House of Perpetual Indulgence Food Porn Update
Lots of great food coming out of the HPI kitchen. The festival of vegetarian pasta dishes continues, with a fried green tomato version. Also more fish, including high-quality canned tuna from New Seasons. This stuff is so good it barely needs anything in it to make a wonderful salad -- maybe just a touch of mayo. I will never buy Chicken of the Sea (El Pollo Del Mar) again.
My sponge / starter bread machine saga continues. This last loaf was a bit over-proofed and not as "sour" as I'd hoped, but I believe I may have made a breakthrough in understanding. If I use my starter to create an overnight sponge, I will get a long, cool rise (necessary for my wild yeast starter to work) then if I add a touch of store-bought yeast to the rest of the ingredients, I should be able to maintain the sour flavor while making next rises quicker in order to use the full cycle. See, my goal is to create a starter-based sourdough that I can make and bake in the bread machine completely on automatic -- no adding / checking / watching / stopping. I just want to start it with the timer and leave it alone.
Couscous with peas and olive oil was a simple dish that I made for the Ham to take for lunch to her summer program. Three days a week of sack lunches means she's getting bored with sandwiches. Hub brought home some dried handmade German sausage (not brats, the hard stuff that lasts a long time) and we've been nibbling on it. Sliced sausage in tomato soup is wonderful!
The other day I caved and bought some Bryers Health Bar ice cream, but I'm still planning on trying a gelato soon -- probably a vanilla, so I can judge the consistency / texture on its own merit. The all-whipping cream strawberry ice cream was amazing... the first day. But it didn't hold well (which is a problem with most homemade ice cream).
Also, I got the results of my first ever cholesterol test back. Triglycerides super low, good cholesterol high, bad cholesterol really low. Add me to the anecdotal evidence that a low-fat diet has little to do with blood cholesterol, since my diet is anything but low fat (it is low in trans-fats however).
My sponge / starter bread machine saga continues. This last loaf was a bit over-proofed and not as "sour" as I'd hoped, but I believe I may have made a breakthrough in understanding. If I use my starter to create an overnight sponge, I will get a long, cool rise (necessary for my wild yeast starter to work) then if I add a touch of store-bought yeast to the rest of the ingredients, I should be able to maintain the sour flavor while making next rises quicker in order to use the full cycle. See, my goal is to create a starter-based sourdough that I can make and bake in the bread machine completely on automatic -- no adding / checking / watching / stopping. I just want to start it with the timer and leave it alone.
Couscous with peas and olive oil was a simple dish that I made for the Ham to take for lunch to her summer program. Three days a week of sack lunches means she's getting bored with sandwiches. Hub brought home some dried handmade German sausage (not brats, the hard stuff that lasts a long time) and we've been nibbling on it. Sliced sausage in tomato soup is wonderful!
The other day I caved and bought some Bryers Health Bar ice cream, but I'm still planning on trying a gelato soon -- probably a vanilla, so I can judge the consistency / texture on its own merit. The all-whipping cream strawberry ice cream was amazing... the first day. But it didn't hold well (which is a problem with most homemade ice cream).
Also, I got the results of my first ever cholesterol test back. Triglycerides super low, good cholesterol high, bad cholesterol really low. Add me to the anecdotal evidence that a low-fat diet has little to do with blood cholesterol, since my diet is anything but low fat (it is low in trans-fats however).