Since we're both diabetic I don't bake cakes anymore but I used to love to bake them. And cookies. And brownies. And, and, and... But even when I did bake cakes the most decorating I did was frost them and that wasn't always easy for me. You know, getting every little spot covered with icing and making it look attractive to boot was a tall order! It was easier to just leave the cake unfrosted.
I might be pretty brave in the kitchen but not brave enough to attempt cake decorating. I don't have steady hands or sharp eyesight and there are just too many things that can go wrong, as evidenced by Cake Wrecks, a site that keeps me laughing so hard my sides hurt! The pictures are enough to make me roll but the author's words are even better.
So, when you have a little time and want a laugh, go look at what the cake wreckerators have wrought!
Showing posts with label kitchen disappointments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen disappointments. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Friday, July 3, 2009
Cottage Cheese & Egg Breakfast Muffins
Sooooo...my experiment with the muffins didn't go so well. They taste fine but they're a little bland and don't present nearly a pretty a picture as Kalyn's do. I had one for breakfast this morning along with three slices of fresh tomato and I'll take one to work today for my snack. The man hasn't tried them yet...
Blood glucose before the muffin and tomatoes was 86. Blood glucose after breakfast was 109! Okay, maybe I need to re-think these little gems. If I can eat one now and then without a spike, I'm game!
I made a few changes to the original recipe, using Better N' Eggs, omitting the green onion, and using a little less cheese and soy flour rather than almond meal. The differences all combined to make a muffin that was okay by and large but not something I'd make again. However, I do think the original recipe is probably very tasty so I'll make them again a little closer to her recipe. I'll probably use more cheese, almond meal, and perhaps throw in some Spike for that extra zing it adds.
If you're looking for good ideas for breakfast try Kalyn's Cottage Cheese and Egg Breakfast Muffins but use the original recipe first and see what you think.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Lime-y Salted Chicken
While Connie and I were in Eddyville, Kentucky we went to Echo Charlie's Bayside Restaurant, a nice but somewhat overpriced little eatery at the marina. The waitress recommended Bubba's Key West Salt Wings, cautioning that if we ate them we'd be puffy with water retention the next morning but we thought what the heck and ordered some anyway. I have to say that never in my life have I had chicken wings so good! Until I ate those wings, my all time favorite was My Way Wings, a recipe of my own creation and one suited to my particular tastes. And those still rock, by the way, but Bubba's Key West Salt Wings have snap and pizazz that are hard to beat! I'm not normally impressed with salty food and these wings were very salty with a definite lime and garlic taste that really appealed to me. I couldn't get enough of them even if they were horribly messy!
Connie and I figured we could make them at home or something very close at the least. By taste, we figured the wings are marinated in a mixture of butter, lime juice, olive oil, kosher salt, a lot of garlic, and some oregano. They definitely have something green in them as you can see in the picture below.
Okay, so maybe you can't tell much (the picture was taken with my cell phone) but try!
Today I decided to try to re-produce those wings but had no wings, nor did I have Kosher salt and massive amounts of garlic. Hindsight tells me I should have just waited until I had wings, Kosher salt, and more garlic! Instead, I used chicken thighs, a salt blend, and the garlic I had. I marinated 6 thighs for about thirty minutes in a mixture of:
1 stick melted butter
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of garlic pepper seasoning
15 twists of the Loretta Spicy Sea Salt grinder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
juice of a large lime
Then I baked the thighs at 350 until done.
Here's the finished product - good chicken but not what I wanted.
The wings didn't taste like butter, salt, lime, or garlic! Obviously I didn't use enough of those ingredients but lordy, 1 stick of butter for 6 wings should be enough! Perhaps it was just that the seasonings were off but the wings were bland compared to those I ate in Kentucky.
I'm going to attempt this again but will have wings, a lot more garlic, more lime and Kosher salt on hand.
In the meantime, you might try this recipe, adjusting it to suit your family's tastes. As I said, it was good - it just wasn't what I wanted. If you try it, do let me know. And if you've eaten Bubba's Key West Salt Wings and have ideas on how to make a copycat, please let me know! I really can't see taking a vacation to Kentucky every time I crave them!
