Friday Cooking Recap

I tried a few new and easy things this week.

#1

The new McCormick Recipe Inspirations. Have you seen these in the grocery store? I finally decided to try one not just to try a new taste but also because I am so sick of having a cupboard full of herbs and spices that I use for one or two recipes and then eventually have to toss out. This little doo-dad comes with multiple pre-measured spices to get you through one meal. This week I used the Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes pack. It came with paprika, garlic rosemary, and black pepper. It was pretty simple. Dump them all in a bowl with some oil and salt and then toss in your chicken and potatoes to coat. Roast. Enjoy.

My potatoes were not close to done after the recommended thirty minutes so I had to almost double that.

I was skeptical of the paprika and rosemary combo. But, we really liked it. It's definitely going to appear on the dinner table again. I don't know about any of the other packs, but I would recommend this one. I paid $1.50 for the pack (for one dinner) so if I end up making it once or twice a month for a while it might be alright to just invest in full bottles of the ingredients. But, I liked the option to try it once and then invest in extra spices and herbs after I know if I like it.

#2

Granola Bars. I know, I just made granola last week and it's not even almost gone, but I was curious. I will start by saying if you have in your mind the store-bought deliciousness, pass on this. But what did you expect? Have you read those ingredient labels? Making them my self I was able to avoid a lot of those things I didn't want to eat. I have no picture, but here's the recipe:

2 cups oats

1 cup brown sugar (too much, I'll have it next time)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup honey

Any dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, etc.

Mix all ingredients and press into greased pan, 11x13. Dough will be very dry and crumbly, but press until dough forms with pan. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until edges are browned. Take out and let cool entirely. Cut into strips and store in snack size bags.

My advice-- when it says it will be dry and crumbly, it really means dry and crumbly. I thought surely I got a bad recipe with some ingredient omitted. And after baking it, I still thought that. But, I followed the recipe and did let it cool completely and when I cut them into strips it worked.

Also, I divided mine into three sections so I could make three flavors, peanut butter, butterscotch chips, and dried fruit, but I put them all side by side in the baking dish. Next time (and they were good enough that there will be a next time) I will stick to keeping the batch together and just using one "flavor." I think they would have turned out more consistent.

#3

Yogurt Smoothie Pops. This year I feel like everywhere I go I am seeing those popsicle molds and makers and today when I was walking through my local Target I picked up a four pack popsicle mold. I had a recipe to follow but it turned out I was missing some ingredients so I made up my own (how hard can it be, right?). I used one banana, a small handful of frozen blueberries, a handful of fresh blueberries, about 8 strawberries, a small pour of pomegranate juice, and a small pour of milk. I haven't actually had one yet because they are still freezing, but I tried the leftover yogurt smoothie and it was good so I am optimistic.

Until next week.

Friday Cooking Recap. . . On Saturday

I made some granola this week. I didn't think it was going to happen because my oven was pretty gassy for the first part of the week. I turned it on and decided I'd wait ten minutes before even getting out the ingredients. Ten minutes later, no gas.

If you click on the link to Kathi's blog you can find the granola recipe. And, she included a nice picture.

It was really easy to make (and easy to let a little helper help). I will warn you, if you want to try it, it is NOT sweet. At least not by today's standards. I did put in 3/4 cups of honey. The recipe said to mix in dried fruit after it was completely cool, but I don't usually have dried fruit so I didn't. I did buy some later to try and sweeten it up but I haven't tried any yet. The other day when I ate some of the granola I mixed in a tablespoon or two of peanut butter and I liked it. If I make it again I think I will add peanut butter to the whole batch before I bake it. Now I need to go pick up some yogurt so I'll have something to eat it with. Or maybe this will be the week that I finally try to make my own.

I also attempted more jam this week (with my sister-in-law's help of course). Organic raspberries were the cheapest of the season yesterday so I picked some up and we made raspberry jam. I tried a little this morning and it was delicious. Kind of like eating candy. Which is what you would expect when you add 7 cups of sugar right? I am now searching for the perfect homemade bread recipe (white and wheat) and dreaming of the bread and jam to come.

Last week I got a recipe for granola bars. I would like to try them but I can't tell if I want to wait until the granola is gone. I haven't even started thinking about my dinner menus for next week, so who knows if I'll try anything new.

Blackberry Jam

Okay so I missed my Friday Cooking Recap but technically I didn't try cooking anything new this week.

However, my sister-in-law entered the world of home canning and I was lucky enough to tag along with her.

This here is product #1. Blackberry Jam

I didn't really do anything except watch and learn how to make and can jam (oh, and take my own jar home to eat later). I haven't tried any yet but I heard it's pretty delicious. We do have plans to do a lot more canning. The one thing I definitely want to try is apple jelly. For the past 5 years I was buying apple jelly for our family and about four years ago the store stopped carrying it and we miss it. We'll see how the homemade version turns out. The jellies sound a bit more complicated than the jams.

Berry season is almost over so I've got to get out there and get the last of the berries when they are on sale and can them all up. I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out.

Friday Cooking Recap

This week I only had one planned recipe to try. Lemon Blueberry Muffins, from Deceptively Delicious.

I would like to say that they were my least favorite of all the muffins we've tried from that cookbook. But, I can't even give them that much credit. I thought they were pretty gross. I only ate one before I froze them, so I will try at least one more before I toss them out and see if I like it any better.

The recipe called for squash. Maybe that was it. I have never liked squash, but supposedly you aren't supposed to able to taste it anyway. The recipe also called for grated lemon peel, but I also hate that so I just omitted it. I felt there would be enough lemon flavor with the cup of lemon yogurt and the 2 tsp of lemon extract. Maybe it wasn't the squash that made them disgusting, maybe it was the over-lemony taste. I like lemon to a point. I like lemon pudding and yogurt and lemon meringue pie. I always eat lemon candy last, but I'll still eat it. I think 2 teaspoons of lemon extract was just too much. If I even attempt them again I am cutting that in half. Either way, I wouldn't recommend these.

On to next week. I am planning on Baked Egg Puffs. They sound similar to those Egg White Bites, but they have more ingredients and won't be as healthy. This week we picked up a bread knife to match our steak knives, and when I was at the store I grabbed some ramekins to bake the egg puffs in. We'll see how they go. They can't be worse than the muffins.

I also want to make strawberry jam, granola, and yogurt. Those all require ingredients I don't currently have so I might not get to them for a while. I really want to go berry picking this month and if we make it out I'll have to come up with some berry recipes to try.

I miss baking sweets. In the last 5 or 6 weeks (however long I've been on the sweets ban) I have come across 7 recipes that I want to try. And that doesn't include any of the cupcake ones I want to try from all of the cupcake decorating books that are out right now. That would be too much temptation though. Maybe in a different life.