Kitchen Express and Greenling scorecard

Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express: 2.5 successes out of 3 tries so far. The honey orange chicken (substituted tenders and added garlic) paired with the carrot and raisin couscous (added slivered almonds and green onion tops) topped with a dollop of lemon zest plain yogurt was tasty, easy, and kid friendly. The pea and bacon linguine was tasty, and happily consumed by all, but I felt like it was pasty, not to make a rhyme. I did add a shot of half and half, and maybe a shot of olive oil is needed. It also seemed higher mess to me, as does anything that requires the blender, which then requires cleaning. But all in all, I like that the recipes are more suggestions than instructions, are easy to tweak based on preferences, and seem to be based on flavor profiles, with speed being a side benefit, instead of the other way around.

Greenling: let's say 75% successful. I'm a sucker for the novelty of delivery to my door, and of course it automatically won there. The apples are beautiful, but sadly, the pears are fairly battered. Tasty, but battered, and not in that Texas State Fair deep-fried way, either. They didn't have bunch carrots in stock this week, so it was deducted from my order, but it does make it tricky to base a menu around their delivery. I found myself grating baby carrots for the couscous salad today. And they gave me an incorrect item, although when I called them, they offered to bring out the correct one today and let me keep the incorrect one. I will order again, and plan on having a weekly sort of lunch makings basket delivered. This week was hummus, tabouleh and basil, along with wonderful Sweetish Hill bread, and next week I'll stick with the bread, but change out my sandwich fillings.

On another front, I baked challah bread on Sunday, using Chef Darla's recipe. It was easier and less sticky than I anticipated, and it made a godzilla sized loaf. The crust isn't my favorite, but the texture is spectacular, and makes scrumptious toast!

Gene's Appleblossom "Bread" from Mom

Now we all know it's really a cake, but if we just call it a bread, then it automatically makes it much healthier and less caloric. :) And calling it a bread definitely doesn't mean that I can't put a custard sauce over it if I want to...

Mix 1 1/4 c oil (I'm sure a little applesauce substitution is fair game), 3 eggs, and 2 c sugar.

Sift (and we know what I think of that) together 3 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg (and we know what mom thinks of that). Add to wet ingredients.

Add 3 c chopped, unpeeled apples (tart is good), 1 1/2 tsp soda dissolved in a little water, 1 tsp vanilla, and nuts if desired. Pour into 2 large loaf pans, greased and floured.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Mom notes that it can also be baked in a bundt pan, which will take a little more time. However, that may make it harder to pretend that it's a bread...

September 7, 2009

Whee for free Chik-Fil-A day! A fine time was had by all on wear a team t-shirt/get a sandwich day. Although initally sceptical of a change in the traditional shape, Kiddo is now officially a fan of waffle fries.
I don't think that I managed to cook anything memorable or particularly useful last week, other than getting smart enough to do chicken breasts in the crockpot the night before I wanted to make lasagne, and then not having to cook meat before assembling said lasagne. This week I'm going to make simple gorditas using the Cookie Magazine recipe, Chickpea Pasta from Cooking Light, turkey cutlets with cranberries and mashed potatoes, and Eastside Cafe's split pea soup and potato leek soup. Let's get those simple, staple recipes rolling!
With the advent of preschool, we've also got muffin recipes rolling. Tomorrow kiddo will help me make the King Arthur flour oatmeal muffins again, and we'll add blueberries this time. I made mom's pumpkin bread muffins this weekend. Here's the recipe, since I can't seem to keep track of it...

Mix 1 c oil (I use 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce), 3 c sugar (scant if using applesauce), 4 eggs, 1 15oz can pumpkin.
Sift (an instruction that I rarely honor) together 3 1/2 c flour (can handle some whole wheat), 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice.
Combine wet and dry ingredients, add 2/3 c orange juice and nuts if desired. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or 24 muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes if bread, less if muffins. (Truth be told I tend to up the cinnamon, leave out the allspice, and add a little nutmeg, despite my mother's deep hatred for the latter. I just don't tell her.)


Oh. Speaking of King Arthur Flour...I have now tried the 5 minute artisan bread several times. The loaf is so small, that is hardly seems worth the time saving, and I found that it was not better for leaving the dough in the fridge for a week. It was frankly so yeasty that I found it inedible. I did find the dough useful for quick pizza crusts, though. However, the Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe for honey whole wheat bread made with the King Arthur white whole wheat flour is dependable and spectacular, not to mention a lovely golden color!

August 19, 2009

I was lying in bed last night, thinking about today's menu. I was planning on trying Cooking Light's Chicken Tostada recipe, and then I realized the odds of the entire topping sliding off of big Kiddo's tostada were high. The soft taco is a much more manageable kid option, although not as great as the unbeatable Shipley Donut egg and sausage kolache. (I can't speak to the flavor, but the portability and lack of mess can't be beat!) So as I was deciding to switch the filling to tacos, I realized that the whole conversation was moot . I never bought tortillas. Sizzling lime/chicken/corn/zucchini salad it would have to be. I used rotisserie chicken, fresh corn, eyeballed the spices, and left off the cheese. Since I didn't have a starch, I decided to take the plunge and bake the boule that I started two days ago. I used 1/2 tsp of yeast, and let it rise for six hours instead of two. And I halved the recipe, since if I didn't like it, I certainly didn't need four loaves of it. I take back my scepticism. It was as easy as promised and not messy, provided that I dropped the dough in a bowl of flour before shaping it, and it made a good loaf! Not profound, but hot, fresh bread doesn't have to be profound to be wonderful. And the crust was spectacular. I did the steam bath, skipped the stone, and baked it in a greased one quart Corningware. The leftovers are great for toast, too...

August 17, 2009

Today was full of sweet things. Big Kiddo made his first popsicles out of orange juice, and we're looking forward to having them for dessert. Popsicles...a truly no-fail recipe. I tried two King Arthur Flour muffin recipes today, and they were both so successful that I'll be trying more of their recipes. First up was their blueberry muffin recipe. I decreased the sugar to 2/3 cup and substituted Emmi apricot yogurt for the plain yogurt indicated. I added chopped dried apricots and almonds as well. Next up was their oatmeal muffin recipe. I used canola oil, increased the flour slightly (which I didn't need to do), and added chopped pecans. Both were a hit with big and little people!

I mixed up the basic boule from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day today. I decreased the yeast by half, as they say you can on their website, and am letting it rise in my hot Texas garage. I'm glad that I watched their youtube demonstration on how to shape the loaf, which showed that they dump the dough into a bowl of flour before they start messing with it. I'll bake it in a couple of days, and see how it goes. I wasn't thrilled with the results from the other no-knead loaf that I've tried, the Sullivan Street Bakery version, so I'm not expecting greatness, but would love to be pleasantly surprised.

Today's kiddo sous chef task: asparagus snapping. A fine time was had by all!