 

and voila!

The only problem was that the pretzels and the oiled parchment paper became inseparable once they were baked. I just had to cut it off. The second batch I just baked on a non-stick cookie sheet and that was much better.

Next time, if there is a next time, I will probably just do pretzel bites. The pretzels were big, a little cumbersome and a little too much by the end. Little bite size pieces would be so much better I think.

Roman liked them. I didn't think it was worth all the trouble, but I guess it wasn't bad for the occasional treat.

Have you tried any fun or interesting recipes lately?

Stuffed Chicken Cutlets with Ham and Cheddar

We have always been a fan of chicken cordon bleu around here so Shane picked out this recipe for me to try from my ATK cookbook.

I can't seem to find a good link for you. If you want the recipe, let me know.

How did they turn out? OK. They didn't seem to be worth all the work involved. But lately that seems to be the reoccurring theme in my life every night around 4 pm.

However, they weren't bad. What I would do next time is maybe brine the chicken so it has a little more seasoning to it and isn't so dry.

Then I would add more yummy things to the breadcrumb exterior like some parmesean, parsley and maybe a shallot.

I'm getting tired of these sub par recipes. I need some more winners! Have you found any great recipes lately?

Peachy Keen

I knew I had to try this recipe out of my ATK cookbook. The picture makes me want to eat and eat and eat.

The only problem is that peaches are really only in season for a little while and that's when it's so absolutely hot outside that turning on my oven would be crazy!

Luckily we had a few cooler days this week so I bought some peaches and made this recipe

The link is for apple crisp the recipe is exactly the same just use peaches instead of apples.

http://www.homemakers.com/food-and-recipes/apple-crisp/r/7909

I didn't use nuts in my topping. I'm sure that helps with crunchiness. I added some oatmeal instead. I ended up having to turn on the broiler to get it nice and crispy but that worked fine.

SO yummy! Although vanilla ice cream makes this recipe. Without it, the crisp is just so so. With it, HEAVEN!

Get your hands on some peaches, be sure to grab a 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream and make this on a cool evening. Add the nuts if you like them. I just don't.

Then go running every night for the rest of the week to work off those extra calories. It's worth it.

As for the rest of the family. Roman wouldn't touch it...of course. Neither would Ezra. THEY ARE NUTS! Marisa and I devoured it. Shane had some bites. He didn't say one way or the other so we'll count that as a good recipe. :)

Easy, Yummy Pasta Recipe

I had to try this recipe off of Pioneer Woman when it was posted a few weeks ago:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/pasta-with-pancetta-and-leeks/

*Picture from http://thepioneerwoman.com

It looked good and it sounded easy. Just exactly what I like in a dinner. However, it contained two items I had never purchased or cooked with in my life, pancetta and leeks. But really it's just bacon and a mild green onion. Don't be afraid. Although I recommend actually using pancetta and leeks. It was very good.

I tried it while Shane was away and it's on the menu for this week. We'll see how it goes on the approval rating, but I loved it.

The only changes I will make this next time is maybe add some garlic in there somewhere. And, there were just a few too many leaks. So I will cut back on those a bit but overall a very yummy and uncomplicated dish.

Try it.

BBQ Chicken

While Shane was away, I made classic BBQ chicken for dinner one night. The recipe was from the Cooks Country Show which is just another version of America's Test Kitchen.

Here's the run down.

#1. I need a grill. All I have is a tiny little hibachi grill and it's not going to cut it anymore! What do you want to bet it's still a year or two before we have a real grill?

#2. This recipe really requires a grill with more than one burner to make sucessfuly. So... I did my best.

#3. I BBQ about a million times a year, I don't know why we don't have a real grill.

If nothing else, try the doctored up Bullseye sauce. It was tastey.

As for me, it doesn't beat the McCormmic grill mate marinades. I highly recommend Tomato, Basil & Garlic for chicken, and Garlic Peppercorn for steak. Mojito lime is great for fajita meat too. But the sauce was still great.

