Maybe you've noticed something a little funny about my blogging lately.
Like how I'm only posting recipes.
And how some of my posts, like this one from earlier this month, lack substance, and instead are just a list of recipes that I've tried lately with a quick review.
"It was good"
"It was bad"
There's not much more to say than that. And... do you really care about the food that I'm making for myself? The food that I'm buying ingredients for and I'm cooking and I'm eating and I'm cleaning up? I'm not as self-centered as to really believe you care about all that.
But, to be honest, I never really cared about you. I didn't start blogging about my crafts and my recipes for you. I did it for me. For my records. To have a purpose. To have a project.
So why does it feel like a chore?
Almost 4 years ago I declared that I was going to finish 100 recipes by the end of 2011.
I'm on recipe 255.
3 1/2 years of writing about every single recipe I try. 3 1/2 years of taking pictures at 5 different angles and getting the lighting just right before I allow myself to eat my dinner.
Why am I still doing it?
Maybe I need closure. Maybe I'll stop at 500 recipes. But until then, I had to make it a little more interesting. A little different.
So, maybe you've noticed, but I've started adding a little side of poetry to all my recipes. Light-hearted poems written about the recipe, about the experience, about the flavor of the food.
Brown Sugar Cookies
Zucchini Chips
Meltaway Cookies\
French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus
Texas Roadhouse Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter
And now, I'm enjoying my blogging again.
So, I hope you'll enjoy the writing, I hope you enjoy the recipes, and I hope you try one yourself...
... but if you don't, I don't mind, cause this is all for me anyway :)
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Recipe 255: Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
Last night I made these Texas Roadhouse Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter, but I needed a side of meat to go with the rolls that took 5 hours to make.
Check out the poem below, I hope it's inspiring.
Measuring
What's the difference
Recipe #255: Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken from Food.com
It was good, and it was easy, but it was especially easy since I didn't really measure anything.Check out the poem below, I hope it's inspiring.
Measuring
What's the difference
Between a tablespoon
And a serving spoon
When the serving is just as sweet?
What's the difference
Between a pinch of salt
And a shake of the shaker
When time is of the essence?
What's the difference
Between four minced cloves
And half a jar of garlic
When it's the key ingredient?
What's the difference
Between boneless chicken breasts
And slivers of chicken cutlets
When the price is so much cheaper?
What's the difference
Between measuring brown sugar
And eyeballing it
When there's less dishes waiting?
What's the difference
Between following the recipe
And getting close enough
When the dinner is just as good?
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Recipe 253 and 254: Texas Roadhouse Rolls and Cinnamon Honey Butter(with more poetry)
Flour on the counter
Flour on the floor
Flour stuck in places
It's never been before
Flour on my shirt
Flour in my hair
Needless to say
Flour's everywhere
Dough is way too sticky
Fingers stuck like clay
Gorilla glue for baking
What is yeast anyway?
Stir it up, mix and mix
Stir it up, mix and mix
Till your muscles ache
Or if you're a clever one
Just use your Kitchenaid
Let it rest for a while
Timing here is key
The challenge to this step is this:
Times aren't in the recipe!
If that makes you frustrated
A great solution is near -
You'll punch the air out of the dough
And watch your anger disappear
I spent my evening waiting
For the dough to rise
But rise it did refuse to do
"It'll be fine" I surmise
So I stuck it in the oven
Though the pesky dough never rose
And when the timer did go off
I had thirty lovely rolls
Smooth and sweet and fluffy
With wonderful flavor
Take a bite and just enjoy
The taste is one to savor
Don't skip out on whipping up
Just a drop upon your tongue
Your heart will give a flutter
Making bread is a lot of work
A well-rewarded chore
I'm thinking, though, that next time
I'll just buy it at the store.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Recipe 252: French dip with Au Jus
French dip sandwiches from http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/slow-cooker-french-dip/
Sandwich and stew
You'll wait in a queue
For a bite or two.
Grab a cold brew
Or maybe a few
Invite your crew
Bring the crockpot too
And cook meat through
8 hours 22
Your impatience grew
As you wait for a clue.
a scent quite anew
Wafts through your flue
The time is due
To Take a view
At the brownish goo
And the meats pink hue
That's when you knew
It's time for Au jus.
Now dip and chew
And give a shoo
To all those who
Claim that they do
Not like French food.
(I bet you never knew
All the rhymes so true
That are similar to
The phrase Au jus).
Recipe 251: Meltaway Cookies
Meltaway cookies
Crunchy, smooth, sweet,
With every nibble
Crumbs fall to your feet.
The only way
To solve this plight
Is by eating it all
In one big bite.
Recipe 250 - Zucchini Chips with a side of poetry
In a world of cookies,
Candies and cakes
French fries, pizza,
And chocolate milkshakes,
Sometimes we need
Something healthy and fresh
A food to make up
For all the rest.
But there's no problem,
Not one concern
With tricking our brain
With food we don't yearn.
