[cwcdesign]

Thanks BA, how do you deal with the powdered sugar taste o4 does the cream help with that?

I still think the Irish Cream taste needs to be bumped up

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

Last week when I took the Irish Chocolate Cake to work, one of my coworkers asked about it because he liked it, partly because of the alcohol. I told him there was another cake I had been wanting to try - Bailey's Dark Chocolate Guinness Bread with Bailey's and Guinness. I explained that I didn't want to try out a new recipe on everyone. He asked if I'd make it for his girlfriend whose birthday is Sunday. Since mine is Monday, I said yes. He's also our steward which has to be the worst job in the department - dirty dishes, trash, toilets, cleaning and just about any heavy lifting job that occurs. So he bought the Bailey's for the glaze - I had everything else on hand. I made it last night and will take it in for him today.

It was very easy and Will and I both tasted the batter which is nice - I will definitely make it again. But . . . isn't there always a but? The recipe said to bake it in a 9x5 pan - I should have baked it in an 8x4 or doubled it. If I had been paying attention, I would have realized that less than 2 cups of flour was not going to make a very tall loaf - it looks like I cut the bottom off the loaf. That's an easy fix. Also, the recipe had you mix in all of the Guinness first and then the flour - next time I will do flour, Guinness, flour.

My biggest problem was the glaze. I think the proportions are off and I could taste the powdered sugar even after I let it sit overnight. I also thinned it too much trying to up the Bailey's flavor and I had leftover glaze. It drizzled onto the plate.

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Bailey's
2 teaspoons cream (I used whole milk)

Any thoughts on how to improve it? Should I leave out the cream/milk and use Bailey's? Should I get some Irish cream flavoring to add? What about the proportions?

[cwcdesign]

I think KAF said 190 for a cake - I was taking it out way before that probably was around 167. The most recent blog was on tea breads - they recommend 200-205 for those, but I think that cake would be dry at that point.

It took 55 minutes in the star pan (recipe range was 50-60). I would take the cakes out at 50 because the cake tester would b3 clean.

[cwcdesign]

I've not liked spaghetti squash in the past, but saw a recipe (I think I wrote about it in another link) that looked really good and thought I'd try again. I roasted the squash, cut in half and seeds removed, which was a better texture. The recipe recommended squeezing the moisture out before using which I did. The problem I have with spaghetti squash is that it doesn't really absorb the sauce ingredients; it just stays spaghetti squash and I'm not a fan of its taste. Too much work. I prefer using cauliflower to save carbs.

[cwcdesign]

Mike, snap and snow peas are good options because they go a little longer into the summer than regular peas. We always had strawberries and asparagus, but of course asparagus takes a long time to establish.

Here is one of my favorite sites for daydreaming
https://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/seed-index/fruits-and-vegetables/asparagus.html

I currently don't have time or land for vegetables and I'm still not sure what does well here in our heat. Our chef is trying to establish a small garden in the planters right outside the Market, but we have to go through the powers that be at the company to move that along. My job this week is to track down the head of landscaping to see if we can accomplish that.

[cwcdesign]

Welcome Patty! Glad you've decided to join us.

Last night I made zucchini cheesy bread which is a low carb type of recipe - at least they didn't call it pizza! We like it very much. You make a "dough" with shredded zucchini, egg, cornstarch and cheese, patted it on a sheet pan, bake and then add more shredded cheese and bake again. Then serve with marinara for dipping. It's way more filling than you'd expect.

Mike, even though salt is not an issue for me, I've started reading the sodium levels at the market because, why not - it should be healthier for us. I am amazed at how much sodium is in things, so I've been looking for lower sodium at a lower price - Yesterday I ended up buying Silver Palate low sodium marinara - it was 2/$6 and had 115mg per serving. It was quite good especially with the cheesy bread. Most of the others weighed in between 380 and 480 and that included organic ones!

[cwcdesign]

On Friday I made "my" Irish Chocolate Cake to take to work on Saturday. I used the Vegalene spray in the bundt pan and the cake had a nice look after I turned it out. I used my 10 cup star pan so the cake rose a little higher than in the bigger pan. I also took its temperature so it didn't have the wet center it usually does. It was very moist and Will said it was my best yet.

[cwcdesign]

I made a walnut crusted chicken from myrecipes.com on Thursday that we really enjoyed. We both agreed that the dijon mustard in the buttermilk/mustard marinade needed to be increased as well as marinating it as long as overnight. I need to make more of the crumb mixture and probably toast the walnuts for more flavor.

For St. Patrick's Day, I made a baked casserole of deli corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. I'm glad I know as much about cooking as I do because the recipe had a list of ingredients without telling you how to prep the individual ingredients, nor did it specify in the recipe! For example, it told you to cook the onion (medium) and the garlic (one clove), but did not say to chop or mince. Can you imagine the poor person who might have tried to cook the onion and garlic whole - or not slice the potatoes for layering in the pan? Anyway, it was really good and I will add it to my recipe file with the recipe corrections.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

chocomouse, I gather you have power. My brother on Buzzards Bay was still without power. As he was on his back porch checking on the generator, a tree fell on his car and partially, but not badly on his house. Needless to say he was rather shaken as he watched it. Of course it didn’t fall on SIL’s car which is basically dead. I have a photo but I don’t know if I can figure out how to post it here - it’s in my messages. I tried to paste it but all it did was post the label

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

My sympathies to your family Joan. I wish you all peace.

[cwcdesign]

No pi here ?☹️

[cwcdesign]

On Thursday I made a Thai noodle salad that we like and it makes a lot. I decided that instead of mixing all the various parts together I would keep them separate in the fridge so we could create our own proportions. I put all the vegetables in a ziplock bag and a double batch of peanut dressing in a jar. I used linquini instead of rice noodles which worked better as far as we’re concerned. I doubled the amount of chicken breasts and learned that next time I will slice them into cutlets and marinate them longer - the marinade did not have enough time to seep into the chicken - it was dry. There is still enough for dinner tonight.

I also tried a low carb recipe for baked spaghetti squash and spinach. I thought maybe it was time to try spaghetti squash again. Nope, although it was edible, I was very disappointed. I roasted it in halves and then squeezed out most of the liquid as recommended, made the cheese sauce and mixed everything together as recommended. I did have to add more salt and pepper to the sauce as it was kind of bland. I also covered it with grated Parmesan per the recipe. I was surprised that it came out watery but I think that was because the spinach was uncooked - the photo looked much thicker which is why I tried it. It was very bland and I realized that that was because spaghetti squash is bland and watery even if you squeeze out the liquid. So, needless to say, I won’t be cooking spaghetti squash again - I’ll stick to butternut and acorn.

[cwcdesign]

We get a list of national food days from Culinary so we can highlight something on our menus. When I went to see if pi day was on it (it was not - potato chip day was). I mentioned it to our chef and she didn’t know about it (different home country)so I explained it. She liked the idea, but I don’t think we can do anything this year - whoever made the list probably didnt connect pi with pie - maybe next year.

[cwcdesign]

I know there are links, but I do think it’s basically an old-fashioned book review since there are comments why they like the books - in the old days they’d give you the price and publisher so you could find it at the bookstore.

[cwcdesign]

I actually bought a can of Vegalene from KAF last fall for my bundt pans. I figured that if they used it in all the kitchens at the resort, it was worth trying. It is non-gmo and contains sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor & propellant - no silicone which is what would make the pans sticky. I got it from KAF because it was cheaper than Amazon. So far so good, very light but sure did work on my bundt pans and cleans off easily.

I, too, minimally wash my USA pans and I love them

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