Friday Cooking Recap

Finally, the peanut butter and jelly muffins were made this week. As you can see, mine don't look very nice or professional. They all sunk where the jam was put on, and on most the jam didn't end up in the center by the time I pulled them out of the oven. These are from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook and if I am remembering correctly, I used carrot puree in them.

If you don't care too much about looks, or should I say, looks aside, they were delicious. I am sure a better cook than I could get them to look nicer- you should see the picture in the book, zero sinkage. I was skeptical of these but so far they are my favorite of the new muffins we have tried. I would have rather used blueberry preserves for the top, but all I could find were strawberry. The cookbook suggests strawberry, blueberry, or grape, but I think next time I will try whatever I want (and can find), like raspberry or apricot.

The only other issue I had with these was storage. Normally I wrap them up individually and toss half or more into the freezer, but with the sticky tops I didn't try. I guess I could have at least tried, but I thought they'd be pulled apart later when unwrapped. We ate them all anyway. We just had to eat a whole dozen in three days instead of eating them over the course of a week.

The other new recipe we tried this week (it's from BL) was this one.

Egg White Bites.

It normally makes a dozen but we halved it because there was no way I was going to freeze these to eat later. Again, mine don't look nearly as nice as the picture. You layer a cup of chopped vegetables under 9 egg whites (how wasteful to trash 9 yolks!) and some seasoning and cheese. In the picture they had obviously used things like red pepper and zucchini which made for a much more colorful picture. I only had a half each of yellow bell pepper and orange bell pepper. Also, while the recipe calls for any type of shredded cheese really, in the picture they had obviously used cheddar. Much more colorful than the mozzarella that I had on hand.

They were good and healthy and we got a nice vegetable serving in before lunch. I didn't add nearly the seasoning the recipe called for. Next time I'll add more because they were a bit bland. I also think cheddar instead of mozzarella will give them more flavor. And, with only 40 calories each, I don't feel nearly as guilty tossing down three or four like I would with the pb&j muffins.

So, it was a good week with the new recipes. I will make them both again.

As far as next week goes, again I am planning on no new meals. I was able to pick up that chicken cookbook I mentioned last week but it's one of those where most of the recipes I want to try have one or more ingredients that I don't normally stock or cook with and that I don't want to go buy just to use a teaspoon or so, especially if the meal turns out gross and I can't find anything else to use that ingredient for and it goes to the garbage.

I will however be trying another deceptively delicious muffin, it's a lemon blueberry variety. Speaking of buying random ingredients I need to pick up a couple of teaspoons of lemon extract. Based on our muffin experimenting though, I do think we'll enjoy these enough to make them again so I am fine with that. Though they do sound a bit lemony. I'll let you know how they turn out next week.

New Knives

These are our new Shun (rhymes with "moon") steak knives. Nothing says "I love you" like some new knives right? We have been married for so long that a lot of our things have needed replacing and a couple of years ago we decided anniversaries would be a good time to do that. The old Chef Mate knives have been losing their bolts in the dishwasher and it seems like they were getting a little dangerous to use. (Even though I am still using them and no stitches yet).

We looked around and decided we didn't want to buy a set, we wanted to build our own set. I will admit that with my previous knife set I use the steak knives for everything. That's right everything. Cutting meat, chopping fruits and vegetables, cheese, you name it. I did (do) use the bread knife for bread and the chef's knife for things like melon and pineapple (because my steak knives were just too small for those bigger jobs). So, I thought, let's start with the steak knives. Two weeks later they are still unwashed and still in the box. These are to be hand-washed only, and I just haven't gotten around to washing, especially since they are just sitting around in the box. Also, I got some negative reactions when I mentioned I was going to use these to cut anything and everything. A certain someone thinks that's not a good idea. But, until we add to the set and I get my 6" ultimate utility knife and my nakiri, what am I to use? I also need to get a block because like I said, in the box, I am just never going to get them out.

So, I can't tell you yet if these knives are any good. I assume they are or I wouldn't have purchased them, but they have yet to be tested. With all the cooking and the extra produce we've been eating, I do hope they are good.

