Disaster Chef: Cheesy Beer Bread

I found this recipe quite a while ago, but like most pins on pinterest, I pinned it and forgot it. But then I saw the stray can of beer that's been hanging out in my refrigerator for a couple months, and I went to pinterest to see if I could find something to do with it.

This bread is based on a recipe I found at Gotta Get Baked blog. It's definitely worth checking out her blog, if only for the gorgeous pictures. My bread was gorgeous, but my pictures don't do it justice. Her pictures are awesome. Plus, she's kind of hilarious.

Anyhow, this is how I adapted her recipe.

You will need:
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 12 oz. can or bottle of beer
1 tbsp honey


If you will notice, there is no butter or oil in this bread. I thought that was weird, because every time I've made quick bread, it has a lot. And eggs--this one has no eggs, either. I was confused until I mixed up the batter and realized that the yeast activates and makes bread dough (duh--but I really hadn't thought of that until I mixed it up and it was all sticky like yeasted bread dough).

Now, let's put it all together. 
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Grease a loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder. Add 3/4 c. of the shredded cheese and onion; toss together so that everything is well combined. At this point, everything will be so coated with flour it will be white.
Add the beer and honey. Mix until all dry bits of flour are absorbed/moistened. Your dough will be lumpy and sort of sticky, but it shouldn't be as moist as cake batter. This should be more like dough.
Dump the dough into the loaf pans and smooth the top of the dough.

It will look about so at this junction.

Bake for about 25 minutes, then add the last 1/4 c. cheese to the top of the loaf.

Half baked and covered in cheese.

 Return to oven and bake for 15-25 more minutes.

Hot and fresh out the oven.

 I had to bake for all 50 minutes before a knife in the center came out clean. It looked done at 40 minutes, but the knife came out all gooey. At 50 minutes, it was completely clean. I let the bread sit about 10-15 minutes, then turned it out and set it on a rack for a few minutes.

Textured, yeasty goodness within.

My son absolutely LOVED this bread. He kept picking at it while it cooled. We ate it warm with pork chops and braised red cabbage with apples. It was delicious warm. He ate 2 pieces, and my husband had 3. It was a big hit, and delicious the next day, too.

Cheesy, crispy goodness without.

Disaster Chef: Baked French Toast (Project Pinterest)

This was a recipe I tried out during Christmas break when my family was here. My son isn't the biggest fan of French toast because he says it's too soggy, but he loved this. The recipe can be found here, on Parade.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (12½ oz) loaf of favorite bread (such as challah), cut into 1-inch-thick slices
• 3 cup whole milk
• 7 large eggs
• ½ cup light-brown sugar
• ¼ cup real maple syrup, plus more for serving
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg

Directions

1. Generously butter a 13 x 9–inch casserole. Arrange bread slices in dish, staggering in rows.
2. In large bowl, beat together milk, eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour over bread and press down, making sure slices absorb liquid. Cover with foil.
3. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove foil and bake casserole 55 minutes to 1 hour, until puffy and golden. Serve with more maple syrup, if desired. 

I used whole wheat bread and spread it out on two dishes because when I layered the bread, it wasn't under the milk. We only had 2 cups of milk, so I used that and a half cup of half & half. Our chickens definitely don't lay large eggs, so ours were small. I used only 2 tbsp. of sugar and syrup, and 1 tbsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. I baked until the bread got puffy and took it out. It got nice and crisp on top, and everyone liked it, even my son, since it was not at all soggy.

Disaster Chef: Sweet Potato Casserole (Project Pinterest)

This casserole was all over Pinterest around Thanksgiving, and we had lots of sweet potatoes, so inevitably I found it a perfect match. Apparently so did my sisters--they both made it for their own Thanksgiving dinners.

I was making this for my husband's family, and since you just never know about internet recipes, I made a test run the day before. I made the gluten-free recipe that day, using our own sweet potatoes and xylitol instead of sugar. It turned out a little weird on the top--the xylitol didn't melt and it looked kind of floury on the top instead of all gooey and melty how it looks in the picture on Frugal Freebies blog. Here is their recipe. For her gluten-free version, check out her blog.