Anyway, give it a shot.... if you have a REAL grill :) Doesn't it look tasty? Yea for summer!

A few more recipes

The last two months have gone from crazy to crazier. Nothing all that out of the ordinary, but I feel as though my life is a bit out of my control. In some ways it's good because it keeps life interesting, in some ways it's bad because I'm left here alone with three small kids, running on a treadmill (the torture device in the basement), an overgrown lawn, a whole bunch of flowers that need to be planted a pretty big sewing order to fill, and not even school can rescue me anymore. August.... hello, August? Are you there? Just kidding, we have a lot of fun planned between now and August.

Needless to say, my cooking projects have suffered lately. But I'm making it a point to avoid turning to my friends Ronald McDonnald, "The King", or Caesar, etc. to bail me out at dinner time. Well, at least not EVERY dinner time.

Yes, I know I'm totally whining. Two weeks is not that long, but I can't help it. I NEED to whine about it. It's hard! Whine...Whine... Bawl.

Alright, on with it.

I tried two new recipes this week.

#1 Skillet Chicken and rice with peas and scallions

#2 Classic Macaroni  and Cheese

The skillet chicken wasn't bad, and was nice because there was only one pan involved.

I managed to screw it up a little and forgot a step, but all in all, it was a decent meal.

The rice was a little soggy, Maybe I've got some bad rice :) I don't know, it doesn't seem to hold up to anything (see previous rice recipe).  It went from crunchy to falling to pieces in less than a minute.

Anyway, the peas were tasty, the chicken was yummy (although I can guarantee Shane wouldn't like it). It was just a nice easy meal. Nothing fantastic, nothing special or crave-able, but definitely edible. I forgot to take a picture and I sent the leftovers home with my parents.

Second was the Macaroni and Cheese.

I don't know when I had it, but once upon a time, I had some awesome home made mac and cheese. It was creamy, flavorful, the cheese was gooey and stringy and the noodles were perfect.

This recipe didn't fit into any of those categories really.

The cheese mixture curdled slightly giving it a grainy texture despite the recipe saying it would not be.

The noodles were overcooked. I even cooked them less than suggested.

The topping was good. But nothing special. It needed some herbs, Parmesan or something.

The kids of course wouldn't touch it. It didn't look or smell anything like Kraft Mac and Cheese. And honestly, Kraft knows what they are doing and it costs less. I'll stick to Kraft, I guess.

Maybe I'm dreaming about the phantom homemade recipe from my past.

So there you have it. A little disappointing but at least I didn't have a disappointed husband along with it.... I guess.

SIGH!!!

I'm going to go eat my weight in Licorice now. :)


Marisa came home from church and did this today. I feel ya sister!

She woke up with a 102 degree temperature. Very strange. I gave her some medicine and she perked right up and ate some raspberries and an orange for dinner. I'm hoping it was just an exhausted fluke. Cross your fingers for me will ya? I'm thinking I better turn in early just in case. But, I probably won't.

A Triple Threat

This week I did not one new recipe, but THREE!

I'm just so tired of food. Something has gotta change.

Anyway, the first recipe I tried was French Breakfast Puffs from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I thought I would start with one that couldn't possibly fail.

I mean, how can something drenched in butter then coated with cinnamon and sugar not pass the test?

Well, it didn't really pass. But then it almost did.

Let me explain:

At first they were so dry and bland. I had one and felt so parched and thirsty I couldn't possibly eat any more. Shane had one or two, but was also unimpressed.

Ezra ate about 7... and has since eaten almost the entire batch by himself. 

Marisa and Roman had a few but have not asked for them again.

I didn't even bake the whole batch and ended up throwing out half of the batter.

Well, later in the day, I ate another muffin while fixing dinner and the butter seemed to have moistened the entire muffin and the taste had slightly improved.

Still, for all the fat and sugar in these things, they should at least be worth it. They weren't, in my opinion. Ezra can't get enough, until he does and at that moment he will spit out whatever is left in his mouth and tear whatever is left in his hands into a million pieces. The boy can't be trusted.

