Update 2
So this update will be a tad more up to date as opposed to trying to catch up some history. I've had this last week off. Originally, I was going to sort through all of the train stuff that my husband has in order to know what we are taking to the train show but he had all of that pulled out of the loft on Saturday. It is still in boxes but seems to be ok. We will have to do a more thorough sort through them later. I will probably still do some tidying today and tomorrow. I'm a little tired of baking. But at least I have a few meals sorted out.
Shopping
Just before heading home for my vacation I stopped by a cooking store that is close to the new office location. They had a sale on bakeware but the stuff I was interested in wasn't on sale. I've been trying to make my own hot dog buns but I've been using a baguette pan. Look at the comparison between the proper hot dog tray and the baguette tray. Needless to say one of these things is not like the others. Come summer I will have to experiment with my new tray and see how it does. The other thing I got was a new pizza cutter. I currently have a pizza cutter but it is a wheel cutter. Unfortunately it has come loose a little bit from its handle so I'm constantly putting the blade back in. Not the safest thing in the world to do. Now with this cutter I don't to worry about the cheese wrapping around the wheel and coming off the pizza. The blade isn't terribly sharp but if you push on it with enough force you do get through.
Now this other picture is something that I saw there that I was debating about getting but since paper cupcake liners are so cheap I couldn't justify the expense. However, given the baking I did this past week this was probably the item that I SHOULD have gotten. More on that later.
Monday was an off day after giving my talk on Sunday I wasn't feeling terribly motivated. Starting Tuesday was baking. I had mom bring down a flat of eggs from the farm near their place. By Thursday I had to go out and buy more eggs
Baking
Tuesday
The day started out with some Mini Omlette Muffins. These consumed a lot of eggs and were a tad (alright a LOT) messy. In the notes for the recipe it mentions that you should use silicone muffin liners. You know that stuff I passed up at the Cooking store thinking they were too expensive and besides I have paper liners? Yes that stuff. I figured that if I sprayed everything to death it would work and it more or less did. I managed to get everything out in tact but the muffin tray was still a little messed up and I was REALLY REALLY glad that one of my Christmas presents from my parents was a plastic pastry knife. That really helped in getting things out reasonably intact. I haven't tried any of them yet since I'm saving them for going to work. They smelt delicious when I was baking them off so I have hope.
The next thing made was the mini-chicken pot pies. On this recipe I pulled a substitution. I didn't feel like digging out my big box of chicken breasts so I could cut one up for 2 cups of cooked chicken. Instead I grabbed some ground turkey that wasn't buried so deeply in my freezer.
This recipe didn't want to come out of the muffin pans intact in any way shape or form. Another reason why I was glad for that plastic pastry knife because the pancake mix that was suppose to form the pie part of it boiled over (I think I had too much liquid in there) and it was a real mess. However, since the mess happened around lunch time I did manage to grab some scraps for lunch and it tasted good so I'm looking forward to having this packed in my lunch bag to have at work.
The tuna pot pie fought me every step of the way when I was making it. First the pastry was crumbling everywhere and I just finally slapped on the mostly intact pieces (good thing was while complaining to a friend I got HER recipe so I have a new one to try some time) and then when we were done it just didn't taste right. This one is on my definite do not make again list. I will have that for a few lunches but I'm not looking as forward to it as I am to the chicken pot pies.
Wednesday
Another form of breakfast is the tater-tot casserole muffin. This one looks very good even though it is missing ? of the sausage because I stole it for the previous mushroom omelet recipe. I had two for breakfast and it was very good. One I'm looking forward to making again as it isn't anywhere near as fussy as the mushroom one and hopefully I can add a few mushrooms to it since I have some left over. Who knew that ? cup mushroom was only about two of them.