Conventional Version
4 Cups Mashed Sweet Potatoes ($2.00)
3/4 cup white sugar ($.40)-->I used only 1/2
1/4 cup melted butter (I used salted) ($.25)
1/3 cup milk ($.25)
2 beaten eggs ($.30)
1 tsp vanilla ($.10)

 topping
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces ($.25)
1/2 cup flour ($.25)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar ($.40)
1 Cup Pecans ($3.00)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine the mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix with a spoon and pour into an 11 x 7 x 1.5 casserole dish (I never grease it- but I doubt to would hurt if you wanted to). Set aside.
Cut cold butter into flour and brown sugar until it has the consistency of small peas. Add in pecans and stir to combine. This has a crumble topping type consistency.
Sprinkle the topping onto the sweet potato mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for few minutes and then serve.
Serves 8-10 depending on portion.

I made it the regular way on Thanksgiving at the in-laws. I cut the sugar some because the sweet potatoes were already so sweet. But otherwise I followed the recipe. Again, the top never melted or got gooey how it looks in the picture. It was more crumbly than gooey. It was sort of ugly, honestly, and not that many people ate it, though the people who did gave me a few compliments.

I really like sweet potato casserole, and this was my first shot at it. I will try again next year, but with a different recipe.

Recipe: 2.5 out of 5 spoons

Prep & instructions: good, though it does not look like the picture

Disaster Chef: Lazy Crockpot Lima Beans

I started this meal how I start most of my meals: I had some time to cook. I didn't know what to cook. I went to the fridge and the pantry several times. I saw a package of beans I'd had for quite some time. I don't know anything to make with lima beans except succotash, so I went to Pinterest, like always. And I found this crockpot recipe from this blog. I had most of the ingredients, so I gave it a shot.

Let me just say, that when I'm cooking in the crockpot, it's because I'm being lazy. I don't want to have to cook stuff in a pan first. So I just dumped all the ingredients into the crockpot instead of doing all the prep work she requires in her recipe. I also added some frozen kale, shredded turkey (Thanksgiving leftovers come in handy) and a can of corn, since the spices gave it a southwestern type flavor. Also, I did not use precooked lima beans, so I cooked it a bit longer than she calls for.

Here's what I used:

1 pound dried baby lima beans, rinsed and soaked
2 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
2 c./1 can chicken or beef broth and enough water to cover all ingredients (if uncooked beans, about 4 c. extra water will be required for cooking beans)
1 can crushed tomatoes/1 pint canned tomatoes if you do your own
1-2 c. kale, chopped (frozen or fresh)
1 can corn
1-2 c. leftover turkey or chicken (optional)
2 TBSP cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 TBSP maple syrup

Toss everything in the crockpot, make sure it's all just covered with water, and cook 6 hrs on high or until beans are soft.

*A word about beans: To properly cook beans, they should first be soaked to remove naturally occurring toxins, as per Weston Price's directions. The night before you want to cook your beans, put then in a large bowl and cover with a good amount of water. I'd recommend at least twice as much as the beans or more, as the beans swell while soaking and you want them to be covered with water. In the morning, pour off the water, rinse the beans real quick, and throw them in the crockpot with new water. If you don't know who Weston Price is, you should. He wants you to eat lots and lots of butter :)

I added some Parmesan on top, because I add it to every soup, even when it doesn't go. I don't think the original recipe would have been enough for a meal, but with all the additions, it was a meal, not just a side dish, though it could serve as either. It's not my favorite, but I'd make it again if I couldn't think of anything else to make. Everyone ate it, and it didn't get complaints.

Recipe: 3 out of 5 spoons

Scrappy Sunday: Honeymoon page, Scrap Our Stash (project pinterest)

I finally began the daunting task of scrapping our honeymoon. I saw this layout on Pinterest and knew I HAD to use the sketch, even though I admit, I usually can't get past the pet pictures. I know, I'm weird, but for some reason I just don't get them, even though I love our dog.