The second recipe I tried was another Pioneer Woman recipe that has kept my attention since I discovered her site.

It's Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich. All meat and onions. It had to pass Shane's test anyway.

Actually, I didn't have a whole lot of faith. The man is PICKY!

I got hoagie rolls from Walmart that seemed like they would work well. I didn't want the rolls to be too hard or crunchy. Sandwiches like this need a good dense but soft bread, but that's just my opinion.

I decided that it needed cheese (we used white American, but provolone would be good too) a touch of shredded lettuce, some crispy onion strings (also from Pioneer Woman) and mushrooms (on mine anyway) and a crushed clove of garlic in with the meat.

They turned out great! I think the only down side was that even with all that tenderizing of the meat, it was still a little difficult to chew.

The onions were sweet and good with the meat. The cheese and a little mayo helped give the sandwich a creamy "sauce". The buns were good and even Roman ate it and LOVED it. He wants to eat this for his birthday dinner.

Marisa wouldn't eat it (big surprise) and I don't even think I took the time to try to feed it to Ezra.

Yea for a good recipe! The onion strings were also a new recipe for me. They were SUPER yummy but hard to keep warm. Once they were cold they weren't as good. Oh, but when they were warm, they were heavenly! Both on the sandwich and by themselves.

The last recipe was  from a slow cooker recipe book by Rival.

It is called Fiesta Chicken with Rice & Beans.

Amongst all these new recipes, very few of them are simple or really easy. I need some simple and easy recipes for those days were I would rather not spend hours in the kitchen. Oh wait, that's every day.... Ok, so it's for those days where I REALLY, really don't want to spend hours in the kitchen and I've got better things to do.

Here is the recipe:

1 Can (15 oz) Hunt's tomato Sauce
2 Cans (14.5 oz each) Petite Diced tomatoes with Green Chilies, undrained
1 Cup long-grain rice
1 can (14.5 oz) Chicken Broth
1 Can (15 oz) pinto beans, undrained
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1 packet (1 oz) Chicken taco seasoning

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker; stir to blend.
2. Cover and cook on Low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

So... how did it go? Not that great. It didn't turn out looking anything like the picture showed. In fact... it looked kind of gross. Roman said it looked like brown barf. Now don't you want to try some? Take a look:

The rice turned into a thick layer of mush at the bottom of the crock pot. Totally overcooked. The chicken was a little over cooked too and was the consistency of tuna.

It was SPICY! Way too hot for my taste. A bit of sour cream helped with that. Some tortilla chips would have helped a lot. If there is a next time. I will use half of the spice packet.

The way it turned out, it was more like a chip dip. I later purchased some tortilla chips and ate it as such and it was much better that way.

Strange, odd, weird recipe that didn't work. Hmmmmm. Any suggestions for cooking rice in a slow cooker? Put it in half way through maybe? Cook it alone and add it last? But then it wouldn't have much flavor. I don't know. I kind of wanted this one to be a winner. I do have days where I just don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Do you have any yummy crock pot recipes you like?

Carnitas

Well, I'm having trouble finding a link for the recipe for Mexican pulled pork from my America's Test Kitchen book. This is what I made last week for my new recipe of the week. They have it on their website, but you have give them your email and such.

If you really want it, email me. I will share it.

I'm not counting on a bunch of emails because I didn't think it was all that great. I even forgot to take a picture. But this is basically what it looked like.

Have you ever been to Chipotle? They have the most STELLAR carnitas. I mean...AWESOME! I could eat it all by itself. I think it is nice and salty but not dry. How this is accomplished? I don't know because salt tends to dry things out. Another one of my favorite styles of pork is Kahlua pork. HEAVEN help me! YUM!!! Too bad The Little Grass Shack has been gone for years now.. Anyone remember The Little Grass Shack on 9th? SIGH!