Friday Cooking Recap

I almost didn't make it since Friday is almost over and I didn't cook anything too exciting this week, but here it goes. I only tried one new recipe and made one slight modification to a different one.

A couple of weeks ago I made Vegetarian Chili, which was really more like a bland vegetable soup (Tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, potatoes, onion, yellow bell pepper, and some seasonings). This week I made it again but instead of adding two potatoes I only put in one and added a cup of pasta. It was good. I don't know if it was better, but more people ate it this time and I assume it's because of the pasta. I think it's not going to make a come back for another 6 months. As healthy as it is, it's just not that great and I can't see making it more than 2 or 3 times a year.

I only tried one new recipe this week. It feels weird calling it a recipe because it only had a few ingredients. I stir fried some chicken, then added lemon juice and teriyaki sauce. Then I was supposed to add a 16 oz bag of broccoli, water chestnuts, and carrots, but I didn't have that so instead I added a bag that had broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. The recipe said to serve it over couscous but I didn't have that either so I paired it with white rice. It was okay. Very easy to make and quick, just nothing special. I definitely needed the water chestnuts I think. Next time (if there is a next time) I think I will add cornstarch to make an actual sauce. It had potential and there is room for improvement.

I already did my weekly menu and shopping and I am not planning on any new dinner recipes for this week. I felt like I didn't have the energy. I did find a cookbook at Williams-Sonoma that I want to purchase called Chicken for Dinner (it also has some turkey and duck recipes). The dish on the cover looks especially delicious. I am hoping to get that book in the near future and get some chicken dinner ideas.

Also if you remember last week I said I was going to try some peanut butter and jelly muffins this week. I had all the ingredients but never any room. The first part of the week was spent eating the Applesauce Muffins from last week and the rest of the week there was zucchini bread for breakfast. So if I am not a lazy bum next week then I will have one new recipe to mention.

Until next Friday...

Facial Virgin

If you didn't know this, I am in my late twenties and up until today I have never had a facial. To some people this may be quite shocking and amazing, and I am sure some people twice or thrice my age have still never had a facial.

One of my fantastic mother's day gifts this year was a mini-spa day which included a pedicure and a facial. I was very excited.

The pedicure was fine and regular. If I don't bring my own nail polish I always panic and have no idea what shade to pick. I was back and forth between a summery pink and a summery yellow with a tinge of green. I finally chose yellow which made a certain someone happy because it's the Fiona color from OPI's Shrek line. I like it but it might be a bit young for me, and it doesn't match any footwear I'll be wearing. Like I said. I panic.

Now, the facial. Remember, this was my first time and I wasn't even thinking about what to expect aside from getting fancy creams and lotions rubbed onto my face. I was a bit shocked when I was led to my room and asked to take off my shirt and shoes. WHAT? Turns out for a facial I was to get under a blanket (massage style) and leave my shoulders exposed for a shoulder and neck massage. Which I actually enjoyed quite a bit. I still have never had a pro massage.

I will admit that I had a few mini panic attacks. First, I am addicted to the gift of sight. Now keeping my eyes closed for an hour while some stranger rubs who knows what on my face was a bit scary. Yeah I opened my eyes here and there, but mostly closed and that's a good thing so nothing gets splashed in them. So there were a couple of times in the beginning when I freaked out and just wanted to open my eyes and see what was being done to me.

Second mini panic attack: multiple times I was scared that serious long term damage was to be done. For example, multiple things burned or tingled and I thought, what if this burns my skin and I am scarred for the rest of my life? I know, crazy, but those thoughts were still running through my head (don't even get me started on what goes on at the dentist-- I think it shows my great self-control that I have never run out of that place).

I got over my mini panic attacks and finished my facial. I had heard some stories about how hideous I would look for the rest of the day so I was prepared with my glasses and hat and thoughts to spend the rest of my day in.

I gotta tell you though, aside from a bit of redness on my chin and nose, that just looked like I got too much sun today, I think I was fine. I don't mean this in a vain way, but my skin did in fact look absolutely radiant (and still does). If I had a bunch of extra cash and time sitting around, I would probably turn into a facial junky and hit the spa every six weeks.

And there you have the highlights of my first facial.