Heaven in Pretzel Form

Picture it. New Bedford. 2002. I had just taken the children I used to nanny for apple and pumpkin picking followed by a hayride. We went to pay and what to my wondering eyes to I see? Many large pretzels with apple inside. I was intrigued. I was unsure. I had to have it. I was deLIGHTed when two of my favorite tastes came together in my mouth...apple and soft pretzel.

I have longed for these scrumptious creations ever since and finally decided to do something about it. I have long since moved away from New Bedford, and haven't made a trip back to an apple orchard, but wonderful Recipezaar to the rescue again. I found a recipe for apple stuffed pretzels with streusel topping!

I had a big baking weekend and my Kitchen Aid got a fair amount of use, but my taste buds thank it. I had to get the Daring Bakers challenge out of the way yesterday, so today I went for the pretzels.

These were pretty easy to make, but took about 2½ hours in all. The only thing I would change would be to add a little more of the apple filling to the pretzels. I had quite a bit left over, which made for a great munch while waiting for the pretzels to cook, but would have been better inside the pretzel itself because some bites had more pretzel flavor than others.

Dough
2 1/2	teaspoons yeast
1	tablespoon sugar
1	cup warm water
1 1/2	cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2	cups bread flour
1/2	teaspoon salt
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
Filling
3	small granny smith (or other cooking) apples
1	tablespoon butter
2	tablespoons brown sugar
1/2	teaspoon cinnamon
1	pinch ground cloves
Streusel
1/2	cup flour
1/2	cup brown sugar
1/4	teaspoon cinnamon
4	tablespoons butter
1/2	cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
Additional ingredients
1/3	cup baking soda
2	cups water
1	egg white

1. To prepare dough:
2. Combine yeast, sugar, and water and allow to rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
3. Meanwhile, mix the flours, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl, then add proofed yeast mixture.
4. Stir to form a dough.
5. Place onto lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes until a smooth, but slightly sticky dough is formed.
6. Place into a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and let sit until doubled in size (45-60 minutes).
7. Use the rising time to prepare the streusel and filling.
8. To prepare filling:
9. Peel, core, and thinly (1/4" thick) slice the apples and then cut each slice into 8 pieces. (I cut into 8 slices with my apple corer/slicer, then cut them into thirds width-wise, then half length-wise, and finally into cubes.)
10. Sauté the apples with 1/2 of the TBS of butter, cinnamon, and cloves until the apples are tender, but not mushy.
11. Remove from heat and add the additional 1/2 TBS of butter.
12. To prepare streusel:
13. Combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
14. Cut in the 4 TBS of butter to a crumb consistency.
15. Stir in the chopped pecans.
16. Back to the dough:
    
17. When dough has risen, punch down, place on lightly floured board, and cut into 8 equal pieces (mine were 95-98g each).
18. With hands, roll each piece into a 15" long cylinder.
19. Flatten the cylinder down with a rolling pin to measure 3" wide by 17" long.
20. Place 1 1/2 TBS of the filling mixture along the length of each piece and fold the long edge over to meet the other side.
21. Pinch along the seam to thoroughly enclose the filling.
22. Roll the dough with your hands to form an even cylinder and fully encapsulate the filling.
23. Form into a pretzel shape and press to seal.
24. Place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet.
25. Repeat for all 8 pieces.
26. Allow to rise on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
27. Preparing the baking soda mix:
    
28. While they are rising, boil the water and add to a bowl with baking soda.
29. Preheat oven to 425°F.
30. Prepare for baking:
    
31. Beat the egg white with water and lay it on a flat plate or shallow bowl.
32. Lay the streusel topping on a flat plate (I used an 8"x8" cake pan).
33. When the pretzels have fully risen, drop one at a time into the boiling water for 10 seconds.
34. Remove with a large slotted spatula/spoon to drain slightly and then drop into the egg white, turn to coat, then drop into the streusel and turn to coat.
35. Lay each pretzel on the lined cookie sheet.
36. Repeat this procedure until all pretzels are finished.
37. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes (check on them at 12 minutes, mine only took 12).
38. Remove from cookie sheets and place on racks to cool.

Daring Baker Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

Well, it's that time...another Daring Baker's Challenge. This month's challenge was hosted by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah from Taste and Tell.

This month it was another recipe that I'm not too fond of, but hope to like, cheesecake. All the other DB recipes I'd seen from past months looked like ones I'd like, so I'm sure there will be some more enticing ones soon. I must say, the pops Elle made did look so darn cute! Another Daring Baker said she didn't think she liked cheesecake, but tried this recipe and found she just hadn't tried the right one. I was hoping I'd be one of those lucky people. Was I? Read on to find out!

As usual, I procrastinated and didn't start my pops until yesterday. Since I'm not a big fan of cheesecake and Lee didn't want to end up with too many to eat on his own, I decided to follow another DBer's idea of cooking 1/5 of the recipe. I figured that if we wanted more, I could always make more later. I bought the cream cheese in bulk at Sam's before seeing someone 1/5 the recipe, so I have plenty of the ingredients.

I got to use my Kitchen Aid for this challenge. I'm so glad the Kitchen Aid comes with a booklet that has sample recipes to try out, they have an example for each area of baking you would want to do so you can see the method and adapt it to other recipes. I wasn't sure whether to use the wire whisk or the flat beater for this recipe, but the two cheesecake recipes in my Kitchen Aid booklet said to use the flat beater, so that's precisely what I did. The Kitchen Aid definitely makes it a lot more fun to be a Daring Baker!

The challenge of baking only 1/5 of the recipe was the scale of the ingredients. .4 of an egg yolk was tricky, so I just eyeballed it the best I could. In baking it's best to be exact, but my cheesecake turned out fine, so I don't think it was an issue. I used my 6 inch cake pan and put it in an 8 inch cake pan for the water bath. I'd never made cheesecake before, so I did my usual lining of the pan with parchment paper to prevent sticking. I'm not sure it was really necessary since I scooped the cheesecake out of the pan. Also, Elle and Deborah said the cheesecake should be 1¼" thick in the pan to make scooping easier, mine was more like 1", but again, it didn't seem to make much difference, I was able to scoop out just fine.