ANYWAY, I love, love, love this layout. I was going to use it for the intro page of a honeymoon scrapbook, but once I started it, the papers didn't match and it all looked horrible together. So I pulled off a bunch of stuff, and instead used an old packet of Making Memories stuff that I've had forever. I decided to do the Scrap Our Stash Tic-Tac-Toe challenge with the sketch. I'm actually going to use the sketch again, as I had to rotate it a lot to make it work, and I want to do a page from it that's pretty much an exact copy.


Here's the result:

 

I used the row on the left of the tic-tac-toe board and used 5 brads, some washi tape I'm in love with, and some journaling spots from the Making Memories pack. The cardstock, brads, and washi tape by Paper Studio, ink by Around the Block, everything else is Making Memories 5th Avenue 8x8 pack. I usually think my journaling is too personal, so I'll add that later.

Foodie Friday: Disaster Chef: Baked Potato Soup #projectpinterest

So this week I have a semi-success story for Project Pinterest to inspire any other aspiring cooks out there. This is a really easy recipe! It's only 4 ingredients, although as the original blog post says, it's really all about the toppings. It's a good starting point, but very simple and plain if you don't add some toppings (ie, boring).

Here's the recipe:
Soup Ingredients:
1 garlic clove bulb, with the top cut off
6 – 8 large baking potatoes, uncooked
3 – 4 cups chicken broth

1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tightly wrap the garlic bulb in foil. Rinse and pierce potatoes 9-12 times with a fork. Put the garlic and potatoes in the oven right on the rack.
Bake the garlic for 45 minutes then remove from oven. Allow the potatoes another 15 – 20 minutes in the oven. To tell if the potatoes are done they should be tender when you pierce them with a fork. Let the garlic and potatoes cool for at least 30 minutes. (I didn't do the whole letting them cool thing, but they turned out fine).
Peel garlic shell back to pull out cooked garlic pulp. Peel the potatoes with hands. Place the garlic pulp in a large saucepan, and using a potato masher mash the garlic. Next, add the potatoes to the saucepan and start mashing the potatoes and garlic together. Next, stir in the broth and fresh thyme until it is combined well. Cook the soup over medium heat until hot. Serve and add toppings of your choice.

I ended up only using 4 potatoes the first night, and a whole quart of broth because that's what I had in the fridge (and I may not have been paying as much attention to the recipe as I should have). So it was really soupy the first night. The next day I baked 4 more potatoes and added them, and it was nice and chunky and thick like the pictures showed, and much better all around. I threw some cheese and sour cream and olives on it, too. If you have some green onions, chives, bacon, or even salsa, that would probably be tasty, too.

The garlic was a bit tricky to get peeled, as it was pulpy mush and sticky, and the skins stuck to my fingers horribly. Also, peeling baked potatoes isn't as easy as it sounds. It is definitely time-consuming to scrape out the skins well, unless you want to leave a big portion of the potato stuck to the skins. So even though this recipe is simple and easy, it is not fast.

That said, it was very tasty both as a brothy soup and as a thick stew the next day...at least it was after adding a bunch of toppings! I will definitely be adding this to my list of standbys. It's worth repeating.

Disaster Chef: Cheesy Zucchini Cups: #foodiefriday #projectpinterest

So, I had this post all planned out, only to realize all my pics from this recipe were erased in my phone crash. I decided to do the post anyway. The pictures weren't that great, anyway!

Sometimes you have some ingredients, and you want to use them, but you don't know what to make... This was one of those times. I had some zucchini from my mom's garden, and I didn't want to waste it. And that's pretty much all I had, at least the only fresh vegetables I had for a side dish. So of course I headed straight to Pinterest and found this recipe.

It sounded simple and easy and good. So I started to make it. Here's the recipe and directions.