Back to the Mexican version of pulled pork:

I know there is a recipe floating around for Cafe Rio's pork. I think it has a can of cola in it. ??? I don't know...it just doesn't seem right. And I know I'm going to get hate mail and my house egged for saying it, but I don't like Cafe Rio. The line alone is a HUGE turn off.

Well, this recipe called for a picnic roast that comes from the pig's butt. :) I found one and cringed a little because it looked like all fat.

I hoped somehow the fat would mysteriously disappear while cooking, but it didn't. I spent WAY too long pulling small chunks of meat from HUGE chunks of fat. The thing was nearly 50% fat. YUCK! It gave me flash backs to the chicken thigh episode, and I wanted to just dump it all in the garbage and drive to Little Caesars.

It called for all sorts of spices and fruits to cook the meat in and it still came out tasting like plain old pork.

After you cook the meat, you take it out of the juices and reduce the juice into a syrupy sludge that smells like a tannery. GAG! I will admit that I'm not a fan of the smell of any cooked pork that hasn't been cured or doctored up a little. (ie. ham, bacon, sausage). But boiling down those juices that were filled with fruit juice and spices still smelled just like I was boiling pigs feet.

So...needless to say, we won't be making this recipe again.

I'm not very confident in this weeks recipe either. I'm running out of the ones that really sounded great.

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I want to

My birthday was this week. I did a lot of celebrating last week when Grandma was here to watch the kids while we went out to eat and shopped. I got myself some headphones, a haircut, some movies etc. 

This is the very first birthday where I was neither excited or indifferent but rather, wish that it wouldn't come all together.

I could pretend that I don't care that I am......30 (boo hoo hooo!!!) But I do.

For the last decade I've been in my 20's and loving every minute of it. I had that lovely buffer of my 30's until the 40's hit and, Oh gosh!!! I'm not ready for it!

Your 30's seem to be when you go from "just a kid" to a full blown adult! WITH TEENAGERS for kids YUCK!

I know... all of this is so nieve and silly but YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!

Alright, I think I'm over it. However, as far as I'm concerned... I'm forever 29. If someone could let the skin on my face and the color of my hair know that... I would appreciate it.

I made a cake from my America's Test Kitchen book for my birthday.

It's called strawberry cream cake (click here for the recipe)

The recipe writeup and pictures made it sound and look lovely.

After a days worth of work on the thing I would have been MORE satisfied with a boxed white cake mix, some sliced strawberries and cool whip.

So I don't recommend it. It tasted fine. It was just a lot of work.

And it's not really the kind of cake to store well so we took what we didn't eat to the neighbors house. Marisa, the strawberry lover, didn't even try it. Roman didn't try it. Shane wouldn't eat the top layer because it wasn't soaked in strawberry juice. Yeah, so basically it was a big fat waste of time.

Oh well. On to the next.

Beef and Broccoli

Last night I made Beef and Broccoli for dinner. I saw them make this on America's Test Kitchen and it looked SO good. I had to try it, which is strange because I rarely eat this at Chinese buffets. The meat is almost always so chewy you can't even swallow it and the broccoli is under-cooked stringy and tough. But, I love both beef and broccoli.

Can I just say, I have a love hate relationship with America's Test Kitchen because #1 They make everything look easy, #2 They make everything sound and look absolutely delicious, and #3 They are kind of food snobs. Which I am not.

So, I was skeptical about this dish but was pleasantly surprised.

Here is the recipe for you:

http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/32552

What I liked about this dish was that it really was quite easy. The ingredients weren't too far from the contents of what is normally in our cupboard and what wasn't normally in there wasn't too expensive. And...it was relatively cheap with a lot of potential. I will get to what I will change next time. Did you hear that? There WILL be a next time on this one. :) YEA!! The beef was tender and juicy and the broccoli was fresh and not too crunchy or stringy.

What I didn't like: Stir fry is smokey and it smoked up our entire house. I don't like to smell like my dinner the next morning. Serve this baby with lots of water because it was SALTY!  And again with the wine (which may have added the the saltiness because I buy cooking wine bought at the grocery store, which has added salt, because I'm far too chicken, and don't really want to go to a liquor store.) It could probably be substituted with a little more chicken broth and be just fine.