I had gone out Tuesday to pick up some spinach for the sausage stuffed loaf and some mozzarella cheese. the version that I made on Wednesday wasn't too bad but the one on Thursday for some reason decided to split the sides. That was unfortunate, I guess I had rolled things a little thin but it will still be edible. I will have to work on how I roll it out or maybe stretch the sides over to seal things in. It is just getting a little on the thin side. Probably why the original recipe is for one loaf not split into two.
Ham Balls I also made the ham balls and this started the first of a long session with my grinder. First it was some graham crackers some for the ham balls and some for a recipe for a pie crust to use with Lemon Meringue pie. I haven't gotten to that one yet but I have some hints on what to do so hopefully my meringue will finally turn out. I think I have to add the sugar much later and increase the amount of sugar. Also ground was the ham and then finally the tofu for the meat loaf. By this time I was still flash freezing the chicken pot pies and the tater-tots such that I didn't have any flat horizontal space in my chest freezer so I ended up using the freezer above my fridge for the first time for flash freezing.
The Tofu Meat Loaf will be a bit interesting this time around. I prefer the tofu when I run it through the grinder rather than just chopping it up with a knife and smashing it with a fork. Despite the number of meatballs that I managed to get on my largest cookie tray I still had meat left over. Rather than getting another tray and then trying to find horizontal space for it I instead incorporated the left overs into the meat loaf. It goes into bread pans and that I can stack one on top of the other and it doesn't matter if it gets squished or not.
Thursday
Thursday was real muffin day rather than using the muffin tins for anything and everything. I made some Cranberry Orange Muffins again since I liked them last time. These turned out much better than last time. I'm not sure if it is because I mixed things a bit better or if it is because I baked them off in the oven (previous ones were baked in the micro-convection oven and I discovered with the tater tots that if you don't get the trays in there EXACTLY right the turntable causes the muffin tray to gently smack into the side.
Lemon Muffins I also make a double batch of the Lemon muffins. This should have been 24 but it turned out closer to 22 muffins. These muffins turned out slightly better than my first attempt which were all spiky so I can hope that I'm getting better at muffin making. I'm also being careful to smooth down the tops because as I had learned previously splenda doesn't integrate quite as smoothly.
This day was also the second day for the sausage stuffed loaf. (each package of italian sausage is 1 lb and the recipe calls for ½ lb and the bunch of spinach that I purchased was almost doubled what I needed so it all worked out. However, this was the day that I really blew the sides off of one of the loaves so I still have to work on it. Rolling out the dough twice seems to work a bit better than rolling it out once and cutting it in half.
Finally I had some ham left over from making the ham balls (actually deliberately left over since I had sliced this part off the ham to start with to get down to the amount that I needed to grind up) and this I added to tortilla shells with some cream cheese to make some roll ups.
Friday
I got a
Banana Bread recipe off of a friend who has the same breadmaker that I have. It has been a very long time since I've used the bread maker to actually COOK the bread I have made. Normally I used it to mix and do the first rise. After that it comes out into a different pan. I don't think it came out too bad but I'm not sure how much it is suppose
to rise in the first place. The loaf pan of the bread maker is much wider than that of a standard pan. For some reason the banana bread picture isn't showing. If you care you can see it here.
I also
made some Miso Soup on Friday with some tofu reserved from the meat loaf. This soup still ended up being very salty even though the instructions say if you boil the seaweed enough the salty / fishy taste goes away. I think all it does is disintegrate the seaweed. I think I will start leaving it out.
I've also been playing with evernote this week. Mainly to take captures of the recipes that I wanted to use. If I like the recipe I may move it into my main recipe database. But for a first shot the main database was too much effort.
I also discovered this morning that my toaster oven is now broken. I guess it doesn't owe me too much because I bought it over 6 years ago while in Richmond but it is a bit of a pain that the top element doesn't work. I think I can keep it going for a bit longer on just toast by flipping the toast over but I think I'm done making fish and chips in it. I will have to see if the toaster ovens at XS Cargo will fit into that slot. There is one on their webpage that shows two pizzas in in but I suspect that it is just too big. Fortunately, the microwave is also a convection oven. I don't know what I will do when that goes. The Micro/convection combination isn't that popular any more and I bought it back in ‘95.