Connie and I figured we could make them at home or something very close at the least. By taste, we figured the wings are marinated in a mixture of butter, lime juice, olive oil, kosher salt, a lot of garlic, and some oregano. They definitely have something green in them as you can see in the picture below.
Okay, so maybe you can't tell much (the picture was taken with my cell phone) but try!
Today I decided to try to re-produce those wings but had no wings, nor did I have Kosher salt and massive amounts of garlic. Hindsight tells me I should have just waited until I had wings, Kosher salt, and more garlic! Instead, I used chicken thighs, a salt blend, and the garlic I had. I marinated 6 thighs for about thirty minutes in a mixture of:
1 stick melted butter
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of garlic pepper seasoning
15 twists of the Loretta Spicy Sea Salt grinder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
juice of a large lime
Then I baked the thighs at 350 until done.
Here's the finished product - good chicken but not what I wanted.
The wings didn't taste like butter, salt, lime, or garlic! Obviously I didn't use enough of those ingredients but lordy, 1 stick of butter for 6 wings should be enough! Perhaps it was just that the seasonings were off but the wings were bland compared to those I ate in Kentucky.
I'm going to attempt this again but will have wings, a lot more garlic, more lime and Kosher salt on hand.
In the meantime, you might try this recipe, adjusting it to suit your family's tastes. As I said, it was good - it just wasn't what I wanted. If you try it, do let me know. And if you've eaten Bubba's Key West Salt Wings and have ideas on how to make a copycat, please let me know! I really can't see taking a vacation to Kentucky every time I crave them!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Brisket rescue update
Well, slow cooking the patootie out of that tough meat worked! It cooked for about 8 hours on Low and is very tender now. We went out for Mexican food tonight, though, so I'll take some to work with me for lunch and DH will eat some while I'm gone. Whew, I'm glad I don't have to add it to the blackeye peas I'm slow cooking tomorrow as I want to use a smoked turkey leg in those. Just because I have to work on New Year's Day doesn't mean we can't have our traditional dinner of blackeye peas, fish (baked perch this year), and cornbread. Yum yum!!
Have a great beginning to a hopefully wonderful year!
Have a great beginning to a hopefully wonderful year!
Brisket rescue!
I don't have a lot of kitchen disasters but I consider last night's cooking to be just that. I've never had to rescue a brisket before but there's a first time for everything.
I put a slightly over 1 pound flat cut brisket (bought clearanced, of course!) in the convection oven and when I removed it later it was so tough we couldn't eat it. I'd cooked it on low heat for quite awhile but apparently that wasn't enough. So I wrapped it up and stuck it in the fridge, figuring I'd deal with it later. Today is later. So here's what I have to work with:
I'm not sure if this will help but I sliced the meat and put it in my smallest slow cooker with a little beef broth and some seasoning. I'm going to cook it for a few hours on low and see if that tenderizes it some.
If it still isn't edible, I'll more than likely cut it into very small pieces and use it in our blackeye peas tomorrow. If it still isn't edible, its going in the trash. Blech!
I put a slightly over 1 pound flat cut brisket (bought clearanced, of course!) in the convection oven and when I removed it later it was so tough we couldn't eat it. I'd cooked it on low heat for quite awhile but apparently that wasn't enough. So I wrapped it up and stuck it in the fridge, figuring I'd deal with it later. Today is later. So here's what I have to work with:
I'm not sure if this will help but I sliced the meat and put it in my smallest slow cooker with a little beef broth and some seasoning. I'm going to cook it for a few hours on low and see if that tenderizes it some.
If it still isn't edible, I'll more than likely cut it into very small pieces and use it in our blackeye peas tomorrow. If it still isn't edible, its going in the trash. Blech!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Looked horrible, tasted great!
Glenna's post about Hot Chicken Salad Stuffed Pastry inspired me to try something new last night. Appearance wise it was a disaster but taste wise, it was great!
I wanted to make something akin to Double Dave's Cheese Steak Stromboli but knowing that the bread of the Stromboli is ridiculously high in carbohydrates I decided to use something other than regular bread dough. When I went to the store I looked at the puff pastry Glenna mentions in her entry and since it was a little on the pricey side I bought phyllo dough, which was about $2 less per package. I think that was mistake number one.