Now, I'm not sure if the salty was due in part to our choice in oyster sauce too. We have bought oyster sauce in the past and I actually quite liked it. But, I bought a brand I had not used before (dynasty) because it was on sale. That might have been a mistake because it didn't smell as good as I remembered past sauces smelling, and I think it may have been extra salty and not as sweet. There is no added salt in the entire recipe so I don't know if it can be avoided, but we did think that it could have been a little sweeter so maybe 25-50% more sugar? Again, I don't know. These are things I will try next time.

I loved the broccoli, but also loved that I could include it in the recipe because it's easy enough to pick out for the rest of my nerd family. I over-cooked the broccoli a little because I didn't believe that it would be tender enough in 2-3 minutes. But I guess it probably was.

I served this with fried rice, which we LOVE. However, it is also very salty so maybe it's best to stick to white rice with this one.  Some day I will share the fried rice recipe though. It's a real winner. We have it all the time.

Marisa and Ezra ate the rice (I wasn't in the mood for trying to feed them something new), Roman ate the beef but wouldn't eat the broccoli (I don't think he cared for the sauce much) Shane ate and suggested the above changes and I ate the leftovers for lunch today. It was still tasty.

Go try it. I dare you.

I realize that I haven't posted many pictures of my kids lately. My memory card was full and it was a good thing because it was the only other place besides our old computer where any pictures taken since Christmas were stored. So if the weather allows, we will be heading outdoors tomorrow or the next day and I will be sure to take my camera. 

Crumb Cake

I better get this recipe up before I make the next one. Which will be broccoli and beef tonight. I must be on an Asian food kick.

I made this cake on Thursday. I should never make any new recipes on Thursdays. They seem to be the busiest days of the week. Why is that? Doesn't everyone know that Thursdays are the days when the good shows are on T.V. and we should all just stay home?

I just want to watch my shows people! (that sentence makes me feel like I need to rethink my priorities)

Actually though, my shows have been letting me down lately...big time. Even The Office is bugging me lately.

So, I didn't mind that I had to go help at the school book fair Thursday night. But that wasn't until 6:30, the recipe said that crumb cake only takes 30-40 minutes to cook and I started it before 5:00. Plenty of time.

Wrong! That cake cooked for a solid hour before it was done and I waited until the absolute last minute to pull it out before running out the door.

So, I didn't get to eat it fresh out of the oven. Which I'm sure would have been very good.

I did eat it three hours later. And it was yummy. I usually like the crumbs on things like this but I really liked the cake part the best. Yum! It was light and fluffy and sweet.  The crumbs were just OK in my opinion and made me really thirsty, but I think they might have been better fresh out of the oven.

Ezra and Shane both ate more of the cake than anyone. Marisa tried it and cried because she didn't like it. Roman didn't try it (weirdo).

So, there you have it. This recipe calls for cake flour and insist that you use it instead of all purpose flour. I thought this was a difficult thing to find, but in reality I just didn't know what I was looking for. It wasn't really next to the other flours in our grocery store. It was in a box that looked a lot like a cake box. Once I figured that out, I noticed that it was even at Walmart. So no, not hard to find, you just have to know what you are looking for.

Another plus was that it was easy. Gotta love easy!

Chicken Enchiladas

Last night I made Chicken Enchiladas from my Americas Test Kitchen cook book.

Recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=398343

Yum!

I've said it before and I will say it again, I HATE canned enchilada sauce. So I thought I would give these babies a try since it contained NO canned enchilada sauce.

I totally forgot to take a picture so here is random picture I found on the internet.

1. This recipe was pretty easy peasy. The whole process seemed to go relatively fast and the directions were easy to follow. After it was all said and done, there were a lot of dirty dishes. Boo! But easy is good.

2. Taste was surprisingly good. In fact, a few small tweaks and I think it could become a regular around here.

What are those tweaks?