The allowed adaptations were flavoring in the cheesecake (as long as it was still white) and any color/flavor coatings we wanted. Since I figured Lee would be the one eating them all I asked him what he wanted for the coating and he decided he wanted strawberry. I found a recipe for a strawberry glaze.

Later on, Lee said he wanted some graham cracker crumb when I asked him if he wanted a bit, so I had him pick up some graham crackers at Shaw's on his way home from work. Well, that was a bit of a project because of the pronunciation differences of g-r-a-h-a-m in the US and UK. In the UK the name is pronounced "grayam", and in the US it's pronounced "gram." I'm not a big fan of the UK pronunciation, but that's probably because it's just different and I have a hard time saying it that way. Unfortunately, Lee's step-grandfather is named Graham, so I have to try to pronounce it the UK way when talking about or to him! Well, Lee decided to be funny when calling me from the store and say that he couldn't find "gram crackers" all he could find were "grayam crackers." HA. HA. HA. Very funny. He was also confused about the different flavors and didn't know whether he should get chocolate, cinnamon, plain, etc...I figured plain would be the best for the cheesecake since I was trying the strawberry glaze. Anyway, he got home with the the g-crackers and I had to break it to him that He got the wrong brand! I had to tell him that Honey Maid is to graham crackers what Heinz is to ketchup...he bought Keebler!! The horror!! Well, we made do.

While the cheesecake was cooling, I made my strawberry glaze so it would have plenty of time to cool to room temperature before coating the pops. I didn't want the hot glaze to melt the cheesecake. This was pretty easy to make and only took a total of about 10 minutes. I ended up doubling the recipe because I wanted to make sure to have enough glaze to dip the pops into. I was worried that just making the recipe as is wouldn't make enough. I had glaze leftover, but I feel it was worth it. The hardest part was crushing the strawberries for the recipe. I tried using a potato masher, but it didn't work out well, so then I took the rough side of my meat mallet and pressed it against the strawberries. This worked so much better! I measured out the ½ cup of crushed strawberries, then added the juices to the pan. The strawberry scent wafting out of the pot was AMAZING! While making the glaze, it will look cloudy and thick. Don't worry about that, once you strain it, it will be a gorgeous, bright red color and I didn't even use any of the food coloring! I also didn't use any of the lemon, but that's just personal preference.

The Elle and Deborah said the pops had to be 2 oz. in size. 2 oz. made for some pretty big pops! It wasn't too bad making the pops. I wanted to get mine moving a long, so after my cheesecake was in the fridge for about an hour, I put it in the freezer just to top it off. It made it easier to shape the cheesecake into balls since cheesecake is so sticky. I had tried to make one pop before freezing and my hands were just as gooey as they were after the freezer, making 6 pops. If you have the freezer space, definitely try freezing them for about ½-1 hour to make them a bit firmer, but not so firm you can't manipulate them into the shape you want. That was another plus to only making 1/5 of the recipe. Many Daring Bakers had problems with freezer space, I didn't have to worry about that since I was only making 6.

After freezing the pops for about an hour, and cooling the glaze in the fridge, it was dipping time! I'm glad I made a double batch of the glaze. I did a coating, then put the graham cracker crumbs on it, and realized it was a thin coating. I froze all the pops for a few minutes more, then did a second coating of the glaze. If I make these again, I would do the double coating of glaze, allow that to cool a bit in the freezer, then dip them in the crumbs. Because the glaze is runny, it had a bit of pooling like a caramel apple, but that was easily smoothed away. I ended up dipping them in the graham crackers again just before serving.



The verdict? Well, I'm not a cheesecake fanatic, but these pops have definitely made me want to try this recipe with different flavors. These are very creamy and rich, they reminded me of the texture of ice cream. I also think it might be too rich to eat in regular cheesecake form. I must admit, I liked the pops in the part where there was the thicker coating of graham crackers. I guess just need a balance of texture and tastes. I think I'll add extra graham cracker to mine and both Lee and I agree that we would like them better if they were smaller, say 1 ounce. I think that would make the dipping a lot easier too.

This is a really long post, so you can visit either Elle's or Deborah's blogs for the complete recipe. I'm posting the measurements to make 1/5 of the recipe as well as the recipe for the glaze.

Cheesecake Pops

1/5 recipe (yields 6 2oz. pops):

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
86 grams sugar (0.4 cups)
7.6 grams all-purpose flour (0.05 cups)
0.05 tsp salt (a little less than half of a 1/8 tsp measure if you have it)
1 large egg
0.4 egg yolk (eyeballed this obviously)
0.4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp (15 mL) heavy cream (0.05 cups)

Strawberry Glaze

1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup crushed strawberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
1-2 drops red food coloring (optional)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, blend cornstarch, corn syrup, and water until smooth.
2. Add strawberries and turn up heat to medium-high.
3. Stirring lightly, bring to a boil and allow to boil for one minute.
   
4. Strain, add lemon juice and food coloring if desired, and cool.
   

Pork Chops with Herby Cream Sauce

I decided to make a pork dish since we got a large tenderloin on sale and cut it into chops. I had found this recipe in the Taste of Home cookbook I had borrowed from the library. I'm not a big fan of pork chops, so I thought the sauce would help the flavor.

This was a really simple recipe to make. The only problem was that neither one of us felt that the cream sauce had enough flavour for our tastes. I'll try this recipe again, but try a full tablespoon of beef bullion (a whole cube instead of half) and either up the amount of herbs, or put in a bit of garlic...garlic would be nice...mmmmmmm!!

Anyway, we both liked it, just iddn't feel like it had as much flavor as we would have liked.

Pork Chops with Herby Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 pork chops
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon beef bullion (½ cube)
1 tablespoon minced parsley
½ tablespoon basil, thyme, or tarragon
2/3 cup milk or half-and-half
2 tablespoons water
pepper

1. In large skillet, heat vegetable oil and cook pork chops until browned and 160°F internal temperature.
2. Drain and set pork chops aside.
3. Cook flour, parsley, and basil/thyme/tarragon for a minute or two.
4. Slowly add milk, water, pepper, and beef bullion. Whisk together.
   