Mistake number two was that I didn't butter or oil the phyllo sheets but instead just put the cooked carne picada on them, added the cheese, and attempted to roll them. I say attempted because the pastry stuck to the surface and made rolling very difficult. I did manage to get them sort of rolled and placed on a cookie sheet for the oven. But the ends weren't sealed in any way since nothing I did in the attempt to seal them worked.
Mistake number three was that I baked them a little too long...I think. When they came out of the oven, the things were a little too brown and not flaky or moist at all. (note to self - again, butter or oil pastry!) Cutting into them with a fork caused the pastry to fly all over the place so eating them was very messy. I needed to vacuum the carpet this morning because there were pastry pieces everywhere!
The poor little buggers were just downright ugly! Not appetizing at all so I didn't bother with a picture. You'll have to just trust me on this point.
At any rate, the experiments tasted good. The meat was tender, the cheeses were tasty, and the pastry was edible. But barely. DH wasn't too impressed so I don't know if I'll attempt this again. I'd like to though so if any of you have suggestions, please share them with me even if the suggestion is that I stay out of the kitchen. ;)
I wanted to make something akin to Double Dave's Cheese Steak Stromboli but knowing that the bread of the Stromboli is ridiculously high in carbohydrates I decided to use something other than regular bread dough. When I went to the store I looked at the puff pastry Glenna mentions in her entry and since it was a little on the pricey side I bought phyllo dough, which was about $2 less per package. I think that was mistake number one.
Mistake number two was that I didn't butter or oil the phyllo sheets but instead just put the cooked carne picada on them, added the cheese, and attempted to roll them. I say attempted because the pastry stuck to the surface and made rolling very difficult. I did manage to get them sort of rolled and placed on a cookie sheet for the oven. But the ends weren't sealed in any way since nothing I did in the attempt to seal them worked.
Mistake number three was that I baked them a little too long...I think. When they came out of the oven, the things were a little too brown and not flaky or moist at all. (note to self - again, butter or oil pastry!) Cutting into them with a fork caused the pastry to fly all over the place so eating them was very messy. I needed to vacuum the carpet this morning because there were pastry pieces everywhere!
The poor little buggers were just downright ugly! Not appetizing at all so I didn't bother with a picture. You'll have to just trust me on this point.
At any rate, the experiments tasted good. The meat was tender, the cheeses were tasty, and the pastry was edible. But barely. DH wasn't too impressed so I don't know if I'll attempt this again. I'd like to though so if any of you have suggestions, please share them with me even if the suggestion is that I stay out of the kitchen. ;)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Beans and yucky cornbread
Sometimes the best laid plans go awry and today mine sure did! I put great northern beans in the slow cooker this morning with a little turkey ham, salt, pepper, garlic, and green onion. They turned out fine, though still slightly firmer than we like. The cornbread, though, was a disaster!
Generally I make cornbread from scratch but tonight I used a mix I've never tried before (someone gave it to us and I didn't want it to go to waste) and although I followed the directions, the resulting product was less than satisfactory. It was very thin and heavy, too sweet, and had a strong and unpleasant powdered milk flavor.
I thought that the flavor of the beans and turkey ham might overshadow it if the cornbread was broken up and put in the bowl of beans, but that didn't happen. Instead, the beans tasted like the yucky cornbread. So, my plan to have leftover cornbread to use in a later meal of chicken and cornbread dressing has to change a little.
We'll still have that meal tomorrow night but I'll get up early in the morning and make cornbread before it gets hot outside. The meal will still be good, I'm sure but I hate having to make another batch of cornbread for it. Oh well, at least I have everything to do it!
Generally I make cornbread from scratch but tonight I used a mix I've never tried before (someone gave it to us and I didn't want it to go to waste) and although I followed the directions, the resulting product was less than satisfactory. It was very thin and heavy, too sweet, and had a strong and unpleasant powdered milk flavor.
I thought that the flavor of the beans and turkey ham might overshadow it if the cornbread was broken up and put in the bowl of beans, but that didn't happen. Instead, the beans tasted like the yucky cornbread. So, my plan to have leftover cornbread to use in a later meal of chicken and cornbread dressing has to change a little.
We'll still have that meal tomorrow night but I'll get up early in the morning and make cornbread before it gets hot outside. The meal will still be good, I'm sure but I hate having to make another batch of cornbread for it. Oh well, at least I have everything to do it!
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