Well, the recipe calls for pickled jalapenos. I don't know what those are exactly. I looked around and found the canned jalapenos, and jalapenos that were in the pickle isle, but their was nothing that said they were "pickled jalapenos" exactly. I just ended up getting the little can of diced jalapenos and WOW! They were HOT! Too hot for my taste. Next time I will go with something a little more mild like chilies. Or a pepper that falls in the "medium" category.

I'm still a little scared of the chicken thighs so I used breast meat again. It was definitely adequate and better for us anyway.

And...again I used flower tortillas and I didn't spray them with cooking spray and put them in the oven. That seemed a little strange to me. I fried them for about 10 seconds on each side in a shallow pan of canola oil.

Other than that, the sauce was yummy, the chicken was flavorful and tender because you actually cook it IN the sauce. And, the tortillas were good, verging on too soggy but not. It was a nice little meal, just too spicy. The kids had quesadillas instead. Shane didn't complain, except for the occasional burst of lava heat from the jalapenos. So I think we have another winner. :)

BTW, I did try a new recipe last week. It was coleslaw from my test kitchen book. But due to about a million diaper changes and several barf cleanups, and the fact the the coleslaw ended up in the garbage, it was NOT good, I'm just gonna spare you, me and everyone.

Orange Chicken

Oh My!

YUM! The best so far on my little journey I think.

We are big fans of Panda Express and we always get their orange chicken, and their chow mien. If I could replicate their chow mien I would be in heaven. It's probably very Americanized because any other Chinese restaurant's chow mien doesn't even make it on to my plate...EVER. But, I could eat Panda Express chow mien every day of my life.

I knew it would be hard to replicate their orange chicken and this one really didn't even come close to being the same, but it was actually really good.

Here is a link:

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.food.recipes/2007-08/msg00256.html

This was not a very quick recipe but it wasn't all that hard. I tried to get 3/4 cup of orange juice out of two oranges without even a hint of a juicer and fell embarrassingly short, not to mention that I completely destroyed those oranges. (I should have taken a picture, they were mangled) I cheated and added 1/2 cup of orange juice from concentrate to my measly 1/4 cup of "real" orange juice. I don't think it mattered much.

Another hint for anyone trying this recipe out is to divide the cornstarch mixture for dredging the chicken in half before using it. By the time I got to the second half of the chicken the remaining cornstarch had clumped up and just wouldn't stick to the chicken. If I just had a fresh bowl of starch, it would have solved that problem easily.

Another strong point was that only two or three ingredients were something that isn't typically in our cupboard making it cheaper and a more likely to be made again. Yeah for that!

On to the taste. It had a good tang to it. A little spicy but not too much. The mixture of spices, orange and vinegar was...I don't know, yummy! The chicken stayed crispy amidst the coating of sauce. And it was a pleasant meal.

Shane said it needed more spices or something in the actual chicken part, but he likes spicy. And I used boneless skinless chicken breasts which have a tendency to get dry and don't have as much flavor anyway. I wasn't signing on for another chicken thigh episode just yet.

Ezra liked it, Marisa wouldn't try it, Roman ate it simply because he had to. He wasn't really a fan, he likes the Panda Express kind. And he was less than pleased that his rice was sticking to it even though he ate the rice later. Weirdo.

The cons to this recipe:
I don't care for the fried food smell that is still lingering in the air of my home 24 hours later. We need to get a fryer and we can do that part in the garage or something.

And, (skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear about bodily functions;)) it gave my kids the most hideous gas about two hours later. It was BAD! Maybe a little two spicy/strong for their little tummies.

Anyway, foul odors aside. We have a winner! Try it, you just might like it.

Chicken & Dumplings

This week I decided to make Chicken and Dumplings from my ATK book.

I like the idea of chicken and dumplings although I would probably never call it my favorite. I guess It's just a meal that I can tolerate just about any time, which is good to have in the arsenal.