Ingredients
1 cup zucchini grated
1 egg
1/4 cups yellow onion diced
1/4 cups cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian Style)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, parsley, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

I grated a huge zucchini, which took forever. Then I squeezed all the liquid out by hand, since I didn't have any paper towels. With clean hands, just pick up handfuls of the stuff and squeeze until the liquid drips out. I did the same with an onion. Then I went to get out the rest of the ingredients...only to find that my husband had no eggs and no bread to make bread crumbs. So again I will advise...when cooking, get out all the ingredients before you begin!

I had already grated the vegetables, and I wasn't about to throw them out. Oh, yeah, did I also mention that my husband doesn't have muffin tins? I kind of made the 'batter' into blobs and formed thin cookies out of them, hoping they'd cook all the way through, even in the centers. Did they turn out well,  you ask? Well...in a word...No. They did not. They didn't hold together well without the egg, and the centers never got really nice and cooked. They were a little crunchy, and not in the good way.
In the undercooked-onions way.

I might actually try these again, because they were SUCH a disaster that I'd like to try them again. The recipe sounded good. I just need to go shopping before I try them again!

Disaster Chef: Snickerdoodles, Project Pinterest #10 #foodiefriday

My son has been asking me to make him snickerdoodles for a while now, although I’m pretty sure he only likes the name and doesn’t actually know what they are. So, we were actually home together one day (never happens) last weekend with nothing to do (REALLY never happens), so I made good on my promise and broke out the Pinterest to look for a recipe. Turns out snickerdoodles require cream of tartar (I know—what the heck is that?), which I obviously don’t have. I did, however, have everything else, and some of the recipes said you could use baking soda instead of baking powder and cream of tartar. But they all said that the cookies wouldn’t have that classic doodle flavor without the cream of tartar. But I never let lack of ingredients hinder me (see my cookie cake fiasco if you don’t believe me), so I forged onwards.

Below is the recipe, from Culinary Couture's sweet blog. 

Snickerdoodles

Yield: 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (one stick), room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)

3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds until creamy. Add sugar, and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined.

Gradually pour in dry ingredients, beating after each addition, until well blended. Dough will be slightly sticky, but workable.

In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Shape dough into 1" balls, then roll into cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place on prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I like to make my cookies pretty big, so I used a little bigger balls (o.O) and didn't make quite as many cookies. They turned out super pretty, but like all the recipes said, they didn't taste quite like they should without the tartar. Will put it on my shopping list if I try again. They turned out a bit dry, but they all got eaten, so I can't say they were a complete failure. 

 

Thirty Day Photo Challenge (Project Pinterest)

Okay, I posted a few weeks ago about week 1 of the Thirty Day Photo Challenge, but then I got busy and never ended up giving updates. And now it's over, so I'm going to sum up the last 3 weeks of it here.

Well, the challenge started out really fun, even though every time I had an outdoor challenge, the weather did not cooperate (not a cloud in the sky when I needed a cloud pic, completely cloudy when I needed a sunset...) However, I forged onwards, sometimes skipping days and making them up later, sometimes switching days. I think the point of this challenge is to take pictures of the assigned topic each day.

 

But all the cheating seemed to make the challenge not as meaningful. I know some people just go and find a picture of said topic each day, but I really wanted to take the assigned pics each day. But we all have busy lives, and sometimes I just forgot, or couldn't take the right picture when I thought of it. So I wasn't as successful as I would have liked. Here were some of the pics I took. 

 I realized several things about my limited photography skills during this challenge. For one, I'm not very creative or imaginative. Most of my pictures are of myself, Gabe, or flowers/food/animals. I don't think outside the box very well, and of course, having only a cell phone for a camera doesn't help. So, I'm not sure I'd call his experiment a success. But it was one more project I did via Pinterest.

Scrappy Sunday: Fourth of July mini-album (Project Pinterest #8)

Hey, guys,

Here is something I've been working on for a while. I'm an incredibly slow scrapper, so this one took me several hours on several different days. But, I think it turned out okay. Not nearly as fabulous and vibrant as the original, but it served its purpose. The original can be seen here, but its all written in what appears to be German, so no instructions if you're an English speaker. But, the pictures were enough for me to do a good adaptation.


