Soylent

I'm posting this link here so if I ever go looking for it, I can find it.

Hackerschool Soylent by Cooking for 20

I've been trying this as a breakfast shake for a while now, and I LOVE the way I feel when I'm on it. I feel like I'm more motivated and energetic. Of course getting a well rounded dose of nutrients as opposed to a left over slice of pizza in the morning will do that for you.

I use it as a breakfast meal because I'm too lazy to actually make something decent to eat in the morning. Cold cereal is awful, and I never feel satisfied when I go that route. Before Soylent, I would usually not really eat breakfast, unless it was the aforementioned left over pizza...or cake...

I think it's a pretty good alternative to actual healthy food all things considering.

Sweet!

I made sweet potato chips today. They are way too good! I probably should not make these again, for the sake of my waistline. I didn't look up any recipes, but then again, I didn't really need one. I sliced them up with the wide side of my cheese grater (my mandolin broke), fried them in oil, and seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. With the natural sugars and the seasonings, I think they taste kind of like BBQ chips.

Homemade Cheez-Its

Homemade Cheez-Its

Food52

Just Amazing. I love, Love, LOVE these!

Even the little fingers could barely keep their hands out of them long enough for a picture.
I see more of these in the future. Much more. I may even have to get a fluted rotary cutter just for this recipe.

Jellomallows!

It's been a while huh? I'm totally going to own it. I've been in a grump, been in a frump, and pushed a baby out of my body, so I'm totally okay with whatever I haven't posted.

Also, in honor of my giggly baby-free belly, and ravenous appetite, I dug up this recipe and gave it a try:

Jello Flavored Marshmallows

from Joy of Jello

I used the strawberry flavor. It's pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself, although I probably wouldn't eat more than one at a time. They're quite sweet!

The recipe says to roll it out and cut it out into squares or use cookie cutters after setting. I used a mini-cupcake tin, which gave it a shape that I liked (short of going and buying a mold somewhere). However, using this method necessitates the use of more oil...so take it or leave it.

I didn't have any powdered sugar on hand, but did you know you can make powdered sugar by putting granulated sugar into a blender. Sweet right? I might never buy it again. Just throw in a tablespoon of corn starch, a cup of sugar and blend away!

Just a note: I would be cautious trying to make this if you don't have a KitchenAid. I almost burned out my hand beaters making this beast. I don't think I'll be giving this recipe another go until I get a KitchenAid (after I get a kitchen large enough to fit more appliances into that is).

Also, I've never been much of a jello lover, but the fact that there is a blog totally devoted to the art of jello makes me curious to try a few more of their concoctions.

Homemade Bagels!

Today I tried out the Homemade Bagel recipe posted at theprairiehomestead.com who in turn borrowed the recipe from Ten at the Table. I guess you could say it's from a friend of a friend?

Anyway, it was an uncontested success. The kids couldn't wait to get their hands all over them.

One of the best parts is that they're super easy. Knead, rest, shape, boil, and bake!

Viola! Aren't they beautiful??

Well, okay, my photography isn't as cute as either of the other ladies. (I'm Frumpy remember?) But I still had to show proof that I produced these delicious little treats. 

They're fabulous with just plain butter, and I can't wait to try them with cream cheese when my Sexy Man comes home. One day I'll culture my own cream cheese from theprairiehomestead recipe box, but until then, I'm pretty stinkin' happy to eat these babies plain!

And one day I'll figure out how to use my camera...again.

Back to Work!

It's a New Year, a new semester, and for my Sexy Man, a new job. He was required to take on an internship for his degree, and he was lucky enough to find one that is paid.

Last semester he worked locally as a handyman fixing up a house for a prospective flipper...you know, someone who is hoping to flip a house. It was local, which was super nice because he was able to come home and have lunch with us. This job is NOT local. He has a bit of a commute, but we're hoping to make the best of it by recording his textbooks so he can "study" while he drives.

We're also planning on sending meals to help curb the fast food bills.

I got this beautiful piece of equipment for Christmas one year....or was it my birthday?? Anyway, it is fabulous for making freezer meals.

Today I packaged 6 Sweet Chili Chicken meals consisting of rice, chicken, and stir fry veggies topped off with sweet chili sauce. I also made 5 packs of fried rice. It was a simple recipe with just ham, scrambled eggs, rice, and garlic with soy sauce.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to be able to send him off with homemade healthy(ish) meals and snacks for his work day. Here's to hoping this job is a good one!

Yogurt!

This morning I'm enjoying some homemade yogurt for breakfast!

I would say it's a part of my plan to start the New Year off right diet-wise, but to be perfectly honest, I'm planning on scarfing down some pumpkin pie (also homemade....from pumpkins I grew on my front lawn) left over from last night's party after I'm done.

Making yogurt is easy, and is cheaper than buying it from the store in most cases. I could buy a 32 oz plain Greek yogurt from Walmart for $3.98 (plus tax). That comes to about $0.75 per 6 oz serving. On the other hand, I can buy a gallon of milk for $3.08 (plus tax) and get about 11 6 oz servings of Greek style yogurt out of it. That's about $0.28 for the same 6 oz serving. Both the yogurt and the milk are priced from the Great Value brand. Of course adding in fruit, sweeteners, etc will make it more, but depending on what you use, still less than a $0.60 Yoplait, with the added benefit of knowing what is in your breakfast.

All you need is a starter, some basic kitchen tools, and a food thermometer. I used a Yogourmet culture to get started, but you can also just buy a cup of yogurt with live cultures in it if you want. One of these days, I want to explore the different yogurt cultures offered by Cultures for Health, but all in good time. Right now, what I have works just great!

Anyway, you bring the milk up to 180 degrees. It will be just below boiling, and will form a bit of a skin on the top. Then you let it cool to 110 degrees and add your culture.

