Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Homemade Marshmallows

This was one of the first items I thought of when coming up with baking goals this year. And it was the very first one I made. Originally when I saw recipes for homemade marshmallows, just ignored them. I figured it was too much work. But this is the very type of recipe that I was looking for to get outside of my comfort zone.

I looked at a few different recipes and realized they were all pretty much the same. The two that I referenced the most were from Annie's Eats and from Sally's Candy Addiction book. The key piece of equipment - a candy thermometer. 

Let's talk candy thermometers for a minute. Years ago I received a candy thermometer and never used it. I didn't realize the clip was movable. I know, how crazy is that?! Well maybe stupid more than crazy. Anyhow. Once I finally did discover the clip moved and I could fit it on a pot, I only used it twice. It didn't work right either time - the second time I had an epic fudge fail. But it was the only one I had on hand when making these marshmallow, so I just went with it. I really thought it was user error rather than it being inaccurate. As it turns out - while I was cooking the sugar I had the smart idea to try my regular thermometer that I use for meat, to check against the candy one. Sure enough - the candy one was completely off (way cooler). I caught it with enough time, so the recipe actually turned out great!

Homemade marshmallows taste different than store bought, that's for sure. Not in a bad way, but different. Maybe less of a chemical taste. My husband who doesn't care for regular marshmallows liked these way better. The kids liked them, but also said that they tasted different. But let's be clear, it didn't stop them from eating the marshmallows at all!

The recipe makes quite a bit, but they last forever in an airtight container. I made these back at the beginning of January, and finally last week I used the last of them to make rice krispie treats - YUM!

Since I last made them, I have gotten a new candy thermometer. I'd like to make them again because I think it would be even easier. These would also make great gifts around the holiday time with a packet of hot cocoa!

Verdict:
Easy with the right equipment; great for gifts; would definitely make again.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Back in the Kitchen

Hey - I'm back! A couple of years ago I attempted to get back to blogging on a regular basis. It worked for a while, and then life got in the way. Just before the start of 2017 I decided I wanted to challenge myself when it came to baking. I've been baking up a storm regularly, but over the years I have been rather complacent. I stuck with what I knew, but didn't branch out with recipes that seemed difficult or time consuming. In the back of my head I started a list of recipes that I really wanted to try to make one day. I finally realized that today could be that day. So I set about creating a list of 2017 baking goals.

Along with my baking goals I'd like to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I'm not just in the kitchen to bake - I still do my weekly meal planning and cooking and I'd like to post some of that on here too. I hope to post my weekly meal plans along with some of our family favorite recipes. I received an Instant Pot for Christmas and I'm excited to try new recipes with that.

It's already March and I have made a few recipes off of my baking goals list. I plan to post what I've made so far. You'll find the full list of my baking goals in the tab at the top of the page. I hope you'll join me as I try some things and hopefully inspire you to do the same.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Meal Planning Jan 9-13

Well, this is a little late - we've already made over half the meals already. Since we had a guest this weekend (my father-in-law), I did another set of meal plans and grocery shopping. It actually has worked out pretty well because after 5 days or so, we are running low on fresh fruits and veggies. I'm thinking we'll need to do this more frequently.

The meal board in our kitchen looks slightly different than what I am listing here. Uncas suffered a blow to the face, literally, playing soccer this morning, so he needed some soft food to chew for dinner. I've just switched a couple of nights, which isn't uncommon for us to do. The great thing about this change is that it kept us motivated to stay on track, because tonight's dinner is a huge favorite!

Meal Plan:

Friday (1/9) - Baked Potato Soup with homemade French Rolls

Saturday (1/10) - Grilled Flank Steak with roasted butternut squash and sauteed green beans

Sunday (1/11) - Crockpot Mac and Cheese with roasted root veggies (parsnips, turnips, carrots and yellow potatoes)

Monday (1/12) - Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Rice

Tuesday (1/13) - Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes and any other veggie I can find

Now I should get cracking with my next round of meal planning!  Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Overnight Baked French Toast


This is my first recipe post and surprisingly it's not a dinner recipe. Although, I should note that we frequently do have breakfast for dinner, however we have never had this for dinner. I have searched a long time for the perfect baked french toast recipe that can be made the night before, so I can actually sit down and eat with everyone instead of standing in front of the stove cooking. I stumbled across this on Pinterest about a year and a half ago. It's pretty much exactly what I had been looking for - maybe even better. It makes a lot, but that's ok because it tastes even better heated up the next day. I enjoy this with syrup too, but it's awfully sweet on its own and tastes great with berries.

ED helping chop up bread.
I had bought a loaf of the bread to make this back around Thanksgiving, but over that weekend, we never got around to making it. I had stuck the bread in the freezer, and I thought it would be a great breakfast to wrap up the end of Christmas vacation. On Friday night while the kids took turns taking baths, I had them each help me with different parts of putting this together.


EA helping with the topping

It's that easy and doesn't require any crazy ingredients - bread, eggs, cream, milk, vanilla and sugar for the base. The topping has flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter. It's perfect for when you have company or just because!









Baked French Toast

Ingredients:
1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm, 1.5 pound loaf)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used skim)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1/4 lb.)

Ingredients for base - minus the bread.
1. Lightly mist a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Chop bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan. You can tear, but I find using a knife is much faster.
2.  Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge overnight.
3.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it all looks nice and crumbly.  Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4.  When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge.  Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like). Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.
Ready for the oven!

This batch was particularly good and our family of 4 ate it all over the course of two days! The first day we served with raspberries and the next day we had blueberries and blackberries. We simply zapped pieces in the microwave on the second day before serving. Whipping cream would be a good option as would a dusting of powdered sugar.