I accidentally did page 1 first, so that became my cover, and later on, I put the cover inside as one of the layouts. This is the front of the album. I used regular pattern paper, but if I was going to do it again, I would use cardstock for the covers at least. I used a file folder design for this. You can see all the tabs. I ran a strip of washi tape along the binding and between each page to hold it all together.

I used paper from Hot Off the Press (navy packet) throughout. The tape is Washi, spray ink by SEI, and my dymo label maker. 

 

Here's the first layout. I used a bookmark for an accent. Circle punch (Paper Studio), stamp and circle frame (Target dollar bin), acrylic paint (Making Memories), washi tape, index card, and sticker (colorbok).

This layout has a photo mat, but I didn't put the pics in yet. It fits mostly 4x4 pics. Other supplies: Acrylic paint (Anita's, Making Memories), index card, label maker, sticker (DCWV), staples

Other supplies: oval frame (part of navy kit), brad, stamps (stampabilities, autumn leaves), sticker (Colorbok), washi tape

Other supplies: USA sticker, chipboard star (paper studio), punch

Light blue journaling block (Target dollar bin), stickers (Colorbok), chipboard (Paper Studio)

Additional supplies: Memories Stamp (Hampton Arts)

Additional supplies: journaling spot, stickers (Target dollar bin)

I left some of the pages simple, and really decorated some of them. I left spots open for at least one photo on each page, as well as space for journaling strips, which I will print, cut out, and in after the photos are glued in.

This project was super fun to make. Messy, with all the spray ink and paint.

Happy creating, all!

Thirty Day Photo Challenge (Week 1): Pinterest Project #6

As some of you know, if you follow me through other media sources like FB, Twitter, and Instagram, I am doing a thirty day photo challenge. These were popular a couple years ago, although I haven't seen many around lately. Still, I had never done one, and when I stumbled across one on Pinterest, I figured I'd give it a shot. A couple of days I cheated and used a photo I already had, like when I was supposed to take a picture of clouds, and of course on that day, not a cloud in the sky. Otherwise, I tried to use a photo I took that day for the purpose of the challenge.

Here's the challenge list.

 Here's the first week's results.

And here is my favorite picture from Week 1, which deserves a picture all by itself b/c it's so beautiful and glowy, and I didn't do anything to it except write on it. No photo editing, no filters. Just a gorgeous ripe peach from the fruit stand near our house, sitting on the table in a shaft of sunlight. 

 

Disaster Chef: Being Underprepared When Cooking (Black Bean Crunchy Tacos) Project Pinterest

It had gotten a little late last Saturday, and before I’d realized, it was dinner time and I didn’t have anything planned, let alone cooked. So of course I went right to Pinterest, and within minutes, I had found a quick, easy dish.

The recipe is from over at Endless Simmer. Here is the one I attempted to follow, not too faithfully, as you'll soon see. 

Ingredients

• 2 C. black beans, cooked
• ½ C. red onion, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
• 4-6 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 avocado, sliced
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 8 corn tortillas
• Hot sauce
• Salsa
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. 1) In a medium bowl, add beans along with red onion, cilantro, and spices. Add a pinch of salt and lightly mash all of the ingredients together. Grate your cheese and have it ready as well.
2. 2) In a large, non-stick skillet or cast iron skillet, add a few tablespoons of oil and heat over medium-high heat.
3. 3) Add one corn tortilla at a time and let each get hot in the oil for a few seconds. Then add about 1?4 cup of the bean filling to one half of the tortilla. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheese.
4. 4) Using a spatula, carefully fold the tortilla over so it forms a shell. Press down lightly on the tortilla so it holds its shape.
5. 5) As the first tortilla cooks, move it to the side and do a second one. Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to get 2 or 3 tacos at once. If you have a griddle you can do even more at once.
6. 6) Cook each taco for about 3 minutes per side until they are nicely browned and crispy.
7. 7) When flipping the taco to cook on the other side, use a spatula and flip the taco toward the fold so the filling doesn’t fall out.
8. 8) Serve tacos with toppings like hot sauce, salsa, avocados, and sour cream.
9. Note: Corn tortillas are resilent to heat. Don’t worry about burning them. They are very flexible. Just be sure to cook them on each side long enough to get them really crispy.