Shopping
Just before heading home for my vacation I stopped by a cooking store that is close to the new office location. They had a sale on bakeware but the stuff I was interested in wasn't on sale. I've been trying to make my own hot dog buns but I've been using a baguette pan. Look at the comparison between the proper hot dog tray and the baguette tray. Needless to say one of these things is not like the others. Come summer I will have to experiment with my new tray and see how it does. The other thing I got was a new pizza cutter. I currently have a pizza cutter but it is a wheel cutter. Unfortunately it has come loose a little bit from its handle so I'm constantly putting the blade back in. Not the safest thing in the world to do. Now with this cutter I don't to worry about the cheese wrapping around the wheel and coming off the pizza. The blade isn't terribly sharp but if you push on it with enough force you do get through.
Now this other picture is something that I saw there that I was debating about getting but since paper cupcake liners are so cheap I couldn't justify the expense. However, given the baking I did this past week this was probably the item that I SHOULD have gotten. More on that later.
Monday was an off day after giving my talk on Sunday I wasn't feeling terribly motivated. Starting Tuesday was baking. I had mom bring down a flat of eggs from the farm near their place. By Thursday I had to go out and buy more eggs
Baking
Tuesday
The day started out with some Mini Omlette Muffins. These consumed a lot of eggs and were a tad (alright a LOT) messy. In the notes for the recipe it mentions that you should use silicone muffin liners. You know that stuff I passed up at the Cooking store thinking they were too expensive and besides I have paper liners? Yes that stuff. I figured that if I sprayed everything to death it would work and it more or less did. I managed to get everything out in tact but the muffin tray was still a little messed up and I was REALLY REALLY glad that one of my Christmas presents from my parents was a plastic pastry knife. That really helped in getting things out reasonably intact. I haven't tried any of them yet since I'm saving them for going to work. They smelt delicious when I was baking them off so I have hope.
The next thing made was the mini-chicken pot pies. On this recipe I pulled a substitution. I didn't feel like digging out my big box of chicken breasts so I could cut one up for 2 cups of cooked chicken. Instead I grabbed some ground turkey that wasn't buried so deeply in my freezer.
This recipe didn't want to come out of the muffin pans intact in any way shape or form. Another reason why I was glad for that plastic pastry knife because the pancake mix that was suppose to form the pie part of it boiled over (I think I had too much liquid in there) and it was a real mess. However, since the mess happened around lunch time I did manage to grab some scraps for lunch and it tasted good so I'm looking forward to having this packed in my lunch bag to have at work.
The tuna pot pie fought me every step of the way when I was making it. First the pastry was crumbling everywhere and I just finally slapped on the mostly intact pieces (good thing was while complaining to a friend I got HER recipe so I have a new one to try some time) and then when we were done it just didn't taste right. This one is on my definite do not make again list. I will have that for a few lunches but I'm not looking as forward to it as I am to the chicken pot pies.
Wednesday
Another form of breakfast is the tater-tot casserole muffin. This one looks very good even though it is missing ? of the sausage because I stole it for the previous mushroom omelet recipe. I had two for breakfast and it was very good. One I'm looking forward to making again as it isn't anywhere near as fussy as the mushroom one and hopefully I can add a few mushrooms to it since I have some left over. Who knew that ? cup mushroom was only about two of them.
I had gone out Tuesday to pick up some spinach for the sausage stuffed loaf and some mozzarella cheese. the version that I made on Wednesday wasn't too bad but the one on Thursday for some reason decided to split the sides. That was unfortunate, I guess I had rolled things a little thin but it will still be edible. I will have to work on how I roll it out or maybe stretch the sides over to seal things in. It is just getting a little on the thin side. Probably why the original recipe is for one loaf not split into two.