So give me zucchini
And top it off
With breadcrumbs and cheese
And don't you scoff,
It might be cheesy,
But come on you guys,
It's better than eating
A plate of fries.
Recipe 249: Brown Sugar Cookies with a brown butter icing and a side of poetry
Call me an addict
But you'll catch me baking busily
Keeping myself occupied
On a day that's only drizzly.
After returning home from work
To find the melt-away cookies gone
I had to make a brand new batch
Think it right or think it wrong.
I didn't need the ingredients
Already had the stuff
The secret was the sour cream
That added extra fluff.
Didn't need anything fancy
No frosting tube or cookie cutter
Just sugar, eggs, cream, flour,
Spices And a whole lot of butter.
My favorite part of it all
Was letting the cookies cool
On my new three-tier cooling rack
As their wafting scent made me drool.
I topped them off with just a pinch,
A sprinkle of cinnamon sugar
An ugly dessert is not as good
As one that is a looker.
But don't forget about the taste
That just melts on your tongue
The extra calories and fat
We're the only thing that stung.
Brown Sugar Cookies from http://www.susieqtpiescafe.com/2011/02/gooseberry-patch-cookbook-giveaway-with_21.html?m=1
Recipe 248: Homemade Sweet Potato Dog Chews
This is Lily.
11 years old. Part mini poodle, part Australian Shepard, part Lhasa apso, part hood rat. Full mutt, full of love. And those eyes!
Our dog baby. Spoiled. Loved. So what happens when she has a tummy ache?
I make these amazingly easy sweet potato chews from http://happymoneysaver.com/natural-homemade-dog-chews/.
Seriously, easy. The hardest part is waiting 3 hours for them to cook, but your dog will thank you.
I know mine did.
Recipes 239-247: Chunky Monkey Cake, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Dream Bars, and more
I don't know if you've noticed, but my light posts have been a little recipe-heavy lately.
Wanna know why?
I haven't given up crafting, I swear.
Well, not on purpose anyways.
My itty bitty apartment (we just measured... 370 square feet. Never should have measured.) doesnt exactly have room for superfluous crafting.
No room to craft, no room to store craft supplies, no room to keep the crafts, and no room for the hubby to escape from the crafting.
But, we do have a kitchen! And the best part... The only place we have to fit the results are in our stomachs.
Like edible crafts, really.
So, besides the odd knitted scarf(s) or painted wine glass, there is minimal crafting for me... Food it is!
Mewhahha I love selfish recipes! This dessert is covered in bananas and therefore immune to the hands of a hungry husband looking to satisfy a late-night sweet tooth.
So, it's all mine.
It was good... Not amazing... But good. And satisfying.
But I'll take good ole banana pudding over anything.
This was a pretty easy recipe I got to make from the couch while doing taxes and shouting directions at my hired chef, er, I mean husband. It turned out well... He loved it and I would have loved it more without the sausage. But easy, quick, and full of meat.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm a little obsessed with Auntie Anne's Pretzels. They're the only soft pretzels I truly like - they're so warm and buttery and not dry at all like most soft pretzels that require a vat of mustard to make them semi-edible. I tried out this pretzel recipe last weekend- they claim to only be 90 calories but I assume that only applies if you use the wheat flour that the recipe calls for.
I have to admit, I wasn't to impressed with this recipe- it was just salmon with sugar spread all over it. Sweet? Sure. Necessary? Not at all. Salmons supposed to be fresh, healthy, and light... If I wanted that amount of brown sugar with my dinner I would have had a bowl of oatmeal.
They look pretty good, don't they? Homemade tortillas just like my childhood at Don Pablo's. Well, not quite. More like, thick blobs of dense flour that require butter to make a taste of anything. Want to do yourself a favor? Go to trader joes and pick up a pack of their homemade tortillas. They're still homemade if you open the packet, right?
Recipe 240: One Pot Cheesy Sausage Pasta from YellowBlissRoad
Recipe 241: Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Dream Bars from KeyIngredient
Ohhhhh these were good! With a gooey layer of peanut butter and condensed milk, they're like oatmeal cookies on steroids.
Really delicious steroids.
Recipe 242: Paula Deen's Corn Casserole from The Food Network
Another great recipe- like corn mixed with corn bread covered in cheese, where could you go wrong?
I ain't got no room for fancy flour.
So, I used white flour. All my white flour, and ran out a cup early. Oops. I really should check these things first.
So, I had just enough flour to make a goopy dough that embedded itself into every line and crack on my hands and refused to be shaped into anything besides pretzel-blobs.
As for the taste, they were a little too dry and tasteless to me... Bring on the vat.
Ah... When I'm New York everyone is a pizza maker. I'm proud of myself for this recipe... Handmade crust (like, kneaded and allowed to rise and everything!), and turned out pretty delicious. I mean, come on, buffalo chicken pizza!?
Recipe 247: Reeses Stuffed Crescent Rolls from Cookies and Cups
Aaaaand my final recipe of the post, though it barely counts as a recipe. Open can of croissants. Insert Reece's, bake. Devour.
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