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I forgot to mention last week that my brother had given our name to Blue Apron for a free box of 3 meals. They did not make it clear that you could decide when you wanted your box to come or that you could skip a week. So our box for 2 people arrived on December 23rd. We were not able to get to it for almost a week. We've made 2 of the 3 meals and are not sure the third one is still fresh. If it is I will make it today. The recipes were OK, but we were not impressed. The cost is approximately $60 per week for 3 meals for 2 people. Just to note, these are designed as healthy, portioned controlled servings, however . . .
The first one we tried was Chicken with sage gravy, carrots and mashed potatoes. All the ingredients for the recipe were included except oil - the recipe said there were 2 chicken breasts. What we found were one chicken breast sliced horizontally into two cutlets (I have no problem with cutlets; just tell me it's 2 cutlets not 2 chicken breasts), 2 carrots and one potato. I was supposed to make carrots and mashed potatoes for 2 with that. I added 4 carrots and the leftover mashed potatoes from our other dinner to make sure there was enough food for my 23yo. The chicken was a little tough.
This week we tried cabbage enchiladas. I roasted the cabbage with onions and it was delicious, nice and sweet, until I added the other ingredients which made the filling heavy. It was supposed to feed 3 people (6 enchiladas), but only had 3 ounces of cheese. I added more, because, well, its cheese and not so much as I might have because, well, I'm still trying to watch what I eat. They were very filling, but not satisfying. We couldn't eat more, but didn't feel like we'd eaten, if that makes any sense.
I'm sure this works for some people, but I'm going to stick to my healthy sheet pan and crockpot dinners that cost less and feed us for a couple of days.
Oh, and I also made a chicken salad with celery, walnuts and dried cranberries with half mayo/half yogurt for the dressing. Yummy. And, will made his special hamburgers with caramelized onions, bacon, cheese and his special sauce which are always great. I had mine with no bun, reduced fat cheese and one slice of center cut bacon.
I've never had succes with the pan grease, Mike. I use a trick I learned from Cook's Illustrated which is a tablespoon of melted butter mixed with a tablespoon of either flour or cocoa powder and then brushed on the way you would brush on pan grease.
Since I was cut early today, I was reading the KAF blog about the Lemon Bliss Cake where PJ mentioned that if you have an intricate bundt pan, you should grease it right before you put the batter in so it doesn't slide and pool in the bottom. I checked before I put the batter in and mine didn't do that. But I think I'll stick with what works for me ?
I had 3 days off this week which was a pleasant surprise and allowed me to recuperate from my New Year's cold and laryngitis - not easy when you're talking to the public for 4-6 hours. However, I did manage to make 2 loaves of my version of no knead sandwich bread. Both loaves are sliced and back in the pans to freeze before bagging.
A friend gave me a huge batch of organic oranges, so I tried the Orange Pound Cake with Bourbon Glaze from the KAF site. The cake is delicious but I used orange juice instead of bourbon. However, I did decide to follow the KAF bundt cake guide on greasing my pan and that was not a success. I even called them to register my disappoint and the baker I talked to kept trying to tell me what I'd done wrong and I kept telling her I followed their directions exactly. I'm going to try to talk to someone else tomorrow. Anyway, they said if you had a non-stick bundt pan, to just grease it, so I thought they must know what they're talking about. It stuck BADLY, like the top half of the cake. I put it back in the off oven like they suggested and no go and I think it helped dry it a teeny bit. So no cake for work, but I will divvy it up for friends who won't care how it looks and I will definitely be greasing AND flouring my pans from now on!
On Wednesday, I roasted a tenderloin. The boys and I were celebrating their dad's birthday with his favorite birthday dinner (formerly our Christmas dinner). I received Foolproof from the Barefoot Contessa for Christmas and followed her recipe for slow roasted tenderloin. I used my Chef Alarm from ThermoWorks with its temperature probe. The roast was absolutely perfectly cooked! And delicious. We had asparagus, mashed potatoes and Bernaise sauce to to with it. Then on Thursday, I got a cold, so didn't cook the rest of the week.
That was easy! I called, had to wait only a couple of minutes and had a very polite man take my information and at the end he apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused me. I should have my new blade within 2 weeks.
I went to watch the newest episode on Hulu this afternoon - Hulu showed that there was a new episode available, but when I went to the "page" it showed episode 6 as the new episode, so basically the programs listed are 1-6 + 6. Silly I know but they must be waiting til after the holidays
I baked 6 dozen Best of Breed dog biscuits (KAF) for my dog sitting clients. A couple of owners were disappointed I didn't bake something for them. I won't be baking again until after the New Year.
I've been working all weekend, so yesterday afternoon I cooked the turkey I got from work (my son's is in the freezer). Just had regular stuffing in it, green beans with olive oil and salt, and a small batch of mashed potatoes - the gravy was great this year. Will and I ate it watching Christmas Vacation 🙂 I'm done for today and we're headed to my mom's "Senior Living Community" for the Christmas buffet. They have a 5-star chef who used to work at the resort where I do, so he did a great job at Thanksgiving - expecting the same. Nate's hours are crazier than mine, so he'll be joining Will and me after lunch for presents and turkey sandwiches. No dessert - we have plenty of chocolate in the house.
Merry Christmas to All!! Have a wonderful day!
I really appreciate Mike providing this site for us and all the people checking in. I hope next year brings even more people to join us.
No baking for me last week
Washington Post has this article this morning
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2016/12/14/8-million-cuisinart-food-processor-blades-have-been-recalled-yours-may-be-one-of-them/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_cuisinart924pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.7aaee050678fIt talks about the website being overwhelmed and gives a URL
Recall.cuisinart.comThe Cuisinart I bought at the yard sale is also part of the recall. I tried once to load the page, but no luck. They do say it's a "voluntary" challenge. I don't know if I'll be using mine over the holidays or not, but I'll keep trying to get through.
Understand that the man who created the baking steel did it at his family's company that manufactured things out of steel. He developed it because he was interested in finding something that would work in a home oven. He tried all kinds of permutations of thickness and size before coming up with his product.
I guess I'm also rooting for the guy from Mass whose company isn't far from where I lived
So this was a slightly less busy baking week for me. I made Ina's brownie pudding on Monday, but didn't think to check it early so it was a little dry. I've written myself a reminder because when I've made it in the past it was perfect. I also made 2 batches of Toffee Brownie Crackle for 2 co-workers who had done me favors.
Then I tried to make shortbread and whatever could go wrong did. Mrs Cindy and I have had a long conversation on all of that. 90% was mistakes I made, like forgetting to reduce the oven temp. I've decided that I will use the cookies - great taste, too dry - to make a shortbread crust for a tart. So I made another batch of brownie Crackle to the party since it was all I had time for
On Monday, I made Chicken Marbella for a going away dinner for my boss 🙁 we ate leftovers for a couple of days and then I made a sheet pan dinner of veggies and sausage which is a definite keeper. On Friday, I nailed the Crockpot Buffalo Chicken which has a decent kick. Baker Aunt - did you want that recipe when I got it right or was it the honey ginger chicken?
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