Ham Balls I also made the ham balls and this started the first of a long session with my grinder. First it was some graham crackers some for the ham balls and some for a recipe for a pie crust to use with Lemon Meringue pie. I haven't gotten to that one yet but I have some hints on what to do so hopefully my meringue will finally turn out. I think I have to add the sugar much later and increase the amount of sugar. Also ground was the ham and then finally the tofu for the meat loaf. By this time I was still flash freezing the chicken pot pies and the tater-tots such that I didn't have any flat horizontal space in my chest freezer so I ended up using the freezer above my fridge for the first time for flash freezing.
The Tofu Meat Loaf will be a bit interesting this time around. I prefer the tofu when I run it through the grinder rather than just chopping it up with a knife and smashing it with a fork. Despite the number of meatballs that I managed to get on my largest cookie tray I still had meat left over. Rather than getting another tray and then trying to find horizontal space for it I instead incorporated the left overs into the meat loaf. It goes into bread pans and that I can stack one on top of the other and it doesn't matter if it gets squished or not.
Thursday
Thursday was real muffin day rather than using the muffin tins for anything and everything. I made some Cranberry Orange Muffins again since I liked them last time. These turned out much better than last time. I'm not sure if it is because I mixed things a bit better or if it is because I baked them off in the oven (previous ones were baked in the micro-convection oven and I discovered with the tater tots that if you don't get the trays in there EXACTLY right the turntable causes the muffin tray to gently smack into the side.
Lemon Muffins I also make a double batch of the Lemon muffins. This should have been 24 but it turned out closer to 22 muffins. These muffins turned out slightly better than my first attempt which were all spiky so I can hope that I'm getting better at muffin making. I'm also being careful to smooth down the tops because as I had learned previously splenda doesn't integrate quite as smoothly.
This day was also the second day for the sausage stuffed loaf. (each package of italian sausage is 1 lb and the recipe calls for ½ lb and the bunch of spinach that I purchased was almost doubled what I needed so it all worked out. However, this was the day that I really blew the sides off of one of the loaves so I still have to work on it. Rolling out the dough twice seems to work a bit better than rolling it out once and cutting it in half.
Finally I had some ham left over from making the ham balls (actually deliberately left over since I had sliced this part off the ham to start with to get down to the amount that I needed to grind up) and this I added to tortilla shells with some cream cheese to make some roll ups.
Friday
I got a
Banana Bread recipe off of a friend who has the same breadmaker that I have. It has been a very long time since I've used the bread maker to actually COOK the bread I have made. Normally I used it to mix and do the first rise. After that it comes out into a different pan. I don't think it came out too bad but I'm not sure how much it is suppose
to rise in the first place. The loaf pan of the bread maker is much wider than that of a standard pan. For some reason the banana bread picture isn't showing. If you care you can see it here.
I also
made some Miso Soup on Friday with some tofu reserved from the meat loaf. This soup still ended up being very salty even though the instructions say if you boil the seaweed enough the salty / fishy taste goes away. I think all it does is disintegrate the seaweed. I think I will start leaving it out.
I've also been playing with evernote this week. Mainly to take captures of the recipes that I wanted to use. If I like the recipe I may move it into my main recipe database. But for a first shot the main database was too much effort.
I also discovered this morning that my toaster oven is now broken. I guess it doesn't owe me too much because I bought it over 6 years ago while in Richmond but it is a bit of a pain that the top element doesn't work. I think I can keep it going for a bit longer on just toast by flipping the toast over but I think I'm done making fish and chips in it. I will have to see if the toaster ovens at XS Cargo will fit into that slot. There is one on their webpage that shows two pizzas in in but I suspect that it is just too big. Fortunately, the microwave is also a convection oven. I don't know what I will do when that goes. The Micro/convection combination isn't that popular any more and I bought it back in ‘95.