Monday, February 21, 2011

Cooking With New Recipes

The weekly menu:
Saturday we had baked founder.
Sunday saw pancakes.
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: Left Overs
Friday: Scandinavian Beans*

*crockpot meal.

We have no activities this week so I can actually stop and spend a few minutes preparing and cooking supper.  It's something the schools call Winter Break, here in the Arctic Tundra, all schools and extra curriculars are put on hold.  Growing up in the south, all we had was Spring Break.  Then again, we also got out 5-6 weeks earlier in the summer then the Arctic Tundra does.  Give and takes, I guess.

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The bread I made last week didn't quite measure up to snuff.  I'm clearly in need of a bit of practice, again.  I'll try a new loaf this week.  Last weeks bread was made into home made breadcrumbs using this recipe.  Lydia's never had anything breaded.  I'm thinking in the next few week's menu plans, that's gonna change. 

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Today I'm making all our taco necessities from scratch.  Like most things in life, Lydia's never had a proper taco.  On taco nights, she usually gets a plate of browned hamburger meat, black olives, tomatoes and lettuce.  No tortillia, no cheese or sour cream.  The poor kid... doesn't know what yummy goodness she's missing.

So far, I've mixed up taco seasonings, steamed and purred some left over butternut squash and now I'm waiting for my balls of dough to rest before I roll them out into proper tortillas shapes.  All recipes were rightfully stolen from this lady, again.  It's gonna be different then what I usually make, but I bet it'll be a lot healthier too, with the added squash and minus the seasoning packet's mystery ingredients.

[Updated to add:  Jer says it tasted very similar to Taco Bell's taco meat.  Except, you know, with more then 35% beef. (Ha!)  He also said it was spicy.  So much so that Lydia kept coughing and choaking with every bite.  Whoops!  Jer loved it spicy.  Poor man, has to live in a house full of wussy girls who can't take the heat.  Guess I'll subtract a bit of seasoning next time to accommodate Lydia a bit more.]

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Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party.  Knowing Lydia wouldn't be able to partake in the birthday cake experience, I whipped up a single 9" cake and 12 cupcakes.  We took 2 cupcakes with us and Jeremy took the single layer cake to work with him today leaving us with 10 more cupcakes to devour here at home.

I didn't think it would turn out to be anything special, just a yellow cake with a fluffy white frosting.  What I didn't know was that I could swear to you the frosting tasted VERY similar to the marshmallow fluff that comes in jars.  It's unbelievably tempting to make it again and this time use it for peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.

In fact after looking at this recipe to make your own marshmallow fluff, I now know it's the same.  Except I used inverted sugar instead of corn syrup and powdered sugar, two things Lydia can't have.

Why, oh, why do I look these things up?!  Now I want to make another batch for sandwiches.  Good thing I don't have any bread made, yet, or I probably would!  If you have any extra bread and peanut butter laying around but no marshmallow fluff, here ya go.  You won't regret it!

Fluffy White Frosting, aka corn free Marshmallow Fluff:

 1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

In saucepan combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar.  Cook and stir 'till bubbly and sugar dissolves. In a small mixer bowl combine egg whites and vanilla.  Add sugar mixture very slowly to egg whites, beating constantly with an electric mixer on high speed about 7 minutes or till stiff peaks form (tips stand up).

Voila!  You can either frost up to two round 9" cakes or make Fluffernutter sandwiches to you little heart's content.
 


Jillian Michaels would be so disappointed in me....

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