try a new recipe once a month

The Pamela’s mix seems to work a-okay for these. Shawn said they tasted a bit bitter to him once they cooled, but I think that either our garlic salt has gone off or that the only peanut oil at the store was generic. I wasn’t feeling that hot, so I ended up leaving out the onions, too. Maybe next time.

The taste right out of the fryer was just okay to me – they were better later on reheated in the microwave for some reason. However, it was my first deep frying success – as in nothing burned, everything was perfectly done, and nothing was greasy.

Granola bars were delightfully easy, and very scrumptious. Next time, though? Less nectar (maybe none) in the granola itself. Made with agave, they’re somewhat too sweet for me once you use the sticky agave/brown sugar/butter mixture that lets the bars be bars.

Overall, though – yum. And simple.

I made fudge alright – boatloads of it. This was my first foray into candy making, and it was frustrating but the results really interesting.

Even though every tutorial I read said for beginners to go with marshmallow cream recipes, I’m not really fond of the texture. I prefer crystallized to marshmallow, even. So I bought a candy thermometer and went with this recipe:

http://www.texascooking.com/recipes/fudge.htm

I planned on the fudge being gifted, so I did a practice run. My first batch burned. My second was perfect. While I was at it, I decided to try making toffee (in half batches), too – again, first batch burned, second perfect. I sent the first batch of fudge to work with Shawn and it was a big hit. We (embarrassingly) ate the second batch of toffee all by ourselves (I thought the color was off, because it didn’t look shiny, but then looking at the recipe later, I realized it was perfect for that recipe.)

The results were not to be repeated the following week when I began cooking for shipment. I burned 4 batches of toffee, undercooked one (didn’t set, made toffee popcorn out of it), and two came out okay. I made two batches of the chocolate fudge – neither set on first go. Both had to be re-boiled. One came out okay – I added pecans to help it a bit. The second only half-set, even after the second boiling. It tasted perfect, but did not hold its shape, really. Yay ice cream topping.

I also made a peanut butter “fudge” that did use marshmallows. I won’t make it again, I think, unless requested. I hated the texture. I found another recipe that doesn’t use them, and I’ll go with that at some other point.

I made a white chocolate “fudge” that was probably the easiest made of the whole group and everyone seemed to love (everyone but me, anyway – it thought it was too sweet).

So, yeah, moderate success. Need more practice so I can get consistent results. I hope to make about one batch a month as time allows and send it to work with Shawn. If I can get consistent results, I’ll move on to practicing with the toffee…. and maybe to other candy. No more 2-day candy making marathons without that, though!

Oh, and for all that – I forgot to take ANY pictures.

Next up: granola bars!

I was sure I wrote the follow up post for Gnocchi, but I guess I never posted it, and it’s long gone now.

They turned out—okay. Not great. A little soggy. I toasted them to help them along, but I still wasn’t impressed. Next time I’ll try different potatoes and a different flour blend.

For November, I made the Butterfinger Cheesecake, only in a springform instead of mini cheesecakes. It was omnomnom x 1000. I used the vanilla animal cookies by Nature’s Path/Envirokids to replace the vanilla wafers, and they worked awesomely. If you like peanut butter I highly recommend this recipe. If I make it again, I will probably do crustless and without the topping, or at least twice the filling—the cheesecake part was just that good.

Tatoes and butter are heading for an overnight in the fridge. The mixture is a little… sticky? Not sure how that bodes for tomorrow.

Okay, second take of Quinoa was a cinch!

I soaked, re-soaked, and rinsed, then added to the pot with 1.5 cups of water instead of 2. Brought to a boil, then left simmering for 12 minutes and it was perfect. Woot!

I tried eating a bit with some Parmesan and green onions, but the green onions I had were really overpowering. I’m going to try it with different stuff throughout the week, though in the long run I think I may stick to The Whole Kitchen recipe.

Okay – making this was a bit of a nightmare, but of my mostly own doing.

Recipe: http://thewholekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/cinnamon-spiced-quinoa.html
Tutorial: http://www.squawkfox.com/2008/08/12/how-to-cook-quinoa/

First, I began soaking the quinoa, thinking I would get a mesh strainer at lunch, but last night was a late night and the strainer shopping got put off for after work (and a nap… and swimming). So I think it soaked a little too long. Also, in the tutorial it says to dump the water and soak in clean water after two hours. I did do that, but lost some of it in the process since I was just using my hands to strain it. And then I lost more when I was getting ready to cook it because the strainer I bought was way too small (I blame lack of sleep).

Okay, so all strained and in the pot, I added water—without taking into account how much quinoa went down the drain. Oops.

Anyway, once the quinoa, water, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon stick were in the water, the boiling and simmering were a cinch. Unfortunately because of the water issue I ended up having to strain it, since it was cooked before all the water was boiled. Also unfortunately when I strained the water out, the sugar, vanilla, etc. went with it.

So, I took it out, fluffed it, and added half a tablespoon of butter and a couple teaspoons of sugar back in.

And it was good! I think it’ll be better cooked properly, but it was really good. The one thing I felt it was missing was pecans, but I really like pecans and cinnamon together.

I’m going to try cooking it again on Wednesday, a bit more carefully, hopefully with a bigger strainer from IKEA, and a lot more sleep. Plus, I’ll take pictures!

01. September 2009: Cinnamon Spiced Quinoa. I want to start off with something easy and try something new (quinoa at all is new to me).

02. October 2009: Gnocci. Something I’ve wanted to try for forever. I’m going to try it using Pamela’s Baking Mix.

03. November 2009: Peanut Butter Finger Mini Cheesecakes. A use for leftover Halloween candy. :D

04. December 2009: Fudge. I haven’t picked an exact recipe, but I plan on making a boatload of fudge for the holidays.

05. January 2010: Granola bars – I’ll modify the recipe in 1000 Gluten Free Recipes by Carol Fenster. I’ve made granola, but not bars.

06. February 2010: Hush puppies – also from 1000 GF Recipes, but I’ll sub the sorghum blend with Pamela’s. If that doesn’t work, I’ll retry later with something else (but not sorghum, it doesn’t agree with me).

07. March 2010: Pita bread. I need to get Bette Hagman’s book for this. I put this in March because it will require special flours, and hey, tax return! Also, not so hot out yet that the oven will cook the apartment.

08. April 2010: Quiche – undetermined recipe. It’s something I want to try. I might make a pie crust, I might not.

09. May 2010: Flourless Chocolate Cake – not sure on this recipe, either. I have a few saved.

10. June 2010: Roasted Cinnamon Nuts. This may get moved up and replaced. I don’t know if I can hold out almost a year to make them.

11. July 2010: Crumpets!. That recipe uses a flour mix that has “gluten free wheat starch” (seriously, wtf?!), but I bet I can find a mix over here to at least try it with.

12. August 2010: Ravioli. This’ll require making my own pasta, so, a big challenge for me.

I’ve finally started cooking again. I know, over a year! But I’m sorting it out, finally. I’ve actually cooked three new things recently – corn tortillas, granola, & poblano enchiladas.

Tonight I’m sitting down with my cookbooks and Evernote recipes and coming up with a 12 month plan. One recipe per month, and then I’ll finally clear this goal and move on.

I found out recently that I have a gluten intolerance, so no more wheat, rye, or barley (or anything that might be cross contaminated) for me. I do want to jump in to learning this new way of baking/cooking, but the supplies are crazy expensive, and I’m having to slowly acquire all new spices, so it may be a bit until I get in a cooking groove again.