September 2008 Archives

I was pretty disappointed with this batch of cookies. I think my baking soda is too old. That and the fact that our oven is a dinosaur. I have to say I had high hopes for this recipe. I mean, look at this picture. The recipe is from Ree, the Pioneer Woman. I compared it to my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and the main ingredient portions are very similar. Ree uses slightly less flour, more vanilla, more baking soda, and salt. She also adds flax seed and instant coffee granules (I didn't use the instant coffee but I did use ground flax seed). My cookies ended up being too flat, too dark, and too salty. I like the idea of adding ground flax seed because it adds some of those healthy omega 3s and you don't even notice it's there.

I think I'll stick to my tried and true recipe, and invest in a new box of baking soda...

» Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Some of my favorite recipes are the ones I grew up with. These are my mom's recipes for chili and corn bread, and they always hit the spot.


» Recipe for Mom's Chili and Corn Bread

We have all this beer in the fridge, and while it's not bad, we just don't prefer pumpkin ales. I figure it's a good excuse to experiment with more beer bread flavors. To the basic recipebasic recipe I added cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and raisins. I also substituted brown sugar for the white sugar and added quite a bit more to make a sweeter loaf and counteract the bitterness of the beer a little. I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Sweet, but not too sweet, with warm spices and chewy raisins scattered throughout. This would be good with some oats added also. I would cut back the flour to 2 cups then add about 1 1/2 cups rolled oats. I might double the amount of raisins too.

This bread is especially good toasted and buttered.

Edit (9/24/08): Text message from my younger brother (who was here yesterday to mow the lawn), "I had a little piece of your bread oh my god." It seems to get better every day.


» Recipe for Raisin Spice Beer Bread

This is the same basic recipe I used for the banana oatmeal cakebanana oatmeal cake. I had two small bananas getting brown on the table so I decided to whip up a few muffins. They were really tasty fresh from the oven (cooled off a bit, of course). The top was still crunchy with cinnamon sugar. Tomorrow they will have softened a bit.


» Recipe for Banana Muffins

I finally tried this granola recipe that I've had bookmarked forever. I think it might be my new favorite. I did make a couple minor changes, but nothing that would change the overall flavor. It has just the right amount of sweetness and a hint of saltiness.

Edit: I think it needed some more time in the oven. It never really crisped up and is still chewy. Good, but chewy.


» Recipe for Quest for the perfect granola: Part 3

While looking for ways to use the beets I brought home the other day, I came across this slaw recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand, and the ones that I didn't I just substituted - Gala apple instead of Granny Smith, flaxseed and olive oils for the walnut oil.

When I cut into the beet I was surprised to find that it wasn't the bright red that I was expecting. It was actually white with some pink stripes. I don't have any experience with raw beets so I have no idea if this is normal or if I just got a different kind of beet. Regardless, it was pretty cool-looking, plus it didn't stain my hands red!


» Recipe for Beet, Carrot, Apple, and Walnut Slaw

Remember those Chard PocketsChard Pockets I made a while ago? They were so good, and I haven't made them since. For some reason it's hard for me to make the same recipe twice, with the exception of some cookie recipes, cheesecake, and pizza dough. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.

Today I was on a mission to clean out the fridge a little. A batch of pizza dough, a hunk of cheese, leftover pizza sauce, part of a block of tofu, and some neglected broccoli. At the market this morning I was on the lookout for greens, and the only ones I saw were attached to a bunch of fresh beets so I thought I'd try them. I came up with a cousin of the Chard Pocket. They were ready in time for lunch and even Matt agreed that they were good. The beet greens are a lot like swiss chard so they can be used interchangeably.

These pockets weren't nearly as photogenic as the last onesthe last ones. I guess that was beginner's luck. It probably also had something to do with the fact that the dough had been sitting in the fridge for a few days. I find that it's never as good as it is the day you make it.


» Recipe for Vegetarian Pizza Pockets

I had the urge to make cookies tonight. Matt requested chocolate chip, but it seemed we were low on chocolate chips. Instead, I tried this recipe that I've never made before. The cookies are pretty good. Very soft with a hint of peanut butter. I left out the chopped peanuts (because I didn't want to use the whole tin that Matt bought to snack on) and used chunky peanut butter. I should have added extra oats or something to make up for the missing peanuts, because without that extra bulk the cookies spread out a little too thinly. Also, I used my medium cookie scoop, but these cookies really would have been better smaller.


» Recipe for Peanut-Butter Oatmeal Rounds

I had some yogurt leftover from making the cake (I couldn't find any small containers of it), so I made some frozen yogurt. I didn't bother straining it, so it's not as creamy as it could be, but it's good. I flavored it with honey and vanilla, inspired by the Häagen-Dazs flavors I sampled a few months back.


» Recipe for Honey-Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Before today, I'd made beer bread twice. Both attempts were absolute failures. I had been so excited about all the flavor possibilities that I wrote out a whole list of combination ideas:

• chocolate stoudt
• cornmeal & scallion with fresh corn
• sharp cheddar & dill
• rosemary & parmesan with an IPA
• oatmeal & raisin with a pumpkin ale
• christmas ale with cranberries
• Magic Hat #9 with dried apricots
• lemon-zested hefeweizen

All that and I hadn't even tested the basic recipe. You can imagine my disappointment when my first attempt left a lot to be desired.

I was at my parents' house without the recipe in front of me (it's a simple recipe and I was sure I remembered it). Apparently I forgot how long to bake it for, and I think it was underdone when I pulled it from the oven. But even the parts that were done didn't really taste right. I think I had tried to make a garlic and italian herb version, and I can't remember what kind of beer I used (something that my parents had in their fridge), but I was greatly discouraged.