5. Bring to a boil, cooking and whisking for about 2 minutes or until thickened.
   
6. Pour over pork chops.

Mac and Cheese, Take 2

So I'm making another attempt at a mac and cheese Lee will like. This was the final recipe I had to make for April's recipe swap. It turned out pretty good, but a bit grainy (although I wonder if that was because I used my enameled cast iron dutch oven for baking since I didn't have a big enough casserole dish, I'll have to get a bigger casserole dish and try again sometime) . Lee can't stand Velveeta and didn't believe me that there was Velveeta in the recipe even though he saw me take out the Velveeta for it! He was actually taking little bites of it and complaining that he's starting to like mac and cheese. Must. find. more. recipes!

I like baked mac and cheese with bread crumbs on top, so I might do that if I make this again. I would also leave out the salt. I added it to be true to the recipe since I was rating the recipe as is for a game, but I think Velveeta has a salty enough taste without adding more. As usual, I'm posting the recipe as I would make it next time with a link to the original.

Oh, and I didn't get to eat this at home. I've been bugging Lee about getting his driver's license. He never got it in England because he didn't really need it much at Uni and when he was with his parents he just made do with them driving him places. He needs a license in the States, but was nervous about it. I ate the mac and cheese on the way to bring him to his license test. He was shocked, but then ecstatic when he passed! He's driving himself to work this weekend and had to take a little driver yesterday afternoon to Radio Shack just because he could. Turns out he was just worried about the test, not the actual act of driving.

Classic Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ white onion, diced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
pepper
4 cups milk
2 lbs. Velveeta, diced
1 lb. elbow macaroni
1½-2 cups breadcrumbs

1. Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large pan (I used a 6 qt. pan.)
2. Add onion and cook until soft.
   
3. Add flour and cook for a minute or two.
4. Meanwhile, cook macaroni according to package directions and preheat oven to 350°F.
   
5. Add milk and pepper and cook for a few minutes until thickened and bubbly.
6. Add diced Velveeta and cook until melted.
   
7. Drain macaroni and mix cheese sauce and macaroni in a large 5 qt. casserole dish.
   
8. Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 45 minutes.

Rigatoni Bolognese

Well, after this month, I think I may take a break from the recipe swaps on Recipezaar and focus on doing a tag game here and there and my Daring Baker's challenges. I'm finding that I am buying extra food for these things and we're trying to stick to a budget. We've been doing a lot better since I found The Grocery Game, but we're still trying to keep within reason and I also tend to forget about them until the end of the month feeling like I have so much time!

On the topic of The Grocery Game, I do recommend you try it out if you're interested in saving money on groceries! It's $1 for a month long trial, and then there is a small fee after that. We have saved so much in groceries by learning how to combine sales with coupons. I'd read that you should do a price book and use coupons and stock up at "rock-bottom" sales, but can't be bothered to track the sales like that. We have saved about 1/3-1/2 of our grocery bills each week because of this and the savings are getting even bigger now that we're getting through our "stockpiling" stage. I just think it's great so far, so does Lee and now when I go grocery shopping he asks me how much we saved! We're getting to buy fun food for less than we spent on just the basics!!!

I digress...

This post is supposed to be about rigatoni bolognese, so here we go. I had meant to make this on Tuesday night, I had looked at the times and saw the recipe said ½ hour cook time and ½ hour prep. I thought that meant that I should plan a full hour for the cooking. Well...it turned out that the sauce had to simmer for an hour, so it took more like an hour and a half to cook the dinner and by the time I was going to get started on Tuesday, it was getting later, so we just something else quick instead.

On Wednesday, I did set aside enough time to make it. It turned out pretty good, but I found I needed twice the amount of tomatoes that the recipe called for to have enough tomato sauce for the amount of rigatoni used. Lee didn't like the taste of the wine, so I would have to cut that back some more if I made this again, or find a better tasting wine than we used. I know you aren't supposed to cook with a wine you wouldn't drink, but neither one of us are big fans of alcohol, and I don't like red wine much on a good day (I'm a Pinot Grigio girl) so I don't see the point in spending too much money on something we don't use much, that is just meant for a bit of flavour.

I'm posting the recipe how I did make it and would adapt it for making again, but am linking to the original recipe if you would like to look at it.

Authentic Rigatoni Bolognese

2 carrots diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
½ white onion, diced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey)
½-1 cup red wine
1 29 ounce can crushed tomatoes
salt
pepper
½ lb. rigatoni
parlsey

1. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, and onion. Cook until soft.
2. Add ground meat and cook until browned.
   
3. Add wine, tomatoes, salt, and pepper and simmer for an hour on low heat or until sauce has thickened.
   
4. When sauce is almost finished, cook rigatoni to package directions, drain, and mix with sauce.
   
5. Plate and garnish with fresh parsley.

Breakfast for Two

Woops! I didn't realize it had been so many days since I last updated! Well, it's been school vacation, and although I had to go in to work for a few hours on Wednesday, and a little bit today, I've been trying to take it easy.

On Tuesday, Lee didn't have to work until the afternoon and I didn't have to go to work at all, so I made breakfast for us. I had bought some egg rings at Crate and Barrel and have been waiting for a chance to use them. I made egg sandwiches on cinnamon swirl bread.

I liked the egg rings. I prefer my little egg pan that is so cute with the egg guy on the handle, but when you're making more than one sandwich, it's so much better to have the egg rings so you can make them faster. I love the cinnamon swirl bread and it was great with the egg and cheese. I forgot to take a picture because I was planning to make something else for the blog later on, but didn't end up doing that.

Egg Sandwiches on Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
4 slices cinnamon swirl bread
2 slices American cheese
pepper

1. Melt butter on a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat.
   
2. In a small bowl, place in one egg, add pepper, and whisk together.
   
3. Place egg ring on skillet and pour egg mixture inside. Repeat with other egg.
4. Meanwhile, toast bread in toaster, butter lightly when finished.
5. When the egg looks almost set, remove ring and flip to finish off the top.
   
6. Place a slice of cheese on each egg round and melt slightly.
7. Put egg between two slices of cinnamon swirl bread and enjoy!
   

