needs improvement

Matt's sister and her family went peach picking over at Linvilla Orchards last weekend and offered us some of their haul. we ate delicious fresh peaches for a couple days until they started to go past their prime (which didn't take long). I decided to try a peach-rhubarb combination and I think it turned out well. A bit too sweet though. Or something. I would probably cut back on the sugar and butter in the topping. A higher peach to rhubarb ratio would probably be better also.


» Recipe for Peach Rhubarb Crisp

My first batch of homemade dog treats. Not perfect. I would add some baking powder next time so they're not as dense. Sadie loves them, although I suspect she'll love anything that I give her, seeing as she eats dirt and grass on a regular basis.


» Recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dog Treats

Yesterday morning for breakfast I thought I would test out this biscuit recipe. I figured that if they turned out well I could replace my old stand-by that I use for biscuit toppings, dumplings for stews, and cobblers.

I used tapioca flour instead of the cornstarch, and sorghum flour instead of soy flour. They were ok, but when I took them out of the oven they had a weird chemical smell. Too much baking powder/soda? Also, the recipe called for way too much liquid. I think I'll use this flour ratio and adapt my old biscuit recipe.

» Recipe for Gluten-Free Biscuits

I recently came to terms with the fact that I may have an intolerance to wheat and possibly dairy or lactose. I've cut them out of my diet for the most part and I've been feeling a lot better. (I've also lost six pounds in three days, but that's probably just because I haven't been eating much in general.)

Yesterday I spent $40 on a variety of gluten-free flours and quickly got to work on my first gluten-free baking experiment. I took my tried and true recipe for banana bread, switched out the flour and added a bit of xanthan gum as a gluten alternative.

I was amazed by how well it turned out! You can't tell just by looking at it that it's gluten-free. The texture is a bit gritty though and I think that's from the brown rice flour. Next time I will replace some of it with sweet rice flour.

For more information about gluten-free flours:
Gluten-Free Girl's guide to working with gluten-free flours
Celiac.com's gluten-free flour alternatives


» Recipe for Gluten-Free Banana Bread

» Recipe for Vegetable Barley Soup

This was an interesting dinner, thrown together using whatever I had in the pantry. I wish I'd had some kind of greens (spinach or something similar) and some fresh parsley. It probably would have been better paired with penne or some other short pasta shape.


» Recipe for Spaghetti with Bacon & Beans

Matt took a vacation day today so I decided to make us some pancakes. I based these off of a buttermilk pancake recipe I haven't used before but has been sitting patiently in my recipe folder. I didn't have buttermilk but I did have some homemade yogurt and I was curious to see if it would be a decent stand-in. Thinned down with milk, it seemed to work ok.

It wasn't my most successful pancake-making experience - one of them was lost to the abyss between the oven and the wall and a few hung out too long on the hot griddle - but at least the ones that weren't lost or burnt were yummy.


» Recipe for Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes

This meal was very similar to this one, with brined pork and a butternut squash risotto. Instead of doing a brine I made a dry rub with salt and brown sugar. It had pretty much the same effect and resulted in perfectly juicy meat.

Including apples in the meal was a given - apples and pork go so well together. I had some parsnips in the fridge so I decided to include them too. The risotto was ok. I'm not sure I'm a risotto fan. I think it would have been so much better if I had just made some rice or israeli couscous, then roasted the parsnips and apples with a rosemary balsamic dressing.


» Recipe for Pork with Parsnip & Apple Risotto

This pork was delicious. The risotto was lacking something, and I didn't really like the vegetable stock I used (Imagine brand organic vegetable cooking stock). I bet it would have been much better with a combination of homemade brothhomemade broth and apple cider. I really wanted it to be sweeter. I was hoping the sweetness of the squash would come through, but I think the stock overpowered it. I was also thinking that raisins would be a good addition.

I found the recipe for the brine here. It made the pork nice and juicy. The apples and the risotto were pure improvisations.


» Recipe for Pork and Apples with Butternut Risotto

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