Put it in a nice, warm place for 8-12 ish hours, and let it do its thing. I use my oven with the light on, but there are pretty sweet yogurt makers and stuff you can get if you want. I'm sure they have better temperature control than my setup, but hey, mine works just fine.

Notice the small 4 oz jar. That's the culture for my next go around. I set it aside at the beginning so I don't have to worry about it later.

Don't stir the yogurt while it's culturing! Yogurt likes to be left alone for the process. At the end of the time, I gently tilt it side to side to see if it's set the way I like it.

You can eat it as is after culturing, but it may be thinner than you're used to. I like to strain mine.

I line a colander with coffee filters and strain out around 2 quarts of whey. This gives me the consistency I prefer, although you can do more or less (ending up with more or less yogurt in the end with a thicker or thinner consistency). You can also use cheese cloth, a flour sack, or thin dish towel, but I'm preferring the coffee filters for now. I do plan on getting large industrial size ones after I finish off the batch I have.

This is the whey that gets strained off. Looks like lemonade right? Well that's just perfect, because that's what my Sexy Man likes me to make with it.

I add in sugar and a little lemon juice to taste, and that's exactly what it tastes like. Sometimes I'll also throw in some raspberries for color.

Anyway, at the end of the day, (and it does take about a day) I have slightly more than 1/2 a gallon of delicious fresh yogurt and slightly less than 1/2 a gallon of whey for about $3.00. Not a bad trade off!

My favorite way to eat homemade yogurt is with a bit of honey or maple syrup mixed in. One of these days, I'd like to have maple trees I can tap, and/or honeybees to make my own sweetener myself. Also a cow.

Merry Christmas to Me!

Just wanted to show off what my Sexy Man got me for Christmas this year. He had other family members pitch in to help as well, and I'm very grateful for their contribution.

First off, this is what I've been cooking with:

It was a great pan when it was new, but as you can tell, the non-stick surface is finished doing it's job. Since this is the second set of non-stick cookware I've gone through in our 8 years of marriage (maybe I'm really hard on my pans??), I asked for my next set to be Stainless, since I figured it could take more of a beating.

Woo! Look how shiny that is! Isn't it beautiful! It's a 10 piece set that includes this saute pan, an omelet pan, 2 sauce pans, and a dutch oven plus all the lids.

PLUS! My Sexy Man crafted this awesome pot hanger to keep them on from one of our old windows.

Awesome. Just Awesome.

Christmas Breakfast

Okay, It's slightly early for Christmas, but we had various family members passing though who weren't actually going to be here for the big day. It was bit of a spontaneous (read "poorly planned") idea, and so it was quite a ride trying to get everybody here before they scattered off to their various destinations.

I decided to try my hand at Belgian Waffles, and after putting out a desperate plea on Facebook, I was able to find a neighbor kind enough to let me bother her at bedtime to come borrow the waffle iron.

I whipped up a batch last night after the kids were in bed so I could be sure I wasn't setting myself up for a massive failure. Luckily the recipe was not only incredibly delicious, but easy enough that I didn't screw it up, even under the spontaneous circumstances I put myself under.

Because it was snowy this morning, I woke up later than usual (because I'm too lazy for an alarm clock, even when I have morning plans) and skid into Walmart with my peacock wild bedhead for some last minute ingredients.

I served them alongside bacon and cubed hash browns (which I had sliced and boiled the night before) and topped off with strawberries, whipped cream (from a can, because it's more fun that way!), and syrup. We also had juice and a hot chocolate bar.

It was a big hit, and I'm glad to say everyone went back for seconds and/or a plate for the road.

My sexy man was an amazing help in getting everything ready this morning, and I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without him. Plus, I think he might let me pick up my very own Belgian Waffle iron now.

Frumpy Bread

I like to bake bread about twice a week. Originally, I would've liked to have done a tutorial on cooking with natural yeast.

But then, my bread turned out like this...

Yowza! That's ugly. 

I'm usually pretty good at getting smooth rounded tops on my bread, and this is one of the most wrinkly cracked tops I had. 

To be fair though, I know why I ruined the shape of my bread. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the 2 hour coma I fell into mid-day when I should've been shaping the loaves and letting them go through the second rise. Instead my bread got over proofed. 

It's still good though, and totally salvageable with a little butter and jelly.

Even frumpy homemade bread is still homemade bread after all.

Kitchen Fun

So I tried a couple new things with dinner tonight. The first was some balsamic pan-fried potatoes inspired by The Frugal Gourmet. They were so fabulous that I could eat them all day.

I used red potatoes, which were cubed and then marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary. I then added in some bacon grease for the pan-frying process. Easy and delicious, I will definitely be making these again. 

Plus, look at that beautiful browning enhanced by the balsamic vinegar. They turned out gorgeous!

Next, I attempted an orange ginger glaze for some salmon. I don't have much experience with glazes, and to be perfectly honest, I let it boil over, which is a quick, but super inefficient, way to reduce it. Not to mention the mess I get to clean off my stove....but hey, discovery requires experimentation. 

Also, we're not exactly talking those beautiful red salmon steaks from the ocean. These are pale little lake fish fillets which look like tilapia, but are actually salmon.

It turned out fine, but I have some work to do on the dish. Also, I'd like to try it on a much more attractive sockeye salmon fillet. It was more difficult to make attractive, so naturally I reused the rosemary sprig.

And last, but not least, a feta spinach salad with a homemade vinaigrette.

Or...at least that's what I would have liked it to be. In reality, it was actually a can of green beans.

Yup. There they are. Not even french cut. Told you I was frumpy!

Still, all in all, an enjoyable evening in the kitchen.