Stovies

A couple of months ago, I asked some people what to do with leftover roast beef. These people are in/from the UK and had some great ideas since roasts are traditional Sunday meals there! One of the recommendations was Stovies. Stovies is a Scottish dish made from "the scrapings off the stove." In its simplest form, you just take all your leftovers from the Sunday roast and heat it all up together. You do need to mince the beef first, but that's easily done with a sharp knife or a food processor.

I just had Lee mince the beef since my thumb has been bothering me. I then put it in a roasting pan with the leftover vegetables from last night's dinner and dribbled some gravy over the top. I heated it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes or until hot.

The taste of this will depend on the quality of your leftovers. If you had an excellent roast dinner, your Stovie will taste good, if not, your Stovie will not taste as nice. I'd definitely make this again to use up leftovers, it's quick, easy, and delicious!

For more information and a recipe in case you want to try it and don't have leftovers you can visit www.stovies.com

Brownies from Scratch, Take 2

A couple of months ago, I made some brownies from scratch. They tasted pretty good, but they were really flat and I wasn't able to get the flourless brownies to rise properly.

Today I tried a recipe that included a bit of flour, but not a lot. It rose beautifully, and was really easy to make. Of course, it's not a brownie for me without chocolate chips in it, so I included a couple of handfuls of those. The only downfall was they were a bit dry and powdery tasting. It tasted a bit overwhelmingly of the cocoa powder. I don't mind them, but would prefer if they didn't taste so powdery. I might actually try these a gain with baking chocolate to see if they taste better.

The Real McCoy Brownies

6 oz (12 tbsp) butter
2/3 cup cocoa
1¼ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 cup cake flour or ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup nuts, chopped or semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

1. Melt butter, while hot whip in cocoa.
2. Allow to cool.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   
4. Whisk in sugar, salt, and vanilla.
5. Add all the eggs at once, and whisk until smooth and fluffy.
6. Fold in flour (and nuts, or chocolate chips) until just incorporated.
7. Transfer to floured, parchment paper lined 9x9" pan.
   
8. Bake for 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted should not come out clean, but the batter that clings to the toothpick should be dry.
9. Allow to cool, the enjoy!

Caribbean Jerk Chicken

On Saturday, I used one of my Lawry's marinades called Caribbean Jerk. I've said before that I'm trying to cut down on the convenience food, but sometimes you just have to use the convenience food for sanity. Maybe I wouldn't want to turn to it as much if I wasn't working, but even on the weekends I just need time to relax and don't want to do as involved meals as I would if I were stay-at-home.

Anyway, I've been learning how to combine coupons with sales through the Grocery Game. It's fabulous so far and we've had each grocery bill cut in half through following this program and each week we need to buy less and less. The Lawry's marinades were on sale, and I had coupons, so I got a few.

I also used a bit of the marinated on the carrots I made as a side dish. I did make the mistake of forgetting to turn on the burner, but the marinade did make our raw carrots taste good!

I grilled the chicken on the George Foreman and they turned out pretty well, but both Lee and I are pretty tired of the George Foreman grill. We both feel that it ends up overcooking the outside a bit in order to properly cook the inside. It also ends up leaving a flat char on the meat, rather than just the regular grill lines people like to see. We decided we would like something like an indoor grill that you use just like an outdoor one.

Anyway, there isn't really a recipe for this. I just marinated the chicken for an hour and grilled it. My plan with the carrots was to steam them with a couple of tablespoons of the marinated and a touch of water. The rice was Herb and Butter Rice-a-Roni.

Marinated Chicken Tenders and Seafood Risotto

Friday is the day my grade level orders lunch out. On Friday I ordered some marinated chicken tenders, what they were marinated in, I have no idea, but they were marinated. When I think of chicken tenders, I think of long chicken nuggets, these did not have any breading on the outside, they were just the marinated meat, grilled.

I did like these. I wish the menu said what they were marinated in, I couldn't quite tell, but it was very good and I'd order it again.

Friday was a busy night and I didn't take a picture.

Friday was definitely crazy. I also had to drive down to my parents' house for my mom's birthday dinner. We went to Davy's Locker and I decided to go for something different than my usual lobster or baked stuffed lobster. I went with the seafood risotto. It was scrumptious! It had mussels, shrimp, scallops, clams, and lobster in it. I hope to find a similar recipe so I can make it at home some time.

By the way, the five stars is for the risotto, I would rate the chicken as a four.

Pudding Pie

On Thursday, it was not only my mom's birthday, but it was the birthday of one of my students. The student's mother brought in some cupcakes for her birthday, and I noticed a large cupcake on top of the containers of smaller cupcakes. I asked the girl if her mom had bought the big one for the birthday girl and she said that her mom told her to give it to me. That was very thoughtful.

I must say, I was surprised to bite into it and discover it was not a cupcake at all, but a pie filled with chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream and chocolate crumbs! I must say I was a bit disappointed to not have a cake, but the pie was really good. It was too big for me to eat all in one go, but I did save it to finish later.

Unfortunately, I forgot the pie at school and didn't remember to take a picture. It's now vacation, and I'm afraid it will be bad before I get back to school to try to get it. Too bad, it was pretty good!

Steak Burrito

Wednesday night, I had some late conferences, so we ate out at Qdoba. I got the Fajita Ranchera burrito and Lee got the Steak Burrito. Lee agreed with me that the burritos taste better at Qdoba, but the chips and salsa are better at Moe's.

I had the Fajita Ranchera before, but hadn't tried the steak burrito. I tried a bite of Lee's and it was pretty good. I prefer chicken burritos, but I'd have no problem ordering the steak burrito once in a while.

I forgot to take a picture again, but I did take a picture of a cute kitty we found in the parking lot!

Tuna Fish with Corn?!?!?!?

I couldn't believe it when Lee said that he wanted me to buy some "sweet corn" a.k.a. canned corn so he could have a tuna fish sandwich. I have never heard of anyone mixing corn in with tuna fish. He then mentioned putting cucumber on it, but that he preferred corn.

I had very big reservations about trying this concoction, but it actually wasn't too bad. I can't say I like it, but I can't say I don't like it either. It was a strange texture too. I'm not used to having crunchiness with tuna fish sandwiches. I don't think I'd make it for myself, or really even want to have it again, but there are plenty of things I would choose it over.