 

I started getting out the ingredients, but of course, as soon as I did, I realized I didn’t have most of what I needed. But I’m the queen of substitution, so I stuck with it. Instead of black beans, I used a can of great northern beans, which was all we had. I thought it might be a little weird in tacos, but by the time it was all made and piled high with toppings (*see pic), you couldn’t really taste the beans, anyway.

I had no Jack cheese, so I used cheddar. I had no cilantro. Basically, I had nothing I needed! But this just goes to show that you can adapt pretty much anything in this recipe and it will still turn out great. I didn’t have a red onion, so I used a small yellow one, making sure it wasn’t too spicy before I used it, since my son won’t eat spicy food (and since my husband was out of town, I didn’t have to worry about my onion breath). Still, I was going to cook the onion, since I’m not a big fan of raw onions. But it was so sweet that I left it raw, as the recipe says. I was trying to stick to the directions, at least, since I had to substitute all the ingredients.

I minced the onion super fine, and mashed everything with a potato masher, like it says. Not too thorough, you don’t want bean soup. Also, if you use a can of beans, as I did, you should pour off most of the liquid in the top of the can, and you can skip the salt. 

I went to get the tortillas from the fridge, only to find that we had only two white corn tortillas, somewhat fused together. I live on tortillas! There are always about 3 bags of them floating around the fridge. But of course the one time I need them for a recipe, we are out. I pried apart the two remaining tortillas and cooked them as directed. I don’t know how the recipe’s original cook fit half a cup of beans in a corn tortilla, but I would like to know! I put maybe half that in each of mine, and it still spilled out while cooking.

 

They cooked great, though, just like she said. Nice and crunchy on the outside. And delicious all the way through.

My son moaned and groaned that he hated tortillas and didn’t want a taco, but even he admitted, as he took the last bites of his taco, that it was “kind of good.” Success!

Scrappy Sunday: Map picture frame (Pinterest Project #4)

Here is the very first project I ever made from Pinterest. It was so easy, how could I resist? Plus, I love maps. I love pictures. And I'd never decorated a picture frame before, though I'd always wanted to.

I didn't go look up the website and follow directions or anything. I just found a map I'd picked up on my travels to Florida, and used a picture from the same trip. I used mod podge to glue and finish the frame. I tore the map into pieces and kind of decoupaged them all together. Then I used some sea shells I picked up on the beach on the same trip to finish it out, and added a metal title and a ribbon.

Disaster Chef: Pesto Potatoes (Pinterest Project #3) #foodiefriday

I had a different post planned, but by special request I am postponing that one for a success story: Twice Baked Pesto Potatoes.

I was helping my mom make a family dinner and she had some pesto she wanted used up, so of course the first place I looked was Pinterest (where else)? I was working on Project Pinterest, after all.

I found a recipe for twice-baked pesto potatoes, and though I was skeptical, I gave it a shot. As you can see by my parenthesis'ed comments, I altered a lot of it!

Here was the recipe, from the fantasically photographed See You In the Morning. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of how pretty hers turned out. But without further ado...

3 russet potatoes (or any kind of good baking potatoes)

2/3 cup arugula pesto, or other pesto (I used regular basil pesto and it turned out delicious)

2/3 cup creme fraiche (I just used sour cream here, since I'm not fancy)

1/3 cup parmesan, grated, plus more for sprinkling

2 cloves garlic, crushed (I skipped this, since my pesto was garlic-heavy already)

1 tbsp chives, chopped (didn't have chives, so I used green onions)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Wash the potatoes well. With a sharp knife score around the diameter of the potato, just piercing the skin. This makes it easier to cut in equal halves (I did not do this, but it's a good idea. If you don't do this, pierce the potatoes with a knife or fork so they won't explode all over your oven). Bake the potatoes for about an hour, until cooked all the way through. Remove from oven, and let sit until cool enough to handle.  Cut each in half. 

