Simply Curious

I acquired a recipe a while back that was allegedly the salsa from The Tortilla Factory in Herndon, VA.

Problem is, I can't QUITE get it right.  Last time I thought it was because I switched ground red pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  You don't want a tablespoon of ground red pepper (cayenne) in anything!  I managed to subdue it with a lot of brown sugar.

This time, I had several pounds of tomatoes from my garden, nearly enough to make this recipe, so I thought I'd try again.  I had to buy a few tomatoes to get enough.

To follow the recipe, I had to acquire 29 ounces of crushed tomatoes, which, of course, I had to look up how to do.


 First I had to remove the skins.  You do this by cutting a shallow X in the side opposite the stem, dropping them in boiling water for a short period (I waited until I could see the skin around the X start to pull away) and then drop them in ice water.  The skin pulls off easily.

My husband loved Chinese food when he was younger, but increasing food allergies and intolerances have made it impossible for him to eat it anymore.

Frustrated by my inability to find bread in the store that's soy free, I've turned to making my own.

While meal planning and dealing with meat are not on my list of things I like to do, baking is another story.  I love measuring and kneading and stirring.  I have no qualms at all about foregoing the spoon and mixing dough with my bare (but clean, of course) hands.  It's FUN.

Until it isn't.  I found a no-knead bread recipe on Pinterest and liked the idea.  Fresh baked bread always an hour away?  How useful!  And cheap!  And better than ingesting all the added preservatives and chemicals.  I know EXACTLY what goes into my bread.

Unfortunately, I could not get my bread to turn out.  I invested in a nice big glass jar to store dough in the fridge.  (I couldn't find a plastic one the right size.)  The first batch actually turned out OK, rose beautifully, even, but was just too salty.  The following batches grew steadily worse.  Or at least, not what I expected.  The main problem was the crust being dark brown while the inside was undercooked, even after internal temperatures had reached the recommended amount.  I had to resort to breaking the loaf because I couldn't cut into it.  So I researched.  And researched.  And got big, heavy, complex books out of the library.  And tested.  I bought a jar of yeast.  I tried a glass loaf pan, a metal bakeware one, and the pizza stone.  I tried an aluminum foil tent to prevent the crust from browning too quickly.  I switched from bread flour to all-purpose.  I suddenly realized the all-purpose was bleached, which apparently makes a difference.  I tried changing the baking times and temperatures.  It became a challenge I HAD to win.  And somehow I couldn't.  The recipe was NOT foolproof like it claimed!  We ate most of them anyway.

So I'm giving it one last old fashioned try.  I went back to the basics with this recipe and am currently waiting for it to rise.  The dough is much drier and easier to handle, so I'm hoping it will be adequate to the cause.  Otherwise I'm giving up on the recipe completely and moving on to other ones.

Update:  Dough looks beautiful, but I managed to set the fire alarm off.  So much for using metal cake pans for steam!  I think the temp was a LITTLE too high for them.  The house smells a little bit like the time I managed to melt the Christmas wreath.

Update 2:  House now smells like warm, fresh baked bread.  Bread came out absolutely perfect!  Rose beautifully, nice and squishy, cooked through, crust isn't too hard or thick, and not too salty, which was a concern in the comments section. I think I will leave it in a full 25 minutes next time.

I'm really excited about this.  I was getting SO frustrated trying to produce decent bread with the other recipe!  Now I know it's not me or the stove!

My mother told me about a recipe she tried using just a box of cake mix and a 12 oz can of soda. Creativity sparked, and I decided to try it out with my microwave cake recipe and see what happened. Turned out exactly like the previous recipe! Here it is:

Microwave Soda Cake

2 TBSP flour
1.5 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBSP soda or diet soda of your choice.

Mix together and microwave for 1 minute. Surprise! Cake!



I used Fanta Strawberry soda, which explains the pinkness. If I get strawberries I might try cutting one up and adding it to the mix. I saw suggestions of using cream soda and am all about trying that next. Don't forget to sprinkle chocolate chips as frosting as soon as you take it out!

Update: If you want a moister cake, add 3 tbsps instead of 2, and microwave for 1 minute and 15-20 seconds.

Easy yellow cake in a cup!

My miniatures group has been discussing microwave cake for a while now, but this is the first time I tried it.  You can use a microwave safe mug or a ramekin.  I used a bouillon bowl, because that's all I could find in the store.  It's kind of like a small soup bowl.  The cake ends up about two inches high in this bowl.

Here are my two favorite recipes.  I didn't bother mixing in a separate bowl or using cooking spray, and it didn't seem to make any difference.  I also ate it directly out of the bowl.  Be careful when removing - it will be HOT and you're going to have to WAIT.  Good luck.  I sprinkle chocolate chips across the top right after removing it from the microwave.  It melts quickly and acts as frosting. 