I forgot to take a picture, but I'm sure Lee will be having it again and will try to update with a picture then.

Spicy Rotel Chicken Skillet Meal

Tonight I had to work late because of conferences, so I needed something quick and easy for dinner. It took me longer to decide what to make than it did to make the actual recipe!

I found a recipe for Rotel Spicy Skillet Chicken on Recipezaar and decided to try that. I wasn't sure what to make with it for the rice, but I ended up going with some plain long grain rice where I put in some bullion cubes with the water to give it a bit of flavor.

This was so easy to make and it turned out delicious! The mushrooms were incredible when I bit into them and the Rotel and onions mixed in well with the rice. The only problem is that I forgot to add the final touch of some shredded cheese on top! I'll definitely make this again, with cheese.

Also, I almost forgot to make the salad, but remembered at the last minute and I've made it two days in a row.

Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

Well, I'm all caught up now and I'm hoping to keep it that way! I'm also trying to make our meals more well-rounded. We usually have two sides, but often it's rice and bread, or mashed potatoes and corn. I learned that you aren't apparently supposed to mix too many "starches" and corn should be considered a starch for these purposes. Lee grew up with a vegetable with every meal and doesn't feel a meal is complete without one. I really can't argue with that since I know it's better to do it that way, I just never was really used to it. I haven't gotten good at it over the past few months because it's overwhelming to me to learn so many new things at one time, so I decided today that I'm going to make it a goal to make sure I have a salad with every meal. Once that is a habit for me, I'll start adding the second veg and making sure the meals are well-rounded. I figured salads would be the easier place for me to start and I can get more variety into our diet faster that way.

Today I did have a salad for each of us with the meal. Lee doesn't like uncooked tomatoes (something he doesn't like, shocking!!!), so his salad didn't have tomatoes, but we both had mixed field greens, cucumber, and mushrooms. I had Catalina dressing, Lee had Ranch. He just loves ranch. I'm going to have to perfect a recipe for that before we move to England because it's very hard to find over there.

Moving on to the main dish...today I made cheese stuffed meatloaf with garlic roasted tomato Rice a Roni. This was really good. The meatloaf recipe called for 1/4 cup chopped onion, but I would leave that out next time. Lee thought it was a bit too much and I agree since the pasta sauce I used had chunks of onion in it as well.

I wasn't sure how the layers of cheese would turn out in the meat, and I probably could have spread it more evenly, but it still was really good. We both topped it with Parmesan cheese.

The rice was also really good. It went well with the tomato flavour in the meatloaf. I'd make that again as well.

Ranch Cheeseburgers on Homemade Buns

I joined another recipe swap on Recipezaar this month. One of the recipes I tagged is for Ranch cheeseburgers. I didn't have any hamburger buns, so I decided to make some from scratch. I found a couple of recipes that sounded good, but I went with one that was for rolls that should be done in 40 minutes.

The cheeseburgers called for dry ranch dressing mix, but I didn't have any on hand and the only ground beef I had was 7% fat, so I used regular ranch dressing to add some moisture to the meat. It worked a treat. I tried a bit of one of the burgers without dressing and thought it tasted really good. I was wondering about whether it would take too much away from the flavor of the burgers to add ketchup, but I tried a little bite with some ketchup and I figured out it would be ok with just a tiny bit.

The buns turned out great as well. The first batch weren't the best shape, but they still tasted great. They were pretty easy and I have loads of leftovers for other burgers too. They actually taste quite good as just rolls on their own. These rolls remind me of the Texas Roadhouse rolls, not an exact match, but similar.

I made some fries to go with them, the same recipe I did with my fish and chips.

This was an excellent meal and I'll definitely have to make these time and time again! I'm learning that I really do seem to prefer making my own things at home. I'm not sure how long it'll last, but it'll be fun for now!

Thanksgiving on a Bun...

What could be more perfect? The local D'Angelo near the place I went for my Masters degree had a Thankgiving dinner sub. It was scrumptious and had turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. I would always get it there and hadn't been able to find it at any other D'Angelo that makes it.

I was so excited when my grade level team decided to order our Friday lunch from D'Angelo and saw that it was on their menu now!!! It also comes with gravy. I wasn't so sure about the gravy on it, but now that I think back, what is there NOT to love about it. I decided to dip the sandwich in the gravy and..it. was. heaven!

I can't wait to have it again and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Perfection, D'Angelo, just perfection!

Honey Wheat Bread

One of Lee's complaints about the US is that the bread is too small! His English side of the family is made of big eaters. His little 9 year old brother can well out-eat me! All of my friends are shocked when they see how much he eat, and the most surprising thing is that he isn't very big! Well, he's tall, but not round in the slightest.

Anyway, back to the bread. The bread I buy in the US, (Home Pride Wheat) is about 4" x 4" but the bread he likes in England is about 6" x 6". That's quite a difference! Since I bought my Kitchen Aid® I wanted to give it a shot and after searching for larger bread pans, found one by Wilton that is huge!

I was wondering how much dough I should make, and was thinking I'd have to double recipes, but I was excited to see that it comes with a recipe for Honey Wheat Bread! I just had to give it a go.

I looked at my instructions for my Kitchen Aid® to see how much I could make, I remembered seeing a note in it that told how much flour you could use at a time. Since this is a big recipe, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to overload my brand new mixer! The directions said not to use more than 10 cups all-purpose flour or 6 cups whole wheat flour when making dough in a mixer the size of mine, since this recipe called for 8 cups flour total, I thought that maybe it might compromise and work out ok.

Since I have never made a bread in one of these things before, I did have some problems, but I don't know if it's because of me or because I had too much dough in my mixer. The dough actually crept up and was higher than the top of the hook. I found out I accidentally had it at too high a speed as well (it says not to put it to a higher speed than 2 with the dough hook and I put it to 4). I'll have to try it one more time and then see if it works. I ended up divining the dough into two parts for the kneading and it worked a little better after that.

I was wondering how difficult it would be to roll out to the size needed, but it wasn't difficult at all and I didn't even need to flour the surface first.

