Experimenting in the Kitchen Along

[alwaysinmyroom]

mmmm I love hummus...you should also try sun dried tomatoes with roasted red pepper oil...you will have fun coming up with interesting combos!

[jexxican]

Tried the sliced baked potatoes from this post, but tossed in some chicken and other seasonings. I think it's a keeper. Very easy. Only downside: takes a while to bake.


Also, Sunday was Chocolate Cake Day so I made a chocolate cake! Store bought but it was still a cake and that's what counts, right? But while planning for it I was thinking "Man, I bet a peanut butter cream cheese icing would be awesome. And with chocolate cake..." *insert orgasm sound here* I found a recipe online and it was awesome.

[cinnamon teal]

A week ago, I made breakfast empanadas for dinner.



The photo isn't very good but they tasted fantastic! They were filled with chorizo, potatoes and scrambled eggs. The only thing I would change is next time I'll add some hot sauce to the filling, because we like spicy food here at casa CT. Oh, also, I used queso fresco instead of the mexican cheese blend the original recipe calls for.

Pros:
- epic amounts of deliciousness
- great as leftovers (reheat in oven)
- the dough was easy enough that even I didn't eff it up (which is saying a whole lot because I officially suck at pie crust)

Cons:
- takes a long time to make them
- probably not diet friendly

And then this week Mr. Cinnamon Teal was out of town so I had to cook for just me. Which I don't love to do. So I spent a little more on yummy ingredients and tried to find easy ways to prepare them. On Monday I made Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze and had an artichoke on the side.



It tasted pretty good. I did guess a little on the ingredient amounts since I was dividing the recipe by 6. But no complaints over all. It was yummy and easy and the clean up was really quick. I will absolutely make it again.

Pros:
- easy
- good for you
- yummy
- easy clean up

Cons:
- can be pricey, especially if you go for the eco friendly salmon.

[yoopidou]

Yeah, a recipe for salmon, I will try it.

Hummus, empananadas and baked potatoes look delicious but I try to limit myself on those.

[jexxican]

Those empanadas are going on the list to try.

Tonight was a true Experimenting in the Kitchen night. One of yesterdays Odd Holidays was "Ice Cream for Breakfast Day" but we didn't have any ice cream and we didn't really have time for family breakfast anyway so I wanted to do it today but since it was Fast Sunday it got turned into Ice Cream for Breakfast for Dinner. Look:

That's right: Maple Sausage Waffles topped with Ice Cream, y'all. I'm awesome.

[Sera unravled]

jexxican-- you are my hero!!

So last night I threw some ingredients together. It was sorta like lasagna, but with bow tie pasta. and I also put cream cheese in the noodles.

Bow Tie Lasagna

6oz bow tie pasta
one jar of pasta sauce
ricotta cheese
mozzarella
cream cheese 4 oz
italian seasoning
garlic powder

preheat oven to 350 degrees
cook noodles according to directions
put noodles in a bowl and mix in cream cheese itallian seasoning and garlic powder
put a thin layer of sauce in an 8x8 baking dish.
put ricotta on the sauce( I just blobbed it on there)
put a layer of noodles on top.
continue the layering process one more time, with sauce being the last layer.
put some shredded mozzarella on top
sprinkle some parmessan on top
put in oven for 30 min


Verdict
I liked it, but it was missing meat. My husband dropped his portion on the floor, but the little he did eat he liked. He also said it was missing meat.
Next time I make it I'll add some Italian sausage.

[meleriffic]

I love doing ice cream at breakfast time. We usually have ice cream on cream of wheat. Yummy.