The next attempt was almost exactly a year ago. According to my notes, it was September 15, And I tried to make an Oktoberfest dill version. I ended up throwing most of it away. I figured that since Oktoberfest is my favorite style of beer, Oktoberfest beer bread would be awesome. Apparently not true.

After that I gave up on the whole thing. Why waste a good bottle of beer to make a lousy loaf of bread when I could just drink it?

Around Christmas-time this past year, a friend of mine brought beer bread and spinach dip to a party at my parents house. It was really tasty! I asked her how she made it, and she said someone had given her a mix. When I asked what kind of beer she used she said Coors Light. Was that the secret? Use a beer that has no flavor?

A few days ago I got the urge to try again. It wasn't until I looked back on my notes that I realized I had already tried an Oktoberfest version, which was the kind of beer we had on hand. I nearly decided to forget about the whole thing, but then I saw a couple neglected bottles of beer in the back of the fridge - a Sam Adams Light and a Genesee Cream Ale. I thought, what the hell, and pulled the cream ale from the shelf.

I wanted to make the basic recipe, no added herbs or seasonings. The result? This one actually tastes good! It could have used a few more minutes in the oven, but other than that it's great.


» Recipe for Basic Beer Bread

My second attempt at this cake was better, but still not perfect. I used whole milk yogurt, which was extremely rich, resulting in a very moist cake. I made all of the changes I wrote about last timelast time, except that I decided not to add any spices to the batter. I don't think it needed it. I still don't really like the almond flavoring, even though I put half the amount in and mixed it with vanilla extract. I would leave it out altogether next time. Maybe replace part of the flour with finely ground almonds.

I don't know if I would use whole milk yogurt again. I'll probably try lowfat next time. Or buttermilk. I haven't really been loving cakes made with yogurt, although it's probably good for this recipe, because the dense cake stands up to the apples.

The layer of apples between the two batter layers was probably unnecessary. It seems that the batter under the apples didn't rise at all. Putting all the apples on top seems to be the best approach. Also, letting the apple slices macerate in the cinnamon sugar while mixing up the batter created a wonderful apple-cinnamon syrup that I drizzled over the cake before baking it.

I ended up baking it for just over an hour. At 45 minutes the center was still gooey.


» Recipe for Almond Apple Cake: Attempt #2

Last night's pizza was just perfect. I took all the ripe tomatoes from the garden and made some saucesauce, mashing it with a potato masher as it cooked so I wouldn't have to blend it. Meanwhile, I made a double batch of my favorite doughdough and shredded some mozzarella cheese. So simple. We washed it down with some oktoberfest while catching up on missed episodes of Mad Men. A good night all around.

» Recipe for Pizza Dough
» Recipe for Pizza Sauce» Recipe for Pizza Dough
» Recipe for Pizza Sauce

This is the third year in a row that I've made an apple-inspired cake for my mom's birthday. Two years ago it was an applesauce spice cake. The cake was dry and tasteless, and the frosting was way too sweet. Last year it was a velvet spice cake with an apple-raisin filling and seafoam icing. The icing didn't hold up and slid off the cake - even in the fridge. The filling was good but it wasn't the right consistency for a cake with icing that needed to be refrigerated.

I don't seem to have much success with cakes. They always leave something to be desired. I thought this one was going to be different. It looked and smelled so good, but it turned out to be slightly overdone and dry. I even took it out a couple minutes early.

It's surprising that my family still lets me bring dessert.

I really think this could be a great cake though. I have plenty of apples left so I'm going to give it another shot this week, with a few changes:

• Full-fat yogurt, for starters. I think that's why I haven't really liked the yogurt cakes I've made. Fat-free yogurt just doesn't have the same effect. That should help with the moisture. Substituting buttermilk would probably work well also. I love buttermilk-based cakes.
  
  
• More apples. I used four apples in this one because they were pretty small, but I still think it could use even more. I would also toss them in a little cinnamon-sugar mixture before layering them on the cake, and instead of putting all the apple slices on top, I would put half of them between two layers of batter.
  
  
• Less almond extract. I'm not a huge fan of almond extract. It tastes a bit fake and overpowering to me. I remember thinking that when I made the Honey-Almond Yogurt CakeHoney-Almond Yogurt Cake, but this recipe called for half the amount so I didn't think cutting back on it would be necessary. It might be good with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp almond extract. Real Amaretto would be even better, but I didn't have any on hand.
  
  
• Add some spices to the batter. Some cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, a sprinkling of nutmeg. Nutmeg makes everything better.
  
  
• Adjust the baking time. One hour was way too long. The bottom and sides of the cake got too dark and tough. Maybe 45 minutes would do it.

» Recipe for Almond Apple Cake

Matt loves lasagna with a passion, and I rarely make it because not only is it so time-consuming, but even an 8"x8" dish is way too much for 2 people. I can only stand eating leftovers for so long. I decided to try making a bunch of 2-3 serving mini lasagne to keep in the freezer for nights when I don't feel like cooking.

This version has eggplant and broccoli hidden in the sauce (because I like to force my love for vegetables on others). I found the tiniest eggplants at the farmer's market today - 3 of them, about 1" by 3", all attached to the same vine. I was thinking about peeling them first, but then I decided that the purple flecks of skin would look pretty in the sauce.

I think next time I will make enough noodles to have one more layer on top, then top it with more sauce and cheese. I think that if I make 4 instead of 5 pans I'll have enough sauce and cheese. Then I would need 8 noodles to make 3 layers.


» Recipe for Mini Lasagne

I've made variations of this recipe too many times to remember, but not recently. I like it because it doesn't require butter or oil. This time around I made it with white whole wheat flour and a handful of oats to give it some substance. The result is moist and not too sweet. A great companion to tea or coffee. Not "to die for", but definitely good for snacking.


» Recipe for Banana Oatmeal Cake