It turned out fantastic! Neither Lee nor I could stop eating it. The bread wasn't as wide as what he likes in England, but he felt the height was so much better, a good compromise for now. I could not stop myself from eating slice after slice, and it tasted AMAZING with just a little butter on it.

The only other thing now is for me to figure out the best way to slice it up! I did ok, but it was tricky.

Be sure to half the recipe unless you have the same pan I do, or plan to make two loaves.

Honey Wheat Bread

4½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
1½ cups milk
1½ cups water
¼ cup honey
¼ cup oil
4 cups whole wheat flour

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups all-purpose flour, salt and yeast.
2. In a separate bowl, or pan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until hot to the touch or about 125°F.
   
3. Gradually add liquids to the dry ingredients and beat for about two minutes at medium speek.
   
4. Add 1 cup-all purpose flour, beat at high for 2 more minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
   
5. Switch to dough hook, and gradually add the whole wheat flour, and enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.
6. Place in a greased bowl and coat. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
   
7. Turn out dough and roll to 18" x 10" rectangle. Roll up from the long end to make a loaf.
   
8. Pinch the seam ends and seal. Place, seam side down in greased pan, cover, and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).
   
9. Bake at 375°F f or 35 minutes or until done.
   
10. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
    
11. When cooled, slice and enjoy!
    

Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Kitchen Aid®

I got a new Kitchen Aid® stand mixer!! I am so excited! Lee and I went to do a little clothes shopping on Friday and they were on sale. He mentioned that if I didn't want any clothes, we could count that as my birthday present and get one. I was not happy. He knew how much I wanted it, but I really did need at least a couple of new shirts. We talked about it and decided that it would also count as part of a "Congratulations on your Promotion" gift because it is a lot more expensive than what he got. I also put back a couple of things I planned to get and only bought three shirts.

Well, because of report cards and being so tired, I hadn't gotten to play with my new toy until Wednesday night! I decided to try a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the one that came with my mixer.

They weren't as soft as the ones I usually make, and they tasted more like Chips Ahoy® than my Nestlé Toll House. I don't really like Chips Ahoy®, so that wasn't a good thing for me. I even did my usual trick of using half butter and half shortening and it still didn't help them stay chewy! Lee thought these were just OK too, and I won't plan to make these again.

Kitchen Aid® Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margerine, softened
2 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, mix baking soda, salt, and flour.
   
2. In a separate bowl mix sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture.
   
4. Add chocolate chips.
   
5. Drop rounded teaspoons onto baking sheets and cook for about 10-12 minutes at 375°F.

Penne with Tomatoes and Basil

I loved that roasted cherry tomato recipe I made a few weeks back, so I decided to have another go at a similar recipe. This recipe had the same general concept, but it ended up lacking flavour. It did call for some beans, which I left out since I didn't have any, but I really don't think that would have added any flavor at all. I'd have to seriously tweak this recipe to make it taste good and don't think I'll bother when I have one that is similar and tastes so much better.

Chicken Cutlet with a Mushroom Sauce

I went to a conference and they served us lunch. I liked the salad (Cesar) and the rolls were delicious, but I wasn't a big fan of the lunch itself. It was a chicken cutlet and it had some sort of mushroom sauce on it. It tasted about like a TV dinner. The chicken and breading had barely any flavor and the mushroom sauce was so thin and flavorless too.

Oreo® Jello Pudding

I used to not like pudding. I used to never want to try it. Then came my discovery of pudding cups when I worked in daycare. Turns out I just didn't like instant pudding with the plasticy film on top. I loved the Dulce de Leche pudding and when I got a coupon for pudding and it was on sale, Lee and I decided to try Oreo® pudding too.

I think this pudding is ok. It has a bit of Oreo® flavour, but not as much as I was looking for. I will, and have, eaten it again.

SSShhhh...I snuck a meal out!

Ok, so this isn't the most discrete sneaking of a meal out I've done, but it's my new food for the day, so I guess I kinda have to fess up. My boyfriend and I are trying to save money by not eating out much, but I had some errands to run and decided to try Qdoba while I was out. My former roommate raves about it and I like Moe's Southwest Grill and figured this would be similar.

I was a little sad to see that they didn't just give you chips and salsa with the meal. They did have a sign that said they were available for free upon request, I don't know why they do it that way, maybe because it's across the street from Moe's and they do it for free with everyone's meal?

Anyway, I think I prefer Moe's chips and salsa and Qdoba's burritos. I can't explain it well, but the chips and salsa just tasted better to me at Moe's. I preferred the burritos at Qdoba because everything was just more fresh tasting and flavorful. I could actually make out the different flavors of the ingredients depending on where I bit in. I don't get that with Moe's.

Hmmm....I wonder if it'll look strange if I get some burritos at Qdoba and head across the street to Moe's for the chips and salsa....

Starburst Sour Jelly Beans

I only in the past couple of years started to like jelly beans. I didn't like the consistency of them. Jelly Belly got me started back into them, even then just a couple of flavors. Since then, I have also found out I like the Starburst jelly beans.

Lee got me some Starburst jelly beans for Easter, but got me some sour ones. I'm not a fan of sour. I just don't like it. I wasn't going to take them back, so I decided to try them anyway. Surprisingly, they aren't that sour, more just tart. I do like tart. I can't eat as many of these at a time as the regular ones, but that's probably a good thing.

These aren't my favorite, but they will do if someone happens to buy them for me.

Dopiaza Curry

In an attempt to use some of the leftover turkey from the turkey breast we made a few days before, we used our last jar of UK curry sauce. I guess I'll have to learn how to make my own now!

Anyway, the jar was of a Dopiaza Curry. Apparently, this is a style of curry that has a lot of onions in it. I was surprised to find that I didn't find it too spicy at all! I think my taste buds are becoming used to curry now and the heat that comes along with it. Like I usually think of curries, this was ok, but not a favorite.

I forgot to take a picture again!

Clorets

The mother of one of my students went to the Dominican Republic and brought back some food for her daughter. The girl offered me a piece of gum her mom gave her called Clorets. It tasted just like a spearmint Chicklet!