Single Serving Microwave Chocolate Cake
(source: http://allthingsholdtogether.com/blog/2009/09/24/single-serving-microwave-cake-recipe/)

Ingredients:
2 TBSP flour
1.5 TBSP sugar 
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
2 TBSP milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp oil

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.  Microwave on high for 1 minute.  



Single Serving Microwave Yellow Cake:
(source: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1035841)
  
Ingredients: 


2 TBSP flour 
1.5 TBSP sugar 
1/4 tsp baking powder 
1/8 tsp salt
 2 TBSP milk 
3/4 TBSP oil 
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

Mix ingredients together and microwave on high for 1 minute.

The photo above is yellow cake, but made with brown sugar.  It tastes just as good as white sugar!

So over the holidays I decided to branch out into an area I feel more comfortable with - making cookies. 
Growing up, cookie making was a major part of the winter celebrations.  We'd go all out, turning the kitchen and dining room into a production site, playing Christmas carols, or watching related movies as we worked.  Mom had given me several recipes that I wanted to try and/or perfect. 
I was fortunate in that I had discovered that Bloom carried two vital products that would enable Brian to eat my cookies without getting sick.  The first was Enjoy Life's soy/peanut free chocolate chips.  The second was Earth Balance's soy free margarine.  While the debate is still out there regarding butter vs margarine in both health and proper cookie science, I felt a bit better knowing I was using margarine, particularly in regards to cholesterol count.  Along with Trader Joe's sunflower seed butter, I felt set.

First up, of course, was Mom's egg free chocolate chip cookies, from the cookbook Bakin' without Eggs.  These are the favorites of  most of the family.  Brian had requested that I make them smaller so he could pop them in his mouth all in one go. (having to bite into a cookie results in crumbs, and we can't risk losing out on eating any part of the cookie!)  Fortunately Enjoy Life's chips were mini, so they baked up nicely.

Secondly, I made Nestle Crunch Snowball cookies.  As I couldn't use actual Nestle crunch bars (Thanks a lot for your peanut compromised factories, Nestle!) I attempted to make my own.  I used chocolate chips and crisped rice (found some designed for candy making) and poured it into the bottom of a gladware container.  Unfortunately I got it too thick, and it was too difficult to break up into chunks, so I just started randomly dumping the various types of chocolate chips I had around the house into the mix.  They turned out rather well.  The second time I made them I discovered that Enjoy Life made their own crunch bar and used those.  Again, they were a bit too thick to easily break up, and the food processor managed to make a mix of big chunks and fine dust.  I'm going to invest in a chocolate bar shaped candy mold and see if I can't get this right one day. 
There is a LOT of butter/margarine in these cookies, and the dough comes out looking and feeling like stiff cake batter.  I have to stir by hand because it chokes the mixer!

Thirdly, I made the colonial sugar cookies, using the Christmas cutouts my grandmother had given me the year before.  I never got around to attempting icing, so they weren't all that wonderful, but looked festive!

A few days later I attempted to make Rice Krispie treats.  I remember only doing them once before and it being really difficult to stir, but I had no problems this time around.  I pressed in the chocolate chips on top and they came out great. 

Fourthly, I was determined to make Peanut Butter Blossoms.  I love them - I'd even eat them without the kiss on top!  I used the 'easy' eggless recipe from Betty Crocker and the sunflower seed butter.  They turned out great!  I'm so pleased that the sunflower butter works and acts the same way as peanut butter.  Brian was able to eat one, but didn't like it.  I got the rest! 

Finally, last night I tried Muddy Buddies, again with the sunflower seed butter.  I made a mistake and didn't buy enough Chex, so had to cut down the rest of the recipe.  I'm pretty certain I miscalculated, as the finished project had more of a peanut butter than a chocolate taste.  I guess I'll have to try again!

I am so very grateful to Earth Balance and Enjoy Life for caring enough to make these allergen friendly products.  It really made my holidays and gave me a little confidence boost in my kitchen attempts.

So far, I'm grateful to say, my kitchen experiments have been edible.  I've even managed several cakes and cookies.  Brian and I have been sharing meals back and forth.  He's more interested in heavier meals with it getting colder out, and I'm not very good with big hunks of meat.  I did help to make beef stew in a preparatory sort of way, although the little shallot onions thought it would be funny to attack my eyeballs.  I had tears streaming down my face, and couldn't see a thing through the burning sensation on my eyeballs.  It was totally unexpected, as I'd never had this problem with regular onions!  

I had mastered chicken in a skillet, but wasn't too certain about other types of meats.  Brian had bought a pork tenderloin in anticipation of making it with spaetzle, bread and a veggie, but his rough work schedule this past week made him ask me to do it instead.  I admit to balking and whining.  I know nothing about pork or how it should look, and have never done more than wash a roasting pan, and had almost no time to research.  I squeezed it in after class and an unpleasant shopping trip at Wegmans (oh how I hate that store!  I could rant for quite a few paragraphs about it)  and then Giant to find bread without a peanut allergy warning on it. 