 I always just made a simple chicken soup without a recipe and the dumpling recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cook book. They were always OK, but on the dry side so this new recipes promise for a moist, but light dumpling drew me in.

Here is a link to the recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-and-Dumplings-Americas-Test-Kitchen-274584

Let me start by saying. TOO MUCH FAT! I used maybe 3.5 lbs of chicken thighs instead of 5 and it was plenty of chicken. But man I'm just covered in chicken fat, not to mention that it's all over my kitchen. I rarely cook with anything but boneless skinless chicken breasts so maybe I'm just not used to it but WOW!

Next time I will definitely go half and half with some thighs and breasts. You need the fat to make the dumplings taste good so boneless skinless breasts don't cut it. I spent a TON of time just de-fat-ing the chicken. Maybe I just had cheap chicken, who knows.  I felt like the soup was a little fatty too so I don't think I would miss it if I trimmed it down with some whiter meat, but not all the way. It needed a little fat and dark meat for flavor etc.

I really liked the dumplings. As I was cooking them they just weren't getting done. It says to cook them 15-18 minutes and at 20 minutes the tops were still doughy. Then I realized that the condensation on the lid was dripping down on them and keeping them too moist.

I remembered a trick I saw on ATK where they put a kitchen towel over the pot, then the lid to keep that from happening so I tried it and they were done in no time. So.... if you ever make this recipe, don't forget to do that and you probably won't have to wait so long for your dumplings to finish. Just remember to wrap the remaining towel up and over the lid so it doesn't catch fire.

Overall, I really liked this recipe. One drawback that I have with is that there is wine in it. I have nothing against cooking with wine. I love the way it makes food taste. I just don't care for having it in my house. I know you can use broth in it's place but it just doesn't taste the same. The other drawback was the time. It took a good two hours to make (1 hour of which was spent just simmering the soup) and deboning and defatting the chicken was labor intensive, mostly because I hate finding fat pieces in my food so I was extra careful.

So anyway, good recipe. We will more than likely have it again in the future. Shane says to omit the peas, I liked em well enough. I say to use some chicken breasts for half of the meat and less chicken all together. Ezra says YUM. and the other two didn't eat any because they were hungry before it was done.

Baked Ziti

I picked Baked Ziti for this weeks new recipe.

I really crave this type of dish sometimes. A good tomato-y pasta dish that is homemade and actually tastes good.

The problem is that it's never all that cheap to get that kind of meal, and this dish was no exception. It's almost always cheaper to buy a Stouffers lasagna than to make it yourself. The problem is, Stouffers lasagna or similar pre-made dishes are kind of blah sometimes and are filled with preservatives and lots of overpowering fake flavors.

I will say this though. This recipe made a big dish of pasta.

So... Here is my revised version of the recipe taken from Americas Test Kitchen cook book:

1 lb whole milk or 1% cottage cheese

2 Large Eggs, lightly beaten

3 oz parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 lb ziti or other short tubular pasta

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5 Med. Garlic Cloves

1-28 oz. can tomato sauce

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 C. plus 2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves ( I just used about 1-2 Tbsp. dried basil)

1 tsp. Sugar

ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

1 C. heavy cream

8 oz. whole milk mozzarella cheese shredded or sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

2-3 chicken sausage links browned and cubed

1. Heat oven to 350. Whisk the cottage cheese, eggs and 1 cup of the Parmesan together in a medium bowl; set aside. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 T. salt and the pasta; cook stirring occasionally, until the pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Drain the pasta and leave in the colander (do not wash the pot)

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil and garlic in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat until the garlic fragrant but not brown, about 2 min. Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and oregano; simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Off the heat, stir in 1/2 cup of the basil and the sugar; season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Stir the cornstarch and heavy cream together in a small bowl; transfer the mixture to the now-empty pot set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup of the tomato sauce, and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella; stir to combine. Add the pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with the sauce.

4. Transfer the pasta to a 13 X 9 inch baking dish and spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan over the top. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove the foil and continue to cook until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes longer. Cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 Tablespoons basil and serve.