New York Strip Steaks

Well, one perk/frustration of having a boyfriend who works in the meat department is he's always wanting to buy the different meats that are on sale. We tend to have so much meat in our freezer that we don't have as much room for other things. One day, he bought some New York Strip steaks for us to cook up. I found a recipe on trusty ol' Recipezaar that sounded really good. I didn't have any Jack Daniel's Whiskey, and wasn't going to go out and buy some just for the recipe, so I just used some of my Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce for the sauce.

These turned out very good and they were so easy to make! I'll definitely have these again and will maybe buy a nip of JD to try making the sauce sometime.

For the vegetables, I just cooked some carrots and green beans in a skillet with the same seasonings as the steak.

White Chili

I have made White Chili before when I got the general ingredient list and method from a forum I frequent, but I used a jar of salsa for it and ground turkey for the meat. It was also a lot of going ty taste and feel, and being new to it, I wanted to write it out as a recipe so I wouldn't forget. This time I made my own homemade salsa and used some ground pork for the meat.

It turned out great! It was a lot easier for me to adjust the heat of the chili since I made the salsa myself as well. I also used some extra tomatillos to add liquid to the chili instead of as much chicken broth as I had before.

The only problem I had was that I used dried pinto beans and didn't soak them for long enough, so they were still a little firm. They still weren't bad, my boyfriend didn't even comment on that, but it was noticable to me.

I'm not sure I noticed a huge difference in flavour between using a jar of salsa and making my own, but it's been so long since I made it, that I could just have forgotten.

An interesting note: In the UK, they serve chili curry-style, over rice. My boyfriend was surprised and confused to find out that in the US it's served like a soup, in a bowl. He can't bring himself to eat it like a soup and must have it over rice. I don't care either way.

My Very Own Cheeseburger Macaroni

I love Hamburger Helper® Cheeseburger Macaroni. I've said before, and I'll say it again...I'm trying not to buy boxed mixes because of moving to the UK and trying to save money. I really had a craving for this dinner so I went to trusty ol' Recipezaar to find a copycat. I didn't find quite what I was looking for, but I did find a recipe that I changed to make it taste how I wanted it to.

I liked the taste of this and Lee loved it. He said it tastes so much better than the boxed stuff. I'm used to the boxed mix, so it tasted a bit like something was missing to me, like it needed a bit more spice, but it did taste delicious and I'll plan to make it again. The garlic and paprika are approximate amounts. I just kept adding to it to make it taste how we liked, and will probably tweak it again next time. Definitely make those suit your own tastes if you try this recipe. The paprika does add a bit of spice. I also loved how adding the flour to the meat dried up the juices without me having to drain it, brilliant! I recommend shredding your own cheese. I used to buy the pre-shredded stuff, but when I made the macaroni and cheese a couple of months ago, I noticed that shredding your own fresh cheese makes such a difference in flavor and texture.

Cheeseburger Macaroni

2 tablespoons oil
½ cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups cooked macaroni
1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a dutch oven, heat oil.
2. Add onion and garlic. Sauté about 2 minutes, then add the ground beef a cook until browned.
   
3. Add flour, cook it and stir for 1 minute.
4. Add the milk, butter, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir until creamy.
   
5. Add the macaroni and stir until well coated. If sauce is too thin, simmer to thicken.
   
6. Top with the cheese and stir to melt.
   

Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Not Quite Nice...

I usually have oatmeal for my breakfast at work because I'm always running late and I can make it real quick before the kids come in. Shaws was having a buy one get one free special on oatmeal, so I got a few different types and I tried the Cinnamon and Spice kind. I usually love cinnamon flavoured things, but this just didn't do it for me. The ingredients list doesn't tell what the spices are, but they definitely don't seem to make this good tasting at all. I might finish this box, but I definitely don't think I'll buy it again. By the way, I make my oatmeal with milk instead of water because I think it tastes so much better and creamier.

Easy Crock Pot Turkey Breast

Well, I have been very tired lately. I haven't been going to bed at a decent time, so I'm just exhausted. I have had a couple of days when I've planned a meal and asked Lee to put it together. he seems to be getting more comfortable with his cooking skills and agrees more easily now. He didn't have to go to work until later in the afternoon, so I asked him to pt it all in the crock put and set it to cook before leaving.

This turned out really good. It was done by the time I got home and I only had to put the crock pot on warm until he got home. There was a lot of juice at the bottom of the crock pot. It would have made a good gravy if I had felt like making one, but I decided to just leave it be. I'll definitely make this again.

I can't find a picture of it, so I must have forgotten. :(

You can find the recipe at Recipezaar.

Green Apple Licorice

I happened into a collegue's classroom while she was having a snack of green apple licorice. I had never heard of this stuff before! She offered me a piece to try. I usually like apple flavored things, so I decided to try some. They were great! I'll definitely have to find these and buy some for myself. They tasted like a soft green apple candy.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I had made Lee his first Tuna Noodle Casserole in the fall. He was apprehensive about trying it, but he ended up loving it and has been asking me to make it ever since. On March 27th, I finally got around to making it again. Of course, I had to try a different recipe this time.

I didn't see any recipes on Recipezaar that only had ingredients I already had on hand, so I decided to combine a few and see what happened. I turned out pretty well and Lee was surprised when I said I kind of made it up!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 oz. egg noodles, cooked
1 can white tuna fish
1 cup peas
1/4 cup mushrooms
1 10oz can condensed cheddar cheese soup
milk
breadcrumbs

1. In a casserole dish, combine noodles, tuna, peas, mushrooms, and soup. Add milk until it just covers the noodles.
2. Mix well.
   
3. Cover with breadcrumbs.
4. Bake at 350°F for approximately 25 minutes or until sauce has thickened and bread crumbs are browned.
   

Rolo Easter Egg

Lee's mom had sent us a few Easter things. One of the candies she sent us was a Rolo Easter egg for each of us. I love Rolos, so figured I would love the Rolo. It was good, but the chocolate to caramel ratio wasn't quite the same as what I usually love so much with Rolos. I would eat it the once a year for an Easter treat no problem, but prefer the regular ones.

