I should bake something this week.

I’m thinking about it. Maybe a cake, maybe a pie. Definitely not something savory, although I don’t want to do something ultra-sweet, either. A thing that would go with my morning coffee would likely be best.

Thoughts and favorite recipes encouraged. Assume I have the Cooking skill, but not at expert level. I can do a roux, which means that I’ve unlocked the green and blue feats on the skill tree, but not the gold or purple ones. Counsel accordingly.

Yeah, sorry, busy Halloween Event day.

It was also a day of throwing together a serviceable chicken soup and what I feel were rather good grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup was largely leftovers and non-perishables, but I cheated and grabbed some chicken broth.  Half an onion from a couple of days ago, a couple of ears of corn … dekerneled? … from yesterday, some chicken from last weekend; fry the onion, toss in the corn and chicken, let it heat up, dump in the broth and some water, throw in all the spices you’re gonna throw, then add egg noodles once the soups about to boil. Get it down to a good simmer, then heat up the griddle for your sandwiches. Everything goes right, the noodles are nice and cooked by the time you finish flipping all the grilled cheese sandwiches*.

So, yeah, quiet day around the website here otherwise.

Continue reading Yeah, sorry, busy Halloween Event day.

Behold! @dduane’s Seed Cake…inator!

[UPDATE: It tastes fine, but next time I’m making it with poppy seeds. Caraway seeds don’t taste bad, but when they show up in American dishes it’s for savory foods, not sweet ones.]

Sorry.  Phineas and Ferb are back on the kids’ rotation.  Anyway, isn’t this nice-looking?

seed-cake

No idea how it tastes, yet – I’m not going to try a Hobbit-style seed cake from a recipe adapted by Diane Duane without my wife being present – but it baked up easily enough. If I have a concern, it’s the caraway seeds. Apparently there is a great debate on how many caraway seeds should be put into one of these, and this was one recipe where I followed the directions for making and cooking pretty much to the letter.  And the letters said ‘lots of caraway seeds.’

Guess we’ll see!

Moe Lane

Gonna do a Meatball Stroganoff tomorrow, I think.

The kids are home and the afternoon will be busy, so something I can start in the morning and slow cook all day sounds about right.  Should have gotten some mushrooms, though.  Ach, well.  I probably should also do something with that roast that we were supposed to cook this evening, too…

Sorry. Tomorrow’s menu and Michael Jackson’s Beat It are pretty much the only two things of interest to me right at this moment. Dunno why.

The chicken stock is… bland.

Not bitter, fortunately, but… bland.  I have salted it, tossed in what the jar calls ‘Herbs de Provence,’ and am letting it simmer for another half hour; perhaps that will help draw out the chicken flavor more.  Failing that, I can just strain it, decant it and use it for soup tomorrow (it’s getting late in the day for soup today).

So, I’m doing a slow-cooked pork pot roast with sauerkraut tomorrow.

What do you think should go with that?  I was going to roast up some potatoes in salt and olive oil, because, well, roasted potatoes with salt and olive oil, but I’m wondering if anything else really needs to go into that pot besides the pork, the sauerkraut, and maybe some salt and pepper.  An apple or two, maybe? – I’m not really familiar with sauerkraut, you understand.  So I don’t have a feel for how to just throw this together and make it all taste good anyway.

You know, I’m not a vegetarian…

…but this doesn’t sound half bad:

Potato Burrito

To make this non-vegetarian, you could add sauteed ground beef or spicy sausage to this simple recipe.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz. pkg. frozen hash brown potatoes
  • 1 cup chunky salsa
  • 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions
  • 6 flour tortillas

Preparation:

Cook hash brown potatoes as directed on package. Add salsa, cheese and green onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until hot. Fold mixture into warmed flour tortillas and serve. 6 servings

Although I’m thinking that sour cream wouldn’t be out of the question for this one.