Brian's instructions had been 'throw it in the oven and cook it til it's done.'  This, as my mother well knows, is not a good thing to tell me.  Years ago, when I was a teen, she needed to run out around the time she wanted to put a casserole in the oven.  She had it all made up, left it on the counter and told me the same thing.  'All's you need to do is throw it in the oven, I'll be back before it's done.'  I obediently did so.

I'd like to point out that no mention had been made about removing the saran wrap covering the dish. 

I'm not sure if this event led to my OCD need for detailed instructions or if it was something that I've always required, but I have a need to do lots of research before I attempt to do something.  So upon coming home I rushed straight to google.  It turned out to be a bad idea.  There are lots of pork recipes out there, although a lot of them kept getting mixed up with pork loin recipes, which is a different thing.  Many of the recipes called for a marinade, which I didn't have time to do.  It also took me some time to find a web site that properly explained what a roasting pan was and how it worked.  With pictures, because I wasn't sure how it went together, or if what I had WAS a roasting pan and not something else. 

Eventually, hands still shaking from my Wegman's anxiety attack, I crept down to the kitchen to narrow my search options to cookbooks.  The only consensus I could reach was the oven temperature and the time, and worked myself up to a mental stage where I could, in fact, throw the pig in the oven and cook it til it was done.  Determined to make some sort of effort, I sprinkled it with minced onion & garlic and some thyme and stuck it in the V shaped rack in the roasting pan.  There was other metal bits of the pan that I couldn't figure out where they belonged, so I decided I was going to ignore them.  In went the tenderloin and I started the spaetzle on the stove, with easier directions.

Then, I ran into the thermometer dilemma.  I had forgotten to research how to use it.  Cookbook instructions just said stick it in the fattest part with no bone.  They neglected to say if I should remove the meat from the oven first.  So, again, I winged it.  Other instructions said to give it a slice and if juices ran clear it was ok.  It did, so eventually I stopped fussing.

In the end, Brian got home an hour later than normal so everything got reheated.  It turned out very tender, although a little heavy on the spices, but since I like garlic and onions, I wasn't too concerned.  He ate the rest, even taking some to work for lunch, and neither of us got sick, so I figure the meal was a success.

I hate doing things if I don't know if I can do a good job, and don't feel fully prepared.  I'm very detail oriented, even down to physically measuring out margins on custom stationery and labels.  I get very frustrated at recipes because they don't have the amount of detail that I require.  What kind of oil/butter/salt?  Can I substitute this?  How can I eyeball it, if I don't know what it's supposed to look like in the first place?  What does 'done' look/smell/feel like, anyway?  What kind of cooking utensil should I use?  A baking pan? a glass pan?  What's the difference between a baking pan and a cookie sheet?  Can I switch them?  I won't even get into nutrition here. 

In the end I suspect none of it actually matters and I'm some sort of paranoid control freak.  Maybe I should write a recipe book.  "Cooking Basics for the Confused and Suspicious."

I've never been much of a kitchen person. Sure, it was where the food was, but food never interested me all that much. I took a home ec course in middle school, and was generally around to help make desserts, but otherwise I had no interest in being in the kitchen.

Sometimes I wondered if it was just that the kitchen was not a place I felt welcome. Sure, my mom tried to encourage me to use it, but she turned out to be a kitchen tyrant. She hovered. She said, 'here, let me do that.' And eventually took over. I found it very frustrating, but I imagine she did, too. My mother had a system. It worked very well for her, and she didn't stray from her routine. Watching me trying to figure out step 1 when she would have been on steps 6 and 7 simultaneously must have been painful. I didn't end up learning very much.

While Brian was sick I realized just how helpless I was when it came to the kitchen. It was rather humiliating to not be able to cook for him when I came over to help him through chemo days. (not that he wanted to eat, but still!) After we got married, it was HIS kitchen and HIS routine that I had to learn. Yep, another kitchen tyrant, but this one had different food allergies and a primitive style to cooking. ("Measuring cup? I just eyeball it." "I'd be perfectly happy cooking over an open fire.")

The whole first year, I struggled with work, school, a ton of painful commuting, and trying to settle in to a bachelor's house and its subsequent renovations. I avoided the kitchen as much as possible. Brian cooked, or we ate out. I was too exhausted to think about it.

Now it's a year later, and I've left work to concentrate on getting out of school. I have more time and less commuting on my hands, and the insane whirlwind has slowed to a fresh breeze. I have hours alone at home so I can think without having hoverers nearby. I feel mentally ready to take on learning to cook, but it's taken me a long time to get to this point.

I have the feeling that when I'm done, I'll be yet another kitchen tyrant.