wouldn't make again

I have to admit that the main reason I wanted to make chili for dinner tonight was to get a better photograph for the recipe in the archive. I also thought it would be nice to try a new recipe for cornbread, since the only one I've ever made is my mom's recipe. I did a quick search and found this one from Homesick Texan.

It has a lot more cornmeal than my regular recipe, buttermilk, and no sugar. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan. It tasted very acidic because of the buttermilk. Also, I'm definitely a sweet cornbread kind of girl. But, the important thing is that I tried something different.

I definitely want to make cornbread in an iron skillet from now on though. I made this in my 8" cast-iron skillet, which was a bit small, so I put the extra batter in a mini loaf pan. Next time I think I'll try making my regular recipe in this skillet.


» Recipe for Iron-skillet Cornbread

I had a bunch of stew beef to use up and since we haven't had any mexican inspired dinners in a while I figured I'd remedy that.

This turned out ok, but I probably won't make it again. The meat never got as tender as I would have liked, while the peppers fell apart completely. I added the chipotle chiles because I had some sitting around. They added a smokey flavor, but I'm not really a chipotle fan.

Finally, I'm happy to announce that I've launched a mobile version of 33flavors.org. Check it out if you're into that sort of thing.


» Recipe for Slow-cooked Chipotle Beef Tacos

I really wanted to love this recipe. After all, it comes from David Lebovitz, and it's chocolate. I had been in the worst mood all day and I thought these would be the perfect pick-me-up. Sure, I sprinkled a bit too much sugar on top, but I actually like the way that looks, kind of like the snow we have covering the frozen ground. My problem with these is that they're too hard and dense. The dough was very dry and difficult to work with. After the first bake, when I tried to slice them I got an awful lot of broken pieces.

It looks like the only major difference in the basic formula between this and the Martha Stewart recipe, are that Martha's have 4 tablespoons of butter and these have none. I think that 1/2 stick of butter makes all the difference. Or, maybe these just needed another egg, as in this recipe for chocolate hazelnut biscotti from smitten kitchen, to make the dough a little wetter, and the resulting cookies less dense. 

I must say, however, that the fact that these aren't the biscotti I envisioned when I read David's post and decided to make them immediately hasn't stopped them from disappearing at an amazing rate (albeit, a bit slower than usual). I need to lay off the baking for a while. Oops! Except that I just made muffins.

» Recipe for David Lebovitz's Chocolate Biscotti

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

I made these banana cookiesthese banana cookies a week or so ago, and while they are good, I think I'd rather just stick to banana bread or muffins. The cookies were very soft, basically little disks of banana bread. As they aged they got a little gooey on top, much like banana bread does, but I prefer the latter.