Sources: This recipe was slightly adapted from here.



What's your favorite make ahead breakfast? Thanks for reading and happy cooking!














Sunday, January 4, 2015

Meal Planning Jan 4 - Jan 9

It's only been a couple of days into the new year and I'm doing great with my resolutions! It's only the first week, but hey - it's a start! 4 of my 6 goals (that's what I've been calling my resolutions for a few years now) are health/fitness related which seems a bit strange. I guess that is where my focus is at this stage in my life.

Uncas and I spent some time getting our budget set up and finalized this week. We have decided to use cash for our "fun/weekend" spending and that also includes eating out. We've set up a type of envelope system to fit with our goals. We'll be tracking our grocery bills more carefully. And by more carefully, I mean, we are actually going to track and actively work to bring them down!

Last week we did really well sticking with our meal plan and I'm hoping this week will be just as easy. I've only listed meals through Thursday. This weekend we have my father-in-law visiting, so I haven't quite firmed up the meals. I'll be posting those later this week. I'm also hoping to post a recipe (with pictures of my darling little helpers) later this week and it's not dinner or healthy - what a way start the new year :-)

And now here is the meal plan for the week:

Sunday (1/4) - Roasted Vegetables Stuffed Shells with homemade French Bread

Monday (1/5) - Simple Thai Peanut Noodle Stir Fry

Tuesday (1/6) - Black Bean Tacos roughly based on this recipe and leftover Mexican Rice

Wednesday (1/7) - Homemade Pizza and salad

Thursday (1/8) - Lemon Chicken Pasta with Broccoli and Garlic Bread (made from the French Bread on Sunday)

Thanks for reading and happy cooking!


Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Year End Week

Phew - with Christmas behind us, I'm glad to get the house back to normal.We still have way too many sweets around, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it also means that I don't have any reason to bake :-(

Uncas is off work all this week, which is great. It also means that our meal plan is a little bit different - especially with New Years Eve thrown in the mix too. Although having him home means more help around when it comes to meals. Normally when he makes a meal, its on the weekend because during the week it is far too rushed for him to get home from work and cook. We eat early because of the kids (5:30 pm), so this week I enjoyed a break mid-week.

Here's the meal plan:

Monday (12/29) - Rosemary White Bean Soup and homemade French Bread
          *notes - I don't have a source from this recipe. I received it in a big binder of recipes when I got married. I plan on featuring it because it's something that we only tried recently and it's a hit. It's also meatless and gluten free which was perfect because we had my uncle over who doesn't eat gluten

Tuesday (12/30) - Curry Chicken with rice - Uncas made this meal and he combined a couple of recipes. I hope to share soon because we all like it a lot.

Wednesday (12/31) - Broadway Pizza - it's our favorite local place. We often do carryout and given our new budget decisions for 2015, we won't be having it as frequently :-(

Thursday (1/1) - Leftover Lasagna from my mom

Friday (1/2) - Spring Green Fried Rice

Saturday (1/3) - Chicken Enchiladas with Mexican Rice - We are having company and I haven't decided which enchiladas recipe I'll be using yet.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve! What are your special dinner traditions for NYE? Anyone favorite chicken enchilada recipe? Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Here We Go (Again)

I'm back to blogging. About food. Again. I first started blogging way back in 2005 or so and it was about my life which had to have been boring because I wasn't married, I didn't have kids and I didn't really cook or bake much. So I guess that left tv?! Then it morphed into a family blog as the the husband and kids came along. And then for a couple of years, a good friend and I bake and blogged our way through this cookbook. I stepped away from the writing for awhile, but toward the end of this year, I felt like I was missing something.

So I'm back. This time my focus is once again food. About a month ago I came up with the idea to document weekly our family meal plans. Every week since Uncas (the husband) and I got married, we do a weekly meal plan. It's what made sense to me, so we could do our weekly grocery shopping. Back then we used to grocery shop, usually on Sundays together. Nowadays I mainly do the grocery shopping. It's usually one big trip and then a few small runs for stuff I've forgotten or to pick up more fresh produce. Over time I hope to break down my meal planning process. I know for some it's a dreaded thing, but I actually enjoy it.

Each week I plan to share our family meals and link to the recipes I use. I'll share who liked what, my favorite sources for new meals, what failed (recipe, chef, or both), and our old, go-to favorites. Of course I'll share some baking along the way, because rarely does a day go by that I don't eat dessert!

But there's more - after a few discussions and analyzing our monthly budget, Uncas and I are making it a priority to cut down our food budget. In the past we haven't really had a set budget per se, and we've gradually changed our eating, leaning more towards whole, fresh foods, away from processed/packaged foods, and we are eating more and more meatless dinners. In addition we discovered that we liked to "eat" our money - meaning we spend money going out to eat more than we'd care to admit. As we embark with our new budget, it means a little more discipline, especially on the weekends.

This is already long enough for now, so let me present this week's meal plan:

Sunday (12/21) - Crockpot Mac and Cheese with steamed broccoli
Monday (12/22) - Baked Penne Pasta, homemade French Rolls, salad
Tuesday (12/23) - Baked Pork Chops, rice pilaf, sauteed green beans
Wednesday (12/24) - Homemade Pizza and Peppermint Pizza for dessert!
Christmas Day - Sweet Rolls for Breakfast and then my mom's for dinner

I hope you'll join me on this new journey. I love hearing what other people have dinner. Feel free to share your favorite recipe or family meal. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!