The sausage added some yummy meaty flavor to the dish and made it a little more interesting.

So anyway, I liked it. Shane liked it. I made one half without the cottage cheese and it really did need it. It added a good creamy texture and some moisture.

It took too long to make, the kids ended up eating Ramen noodles because they could not. wait. any. longer. So they have no opinion on the matter than it took to long.

Shane ate it. He's eating it again for lunch so I guess that's good.

I think it tasted a lot like Lasagna and the recipe could easily be converted into Lasagna. I also think that it would be yummy with some sauteed mushrooms mixed in.

The only problem I really see with this recipe is that it gets dried out quickly. So the leftovers are dry. But still good.

It's a winner in my book, however, with all the "not always in our kitchen" ingredients and cost, it won't be on our table very often.

CC Cookies and Breaded Pork Chops

So, after a rather exciting yet still unwelcome start to our week the rest has been..... well, rather dull.

We all have a touch of a cold (except Roman) so life has been spent indoors and away from people. Not that we go anywhere or see anyone much anyway, but still.

I did try out a new recipe as well as an old favorite. (I promise I'm not turning my blog into a cooking blog. It just seems that way at the moment)

The new one was ATK's Classic chocolate chip cookies.

Here is a link: http://christopherkimball.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie/

I've made a LOT of chocolate chip cookies and just when I think I've got a great recipe, it fails me in one way or another. I don't know why. Maybe my tastes change or something. But I like the kind that are slightly thick, but not cakelike, chewy but not doughy with a crisp outside and just enough chips that every bight has a chip or two but not the entire cookie. I'm looking for perfect. Every time.

The picture for these cookies made them look promising, the recipe itself is a little strange. Much different than any other recipe I've tried.

The verdict? They are good. They taste like they promise. They are full flavored with a nutty/toffee tinge to them. They were slightly flatter than I like but just a touch more flour would probably solve that. They were good fresh, not as good two days later. So... I'm still searching, but I think I'm on the right track.

I actually went by weight instead of measurements since the weights were provided and I happen to own a scale. This threw off the measurements a lot more than I expected them to. It ended up being a lot more flour than the measurements called for (over 2 cups), and a little less brown sugar (about 1/2 c instead of 3/4) I guess I go a little overboard when packing my sugar into the cups. :). It was strange. I may try them again using just the measurements. But that has me worried since It felt like I needed more flour. hmmm. (yes, I did take into account the container when I was weighing)

The thing is, the whole butter browning process, well, it takes time and the kids can't really help etc. I'm just not sure it's worth it. So... I dunno. Do you have a winning recipe?

The second recipe that I had tried before I got my cookbooks was these crunchy baked pork chops. WOW! These things are good.We've had them at least three times since I discovered the recipe a few months ago.

I think the two key elements to this recipe is brining the pork, (makes it flavorful and tender) and the fresh homemade breading. YUM!

I didn't take a picture of the final product because I wasn't really planning on blogging about it but I did take some pictures of this neat little technique I learned in my cooking class a year and a half ago.

If you recipe calls for fresh herbs ie. fresh parsley, don't clean it first then chop with a knife. It's too hard. Your herbs take FOREVER to dry and I can never get small pieces of parsley with my knife. I just don't have the patience.

First, cut off some branches, or leaves from your bunch of herbs and put them into a coffee mug.

Next, get some kitchen scissors and just chop away at your conveniently contained herbs until they are the consistency you desire.

Then get a paper towel and dump out your herbs in the middle.

Cup the herbs in the paper towel with your hand and rinse under a slow stream of water

Once rinsed, gather the paper towel around your herbs and twist it so they don't come out then squeeze out the remaining water.

Open your towel and voila! They are dry, chopped and ready to go. (OK so they don't look so dry in my picture but they were as dry as they are gonna get)

So there you have it. My cooking adventures for the week. We're having homemade pizza tonight. Well, sorta. I just can't beat the Boboli crust and sauce, so I don't try.

What are you having for dinner tonight?