Scoop out the potato from the skins and put into a medium bowl. Fold in the other ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Spoon back into the potato skins. Arrange on baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with Parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes longer until they are golden and melty. 

 

As I said, I wasn't sure how they'd turn out, as I'd never used pesto on much of anything but pasta. But they were actually quite tasty, and my brother-in-law promptly asked for the recipe. The only drawback to this was not the fault of the recipe (which was fantastic!), but my own. 

 

See, my mom had just dug the potatoes from her own garden, and a few had nicks in them from the digging fork. I washed them well, but I guess I didn't dig into the little gouges, because my poor husband got a few very sandy bites near the end of his! So a little tip for people using homegrown potatoes...cut out any places where the digging fork might have punctured the skin. Even if it looks all clean, some sand might have worked its way in there!

Disaster Chef: Foodie Friday! (Pinterest Project #1)

Okay, so I don't usually blog about personal stuff, like what I'm eating. But lately I've realized just how many pins I've accumulated on pinterest, so I decided to start actually doing some of them. So...without further ado, Project Pinterest was born. I'm vowing to make at least one thing from my Pinterest boards every week, whether it's a recipe or a craft project or a diy.

The one I chose this week was a recipe. I got back from vacation and hadn't gone to the grocery store, so the fridge was looking awfully empty. I found some dried beans in the pantry and put them on to cook in the slow cooker. Then I went to Pinterest for some inspiration.

I found a recipe for Great Northern Bean stew, and miraculously, I had most of the ingredients. Anyone who has ever been around me when I'm cooking knows that it's practically impossible for me to follow a recipe exactly. I always adapt, substitute, or in some other way make the recipe my own. This one was no different. I can't say it worked out exactly as planned, but it was edible.

First of all, it called for canned beans, which I didn't use. I put the beans in the Crock-Pot with 3x the water and an onion. Then I left it to cook. I checked it a few times, since I was home all day. It seemed like the beans were taking forever to soften up. So I left it alone for a few hours. When I came back, the beans were completely cooked. Oops...I was supposed to add some vegetables somewhere along the way.

I had to take the beans out and set them aside. Then I put the veggies in the slow-cooker with some water and left for about an hour. When I came back, the water wasn't even boiling. I had to abandon the slow-cooker and put them in a pot on the stove. They still took ages to cook! Meanwhile, my husband had come home. Luckily, he was patient as I checked the veggies every 5 minutes for what seemed like an hour. I didn't have enough carrots, so I used the quarter bag of baby carrots I had in the fridge and added a turnip in place of the rest. I also used fresh basil, since we have plenty. I added about 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil before it cooked, then added another 2 tbs of fresh basil and cilantro about 5 minutes before it was done. I added the beans back in, and a little bit of extra cloves. I didn't have frozen corn, so I cut kernels off an ear of fresh corn that was lurking in the vegetable drawer while I was on vacation. Also, since I used dried beans instead of canned, I had to add some extra salt.

Thankfully, it turned out quite edible. I don't know that I'll make it again, as I like stews with more vegetables. But this one wasn't bad. It's quite filling, and vegetarian for those interested.

Here's the original recipe from Greener Eating via Pinterest, along with my adaptations in parentheses.

3 c. water (I used 2 cups of dried beans, so 6 cups of water, more later for cooking the veggies)

1 T. vegetable broth powder (I skipped this)

1 to 2 c. potatoes, diced (I used probably 3 cups)

2 carrots, diced or grated (here I used 1 large turnip and a handful of chopped baby carrots)

1 large sweet onion, chopped (I cooked one in the beans, and added another small one w/ veggies)

1 clove garlic, minced (1/2 t. fridge garlic) (I used 3 cloves)

2 T. fresh cilantro (see above)

1 T. dried basil (see above)

2 t. chili powder

1/4 t. ground cloves (doubled this)

1 t. salt (doubled this)

2 cans great northern beans, undrained* (I used 2 cups dried, about 4 cooked)

1 c. frozen sweet white corn** (Kernels off one ear of corn. If I made it again, I'd use more corn for sure).