Easter Brunch

I thought that since Easter is a holiday, I would make a special breakfast for Lee and me. We both love a Full English breakfast. We don't have the right type of bacon here in the States, but I figured I would make do with what we had and try my best. For a Full English, there is usually some fried toast and baked beans as sides. I didn't do the toast or beans, but I did decide to make an English/American fusion breakfast by adding home fries.

I had never made home fries before, but I thought I'd try them. I looked around online and decided to try to make a recipe that was my own and a combination of what I saw.

I was worried about the breakfast turning out well. I love the flavor of the mushrooms for a Full English and was afraid I wouldn't be able to get mine to taste so good. I was also unsure of how long it would take. I started as soon as I got up and it ended up taking me about an hour to make the breakfast. I could probably do it a bit faster with a griddle, but I was using one skillet and a sauté pan for the home fries.

I had a hard time with the home fries. Mine kept sticking to the pan and they didn't brown properly. The home fries did have excellent flavor, though.

English/American Easter Breakfast

vegetable oil
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
butter
mixed herbs
4 links breakfast sausage
4 slices of bacon
½ cup button mushrooms, brushed
1 tomato (medium-sized)
2 eggs

1. Heat 1/3-1/2 cup vegetable oil in a large skillet.
   
2. Meanwhile, melt a slab of butter in a separate skillet. Add breakfast sausage and cook until done.
   
3. Transfer the cooked sausage to a ovenproof pan and keep warm.
   
4. Pour some of the sausage grease into the skillet for the home fries. Add potatoes and sprinkle with mixed herbs. Cook for about 20 minutes or until tender and golden brown.
5. In the skillet used for the sausage, add the bacon. Cook until done.
6. Transfer the cooked bacon to the oven to keep warm.
   
7. Place the button mushrooms in the skillet and cook until done. Transfer to oven.
8. Cut tomato in half, season with salt, pepper, and mixed herbs. Cook flat side down until beginning to be tender (about 2-3 minutes). Turn over and cook 2-3 minutes more until tender, but still holding its shape.
   
9. Transfer the tomatoes to the oven to keep warm.
10. Add a small bit of butter to the skillet and cook eggs as desired.
    

Stuffed Shells

On Saturday, March 22, I decided to try my hand at making stuffed shells. I found a recipe on Recipezaar to try and got started.

I found the shells fairly simple to make, except for the stuffing part. There was no easy way to do it besides just grabbing wads of the stuffing mixture and shoving it in. I already had some pasta sauce in the freezer that I had made a while ago, so I just used that instead of jarred sauce.

I didn't think the filling had much flavor, and Lee didn't like the texture of the ricotta cheese and would have preferred less ricotta and more mozzarella.

I'd make stuffed shells again, but would probably find another recipe to make.

Sweet Tarts Gummi Bunnies

I love SweetTarts and was excited to see some gummi ones for Easter. I figured I would love them, so I bought a pack. I was wrong. I don't think they are very tasty at all. The sugar on the outside was too much and I don't think they even really tasted like Sweet Tarts.

Kashi Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I was working with a collegue on curriculum work and we both got a little hungry. She had some Kashi chocolate chip granola bars in her classroom, so she went to go get them and I got to try some. I thought they were ok, but very sweet. I was surprised to find that I couldn't finish eating the bar in one sitting because of the sweetness. I don't think I'll eat them again.

A Celebration Dinner

I found out on March 19th that I got a new job at work! I am going to be a reading specialist next year. I had been hoping for this position since January and was so excited to have it! I wanted to go out to eat, but Lee got out of work late, so we ordered food to go. Now, it was a celebration dinner for us, but I chose to get food from the 99. I got my usual Honey BBQ Chicken Wrap, but Lee got the Teriyaki Chicken dinner. I had never tried that one before, so I tried a bite of his chicken. It was good, but won't replace my beloved chicken wrap.

Dulce de Leche Pudding

Well, we were going to have a Kerry Apple cake recipe I found for St. Patrick's Day, but I didn't feel like cooking. I just tried some of the Jello Dulce de Leche pudding. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was fantastic! I now consider this a pantry staple and we haven't been out of it since!

Catch Up Attempt: Irish Stew

I'm now trying to catch up on my posting and am not going to allow myself to get so far behind again! I had a rough month in March, and have just felt overwhelmed so far in April, but I'm trying to get back on track!

I did our St. Patrick's Day celebration the day after St. Patrick's Day since I was sick. I decided to go with a traditional Irish meal, so I bought some soda bread (I didn't feel like making it) and bought some stewing lamb to make a stew. The recipes I was finding all mentioned how simple and rustic traditional Irish meals are because of the history of poverty.

When I went to the store to get the lamb, I was excited to see that soda bread was on sale buy one get one free! That's one good thing to doing St. Patrick's Day late! I got to the meat section and saw that there was a lot of lamb chops, but they were all very expensive, two for about $17. I then saw the stewing lamb and it was only $5, a much better price!

I found several recipes online, but the one thing they all agreed on is that if you add alcohol, it is not Irish stew, if you add too many herbs that they would not have had, it's not traditional. I made it about as simple and rustic as you can get and it tasted fantastic! I was also very pleasantly surprised to find I liked the soda bread. I had tried Irish soda bread in the past that had caraway seed in it, and I didn't like it. This soda bread didn't have any caraway seed at all, so it tasted much better to me.

I would definitely make this meal again!

Irish Stew
knob of butter
1 large white onion, diced
1 package lamb stewing meat (4 bones)
4 yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup peas
2 tablespoons parsley
salt
pepper

1. In a 6 quart dutch oven, place the butter and onion over medium-low heat and cook onions for about 5-10 minutes.
   
2. Place in lamb, potatoes, and carrots.
3. Fill dutch oven with water to about 1 inch from top. Place back on the stove.
4. Allow stew to simmer for 1½-3 hours or until meat is falling off the bone. Add peas, parsley, salt, and pepper about 30 minutes before stew is done.

Catch Up Time

I'm sorry. March was such a bad month for posting. I have still stuck with the new food a day and I am going to try to have a fresh start in April and get those March foods posted! I was really busy, so I did a lot more new foods that were not things I made, but have made it ¼ through the year so far!