[trinalocakary]

A friend we game with Saturdays is having a birthday on Wednesday so I made up this version of oat meat no knead bread

Chocolate oatmeal stout (Guinness) no knead bread

1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
 1 3/4 cups lightly toasted old-fashioned oats
1/4 cocoa powder
2 cups boiling water
1.5 cups stout (I used Guinness)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
 3 cups whole wheat flour

1. Toast oats in the oven for 10 mins at 250* or in the toaster oven on medium toast ( I had to stir it then toast in the toaster oven twice)

2. Place brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt and toasted oats in a large mixing bowl. Add stout and stir then add boiling water. Add butter. Let stand till lukewarm ( Note: you want this to cool down to between 100*f and 110*f or you will kill the yeast, I use a meat thermometer to test temp)

3. When the oat mix has cooled near to 110* take a small bowl and sprinkle yeast over the 1/4 cup warm (100*-108*f) water. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir. Add this yeast mixture to the oat mixture and stir. I usually let it sit about 5 minutes at this point.

4. Preheat the oven at 250* for just 1 minute. TURN OFF THE OVEN.

5. Using a small measuring cup spoon flour into a 1 cup measuring cup so that the flour is not tightly packed and barely to the top of the cup. Add 1 cup of white flour and one of whole wheat and using a very strong spoon stir the mix up, repeat this with the 3rd and 4th cups of flour, by the 5th and 6th cup you will most likely need to butter your hands and stir in the last of the flour, try not to kneed the dough, just get it mixed in

6. Cover the mixing bowl with a warm damp tea towel and wet a wash cloth, wring it out and put it on the oven rack and place the covered bowl on top of it. Allow the dough to rise in the warm oven until doubled in bulk, about 1.5 to 2 hours. The longer the first rise is the better the second rise will work. This long rising period is taking the place of kneading the bread.

7. Remove dough from oven and pre heat oven to 425*.

loaf pans, 3 medium pans, or a deep springform style cake pan and grease very generously with butter. When dough has risen, punch it down using a couple of forks, stab the dough in the center first, then pull the dough from the sides of the bowl towards the center up onto itself.

8. Portion the dough into your prepared pans, lightly butter the top and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise on top of the preheating stove until dough creeps above the rim of the loaf pan, 20-30 mins

9. Bake loaves for 10 min. Reduce heat to 350ºF. Bake for another 40 to 45 more minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped —Turn loaves out into wire racks immediately to cool.

10. Allow loaves to cool before cutting

To freeze the loaves I cut them in half, cool completely and wrap each portion in the plastic wrap I used in the second rise. I then place the wrapped loaves into a freezer bag.

[trinalocakary]

Irish car bomb cake

A friend of mine is having a birthday this week so I made him Guinness bread and a IRISH CAR BOMB CAKE

so here is the very simple recipe for this totally epic cake

CAKE: 1 box of chocolate fudge pudding added cake mix Eggs and oil as called for Replace the water in the recipe with fresh Guinness

Mix everything with beaters and pour the still slightly foamy cake mix into an oiled 9×13″ pan (or two 8×8″ pans) Bake according to recipe on the box

FROSTING: 2 cups of powdered sugar for glaze or 3 cups for a thick frosting 3 tbsp of soft butter Mix half Irish Cream liquor and half whiskey in a small cup and slowly add to the sugar while whisking it until frosting is desired thickness (For sweeter frosting use more Irish cream and less whiskey) If you need to make this nonalcoholic use Irish cream coffee creamer

For glaze spread frosting on slightly warm cake and allow to cool For thicker frosting make sure cake is cold before frosting it For the best flavor allow the cake to sit for an hour at least.

This is an amazingly moist yummy cake Both recipes only used up a single 22 oz bottle of Guinness, the bread can use a flat beer but the cake needs fresh foamy beer to get the fluffy texture that helps make it so light and moist.

[jexxican]

I tried the maple pork loin that was posted on here and Oh geez, it was good. We were very happy last night and guess what I get for lunch today? Yay!

On the menu this week, just because I'm excited:
Vegan Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili
Lentils and sausage
Spansish Chicken
Loaded baked potato Buffalo chicken casserole
Chicken rollatina with spinach alla parmigain

And for desserts:
Slutty brownies for V-day
Chocolate whoopie pies with mint cream for Chocolate Mint day on Feb 19th